The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[Shyheels]

I like my garlic. I don’t think I’ll ever need fear vampires!

[mlroseplant]

Haha, if the recipe calls for 3 cloves of garlic, I'll put 6. Haven't gotten any complaints so far!

The general size of arteries still does not explain why I can get by with uninsulated boots at work, while everybody else is freezing their feet off. Meanwhile, I have to dress more heavily than everybody else to function properly, and thank goodness for those chemical hand warmers that you can stick in your pockets.

[mlroseplant]

I have come up with a temperature guide for myself. If it's at least 40º (5º C), I can and should wear sandals, regardless of the wind speed. In calm conditions, sandals are fine down to 32 (0 C). Colder than that, and I'd better wear a closed toed shoe of some sort. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15º (around -10º C), I'd better wear socks, which does limit my choice of footwear.

This guide only applies to walking. It does not work well for standing. Nothing works well for standing in cold weather. It also does not take into account any precipitation that might occur. Cold AND wet feet are double-plus ungood.

[Shyheels]

I work in the other direction. It has to be pretty warm for me to forgo boots. 

[ohnoberty]

I'm with Shyheels, boots till it's moderate to warm, only then we can think about exposing skin.

[Cali]

I'm with @mlroseplant, I go as long as I can in open toe heels.  Right now it's a mixtue of knee high boots, ankle booties, or pen toe shoes. Wet chance the equation and removes suede from the mix.

[Shyheels]

Yes I love my suede boots but wearing them in England can be quite chancy and problematic!

[Cali]

That's why they invented faux suede for you birtish chaps.

[mlroseplant]

I haven't got a lot this week, as I've been absolutely exhausted from my new job, but I did make it over to the cobbler on Thursday, which is the one weekday I don't have to cook supper. I brought him two problem children, and it was half good news. My oldest pair of heels is still savable, but the ankle boots I brought him are landfill material. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask him about @Cali 's issue with the hollow molded plastic heels, and how he handles that. I'll have to ask next week when I go to pick the shoes up.

When I walked into the shop, there was another customer already there to pick up a pair of ankle booties in a light beige with pointy toes and block heels of about 3 1/2 inches. She was wearing very similar booties in black. I could tell that she is a regular, like me, but that she is a much more difficult customer than I am.

[Bubba136]

Being a “much more difficult customer” than you sounds interesting.  🤔 

[Shyheels]

Yes, I was intrigued by that as well ...

 

[mlroseplant]

I don't know the entire story since I walked in on the middle of a conversation, but there was some discussion about slight hue variation in these light colored booties. This conversation went on long enough that I actually sat down to wait, as my old bones were weary from working outside in a ditch for eight hours. And it was really over nothing that could be seen without the aid of a microscope. I am guessing it couldn't have been anything Marty (the cobbler) did, because she wasn't angry or irritated, she just kept agonizing over whether the shoes needed to be thrown out. They didn't. Marty convinced her to let him try to even out the color, and she went on her merry way. That is all.

[Shyheels]

I could imagine my wife agonising over a neatly undetectable difference in shade, then getting rid of the things and regretting it ever afterwards 

[mlroseplant]

As the year's end nears, I am drawing close to a record. As many of you know, one of my leisure activities is walking in heels. Of course, there is an app for that, and I use one called Map Your Walk. I have several routes I take, so I don't necessarily need to know the distance I have walked, but it is interesting to see whether it's a fast day or a slow day. Naturally, a big factor in the speed deals with effective heel height and to a lesser extent, shoe and heel type.

With an effective 4 inch block heel, I can easily walk 20 minute miles. 18:30 or less is definitely possible if I concentrate on it, and really push it, but that kind of takes all the fun out of it for me, so just a tidge under 20 minute miles, or 3 mph (just under 5 km/h) is my usual pace. Adding another 1/4" of effective heel height slows me down incrementally, but not much. Going to 4 1/2" stiletto mules slows me down significantly. I've only done it a few times, but I clock in at 23+ minutes per mile in such impractical walking shoes.

Oh yes, I forgot the real subject of my post--the record. My previous record is 310 miles in a year. Right now, on the morning of December 23d, I am sitting at 297 miles. I need to get off this computer, and get walking! I am pretty sure I can make it by the end of the year. Not by much, but I should be able to get at least 311 miles. I'd already be there if I hadn't been so lazy in May, when I logged only 5.4 miles for the whole month.

[Shyheels]

Well done! And that’s a pretty brisk speed you maintain. Average walking pace is considered to be three miles per hour, and that’s with average footwear not four-inch heels. So well done you!

[VirginHeels]

Impressive Melrose. I love those stats on how much that extra half inch slows you down.

[mlroseplant]

On 12/23/2023 at 3:51 PM, VirginHeels said:

Impressive Melrose. I love those stats on how much that extra half inch slows you down.

I am not so sure that the extra half inch slows me down that dramatically, but rather the style of the shoe. You have inspired me to experiment in the future (might have to wait until spring). I don't have very many non-stilettos that have a steepness of 4 1/2" or greater, but I think the reason why I'm walking more slowly in stilettos is because I have to be more careful how I walk and where exactly I step, so as not to damage my shoes. If I were to do the experiment at say, a shopping mall or some other place that is perfectly flat and has no cracks in the pavement, the difference might not be as much.

I have been rather motivated to set a new annual mileage record, and have walked about 11 miles on my three days off for the Christmas holiday. I now stand at over 308 miles for the year, or less than two miles of the previous record. I think I can manage to walk at least two more miles by the end of the year. For only the fourth time in my high heeling career, I did a five miler. 5.3 miles to be exact. Yes, my feet and legs were tired by the end, but I really suffered no ill effects. My left sandal started rubbing my instep slightly for the last mile, but it was a very tiny wound, and two days later I don't even notice it. Here is a picture of me right after the 5 mile walk. I am fortunate that the weather is unseasonably warm for December, about 45º F or 7º C.

[Shyheels]

Well done. I’d say your record is well within grasp with a full week left to go. We’re having an unseasonably warm Christmas here in Britain as well

[HappyinHeels]

Mel rose, That outfit is great! It reminds me of a photo I took while wearing some ankle boots with 5” heels, bootcut jeans, sweater and a knit cap. Should really post some pics as it’s been a while and I have a variety of looks to share. Well done! HinH

[mlroseplant]

I got my record, and still have one day to do some walking in 2023. I did some number crunching, and noted some differences between this year and the previous record year, 2014.

The main difference is that I did most of my mileage this year in actual high heels. I consider a "high" heel as one whose difference between heel and forefoot is 4 inches or greater. Less than 4 inches down to 3 inches, I consider a "mid" heel. Back in 2014, when I last walked more than 300 miles within a calendar year, 70% of my walking was in mid-heels. This year, about 70% of my walking was in actual high heels, and most of my mid heels were on the higher end of "mid," whereas in 2014, they were on the lower end of that scale. I did not get quite that specific in my statistics.

At any rate, I have made a goal for 2024 to exceed my 2023 numbers, and I plan to do so by upping my monthly "quota" by 5 miles per month. I think I can manage it, provided that I remain healthy and uninjured.

[Shyheels]

Congratulations! I agree with your interpretation of high and mid heels. To break your record, ten years on, and in considerably higher heels is quite an accomplishment! Now for 2024… 

[mlroseplant]

Happy New Year to everyone! Even though I don't have to work today, I'm up at 4:30, whether I want to be or not. I've always been an early riser anyway, heck I used to deliver the Des Moines Register newspaper, back when kids were allowed to do such a job. That would have been an awesome job to do in heels. With the possible exception of Sundays.

Yesterday was an unusual day at church. We had a single service, where we normally have two, and my son and I were given the day off as musicians. We didn't take it. Luckily, our choir director is very tolerant of us, and did not mind a bit that we showed up to wing it (in other words, no rehearsal). I did wear low heels to the service, however. I had no idea what to expect, so we brought everything but the kitchen sink with us, and I didn't feel like carrying all those instruments in super high stilettos.

[mlroseplant]

There really doesn't seem to be much going on here, and I don't have much going on either, except that I'm ill with what I think is my annual head cold, which will probably turn into my chest cold before it's all said and done. At least Christmas is done with, and travel to Vietnam is not for another month.

I did tabulate my high heel walking distance for 2023, and I came out with 312.7 miles, which breaks the old record by 2.6. I started off 2024 really strong, having over 4 miles by the 2nd of January, but then I got sick. I'm feeling a bit better today, and may try to get out for a short jaunt, but I ain't doing no 3 miler this morning. Furthermore, once I heal, the weather is predicted to turn cold. By cold, I mean -10º F, or what, -24º C, something like that. Frigid, in other words. Up to now, we've had warmer than normal temperatures. Nothing like easing into it, eh? I do not know if I will have the fortitude to walk in those temperatures. It totally depends upon the wind. Maybe the activity will pick up again later, once people have gotten back into their routines after the holidays.

[Shyheels]

Congratulations on your new record! Sorry to hear you’ve been ill, blighting what seems to have been a strong start to the year. We’ve been having heavy rains here, and so my favourite suede boots have been sitting idle, except for being worn around the house - great for keeping feet warm in the home office.

Bring on spring!

[mlroseplant]

I am now back to work, though I am not 100% yet. Whatever this is, and it's not Covid, it's kind of long lasting. Iowa just got dumped on with snow, so that has changed the equation a bit. I pretty much have to wear boots if I want to go anywhere, and will for a while. And it's supposed to snow more in the next several days. I'm down to basically two heeled choices--BCBGeneration stiletto heeled boots, and Vince Camuto block heels, both black, both knee high, and both effectively 4 inches of heel. I prefer the block heels because the boots themselves look higher quality, and the shafts fit my legs somewhat better. I have a couple other pairs of boots, but they are unsuitable for heavier snow either because of shaft height or material. Very bitter temperatures are next on the docket!

[Bubba136]

Watching the weather channel last night there were several on site reports about the weather in Iowa showing the snow and blowing wind.  I thought of you and that if you were wearing your heels, it would be a perfect time for boots if you had to go out of the house for anything.

[Jkrenzer]

Honestly having lived in the Syracuse area for 15 yrs of my heeling life I found stilettos better than block heels. The spike stilettos penetrate the hard pack snow better. Neither are ideal on ice. 

[pebblesf]

3 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Honestly having lived in the Syracuse area for 15 yrs of my heeling life I found stilettos better than block heels. The spike stilettos penetrate the hard pack snow better. Neither are ideal on ice. 

For sure, stilettos are great in the snow!!

[Shyheels]

We’re meant to be getting some snow here in the UK, maybe I can give that a try.. whatever their crampon-like qualities on snow or ice, I think I’d still prefer block heeled boots. Stilettos just seem too dressy for wearing in snow.

[Jkrenzer]

I don't believe stilettos are too dressy for any situation.