Wednesday, April 10th, 2013...2:14 pm
My Fancy Shoe: I <3 my husband even more!!
Always wanted to know what it’s like to stomp around in sexy stillettos… Ok, so this may not have quite the same sex appeal but it’s still pretty fun to tower around in this get-up. I’m almost 5′10″ so this puts me at around 6′. Back in my high jumping days, I desperately wanted to be this tall. I was the short one on the team 
My husband made this AWESOME shoe for me so I can walk more normally with my boot on. Brady Browne is inspiring but I really don’t want to do the zombie-walk thing if I can avoid it. My physio literally squealed in delight when she saw it too.
Here’s the recipe if you’re ‘handy-like-that’:
- an old runner (You’ll be trashing it afterward.)
- 3 giant foam puzzle pieces (dollar store variety) or equivalent substitute
- polyurethane glue
- jigsaw
- belt sander
- clamps
(Tip: He stuffed the shoe so it didn’t get too destroyed when clamped & glue was drying.)
I’m mostly walking around with this indoors right now (short walks outside) but there are plans to tack on a bit of rubber tread (might try bits of an old bike tire or climbing shoe rubber) so that it has a bit more grip and won’t wear out too quickly when I start putting on more miles. Can’t wait!
11 Comments
April 10th, 2013 at 2:30 pm
When I get to that point I will have to show my husband! That is a great idea!!
April 10th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Wowww…..I have built up shoe envy !!
April 10th, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Super Cool!
April 10th, 2013 at 11:42 pm
That’s pretty awesome!
April 11th, 2013 at 8:08 am
O
M
Goodness!
This creative husband of yours has designed a “shoe fix” that belongs on “Shark Tank” (for inventors)!! I must show my husband and my PT ladies!! How amazing! While the 6.5 weeks in my boot, I had to wear my OLD Sketchers Shape Up (which is a no-no shoe I’ve found out) … just to balance. Your foam padded / glued to old runner is FAB honey!!! Tell your hubs we love him too : )
I just went to two shoes on Tuesday, delighted…but so much work to do on the limp I’ve become habit to, and my swollen knee from favoring it while wearing daz boot! You’ve made me smile big this morning.
(I’m from Spokane…but snowbird in Bullhead City, AZ) Love your cover photo, being wheeled to the beach. Long Beach, WA? …where some of Japan’s Tsunami debrie is landing? Happy Healing : )
April 11th, 2013 at 11:33 am
Wow 2 shoes already. Jealous
Congrats on your speedy recovery. I’m in Canada actually, near Vancouver. That header photo is a bit dated now. It was my husband’s (yes, he is FAB!) idea for getting me out of the house and down to the water in those first couple weeks when I was immobilized and going stir-crazy 
Hope you’re soaking up some healing rays.
April 11th, 2013 at 6:57 pm
I had to chuckle when I saw this, because it reminded me so much of some shoes I built using almost exactly the same technique:
achillesblog.com/ryanb/files/2013/04/20130411_174829.jpg
Did he glue the original sole onto the bottom of the foam (sort of looks like he did)? FWIW, I just used “shoe goo” as the adhesive for mine. So far, it’s holding up fine, and they get a lot of stress put through them.
I even remember that clamping without overly distorting the shoe was the toughest part
April 12th, 2013 at 2:52 pm
Nice pic Ryan! Your pair looks even more fancy
No, he didn’t glue the sole on the bottom of the foam, but we’re planning to add pieces of bike tire or climbing rubber for traction if there’s enough lying around the workshop. You have a pair of them instead of one? Are these for something other than recovery from this injury? I’m just using it to be level with the boot while I learn to walk again (i.e. Trying my best to avoid limping as much as possible). Btw, thanks for such an inspiring, informative blog and well done on your discipline and hard work to get to a 100% recovery. I’m sure many here on AB will be motivated by your story.
April 12th, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Mine are for doing “turn drills”. They’re tilted about 30 degrees, so I can pull hard sideways without twisting my ankle too much. You can see them in action - towing my car up a slight hill - at the start of my 8-month video update:
achillesblog.com/ryanb/2012/05/05/8-months-video-update/
They only go “left”
April 13th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
amazing
September 24th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Lisa,
I felt the same way when told that my atr did not warrant surgery. But i’m at week 11 out of the boot and walking “normally” while avoiding ballistic and eccentric movement.
I hope all is well with your recovery.
Bruce
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