Two Days In Heels! and singing karaoke?

[Julie]

Oh, you know me. I can wear heels every day with no problem. Right? Uh... er... well... umm.... sure! HA!

I decided to get all dolled up Saturday and wore all black with my fur topped black boots. As the night wore on I was finding it harder to walk (no drunken comments, thank you!) My feet were hurting. But I ignored it because those boots have never hurt my feet. Then Sunday I was in black again (great color, hides a lot of flaws) and wore my 4" platforms. It was still early and already my feet were killing me.

(Here's where the karaoke comes in)

Karaoke was supposed to start at 11 but no one was singing. I walked up to the girl who was taking songs to see why no one was singing and you would have thought I'd never walked in heels before. I felt like a klutz! Anyway she said no one has volunteered. So I went up to a friend of mine, Michael, and told him. He said I should get up there.

"Not dressed! I've never sung dressed. My voice is too deep and I'd look like a freak!"

He looked me in the eye and said, "Julie, everyone here knows you. They won't care. They like your singing."

"But I sing Sinatra and if I do that dressed I'll end up sleeping with the fishes! No one tarnishes the image of 'Old Blue Eyes'!"

Well I lost the argument and walked on stage in stocking feet and sang 'New York, New York', 'It Was A Very Good Year' and the Bobby Darin tune, 'Mack The Knife'. And I'm still alive! Then Michael and I sang 'Beer For My Horses' to finish off the night.

Now back to the heels...

Monday I woke up and I had lost feeling in some of my toes and it felt like I had thick pads on the bottom of my feet. Some of the toes are still numb today but they are coming back. (When I went out last night I wore flats.) I never thought heels could have that effect! Geez! Monday I hobbled around like an old lady!

Now here's what I learned... When I was working out like an animal (2000 meters swimming and 500 meters kickboard) I never had this problem. But when my tops were getting too tight (musculature growing) I stopped. I loved being fit but my upper body was getting too big. (I regret stopping) Now my feet can't handle heels like they used to. I'm wondering if physical fitness has any effect? I think so.

[KittyMuffin]

Just my speculation, but I think it could be that working out caused the muscles to grow and it made it a tighter fit. This could cause difficulty in balancing. I had this problem when I rode my bike a lot. I was riding about an hour a day, 2 hours on weekends. I stopped riding because it got too cold, and I can handle heels again.

[Phoebe Reece]

Julie, I hate to suggest it, but age may be part of the problem. I started having similar problems several years ago. You and I are close to the same age, so....

[TGMarla]

I really love Karaoke (except when people who really suck get to sing...). Of course there is the long litany of male singers I adequately emulate, mostly blues singers, some Clapton, Allmann Bros, etc. There are a few women who do some songs I really like, and even as a guy I can pull them off. So if you're out as a chick, and doing Karaoke, here are a few suggestions:

"Love Letter" by Bonnie Raitt
Any number of Cheryl Crow songs, especially "You Don't Bring Me Anything But Down" (Great song! And who can't relate to that?)
"Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin
"Adia" by Sarah Mclaughlin

Keep on singin, sis!

[swiss_susan]

does have an effect on the body. particularly swimming, as it is one of the most effective cardiovascular exercises. Stopping after a fairly intensive program will have noticible effects, largely due to circulation. You may also notice being in Chicago that you feel the cold weather more as well. This is due to reduced circulation promoted my cardio work outs. If you don't want to swin try to find another exercise program that will have less effect on your body shape, cycling for example.

Susan