Sole Spotlight: Skechers' Memory Foam Shoes

Normally I speak of my beloved high heels here, but I wanted to share my experience with walking shoes.  As my followers know, I sustained a severe ankle injury back in 2008, and I've also had mild knee issues my whole life.  As my main form of cardio exercise, I currently walk about 30 to 35 miles per week at about a 4 mph pace so I need good shoes to keep everything as pain free as possible.  Finally I found shoes to keep that ice in the freezer: Skechers' Memory Foam shoes. Last fall I had to pick up a pair of work shoes for my husband from a Skechers brick and mortar store, and they were having a sale.  I decided to check out their walking shoes on a whim, and found these: Women's Synergy Elite Status, $65.00.  Besides being a very neutral white (I prefer my workout shoes to be as plain as possible to match everything, but they come in many colors and styles), my feet felt in heaven when I tried them on.  They have a very cushy memory foam sole which truly feels like walking on clouds.  They are so pillowy and comfortable, I have never felt anything like it.  Using them for my walks instead of my old shoes was instantly known.  I walk anywhere from 5 to 10 miles per day, 5 days a week, and I didn't have to ice my knee or ankle as much.  Within a few weeks I stopped icing altogether.  They were definitely a keeper!

As much as I love them, there is a down side to these particular shoes and that is that they get very warm.  In the fall, winter and early spring it was noticeable but not something I objected to - especially in the winter, I was really thankful for how warm my feet stayed when out walking.  Come spring and 60 degree plus temperatures, they felt way too hot and it was time to find something new, besides being time to replace them with all the miles I had put on them.  About that same time I received an email from Skechers about a new product, Skech-Cool.  These shoes were supposed to have the same memory foam technology but designed for air flow.  I knew I needed to try them.  I purchased these: Women's Chill Out Lace Up, $75.00, again the most neutral color scheme of the line.  When I put them on it was obvious that they weren't as pillowy feeling as the Synergy Elites that I had been wearing, but the air flow more than made up for it.  There are vents on the front and side, and the sole is a gel infused memory foam that has little perforations in it to help increase flow inside the shoe.  The only thing I'm not so keen on is that I don't like the way the soles wear with the tread, so I'll be back to a flex sole like the Synergy Elite Status for my next pair.  And of course, vented!

The memory foam has definitely been worth switching to, and even more so as I discovered a couple of weeks ago.  A few of times a month my workout consists of delivering flyers which takes me a little over an hour to do, and consists of 76 flights of stairs (76 up, 76 down) in 19 different buildings.  I misplaced one of the Chill Out shoes, the Synergy Elites would have been way too hot to wear, so I grabbed my old Nike shoes instead.  Within the first 3rd of the workout I was incredibly sorry I didn't look harder for the missing shoe.  My knee started to hurt and the bottom of my feet started to ache only a couple of buildings in.  By the time I was done I felt exhausted, my ankle hurt a little bit but my knee felt pretty bad.  I had to ice for the first time since the fall.  If I wasn't already sold on the memory foam shoes for their comfort alone as a walking shoe, this sold me on them as a long time customer.  If you haven't had a chance to check out these shoes for yourself, I would strongly suggest you take the time to do so.  They're ultra comfortable, stylish, and most of all, very affordable.  Two thumbs up from this girl!