So there I was in Neiman Marcus. Ready to sob.

The shoes, darlings. The shoes.

Wee ballerina flats. Lovely little numbers that a fairy might choose. Amy Jo Gladstone slippers of all kinds. Delman. Cole Haan, which I used to wear religiously. And Tod's. Oh, Tod's. For years and years your nubby soles soothed my toelets.

I considered them all. And I concluded: My feet, my formerly fetching feet, have been destroyed by skating. What were heel spurs have become hell spurs. The bunions could be golf balls.

I wouldn't feel so bad if I were a good skater, the kind with a single everything and a decent spin. But that's not the case. It likely never will be.

Sigh. My feet no longer are worthy of Neiman Marcus glory.

Fairy godmother? I want my old shoes back. I want my old feet back.

And at the same time there was someone with perfect delicate feet adorned with ballerina flats watching worlds on TV and wishing they could get up the nerve to give skating a try.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

look at the bright side--since you won't be spending money on expensive shoes, you can pay for more ice time! and also, you could get the same heel spurs from wearing pumps. skating is a more enjoyable way to get those pump bumps.

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Youtube Videos

oh, but there was the time at the shoe counter, while trying on some shoes when the woman said, "Oh my, are you a dancer???" because of THOSE FEET!!!!!

Um no, I skate.

silence, then, "Wow! You are so brave! That is even BETTER than being a dancer!!!" then she proceeded to tell everyone there that THIS WOMAN SKATES ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL, HOW BRAVE!!!

sheesh!!! (but I did feel good about it, and she never asked if I did "tricks")

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

It's funny this post popped up today. Just last night I was complaining because I used to have cute feet. And now they aren't quite as cute (but not too bad yet). I was telling my husband I need to switch back to ballet, because my pointe shoes were NOTHING compared to the skates.

The skates hurt. Always. The pointe shoes only hurt after long rehearsals.

I think the difference here is -properly fitted pointe shoes. -improperly fitted skates.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

lets face it-our feet are not going to be cute! bumps, bunions, corns, calluses....yeah. All we can do is take care of them the best we can.

If we hang out with people that understand this (skaters, dancers, etc) then who cares????

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Husbands?

and because the forum is telling me that response is too short:
random passerbyers when I'm wearing flip flops

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

my husband doesn't care

and i don't care what other people think of me.... they don't pay my bills.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I got custom skates early on and now that I have changed over to heat moldable customs I have no blisters. I have always taped and protected my feet, I have small bunions but not really noticeable. If you also consider I do pointe work my feet should be suffering but...not really. I just use those little gel pads in my pointe shoes and slowly add time each month.

My shoe collection is something I was teased about when I taught: aka Imelda Marcos of XXX middle school. Not many folks wear stilletos to teach I still wear them still love them and they still fit. Monthly pedicures help.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

I skate with my missus so I'm not likely to care what her feet are like, beside mine are bad anyway (to which she does complain quite often, no smell... just not the prettiest feet a guy could have)

LOL! When I started skating at 8 years old, my coach warned me that next to ballet dancers, figure skaters have the ugliest feet. It's unavoidable. Well, 13 skating years later, my feet are as ugly as ever.

I wouldn't trade my battle scars for the world though. These feet have gotten me my Gold in Senior MIF and are four dances away from my Gold in ice dance. They've landed more doubles and taken more spins on their sweet spot than I care to count. I am proud to tell others who gasp at the sight of my bumpy, dry, calloused feet and ankles that scream "I've been shackled!" that I am a figure skater!

I'm lucky...my feet aren't horribly bad...but they are getting there...no bunions or corns or anything yet, but dang are they dry and callused and currently have scabs from where my boots rubbed the wrong way when I forgot my bunga sleeves! I really need to stop wearing them permanently....

But, like others, I wouldn't trade it for anything!!

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

I danced on pointe for years, and I'll agree that skates are MUCH worse on my feet than pointe shoes. I just spent the last 2.5 years wearing shoes that allow my feet to spread out as they wish. Now that I'm back on the ice, I'm asking them to get squished and pinched, all while trying desperately to activate enough muscles to compensate for my diminshed proprioception. My feet hurt constantly on the ice. Stupid boots. (How I've missed them! )

You guys are focusing too much on feet.

Think of the other assets you're making quite firm.

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Bill Schneider

Down, Bill, down! Good boy...

My feet are fine. Maybe this is the key to my non-success... I have yet to ruin my feet en pointe or in skates...

I've even had two full-term babies and I'm still wearing the shoes I wore pre-Milo. My mom can't believe my feet didn't spread after two kids. I wish they had so I HAD to get new shoes, but nope. It is good in that I also didn't need new skates, though. I worried about that.

It's at that point that you continue on to the lovely Neiman Marcus premium denim section, where women are forking over $200 for that one perfect pair of jeans that will make it look like they have a nice shapely skater's butt. And there you'll be in the dressing room, saying, "I don't know. . . they ALL look good on me. . ."
P.S. I don't have pretty feet anymore, either, so I just collect cute boots. I'm into cowboy boots right now. . . They go well with all my booty-hugging jeans.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Nothing like a guy to put things in perspective!!!

Which reminds me of another thread a while back...

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...ighlight=jeans

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Sooooo...how many pairs did you buy from her? ROFLOL

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The worse thing I ever did to my feet.--The Peace Corps, I wore Birkenstocks almost constantly for 1 1/2 years my feet went from an 8A to a 9B. 15 years later they are an 8 1/2 a-b, sigh...my pointe shoes are the size of a small destroyer at 9 1/2 AA.

At this point I don't look at shoe size I just like shoes that fit.

For any of you who haven't tried LuLu Lemon they have pants that will make you booty look booty-licious, also nice and long so they cover the heel of your skate.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Will somebody buy falldowngoboom some vouchers for the bodyshop and a therapist

and I'm with bill....

mmmmm female skaters (drools)

You guys always give me a good pick-me-up.

I'm amazed that you say ice skates are harder on feet than pointe shoes. Tell me more! I always wondered about pointe.

Thank you! Finally someone who embraces the hottness of figure skaters instead of complaining about the skater butt, skater thighs, or ugly feet syndrome. I love all the wonderful effects skating produces...and my boyfriend's never once complained!

I got so tired of hearing about all the body-bashing that us figure skaters do that I created a several Facebook groups just for us. They are:
- Skater Butt Appreciation: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2345948983
- Skater Thighs Appreciation: http://rmu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10125606413
- The Hottest Girls are Figure Skaters: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5463455842

And, despite the fact that nearly every skater tends to complain about his/her skater butt at least once in their lifetime, my Skater Butt Appreciation group has reached 653 members and is constantly growing! Awesome!

If any of you have a Facebook account, join up and feel free to add me as a friend!

...and is constantly growing!

Just like my butt!

And don't forget, we get to drool over the male skaters, as seen from behind. YUM!

My husband had a lovely one when we married, and how lucky am I that 13 years of skating have kept it that way, despite the fact that he is nearer 60 than 50!

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Welllllll I just took a look, not because I plan to join up with your group, just because I knew there would be pictures of yummable lady skaters

I wasn't dissapointed

I'm off to the toilet for a while