What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas... except the injuries

The shoes of pain.. but they were worth
every painful step!

A few weeks ago my husband and I took a overnight trip to Vegas to visit some friends. These friends are from my hometown in Wisconsin, so being that Wisconsin is a 40 hour trip to drive and Vegas is only about 5 hours, it made sense to take advantage of the situation and see people we normally only get to see once a year.

Now we have been to Vegas a handful of times already. Half of these times were with kids so we weren't really able to enjoy the lifestyle Vegas has to offer, and I am not referring to gambling. This time we were going to live it up. I even went out and bought a fancy black dress to go along with these amazing sparkly shoes I absolutely had to have, and I probably won't have many opportunities to wear in the future.

Now anybody that knows me, knows I am not usually a girly girl when it comes to dresses. I just feel awkward in them. However when it comes to shoes, that is a whole different story. I have a pretty decent collection. And besides, even if I religiously wear my workout shoes and flip flops, it is nice to know I have a choice of shoes if I ever need them, which is rare. After all, I am a stay at home mom and it seems crazy to be scrubbing floors and doing laundry in high heels!

If you know me, you also know that I am incredibly stubborn. That being said, these shoes I choose to wear walking the Vegas Strip were not worn for more than 20 minutes prior to our trip to Vegas. Yet, I was determined to wear them most of the night. (I did play it smart and used a rather large purse to carry my flip flops just in case!) Not even 20 minutes after putting them on, my heels were already bleeding. I mean - we barely made it out of the hotel room.

I did the smart thing and bandaged them up with a few band-aids I luckily remembered to pack along. Ok - so I actually suspected that this was going to happen which is why I was prepared. I even took a break and wore my flip flops for a bit but eventually put the shoes back on. What can I say - they made me feel like a rock star. (Not to mention I got so many compliments by complete strangers. They were definitely stroking my ego!) And how many times have I heard the phrase "Beauty is Pain!"

Pictures don't really do it justice,
but my heels definitely showed
the scars of a good time!

By the time we got back to the room and I was able to take my shoes off, I could feel the burn of skin, or lack of skin, that had been rubbed off. I couldn't tell if I was barely able to walk because of my injury or just from not being used to wearing heels for long periods of time. What I ended up with was some really severe blisters that broke on my heels making it nearly impossible to wear any shoes other than flip flops for the next two weeks.

On a good note though - at least it wasn't like my husband who cracked his face on scaffolding and broke his nose!

Needless to say, my injuries put my workouts to a dramatic halt. Usually I do some pretty intense programs. Initially it was to get in shape and lose weight, but now it has been more because I just enjoy working out. That, and it keeps my attitude in check.

So today, I was sick of being the moody bear and with my heels healed, I was ready to get my workout shoes on and brave my workout. I threw in TurboFire and got my sweat on. Now I will admit, TurboFire is a pretty hardcore workout anyway. The fact that I haven't been working out for almost two weeks didn't really help my situation. I almost died.

All ready for a night out on the
town! Vegas Baby!

So far so good though. I did make it through and my heals are feeling fine. I am not even sore yet, but I am sure tomorrow will be a different story. I will even admit that being away from my workouts for 2 weeks was also a stump on my motivation. It was hard to push play and knock it out. Even after 10 minutes, I started having those negative thoughts again telling myself I couldn't do this and I should stop. I didn't stop though - I am stubborn and I have pushed through much harder when I was in worse shape. It just amazes me how easy it is to lose your groove.

Overall, I would like to say there was some kind of lesson learned in this... but really that is not the case. If I had to do it all over again, I would wear the shoes. I guess Beauty is Pain - whether it is due to the obsessive workouts (or getting back into the habit of working out again!) or wearing the perfectly painful shoes!