Footwear at the Races

My husband and I went to Austin Halloween weekend to the US Formula 1 race. Now, if you were to ask me if this was a race I would have picked to go see, the answer would be no. My husband became a huge race fan while living in Indiana for over 26 years, and having season tickets to the Indy 500 every year, the whole family has jumped on the bandwagon. Our 3 kids have been going to Indy Car races since they were very young, and my boys still meet my husband in Indianapolis every May for the 500. My husband is also up every Sunday morning listening to the current Formula 1 race.
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These were our seats at the race. I used my panorama mode on my phone. 

The track for this race is called "Circuit of the Americas". This is a beautiful facility out in the middle of nowhere. The area is dry and very dusty, as most of Texas is, and the track is also very hilly. To walk from our seats to the main grand stand is like a mountain climb. There is a trail or walkway that goes all around the track, and it is a great workout getting from one place to another. There were some workers cheering everyone on and telling them to pump their arms to get up some of the hills. They were so funny and I would have laughed with them if I could have caught my breath.
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This was the smallest hill you had to climb at this track

As with many sporting events there are women and men who just do not get the appropriate clothing and shoes to wear. We were at a Dallas Stars hockey game last month and there were some women there with skin tight, sleeveless, very short dresses with stiletto heels. Now if you have ever been to a hockey game you know it is very cold, and most people wear jerseys or heavy sportswear. Who are these people trying to impress? Just plain silliness.

Now, I am concerned about this woman's choice of footwear, if you can`t see she is wearing sandals, but she is also using a diaper bag as a purse. I watched her walk into the track, and she did not have a baby with her. Maybe she is on to something here, you can sit on the changing pad, and have plenty of storage inside. Or, maybe the baby is inside the bag. That maybe the only thing they let you bring into the track in your purse.

So, back to the races. We were sitting in the grass on Sunday, next to the walkway staying cool, before we had to go sit in the stands to bake. While I was sitting there, I was people watching, and just kept watching the shoes people were wearing. Now many of these people were walking on gravel and dirt walkways that were long and hilly. What shoes would you be wearing?

These were my sensible shoes.

This woman is wearing a boot with a heel that is too high to be walking around this track and if you look at her left foot it is even twisted a bit as she is standing. She should have used her companion as an example for the appropriate footwear to wear to a race.
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Flip Flops are for the beach, not the races. I cannot tell you how many flip flop people have to stop to get the rocks out of their "shoes". Ouch!

Slides are great shoes, but not at the races. Between the heel and the missing back they are a recipe for walking nightmare. Twisted ankle and rocks in your shoes. Yikes!

More boots that have way too high of a heel to be walking around this track. The guy looks like he is wearing Sperrys, at over $80 a pair. Comfortable choice but you hope no one spills something on them.

This boot is hard to see, I was trying to be discreet with my picture taking, but if you look behind the gym shoes you will see the pointy black and white toed red boot. The boots are awesome, and were probably very expensive, but they do not belong in the rocks, dirt and hills.

Last is my favorite cowboy boot. Now we are in Texas, and these are fun boots and probably expensive, and don`t even get me started on wearing white pants. Maybe wear these boots to a restaurant, bar, or a mall,  Why ruin them, or the white pants at a race track?

Enough about shoes, gotta run!