Pain In The...Foot

I like to give fair warning, so - To anyone who is slightly squeamish, you may want to avoid reading this posting.

Not even a week after running the Hartford Marathon two years ago, I found myself sitting in the chair at the podiatrist's office. I had lost one toe nail during my training and was having the second one (which was only hanging on my a thread) removed. The doc was fairly certain that I would have no problem regrowing my nails, but I was terrified. 'Oh my goodness, what are the ladies going to think when I get a pedicure? I'm a freak, now.' But, in time both nails grew back. However, for about six months, they were not pretty. They grow back extremely thick, uneven and yellow-ish. ICK to say the least!

Yesterday was the first day that I started to notice the unpleasantries going on with my feet. I developed tears, not blisters, actual tears on my heals from my sweaty socks rubbing against them. I also earned a huge blister about twelve layers of skin deep on the lower tip of my right big toe - that one is especially fun. And, operation toenail snag has already begun on the second toe on my right foot.

Here's the root cause of my problem - I have this strange phenomenon with my feet where my second toe is longer than my big toe. This is NOT how things are meant to be and running shoes are certainly not designed for weirdos like me. So, my toe repetitively rubs up against the front of my shoe and slowly pulls the nail away from the nail bed. That sounds really yummy, right? Well, there are many things about running that are far more disgusting. And, I warned you prior to reading that it wasn't going to be pretty.

So, I am not prepared to shorten my toes to avoid this, but I am prepared for the inevitable loss of my precious toenails. More to come on this over the next two months, I'm sure. Oh yes, two months from tomorrow is the race!