Another toenail, that is!! How ironic that today's Take It and Run Thursday over at the Runner's Lounge is care and feeding of your feet. It's like they knew.
Well, if there has been anything that's been affected by new love of running, it's my poor feet. I lost 2 toenails after the Boston Run to Remember half, and then for the longest time I was getting bad blisters on both insteps of my feet. So, I went up another 1/2 size in shoes, and have tried 4 different brands of running socks - Thorlos, Balengas, Wrightsock and finally, Sole. I love the Soles and my blistering has healed up - of course, it could be the hot and humid weather diminished, which help! I also started taping with Leukotape.
Now, I have always prided myself on having some very nice feet. I remember when I was younger my mother had the most God awful looking feet - all white and crusty looking on the heels - thick yellow toenails. Blech! I swore I would never have feet that looked like that! So, I get very frequent pedicures - every 2 weeks in the summertime and every 3 weeks in the winter.
Other than big thick callouses on my big toes things with my feet have been okay. I stopped having my pedicurist do anything with those callouses because not having them was making my toes hurt during my long runs. However, a few weeks ago I ended up getting a couple of blisters on the toe next to my big toe on my right foot - of course, that's one of the toenails I lost in May. Well, the blister was actually underneath the nail, and when I drained it the nail started sinking into the nailbed, which started hurting.
So, last night I pulled out the rubber tub and filled it with water and Epsom salts and stuck my feet in for a nice soaking. Once the nail had softened up...you should stop reading now if things like this gross you out...I pulled the nail off. It did feel better, but since it wasn't really ready to come off there's a section that's still tender. As my friend Jen's mom says "it's angry".
I made sure to spray it with antiseptic spray and popped a bandaid on it, and didn't have any trouble with my run this morning. I'm sure it will be fine in a couple of days, and soon I'll have a brand new toenail. I wonder if Jeanine will give me a discount when I see her on Sunday for my next pedicure? I mean - I only have 9 toenails to paint now!
Oh, so advice.
1. Make sure you have shoes that fit! Your feet WILL swell - so don't be shy about going up 1/2 to a full size from your regular shoes. Your feet will thank you.
2. Don't even think about wearing cotton socks. WICKING is the WORD.
3. Treat yourself to a pedicure. Maybe not as often as I do, but your tootsies are working hard, they need some love. Give it to them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
1. My run shoes are 2 full sizes bigger than my regular shoes due to toe issues. Asics Gel Fortitude.
2. I only wear Pearl Izumi silk lite socks when running.
3. I change my shoes every 300 miles. Religiously!
4. I tape the sides of the ball of my foot where I get hot spots.
5. I get pedicures about once a month (to once every 6 weeks) to deal with the large calluses on the side of big toe and wear I tape. Otherwise I get blisters from the calluses. I just tell her not take too much off. And to keep my toenails form cutting into the sides of my toes when I run. Plus I can't paint my own toes worth a damn!
I still occasionallly lose the toe nail off my second toe. It is longer than my big toe (monkey-like ew!) and takes a beating sometimes.
I went this year and finally got fit right for a pair of running shoes and I was buying shoes about a size and a half too small! It's a wonder I didn't lose any toenails or have severe blisters. But - then again I was training about half as much as I am now. Thank God for good shoes and socks! I haven't tried the Sole yet. I've been a Thorlo gal myself, but I'll have to check them out. Thanks!
Post a Comment