The Toes Knows

Today was one of my new favorite workouts: 2x800 during a 6-mile run. As I probably mentioned when I did this before my last race, it's just plain fun to go all out for about three minutes at a time. I told the wife I even ran faster than a 4-minute mile, albeit for only a few seconds. This is a good, tiring workout that lets you feel the wind through your hair - if you have any. The weather was cool, and a nice stiff breeze from the south made it interesting, but at least that was against me during the downhill part. Still, it was cool enough to wear a long-sleeve technical shirt and long pants.

And now for an update on the toes: last night I was at a chain bookstore looking through the running section, and I found a book by Hal Higdon, who was the speaker at the Columbia Heart of America Marathon in September. The book had him answering questions about various aspects of running, one of them being the "black toe" malady that infects long distance runners, including yours truly. With all due respect to Mr. Higdon, who has way more years of success and experience than I do, there is no way I'm sticking a needle through my toenail to drain the blood underneath it when a blood blister forms. Yeesh. After that race in Columbia, I've lost three toenails on my right foot. The big toe, which has grown back about halfway, will take many, many months to look normal. The second toe is strangely intact, but the middle toe is just weird. The blood was under the left side of the nail, which I've had to cut away since it was coming loose, but the right side of the old nail is hanging on for dear life. The fourth toenail came off completely the other night, while the pinky just ignores the rest and seems to be fine. And the toes on the left foot? They look at their brethren and snicker because for some reason, nothing bad ever happens to them, even on a hilly run like the course in Columbia.

And that's way more info about my toes than I've ever written, anywhere. My shoes have plenty of room in the toebox, but the problem is - and the wife has been proven right on this one - sometimes the toenails get too long and jam up against the top of the shoe when I run, and that's what causes the problem. It's a good thing we're not judged by our toes, 'cause they're just funny-looking, injured or not.