A farewell to… feet

Picture by brokinhrt2

The other day I went along to the amazing spa in Bath for a bit of rest & relaxation.  It was a great way to unwind and loosen the body up.  The massage was fantastic, until the slight realisation and resulting pang of guilt when the poor masseuse had to touch my feet.

My feet are currently in pretty good condition, however I suddenly became very aware that this is on a relative scale for me as a runner, and not for the any type of scale used by the general population.  I am in no danger of becoming a foot model anytime soon!

At the time of writing I have 6 full toenails, 3 partials & one gone, and I also have a moderate blister on my little toe.  I consider this a pretty high score in the toenail stakes and general condition of my feet.  On my facebook page somewhere still lurks a shot of them after the Lakeland 100 race, where they were about 90% blister, were in the process of losing 8 toenails, and so looked as if I may have contracted leprosy. 

And this wasn’t something anyone warned me about before I started running.  I was ready for it to hurt, and had warnings about niggle and injuries (particularly knees – most people seem to assume a runners knees disintegrate with a week), but no one ever said that my feet would begin to look like props for a horror film.

I was mildly blessed as my feet weren’t a picture of beauty to begin with, but I just thought I would share this so any new runners may know what to expect.  So be aware, but not overly worried as:

       1.       It doesn’t hurt.  I find toenails just sort of eject themselves, and fall away on their own.  In no way is it like having a nail pulled out, so don’t panic.

       2.       Toenails serve no purpose.  Absolutely none.  So, in some ways it is like an evolutionary step forward by removing redundant bits.

And if you are worried about what your feet look like, at least they will look better than these – [Warning – horrible feet pictures].  

Well most of them…. at least some of the time.