I’m not sure who “they” are, but I wish I could have sat down with them before this last marathon for a little chat regarding toenails and what running back to back marathons might potentially do to them. I’ve not posted a picture of what happened (no need to thank me), but I’m happy to tell you the story here, for your benefit as much as mine, as I’m sure reading this in the years to come will serve as ample warning to let my feet rest lest I lose ALL of my toenails.

During our race in San Antonio, around mile 22 or so, one of the toes on my left foot started feeling funny. Aching, throbbing, numbness — but I figured it was just something that happens that hadn’t yet happened to me and dismissed it. After the race when I took my shoes off, I looked at it, but because I was wearing toenail polish, I couldn’t tell that there was any kind of problem and declared it just fine. (Yes, I’m just that stupid, y’all.) Still, it felt really weird, but I chalked it up to aches and pains and went on.

Only recently have I taken off the toenail polish to discover that my toe is black. Yes, completely black. A quick online search showed that, yes, this happens, and I followed the best advice out there, which said to trim back what I could so that it could bleed out a little. (Ugh. I know, I know.) I was happy to try it but was alarmed by just how much blood began spurting out from my feet. I told Wes this might just be the end of my running days, as even putting weight on that foot to walk made the blood spurt MORE. Ick.

The good news is that the toe is looking better thanks to my minor surgery on it. And I’m slowly getting back into running since we have another race coming up in less than fifty days. I’m really, really doubting the wisdom of doing the half marathon and the marathon at Disney, instead of just calling it a loss and doing the marathon alone. If I do that, though, I know I’ll be kicking myself afterwards, wondering if I could have done them both, even if it means losing all of my toenails in the process.

Hmm… I guess they’ll grow back eventually, right?