Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Ewwww....

The goal of today's post is to gross you right the fuck out!  So, if you are squeamish or don't like gross things, I would highly suggest that you skip today's post.  

Are you still here?

Ok, don't say I didn't warn you!

So - I'm not a foot person.  But I wear sandals as soon as it gets warm until it's just too damn cold so I have always tried to keep my feet nice.  That becomes EXCEEDINGLY difficult as a runner.  Runners don't tend to have nice feet.

AND have you heard that runners often lose their toenails when they start upping distance?  Yup.  In fact, some people say you aren't a "real" runner until you've lost a toe nail.  

A couple months ago my one toe started really bothering me after runs.  It is a nail that has always kind of pointed up.  And then, while inspecting it, I noticed there was something that appeared to be a cut on top.  I thought it was a cut and that's why it hurt, but turns out that it was a hole my body created to release pus from my nail getting ripped up and subsequently dying.
 

For at least 2 weeks, this toe just KILLED me.  And you can see the little hole at the tip?  I would squeeze the toe and pus would actually BUBBLE out.  It was disgusting and incredibly painful!  

And then the toenail died and a new one started to grow up under it.  The top one turned black.  Fortunately, the pain completely goes away at this point.  


See the black?  The toenail is attached at the base, but otherwise pulls right up at this point.

And then this week it kept catching and so I detached the whole thing.  





There it is!  My pretty, painted, removed toenail.

The toenail underneath is NOT pretty.  At all.  It is thin and wrinkly.



But, where it is growing at the base it is thicker and more healthy looking.

So two good things - we are now headed out of sandal season so it has time to grow in.  AND it appears to be adhered to the bottom skin which it hasn't been for as long as I can remember.  So hopefully that means that it will stay that way and this won't happen again!

Ok, were you grossed out?  Because Marc is really disgusted by this whole thing.  And, sickly, that kind of makes me happy!  LOL

 

4 comments:

  1. The definitive rite of passage for a runner. I lost my big toenail a few years ago, that sucker took MONTHS to fall off. It was the ugliest part of my foot for a long time. Now it is normal, and the calluses are the ugliest part. But they're well earned.

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  2. This is my first time reading your blog....and I cringed. lol But I can't help but look! lol Hope your new nail grows in fully!

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    1. Oh No! You picked a bad day to read me for the first time! Hope you stuck around and read some more posts!!

      Jen

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  3. As a runner I have never lost a toenail. I was actually told that was a sign of an ill fitting shoe that isn't the correct size. Might be something to think about...

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