Maybe my brain is just oxygen starved...

So very few people in my "regular" life can appreciate what we runners go through on a regular basis in order to be runners. They know that anything over a mile is "a lot" and that we are some of the very few people that will appear in crowd of several thousand people without showering, without makeup WHILE wearing spandex. To most of the people in my "regular" life, this just boggles the mind. The only other people who might consider doing this (at least the no showering/no makeup thing) are those crazy campers... yeah, okay, I'm one of those too... so that's a second strike that makes me look just plain weird to the people in my regular life.

I guess all of this is to say that I wanted to share something with you all out there, my cyber running buddies that many people just won't appreciate. A few weeks ago I posted a blog about how I had multiple toenails that are receding. Well, on the up side of things, I'm happy to report these toenails are all still hanging in there. None of them has really receded that much further and I'm starting to reconcile myself to the fact that I may just have 1/2 toenails for the rest of my life as a runner. What I hadn't expected is what happened this week during my long run... my toes weren't particularly happy about Tuesday's run, but then they never are. Let's face it, 13 miles is a lot to subject any part of your body to and the toes are going to suffer, so I really hadn't given it that much consideration until I was done an peeled my icky, sweaty socks off. It was then that I noticed it... a blister in a spot where I used to have toenail! Agh! Talk about adding insult to injury!

Of course, my brain, being the sick and twisted thing it is, took this to the next logical step... what happens if I start to develop a callous where this blister currently resides? I already have callouses coming up on the tips of most of my toes from blisters that used to come up there on a regular basis. Now, if one were to develop where the toenail used to be, would this one lone toe have a "callous helmet" of sorts covering the entire top of that toe? Hmm... There's some food for thought!

Anyway, I know that my running buddies will appreciate that sad irony of this situation and maybe won't see it as quite as "totally out there" bizarre as those "regular" people around me who don't choose to go pound pavement on regular basis... at least I hope this is the case!

Tuesday's Run
13.0 Miles
2:28:12
5.26 mph
11:24 pace

No, I'm not talking finance, I'm talking toes...

Recession (noun): to move away; retreat

No, I'm not talking about the economic situation here, there are far more qualified people to discuss this on untold numbers of websites & blogs. No, what I'm talking about today is the unfortunate action my toenails are taking. Now, I've knows quite a number of people to actually lose toenails - my SIL is among those ranks - but it occurs to me to wonder how many people have receding toenails. It also occurs to me to wonder exactly how far my toenails will recede before just giving up the ghost altogether. It's been a slow, morbidly fascinating journey into toenaillessness.

I have been watching the deterioration of my toenails over many months now and today in an effort to take stock and try to keep them from snagging or tearing, I clipped & filed them down to where the quick(I use the term loosely) currently resides on each toe. Right now I have at least 5 toenails (yikes, I just realized that's 50% of my toes!) that are in various stages of decline. A couple of them have started to work loose at the sides, but all of them are much smaller toenails than they ever used to be before I started running.

What I do find surprising about this is that it is my middle toes on each foot that are battling to retain their nails. I always figured that if I lost a nail it would be on one of my pinky toes as they are seemingly the most susceptible to abuse and my ugly little pinky toes tend to curl under, which I would think would put even more stress on them. My middle toes are unremarkable. None of them are longer than my big toe and I always just figured they hung out there in the middle and played only supporting roles in my ability to balance and propel myself forward. However, if the nails are any indication, this is anything but the case.

I guess I should be grateful in some ways. My toenails are not going through any kind of catastrophic event where they come loose quickly (and painfully). They're not bleeding, they're not painful at all, and for the most part they've stopped blistering. Still, I have to wonder if the receding toenail(s) is enough to be able to wear the "Toenails are for Sissies" t-shirt as a badge of honor. Technically, I still have all 10 nails, they just cover significantly less area than they once did. Hmph.

Yesterday's Run 
7.70 miles
1:29:29
5.16 mph
11:38 pace

Monday's (Long) Run (although it wasn't pretty, after last week's back incident, I guess I should just be thankful to be able to run a long run at all!)
12.40 miles
2:30:15
4.95 mph
12:07 pace