My Dear Departed Toenail

I lost a toenail today.  I've heard of this happening to runners but I really never thought it would happen to me.  I just didn't think I was hardcore enough into running that I'd experience this.  I haven't logged a bunch of miles, nor do I run very fast, but I guess those aren't factors when it comes to losing toenails.  My shoes fit perfectly, but when I bought them, I didn't realize that I should have bought a half size or even full size bigger.  Size didn't seem to be an issue.  Even after a longer run I didn't notice any pain or discomfort or swelling.  Last week sometime I noticed a little pressure on my toe, but I just assumed it was from wearing different shoes at work that I hadn't worn in awhile.  And maybe that's part of it too.  Anyway, today I noticed that my nail was coming up more than it should.  My heart dropped.  Stuff like this totally grosses me out, not to mention I thought it'd hurt when I removed the nail.  It wasn't so bad.  It burns a little now, but it wasn't attached anywhere but the base of the nail, so it had to come off otherwise it probably would have hurt worse if I'd caught it on something.  (After doing a little post-nail removal research, I found out this was not the best course of action - but it's too late now).

hard to see, looks like it's still there, but it's not. man, feet are gross.

This little issue makes me nervous about running though.  I'm not worried about losing more nails.  Now that I've done that and realize it's not a big deal and doesn't really hurt, I'm not too concerned.  It's the actual pressure of my shoes and socks on the exposed nail bed that I'm worried about.  I guess I'll just go with it and see what happens.  I hope this doesn't stall my training...

I am pushing my schedule over a day, since I did those four miles yesterday.  I was kind of sore this morning, though not as sore as I'd anticipated.  My body must be finally getting used to something.  Anyway, today I decided to do my version of a speed run on the treadmill.  I just did one mile and I wanted to see how fast I could do it.  Of course, I did this backwards.  I started out strong and fast and ended pretty sloppy and slow.  :/  I did it under 12 minutes, but I was hoping for under 11.  I'm going to keep doing this from time to time on my rest days, just to see if I can increase my speed.  I still have a goal for a 35 minute 5k race and I'm getting closer.  Ideally I'd like to shoot for 30 minutes, but I'm just not seeing it with my slow pace.  But I'm just going to keep working on it.  :)

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