In praise of sore knees. And hamstrings.

And, what the heck? Let's praise painful toes while we're at it.

Why?

I'll tell you why. Because it seems that I have some kind of creepy power wherein I praise something and then -- poof! -- it goes away.

For example, remember how I've praised Exercise TV and all their great yoga programs? Yeah. So much for that. Exercise TV is now defunct. Defunct! As in, gone. No longer.

And Sportskool? I wrote about how much I liked their running programs and, you guessed it, they are out of the line-up. Sportskool is at least still on, but not the running programs. What gives?


To top it off, my new medical practice -- the one that I found after a really crummy experience with my last one -- announced that as of 3/1/12, they are no longer accepting my health insurance. Oy vey!


The way I see it, I should be able to shake my little aches and pains simply by praising them right here on the good ol' Internet.

And so I shall.

Give it up for Left Knee! Knee, you rock. Thanks for hurting on and off for the last month. You've made almost every run a challenge and that's cool. What's life without a whole bunch of challenges, right?

Cheers to Left Hamstring! You pretty much rock, too. It's terrific how you give me that twinge of pain on every uphill. Forces me to slow down. Thanks.

Next up? Right Toes! I know you guys are a little late to this party but I have to praise you for feeling so sore during any and all walking and/or running activity. I appreciate that. I have no idea why you guys are so sore but, yup, you're doing a good job at it!

Yeah! Way to go aches and pains! Keep up the good work!

(But I have to admit, if you go the way of Exercise TV, I might not miss you quite as much as I miss those perfectly coiffed and overly enthusiastic instructors. Just gotta be honest.)

Think it will work? Let's hope. In the meantime, do you miss Exercise TV?


Have a great week, everyone!

~ Felice

Half marathon obsessing.

As promised, I've been obsessing about Sunday's weather.  Every time I log on to my computer, my fingers seem to automatically start typing:   w-e-a-t-h-e-r-.-c-o-m. Go figure.

The forecast looked just perfect earlier this week and now, a little less so:

Not terrible. While I'd prefer to see 0% chance of rain I'm holding on to the fact that right now there is a 70% chance that it will not rain on Sunday.

No rain for Sunday. No rain for Sunday. No rain for Sunday.


I've also been obsessing about my feet and on that topic I've got good news and no news.

First, the good news: No more blisters! That's, I guess, what happens when you don't run for days. Huh. No running = no blisters. Amazing.

And now, the no news: Nothing new on the toe! Well, that's not completely true. It is no longer hurting all of the time. So, that's good. Very good, in fact. Tonight, I will try it out on a 4 mile run and hope that it is miraculously healed and ready to carry me through 13.1 fast miles on Sunday.

No pain in the toe. No pain in the toe. No pain in the toe.


Airborne, vitamin C, vitamin D and lots of water are my friends this week. Germy kids and public spaces are not.

No illness for Sunday. No illness for Sunday. No illness for Sunday. 


Yes, it is half marathon obsession time.

Three more sleeps!

~ Felice

Busted by Thomas the Tank Engine.

It must be race week, because I'm full of nerves and worries about setbacks.

My latest? Well, on top of the blisters, I now have a busted-up toe. Here's how it happened:

My 4-year-old loves Thomas the Tank Engine. And he loves to read books about Thomas, especially before bed. So, last Thursday he wanted to read this one:

It's a large hardcover. Conal was fooling around on the edge of his bed, holding the book in his hand, telling me he wanted me to read it. I was sitting nicely on the seat next to his bed. My foot was planted flat on the floor.

He dropped the book. And the bottom edge landed square on the joint of my right big toe:

If you've been with me for a while, you'll know that that particular joint of that particular toe is trouble. I have a bunion (as you can see in the pic) and arthritis in the joint (from the bunion, according to the foot doc) leading to limited mobility in that toe. Add in the minor plantar fasciitis that I have in that foot and my running health is a very delicate balance. 

One little thing and that balance can be thrown off so completely and then it's all doomsday, all the time.

Which is what is going on right now. 

I didn't run for 3 days after Thomas the Tank Engine busted my toe. On Sunday, I had to try it out for what was a planned 7-miler. I ran 7.72 miles at a 9 min/mile pace and the toe hurt the whole time. I was able to more-or-less ignore the pain and tell myself that it was really too bad that someone's foot was hurting -- good thing it wasn't mine!

Post-run? Pain. I iced and elevated. Monday, I iced. Today, I'll ice. I wish I could elevate but with two kids that's not easy. It's hard enough to work in the icing time.

Please, please, please let this toe heal before Sunday! 

My plan right now is to test it out on Thursday, after the toe has had a good bit of time to heal. Then, we'll see. I have no plans to sit out the race, because I've run through pain before and I know I can do it. So, I will just have to see how much pain I'll have to run through this time.

Until then, I'll worry. And ice. And try to distract myself by obsessively checking Sunday's weather.

Have you ever had a bad injury right before a race only to run well on race day? 

Let me know -- I need some confidence boosting!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice

Oh, blister!

Confession time: Whenever some otherwise tough major league ball player would be sidelined by a blister, I would scoff. So-and-so has a blister on the index finger of his pitching hand and will miss his next start. Yeah, that would be me, scoffing. What a wimp! Missing a start because of a little blister???

I take it all back.

And then some.

Blisters. Man, they suck. And I had no idea how much until now.

Sure, I've had a blister here and there over the years. But never, ever, ever have I had any blisters that have come even remotely close to being as painful as the one that is only slowly healing on my poor second toe on my right foot.

Holy cow.

Who knew a blister could hurt so much? OK, maybe a lot of people knew but I sure didn't. But, wow, yikes. It's a lot of pain. At this point in my half-marathon training, the last thing I need is an injury. The highly annoying blister forced me to take two days off. It caused me to alter my normal walking gait. And it is threatening to drive me crazy for real.

The blister surrounds the nail on my second toe. Yes, it is slowly getting better but that is only after a week of pain. I've tried everything that I can think of -- and that I was able to read about on Dr. Google -- and this thing is just hanging on and on.

On Monday, I was cursing it like nobody's business, wishing it was practical to cut the whole toe off because it was so painful. I couldn't run and felt like I could hardly walk. Unfortunately, I know that I changed the way I walked on Monday and Tuesday so my stupid blister ended up causing some secondary knee pain. Great. 


Yesterday, I tried it out on a short run and it felt OK but after the run the blister was huge.

Sigh. I really hope I'm not battling the blister for the whole fall. And I really, really, really hope it doesn't interfere with my half marathon.

Do you have any tried-and-true tips for dealing with blisters? 


Thanks in advance.

And now I'll leave you with this article about an inspiring runner: http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=23825

Have a great day! Hope your runs are blister-free.

~ Felice

Race goals.

Tomorrow's my big race. (You know, the one I've been yammering about for, oh, the last month or so?)

It's not an especially big race as far as participants go (I think there will be about 200 runners) but it's big for me. It's my first post-preggo race.

Yup, tomorrow marks 8 weeks since I gave birth and I'm celebrating with a 5k.

And although I haven't exactly trained for the race -- I've mostly just been running at a comfortable pace -- I do have some goals. Sure, it would be nice to say I just want to finish with a smile on my face but, let's be real. I want to run well. I want to run fast.

I know I'm not going to be all that fast, unfortunately, because I'm still carrying about 12 extra pounds. But I'll use this race to gauge where I am, fitness-wise. So, here's what I'm shooting for tomorrow:

• A goal: 25:13 or better. This was my time for my first 5K after Conal was born, 4 months postpartum.
• B goal: 27:11 or better. This was my best preggo 5K time, run when I was 5.5 months pregnant.
• C goal: 29:59 or better. I just don't want to finish in the 30s.

Do I have any idea how I'll do? Not really. If I want to sandbag, I could go on and on about the cough that I have had for almost two weeks now or my feet, which feel oddly like they are broken. Bum feet and congested lungs probably aren't setting me up for any PRs. But will they ruin my shot at a good time?

Nah.

I've run through coughs and foot pain before. I can suck it up with the best of them. It's only 3.1 miles, after all. I can run hard for 3.1 miles.

And that'll be my plan. Run hard. Run strong. Yup, that's my plan.

Have a great weekend, everyone! And to those of you who are racing: Run hard. Run strong!

~ Felice

Darn foot.

November is halfway over and I've already logged more miles than I did in October and in September! In September I ran 21.9 miles and I followed that with 21.4 in October. So far this month, I've run 28.9 free and easy miles! Yay!

Although, as I stand here typing, I'm reminded of the one thing that should temper my excitement: That little twinge in my right foot. Specifically, the ball of my big to and the arch area. Oh, that darn foot . . . it's the one with the bum toe(s) and the one that likes to cause problems now and then. I'm really hoping that now is not one of those times.

If it is, though, I'll have no one to blame but myself. See, as I've eased back into running, I started by running one day and taking two off. Then I went to taking one day off. Then, this weekend was 100% perfect running weather. Seriously. We're talking shorts and t-shirt weather.

So, I ran. Both days. After a speedy 5.1 miler on Thursday, I took Friday off. On Saturday, I went out for an easy 4 miler and had all intentions of calling it a week. But, well, then Sunday came around and it was sunny and warm and, you know, it's November after all and we don't get many sunny warm days in November. So . . . I ran again. Just 3 miles. Easy-peasy.

But now I've got the foot thing. There's a chance that my foot hurts because I squeezed into a pair of fancy shoes for my sister-in-law's baby shower on Saturday (grr . . . pregnancy caused my feet to expand!). I'm hoping that's all it is. I'm hoping it isn't from running. Because that would be a big bummer.

Whatever the cause, I'm not running today and, if the pain persists, I'll take tomorrow off, too. I'd rather a few extra days of not running than a prolonged injury!

I hope you all had a great weekend! It was beautiful here in upstate New York. Love the warm days in autumn!

~ Felice

Bloody run.

The upside is that I now have evidence that I have been running. The downside is that the evidence is physical. And a bit painful.

Let's start with the pain: The bloody, yucky chafing from my sports bra. Oh, yeah. Not good. I have about a 4 inch long chafed area on the underside of my right breast. It's no good. And you know what makes it worse? I'm breastfeeding. So, there's a lot of, um, action in that area and this chafing is not at all what I need.

I'd noticed a little bit of chafing a few runs ago, but it was nothing serious and didn't really bother me. Today? Well, today is a different story. I ran 5.1 (somewhat) speedy (for me) miles and, while doing so, my sports bra rubbed my skin raw. When I got back from my run it hurt a little. I went about my business until it was time to nurse my son and whamm-o! I sure noticed the bloody, raw chafed area then. Eek!

I've loaded it up with Aquaphor, hoping that it heals quickly. And, no. I will not wear that particular sports bra again.

Moving on . . .

After I fed my son, I took off my running shoes and saw this:

A bloody toe! Grrrr . . .

Not much pain there, just the blood. I believe that the nail from one toe dug into the side of another toe and made it bleed. There's a small cut but it doesn't hurt.

Sigh.

Aside from the chafing and the bleeding, my run was great. I ran progressively faster miles with my last 1.1 mile in 8:41 (7:53 pace, woo hoo!). And, I ran outside in shorts because it was sunny and brisk but not cold (mid-50s). Running in shorts in November is such a treat that it makes just about any run rock! Even those that end in blood.

Hope you're having a good, chafing-free day!

~ Felice

Week 2 of the PR plan.

My first week of training for my 5K PR went well. The intervals were fine. What was I worried about? There was one additional change to the plan, though. I was feeling a cold coming on yesterday so I ran an easier, shorter run (4.67 miles) than I had planned. No worries -- the easy run felt great and was just what I needed to keep the cold away.

The other thing I realized is that I really don't need to do hill repeats during this training cycle. I run plenty of hills over the course of my weekly runs (seriously! You should see how hilly it is around here!) so I believe it would be better for me to replace the hill repeats with a different speed workout. I'm going to try for 6 x 800 @ 3:35.

Here's what's on tap for this week:

Mon: easy 3m
Tues: easy 4m
Wed: 2 mile warm-up, 6 x 800 @ 3:35 w/400 rest, 1.5 mile cool-down (8 total)
Thurs: easy 4m
Fri: Rest
Sat: easy 4m, 4 x 100 strides, 400 recovery (4.5 total)
Sun: Rest

Total: 23.5

I pushed my rest days to later in the week because I'm running a tune-up 5K on Monday (8/7). I'm actually excited for the race because I haven't run one since June. It will be a good test for me.

In other news . . .

I'm in love with my orthotics! My much-anticipated orthotics arrived to very little fanfare about a week and a half ago. I've been wearing them in my trusty Brooks ever since. And, ho ho ho! What a difference they make. My legs feel terrific! Honestly. The orthotics make very little difference for my poor bunion-ized toe. But! My legs! It's like they've been realigned, oiled up and are now moving smoothly. I've noticed a real difference and it makes me wish I had visited a podiatrist years ago.

My advice to anyone who has even the tiniest glimmer of a spark of possible interest in visiting a podiatrist is to do it. Do. It. You can learn about podiatry and find a local podiatrist at the APMA web site here.

And two last things: I have a super-awesome guest post coming tomorrow and a giveaway post on Wednesday. So be sure to check back :-)

OK, everyone, I hope you all have a great week!

~ Felice

Orthotics! Where are you?

Well, it's been about two months since I had my appointment with the Magic Foot Doctor and I have yet to see my orthotics. I called the office to find out what's up because ai yai yai! I need them!

Yesterday, I was excited to head out for a regular ol' run around the neighborhood. When I did, though, my toes felt like they were going to break off. Seriously. With every step I took, my toes ached. I figured the pain was just from not running for several days so once I got in the groove they would warm up and feel better.

Nope. They continued to ache through my entire run. It started to get a little depressing. So, I tried to figure out why. I thought back over my day and the past few leading up to it and it all came together: Heels.

Oops!

Yesterday afternoon, just a few hours before I went out for my run, I was trying on dresses and some accompanying shoes, to plan what I would wear to the wedding on Saturday. I tried on several pairs of high-ish heels. Not high high heels, mind you. There were no spindly stillettos in the bunch -- I was mostly wearing 2/2.5 inch heels. But, well, those are apparently too high for this running gal with the bum toes.

Lesson learned. Again! One day, the lesson will stick with me. I swear it!

Now, I will just wait for the orthotics. They have to be ready soon, right? I hope so!

* * *

Heading out this afternoon to Maryland! Have a good day!

~ Felice

The Magic Foot Doctor!

Not only was yesterday my blog birthday but it was also the day of my big appointment with The Magic Foot Doctor, Curer of all Things Podiatry-ish.

I had, you could say, high hopes.

You know, like if the guy had opened a cabinet full of snake oil I would've taken it all, no matter the price. Desperate? Sure, I'll admit to being desperate. But it was more that I had finally decided to see a professional (as opposed to the self-diagnosing doctor that I pretend to be, late at night, alone with the Google search engine) that raised my hopes to ridiculous levels.

What, I now wonder, did I expect the guy to do? Hypnotize my toe? Not likely. My Magic Foot Doctor turned out to be a regular guy. Regular, tie-wearing, polite, business-like doctor guy.

He examined my feet. "You have bunions," he said. I agreed. "And it looks like you have only about 10 percent mobility in the right toe." Hmm... "And some bone spurs." Double hmm... "Maybe a little plantar fasciitis." Triple hmm... "And what we sometimes call a bunionette on the fifth metatarsal." OK, really, this is enough.

Diagnosis: Three bunions, bone spurs, plantar fasciitis. Of the three bunions, only the one on my right big toe is particularly bad because it affects both the top and side of the joint and has limited my toe's mobility considerably. But, Mr. Regular Foot Doctor Guy did say that the others would just get worse if left alone. He took a mold of my feet for orthotics and explained what would be involved in a bunionectomy. I don't even like typing that word, so I'm not going to go into the details. The bottom line is that I would be able to walk and drive after the surgery, but would not be able to run for two to three months.

Let's hope the orthotics work wonders.

I should get the orthotics in about a month and then I'll go back to Mr. Regular Foot Doctor Guy in three months. He expects that the orthotics will make a big difference. I can't wait!

So, that's that.

If you missed my last post, check it out and enter my birthday giveaway (the deadline is midnight tonight)!

~ Felice

Running injuries and treatment.

Take it and Run Thursday topic: Running injuries and treatment. OK, Runners' Lounge, I'll give you what I've got!

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I have a nagging, painful injury: a bunion on the big toe of my right foot. That one is chronic. Chronic, annoying and, after stopping the yoga, not getting much worse. But not getting better, either. There is little I can do (aside from avoiding high heels and using my yoga toes) while waiting for my appointment with the podiatrist but when I finally do get in to see that Magic Foot Doctor, and he magically takes away all my pain, I'll be sure to share whatever I learn.

Until then, what do I have for you? Well, you may recall that I've had several other minor running injuries that, unlike the bunion, have come and gone in a flash. If, that is, you consider a day or two a flash, which, when referring to running injuries, I do. Yes, aside from a twisted ankle last fall (which was a shopping, not running, injury) none of the injuries have kept me from running for long.

I believe that I owe my (mostly) injury-free running to the following:

• Rolling -- not stretching -- before a run. This may make some people cringe but, for me, stretching before running just wasn't working. My muscles need to be warmed up before I can stretch so I use The Stickto roll out my out my legs pre-run and save my stretches for afterward.
• Sitting on a tennis ball. OK, the humble tennis ball may just be my favorite running gadget of all. For real. At the first sign of a tight ITB, hip, or hamstring, I'm on the ball. Nothing works better (well, maybe weekly massages would but that's not in the cards . . .)!
• Resting when necessary. What I have found is that rest is often necessary. I rarely run more than three days in a row and never more than four. That's what works for me. My body operates best when I balance quality runs with rest. And when I feel an injury coming on, I'm not afraid to take an extra day (or more) off. I would much rather skip a run or two than a month of running.
• Taking on the hills. Maybe it isn't normal to love hills as much as I do but I swear by them. Hilly routes, hill repeats, hill fartleks -- I love them all. I believe that hills helps improve your form and strength and when you run them for speed, there is much less impact on your legs so the workouts are less taxing on your body. Hills are your friends!

That's what works for me right now. I hope some of it can work for you, too!

~ Felice

Friday review, a day late (this is becoming a habit . . . )

A while ago, and I've lost track of when because that's what happens when you get to be my age, I received two pairs of WrightSock socks to try and review. Since I love all things running gearish, I was very happy to try out the running-specific socks named, appropriately, Running II, as well as the pair of Coolmesh socks.

I will admit upfront that I am a Drymax-loving girl so there was a bit of comparison going on when I tried the new socks. For me, Drymax won out. I liked the Running II socks because they had a snug fit around the arch. But, I don't know, they just weren't right for me. The WrightSock socks are double-layer, to prevent blisters (you can read about it here), and I guess the double-layer thing doesn't work so well for me. They seemed slippery. To me, it felt as if the two layers just moved in different directions and I felt like my feet were slipping. It was weird. Maybe they were a little too big? I'm not sure -- there's a possibility that they would have slipped less if they were tighter but I just don't know.

Wearing these socks for cross-training, however, was fine. I didn't have the same slipping issues and the socks felt comfortable and kept my feet dry. But, for running, I plan to stick to my Drymax.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

~ Felice

Bit the bullet.

After years of complaining (really, years), I finally made an appointment to see a podiatrist about my bunionized toe. But, get this -- the earliest appointment I could get is June 10th. That's over two months from today. Where's the instant gratification in that? Nowhere, that's where.

And you know where else there is no instant gratification? Shoe shopping. I took all of your great advice about shoes and went hunting for a new pair. Ha! That was a big failure. I believe that I tried on almost every brand that people suggested and the shoes either didn't work with my toe or they were out of stock in my size. So, online I went!

That was a bummer, too. A lot of out of stock shoes, which means I may have to resort to wearing my Birkenstock clogs out of the house. In public. These guys. I mean, they're fine. It's just . . . well, they're ugly. And they're my inside shoes. They are, more or less, my ugly slippers. It's just weird.

I'm sure I'll get over it.

Speaking of getting over it, I'm so over that mean, mean lady in the minivan. Thank you all for supporting my rant! It helped.

I would like to make one thing clear, however: I have nothing against minivan mamas. Nothing. I drive a station wagon, after all (Yes, I know. You pictured me in a sporty coupe, right? Sorry to disappoint.).

Happy Monday, everyone!

~ Felice

Running nowhere.

I hit the treadmill yesterday and today. Just running along in my basement. The scenery is marvelous.

Or not.

It doesn't matter. It just feels good to run. My schedule and situation (and, honestly, wimpiness about the cold) is such that I need the treadmill in order to run during these winter days. Although, huh, today was in the 50s and I still didn't run outside. I did take my toddler for a nice long walk, though!

So, yeah, I'm glad I have the treadmill. I'm feeling pretty good, especially since my toe hasn't hurt much during my last two runs. My self-prescribed regime seems to be working well . . . so far. (If I was a superstitious person, I'd be knocking on wood right now.) I do still have twinges of pain but it is not nearly as bad as last week. I give a lot of credit to Yoga Toes. If you've never stretched your toes, I highly recommend doing so -- it's a real treat.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Ice-o-rama.

It's ice everywhere. That and downed trees causing power outages all around.

It's pretty, though:



And my little guy enjoys playing in the icy, sunny great outdoors:

No pics of him actually outside. But he was on his way, take my word for it. And, yes, that is his mitten falling to the floor. He can't keep them on. I've given up.

I feel extremely lucky that we didn't lose power at all. Many people lost power late Thursday night or early Friday morning and are still out. My parents were told their power won't be back on until Wednesday. No fun.

Since we haven't lost power, I was able to workout with Jillian Michaels and shred it up. Yep, still shredding. I also got in 5 miles last night and my foot felt relatively OK. I followed up with the toe exercises that I prescribed for myself after surfing many bunion and foot related web sites. Today, my toe feels naggingly painful now and then but nothing terrible. In other words, status quo.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Le Ab Rocket est arrivé!

Maybe I'm just in the mood for some Beaujolais Nouveau because, really, the Ab Rocket doesn't seem all that French. But somehow that's all I could think of since Mr. UPS stopped by my house: Le Ab Rocket est arrivé!

It's on repeat in my head and if there was anyone to talk to around here, I'd be saying it -- or maybe even singing it, which would be horrible since I can't hold a tune -- over and over. Le Ab Rocket est arrivé! Le Ab Rocket est arrivé!

Now that it has arrived, I kinda want to check it out. Just sneak in a few sit ups. Do you do sit ups with the thing? Or are they crunches? Or something else -- maybe rocket ups? Ab blasters? Dunno. I think I'll leave it be and allow my mom to use it first since it is her gift, after all.

I plan to ask her for a full review, however, which I will post here. So stay tuned!

On a more serious note -- yes, there is something more serious than the Ab Rocket -- I had a crap run last night. Crap because of my crap bunion. I'm bummed. Things have been going so well since my silly ankle injury and now my bunion is acting up. I feel elderly.

It's my fault and I shouldn't be surprised because I did wear high heels to my party on Monday and they always aggravate my bunion (right foot, big toe). But I didn't expect to be quite so sore during my run yesterday. I found that the pain wasn't as bad when I sped up, so I kept my pace fairly quick and was able to go for a few miles. Once I slowed down, though, I was in serious pain. And walking afterward was really tough. Today, I'm more or less pain-free so I hope to be able to run again this evening. Keep your fingers crossed!

Reading.

I finished reading Bart Yasso's book, My Life on the Run, about a month ago. I enjoyed it; it was a quick, fun read. At one point, I thought about posting a review but I didn't get to it before I had to return the book to the library. So, the review is gone forever. I will say that Bart's stories of far-flung and often loony runs and races gave me the itch to get out there and run some different races. I'll let you know when I actually start to scratch that itch.

Yesterday, I picked up Run Less, Run Faster and Ultra-Marathon Man at the library. I have a long-term goal of running another marathon in two years. It's just not on my list for right now but I think that fall 2010 will be the perfect time for me and the marathon. I can see possibly using the FIRST plan outlined in Run Less, Run Faster when I do get around to training for that marathon. We'll see if I use any of the techniques and training plans for my current runs. Since I'm working on my endurance, I'm hoping that I will pick up some tips from these books that will help me improve in that area.

Also yesterday, I had an enjoyable, easy run that had only one down-side: My socks! On most of my recent runs, I've been wearing the DryMax socks that I won from Runners' Lounge. Yesterday, they were dirty and I am not one for re-using the dirty socks. Too skeevy for me. So, I went for the Thorlos and . . . unh-unh. They made my feet feel heavy and hot. Lesson learned: It is time to splurge on a few more pairs of the DryMax! I've been trying to get by on the two pairs that I have (weak, I know!), but that requires a lot of coordination in the laundry department. I guess with the money I save from taking books out of the library I can afford some socks, right? Yeah -- why not?

Have a great day, everyone!

Feet, feet, feet!

This week at the Runners' Lounge Take it and Run Thursday, it's all about feet.

Oh, how I can talk about feet . . .

Being a runner means that I have some less than attractive feet. I mean, they're fine. It's not like people have to avert their eyes quickly after catching a glimpse of them. But, they just aren't the prettiest feet going. I have a bunion on my right foot, which has been a nagging problem for about 15 years, but has never been bad enough to do anything serious about. And I have toenails that are often black, in the process of falling off or just starting to grow back after having fallen off. So, really, not the most attractive feet.

Yesterday, one of my left toenails fell off. Don't worry, it didn't hurt. And it doesn't freak me out anymore. I'm used to it.

On Tuesday, I ran into some hamstring trouble, which I now believe was the result of a bunion flare-up. The bunion was causing some pain, so I'm sure I altered my stride and now I'm paying the price in the form of a sore hammie (both the ham and the bunion are feeling significantly better today, though).

Anyway, with healthy, injury-free feet being integral for running success, I've learned a few things along the way to keep my feet feeling as good as possible:

• Wear the right running shoes for your running style, and make sure they fit. I've made the mistake of squeezing into too-small sneaks and, believe me, it is no good.
• Don't walk around barefoot or in slippers. I wear Birkenstocks around the house, to fully support my arch and let my toes move about freely.
  
• If you have a bunion, take steps to minimize the pain as frequently as possible. I do big-toe adductors and toe extensors, two exercises I picked up from Runner's World. They work.
  
• Keep your feet and calves well-stretched. And massaged. I give my feet a nice rub-down when they need it and it really helps!

Now, one thing I haven't figured out is how to change the fate of my toenails. I've tried many different things, without much success, so I've mostly written the problem off to something I'll just have to live with.

Of course, I'm very open to tips and suggestions on the toenail thing if you have them!