Three weeks post-marathon, and everything is back to normal. I’ve started a new on-going blog about running and writing and everything else at salticid.com/kogblog called “Keep on Going,” so this is the final post in this blog. Here’s a link to the interactive Number Concentration Table game (as recommended in The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer for learning focus), because that’s a small but I hope lasting contribution to the online running community.

I have one more marathon-related anecdote (it’s gross if you’re not a runner, so consider yourself warned). The week after the marathon we visited my family in New York. I did quite a bit of walking in my everyday shoes and must have irritated the middle black toe on my left foot. It started to feel warm and sore the day after we got back. That night I couldn’t get to sleep because it was hurting so badly. I saw that behind the blackened area, there was an inflammation with pus building up under the nail and causing the pain. I didn’t want to have to go to the emergency room (especially because the nearest one is still half-an-hour away) for something so trivial, and anyway I knew they’d prescribe antibiotics which I try to avoid whenever possible. (Please, let’s save them for when we NEED them & not help generate resistant bacteria by overprescribing antibiotics for minor ailments! Don’t get me started on antibiotics in animal feed–how could that EVER be considered a good idea…) I remembered someone saying he drills a hole (!) through the top of the nail to relieve the pressure, but that sounded a little too drastic. I soaked my foot in hot water for 10 minutes, then sterilized a sewing needle and pushed it in just under the nail–to my surprise, it didn’t even hurt because of course the black area was dead anyway. Some pus flowed out, I worked on it a little more, and soon it felt much better and I was able to go to sleep. The toe feels completely normal now. All four black toes have kept their nails so far and the color has faded a little bit.

Happy running, all!

One thought on “

  1. Congratulations Hilary! I had forgotten to check back on your marathon. Great report, great run. You should be so proud. Very inspirational:)

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