Sneaky, Evil Blisters

I haven't been posting much because life has been kind of crazy - with good stuff, to be sure, but there still hasn't been a lot of time left in the day to blog, unfortunately.

Saturday's are normally my long runs.  This past Saturday, I suited up and went out, to a relatively nice morning. Unfortunately, I neglected to pull up my left sock all the way.  I realized this when my Achilles started to ache from the collar of my shoe rubbing one little spot raw.  I stopped, fixed the problem, and tolerated the discomfort of a budding blister for the rest of my run.

Through a series of unfortunate athletic events in the proceeding days, what was an uncomfortable little blister became a gaping flesh wound.  I discovered this (and I think mostly caused it) by roughly pulling my bike shoes off after my ride on Sunday.  When I put on my Newtons to get in a quick post-bike ride, it felt like someone was stabbing hot knives into the back of my ankle.  Sounds nice, doesn't it?  I spent Monday and Tuesday dutifully applying band-aids and Neosporin, letting it air out when I needed it and mostly just being annoyed by it.

Then came Wednesday.  Not one to let a little blister (or gaping flesh wound) deter me from a run (which it had already done for a few days), I slapped on one of those nice, thick "no-slip Blister Band-Aids."  I made sure it was really stuck on there.  Put on my socks and shoes and I was off.  I felt great: my legs were fresh, it didn't feel like an oven outside for once and it was just an all-around nice evening.  I planned to do about 5.5 miles.

A little less than two miles in, I started to feel a little rub.  And then I began to feel pain.  I glanced down and saw that my no-slip Blister Band-Aid (it was even name brand) was poking out of my sock, length-wise, and waving in the breeze like a merry little latex flag.  I stopped to try and jimmy it back into place, but it wasn't having any of it (safety note: when adjusting workout wear while running, try to avoid stopping in the exit lanes of parking lots so large black trucks don't honk their horns at you).  So there I was, cotton from my sock scraping my Achilles raw.  Good times.

Defeated, I cut my run short and ran, hobbled, and skipped my way back home, thinking of all the ways I wanted to punish this evil little bastard that has taken up residence on my ankle.  I see pre-wrap and bandaging in my future.  I'll probably go out looking like an idiot, but I will not let this thing beat me!

Also, if you haven't checked it out, E over at Tristarter is raising funds for Ulman Cancer Fund.  Every little bit helps. Ulman helps out kids and young adults living with the disease, and it's really a great cause.