Suffering for what I love

I took this picture of my left foot this morning.

Big toenail is slowly coming apart and falling off (it keeps catching on things so I've been clipping it down in an obviously haphazard fashion). Second toenail is easing off the nailbed, thankfully in a single piece. Third toenail has already fallen off; new toenail growing in.

These are all badges of honor from marathon day in November. Throughout all the weeks of training, I didn't do any damage to my toenails. In fact, I hadn't had any trouble with them at all since the first time I trained for a half marathon, in 2007. I lost four toenails after completing that one.

After doing so much more training -- for two additional half marathons plus the full -- without a single lost nail, I thought the first time had been a rite of passage and I'd never deal with toenail trouble again.

But apparently 26.2 miles were more than my toenails could bear. 20 miles? No problem. 26.2? Off come the nails.

Just a tiny example of the many ways running has changed me.