It was disgusting. Not to mention painful. And it was strange going from running over a marathon every day for 3 days in the fantastic XNRG Druid’s Challenge to barely being able to hobble around the Trail Running mag office. Look away now if you are squeamish…

Oh dear, who was wearing the wrong shoes for a 29 mile run then? And then followed it by two more marathon days of running ignoring it?

The annoying thing is, they got worse! But I won’t put you off your fish n chips with that sorry sight. First week I was hobbling, the next week (last week) I did a lot of core-exercises and hilly fast-walking in the Lake District (legs and lungs felt GREAT thanks to Rory Coleman and his amazing nutrition and training plan that I’ve been following for the past 4 months training for The Coastal Challenge Costa Rica this Feb), but my little toes were very painful – amazing how excruciating it is for the nail to come loose and bash the nail bed with every step.

So when the nail dropped off on Sunday night I was very pleased. It was icky, but a whole lot less painful. So I’m about to go and do my proper body-bashing circuits session from Rory, then run my legs off at the Stamford Striders club session tonight. I can’t blimin’ wait, it’s been 2 weeks! Far to long not to run. But probably accidentally quite good recovery from 3 marathons in 3 days…

Moral of the story? Never wear shoes that you know give you blisters at 20miles for a 29mile race when you have another two marathons to do over the next two days. Silly Claire. Lesson learned.