That’s right, triathlon fans, I am about to go through the first-time experience of losing a beloved toe nail. After my very respectable run at the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman last week, I complained of severe pain in my second toe…the one right near the big toe. I have never before experienced this pain, nor could I figure out why this race had produced such pain.

It has now been 6 days after that race, and after 3-4 days of the second toe throbbing, I’ve noticed the coloring under the toe nail going more and more black with each passing day. Today, just about all of the surface under said toe nail is blue/black/purple. The pain seems to have gone away, but I am thinking this is what happens as a precursor to losing the toe nail. And because I’m such a nice person, I’m choosing not to post a picture of the nasty-looking sight at this point in time.

With any hope, the discoloration will go away without the toe nail falling off. I’ve also been told that if this toe nail falls off, it won’t be for a while, but that it would fall off some time while pulling off a sock or (gasp!) while in the pool! YUCK! For now, I’m happy it no longer hurts, but I still can’t figure out why this even happened in the first place!