WOGOR – Easing the Way

Losing toenails is normal. Apparently. Well, that’s according to the athlete husband. Ultra-runner & GB athlete Holly Rush often posts photos of her feet on Facebook and it’s enough to turn you off the long runs, if not your breakfast. I think it’s painful enough going from non-runner to semi-capable runner without adding unnecessaries.

I count chafed nipples as amongst the unnecessaries. I’ve lost count of the number of times the athlete has come back from a long run with bloody nipples. You’d think he’d learn – I learned bloody quickly. Don’t wear your sports bra more than once because that will chafe. Do wear bandaids over your nipples for runs longer than an hour, and for runs less than an hour an a half you can get away with paw paw ointment (keep this handy for when you’ve forgotten precautions).

Other things chafe, too. Cotton shirts, or anything remotely stiff will chafe under the arms. For everyone without the abominable thigh-gap, short shorts will result in inner thigh chafe. Wear lycra underneath, or at least talc up – shorts with seams in the inside leg are the worst.

But arguably it’s the feet that suffer the most. Firstly, of course, it’s a matter of good shoes that are a little too big. But I’ve also stumbled (ha! excuse the pun), over another piece of armoury: lube. I can’t remember what mostly inane American running podcast I heard this tip on, but it’s a good ‘un.

I trialled a basic Ansell silicon lubricant from the supermarket on the Sydney Trail Run Botany Bay 20km race the other weekend, and not a blister gained (in case you’re confused, you lube up your feet before putting socks and shoes on). A slightly unpleasant side-effect was that the mud worked with the lube to make my toenails a little grubby, but I think that’s a small price to pay.

For a tougher test – a lone 30km along the road in the Blue Mountains – I asked for advice from some experienced friends (not runners), who pointed me in the direction of a few basement-level shops in Kings Cross. Armed with terminology I was not familiar with I came away with Pjur-branded ‘analyse me’ which touts itself as not merely ‘extremely long-lasting’ but also ‘relaxing’. Apparently, even with all that amazingness, you’re still supposed to get excited by the fact that it contains jojoba.

I suspect rohypnol would do a better job than jojoba to relax one’s feet on a 30k run, however, I can attest that it was long-lasting. Despite over 3 hours of bitumen on a very warm, sunny morning, and wearing shoes that were virgins to that distance, the lube eased my way.

I wore a ‘runsie’ (how I ever lived without one before I don’t know), with short shorts yet only felt inner thigh friction at the 3 hour mark, and I escaped with only one blister on my very blister-prone feet. The following morning the athlete tested the lube on his nipples and short-line on his 35km Sunday run, and he survived intact (albeit with heat stroke on a 32C day).

I am looking forward to more unusual conversations in Kings Cross adult shops on my quest for the best, and I’ll certainly ask for sachet samples that I can take on long runs/the actual marathon for top-ups. Lateral learning is what I’m taking away from this one.