At thirteen, I had surgery to correct a nasty set of hammer toes. All four little toes. Both feet. The doc fused the joints and stuck a pin down through the bone; the pin stuck out the top of each toe at an L shape for about 6 weeks.
During that 6 weeks, I turned 14 which allowed me to go to our church youth conference--and to dance. I was supposed to be confined to orthopedic shoes and crutches, but there was no way I was going to be seen with either. I wore (I feel myself blushing in remembrance)lavender stirrup tights with a gusseted skirt and a long purple shaker sweater. I was styling! I can't recall what shoes I had picked out to wear, but I do remember dancing barefoot-- with all 8 pins sticking out the tops of 8 of my toes.
Often on my long rides, those fused joints rub together and cause all sorts of trouble. I had to stop backpacking after almost not making it out of a long trip through Wildcat Canyon and the West Rim in Zion.
Finding shoes my size is tough, but add on the restrictions caused by a couple really painful spots caused by that surgery and I have an ugly little problem.
Enter the Podiatrist...
I met with Doctor Scott today. He examined my feet, and the x-ray of my right foot and basically told me he could fix me up. I can't even tell you how excited I am. It could be sooner than later, depending on my work schedule (So far, I was asked to stay on another 8 weeks while a coworker is having some medical issues. Head down, keep working and laughing. Someday there may be something to tell). It would definitely be after the Triathlon--coming up so quick.
We ran this morning, which was really fun, hard, beautiful, cold. After we had been running for about 25 minutes, I got to a point where I was just done running. We started to walk the rest of the way to our cool down point (always at the apron of the curb) but my brain kicked in and started demanding that I finish the job. We ran the rest of the way.
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