I was so excited to get my new shoes that I made the stupid decision to take them out for a 5 mile run before properly breaking them in. About halfway in, I felt the familiar burning and stinging of skin rubbing on shoe and I knew things wouldn’t be pretty when I got home. Sure enough, my right ankle was drenched in blood and my beautiful new shoes were stained a ruddy shade of red.

My feet look like hell. I have a habit of kicking the inside of my right ankle with the toe of my left foot as I run. This left a gaping hole there during last year’s marathon training, which is now a lovely scar. The backs of my feet looked like they were attacked by rabid dogs after a 10-mile winter training run that involved wearing shoes that were frozen solid. I couldn’t even bear to put shoes on for a week after that one.

I’m a diabetic. I should be taking extra care of my feet and wearing the oh-so-stylish diabetic shoes that come in everyone’s favorite color…old people tan. Instead, my feet look like I soak them in a bath filled with piranhas.

I know exactly what will solve all of the foot problems listed above, but I can’t do it…there is no way I can run with socks up to my ankles. If I could, I would run without wearing any socks at all. I managed to give birth twice without any pain meds, so I can handle the pain of running with bloody feet. I just hate what it does to my shoes…