Ironing Out Some Bugs

Apparently I'm being punished for the cocky way I've been thinking about things lately.  Yup, I've been feeling pretty smug about my training -- boots feel great, no hot spots or blisters, nothing else hurts...much.

Then I did an uphill-downhill hike, about 3 hours round trip.  And my 2nd toe -- you know, the one beside the big toe -- was sore at the end.  Like pressure sore. Lasted a few days.  Even the weight of the sheet on it in bed hurt a little.  So I picked up one of these to try out -- a gel toe protector. One size fits all and you just cut it down to fit, even if your toes aren't well...even if they aren't quite separated all the way.  Okay, webbed.  Even if you have webbed toes.  But dang if that thing didn't work.  Test drove it on my next two uphill-downhills and no more pressure toes.  They're washable and reusable.  I'll be picking up a couple of those for sure.

But the next little bug has me perplexed.  A red rash on the inside of both legs just above the ankle.  Right where my sock ends. And it can't be an allergy to my socks.  They're merino wool and I've been test driving them for a year with no problems.  The first time it happened I thought maybe I had my boots laced too tight and they were chafing.  But it's happened twice since and I know that's not the case.  It's kind of like...remember when you were a kid and you'd put a glass over your mouth and chin then suck in so the glass would stick to your face without holding it?  And then when you took the glass off, the blood had been pulled to the surface of the skin and it left a big round goofy circle on your face so that everyone knew what you'd done?  Well it's kind of like that.

I sort of self-diagnosed it as a heat rash but it's not sore or itchy or bumpy -- not like those pus filled bumps in the pics on the internet (shudder).  It's just there.  And it goes away in a few days.  So do I just ignore it?  Cross my fingers and hope for the best?

I'm open to suggestions.


Book Review:  Two Canadian novels for your consideration...

If you like to be bashed over the head with a series of unending metaphors and similes, read Lullabies For Little Criminals.  Some of them were quite lovely, some were exquisitely descriptive, but even a good thing can be overdone.  And the story telling just seemed random, one thread disappearing into another.  Perhaps that accurately reflects the thought processes of 12 year Baby, a kid growing up on the streets of Montreal.  But it just reminded me too much of all the kids I use to deal with when I was policing. All the kids who didn't stand a chance from the get go.  Some people call this book heart-wrenching.  For me it was just plain depressing.

I read Rush Home Road, the first novel by Lori Lansens, after I read her subsequent two books, The Girls and The Wife's Tale, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Rush Home Road did not disappoint.  Told in the present day and in flash backs, it examines the life of Adelaide Shadd, a black woman who, in her declining years, takes in a six year old girl abandoned by her mother.  Lansen's characters are her strong suit and in Addy Shadd she's created a woman I very much enjoyed getting to know.