I ran 4 miles this morning! I ran 4 miles this morning! I’m so excited, I ran FOUR MILES.

Now if you know me, you probably know that I really shouldn’t be excited about that. After all, I typically average anywhere from 15-30 miles a week and run 3-5 mi most mornings during the weeks and even longer on the weekend. So why am I so excited?

Let me start from the beginning.Last week was the first official week of marathon training. What’s that? I forgot to tell you I was training for a marathon? Woops! So yeah – I signed up for my first full marathon (I did a half in Columbus a few years ago), Cleveland, May 2012. Anyway, long story short, B signed up too and jotted down Hal Higdon’s training schedule for beginners and determined that Day One of training would start January 17.

So January 17 starts out like any other day. I wake up, groggily, and head to the laundry area to get my running clothes, which I had put in the dryer the night before. As opened the dryer (which is on top of my washer) the iron that I had put on top of the dryer the night before also happened to fall – from about 6-7 feet- right onto my big toe. Before you close your eyes or shudder, let me answer a few of the frequently asked questions:

• When was the incident? The incident occurred approximately 6:55 a.m. on Tuesday, 1/17/12. Coincidentally Day One of marathon training.
• What exactly happened? The iron fell from the top of my dryer and landed on my foot. I don’t know how it landed – it hit my foot and bounced off and then I screamed in pain.
• Was anyone else around? Yes, B was sleeping but the sound of the iron hitting the ground, combined with my screaming obscenities, woke him up.
• Did it hurt? Yes. A lot. Thus the obscenity-screaming.
• Was the iron on? No. It was not plugged in and was not hot.
• What did your toe look like? It was swollen and bloody. The toe nail was purple. Because I had painted my nails the night before.
• Can I see a picture? No. I did, of course, take photos, but I will not post them on the blog. Gross. The last thing I want is my blog coming up in weird toe fetish searches!
• Was it broken? No, it wasn’t broken. I went and had XRays taken on Wednesday, 1/18/12. The dr also burnt a hole in the toenail to relieve some of the pressure from the blood that was pooling under the skin and nail. This was after they took the nail polish off my toe nail that I had just painted purple, the night before.
• Did you run that morning? NO! I had my toe iced and bandaged and elevated until about 3:30 p.m. when it finally stopped bleeding.
• Did you run at all that week? No. Sadly, marathon training was put off a week, while B continued to run. Oh, the irony (typically he is the non-runner).

So marathon training was put on hold for one more week, as was wearing heels, wearing my new Hunter boots (they were too hard on my aching toe), and walking to work (B drove me). But that didn’t stop me from having an awesome birthday week and hopping on the elliptical when I could finally, comfortably fit my foot back in my sneakers on the 22nd. And running 4 miles this morning!