The picture in that second link just dredged up last night's dinner from deepest depths of my colon and brought it right back to the top of my throat. posted by The Straightener at 6:14 AM on May 17, 2007
So does he only collect runners' toenails, or anyone's? Because I wish I had known about this a couple of years ago; I had a great one to send him. (Seriously stubbed toe, nail fell off a couple months later.) posted by Faint of Butt at 6:19 AM on May 17, 2007
Revolting, yet strangely attractive. If I didn't know what they were, I might think it was abalone. posted by scratch at 6:19 AM on May 17, 2007
I haven't even had breakfast yet this morning. Kinda disgusting! posted by winks007 at 6:28 AM on May 17, 2007
I was gonna get her some pearls, but then I thought, this is so much more personal. posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:29 AM on May 17, 2007
oh, how i wish i could unsee that photo.... posted by the painkiller at 7:34 AM on May 17, 2007
Can we warn people when the links we post are likely to make them physically ill? Please? posted by Gable Oak at 7:36 AM on May 17, 2007
Physically ill? Toenails? posted by chundo at 7:51 AM on May 17, 2007
Yeah, chundo, I'm not getting the disgusting factor here either. Believe me, I've seen things on this old Internet that I wish I could wash out of my brain, but a necklace made of grody old toenails barely registers on the grossometer. It's not made of severed toes, people; it's just nails. Sometimes they fall off. Deal with it. posted by Faint of Butt at 7:58 AM on May 17, 2007
Two words that just don't go together: Toenail and Necklace. I wonder if the germans have a word for it? posted by blue_beetle at 8:02 AM on May 17, 2007
blue_beetle, I'm pretty sure they call it die Zehennagelhalskette. posted by Faint of Butt at 8:07 AM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
I've got every toenail I've lost running ultras in my cufflink box at home. posted by OmieWise at 8:13 AM on May 17, 2007
Holy toe fungus! What the hell is happening with MeFi? In the past couple days there have been FPPs about nasty Japanese toilets, a mailman tossing a piss-filled latex glove out on the street, and now a toenail necklace.
Can't we just get back to our standard topics of politics, world events, and single Youtube whatwhattery? posted by schleppo at 8:19 AM on May 17, 2007
miss l., if you're here and have read this far down, you really don't want to look -- it's a bunch of grody dismembered toenails. You're welcome. posted by pax digita at 9:08 AM on May 17, 2007
Tacky. Men shouldn't wear jewelry. He should have fashioned them into cufflinks. posted by Atom Eyes at 9:10 AM on May 17, 2007
I think that's pretty rad. Except for the purplish one. Don't forget that this has been going on forever. posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:15 AM on May 17, 2007
The best part about keeping my gnarly old brown and purple toe talons around is that they're great to scratch my prolapsed rectum with. posted by The Straightener at 9:38 AM on May 17, 2007 [2 favorites]
Well, his comment certainly made me straighter. posted by hermitosis at 11:38 AM on May 17, 2007
The necklace wasn't that disgusting, talking about removing his toenails with needle-nose pliers was though. posted by BrotherCaine at 12:11 PM on May 17, 2007
The best part about keeping my gnarly old brown and purple toe talons around is that they're great to scratch my prolapsed rectum with.
Am I to understand that toenail loss before, during or after a marathon is common? Or that runners forceably extract their toenails before a marathon? 'Cause that's causing me much more mental trauma than the picture. posted by lekvar at 12:28 PM on May 17, 2007
Apparently it's called Black Toenail and it's caused by your toes banging around in an improperly fit shoe. It is apparently challenging to fit shoes right for marathons because feet can sometimes swell by a full shoe size.
It looks like getting a professional fit, learning to lace your shoes properly for your foot type, and possibly using inserts can help.
But apparently once you get black toenail, the nail can fall off or come off while running (and then rattle around in your shoe, slowing you down).
Yes, it also apparently hurts and can be accompanied by blisters under the nail. posted by kalessin at 1:17 PM on May 17, 2007
lekvar - no, no one extracts their toenails before a marathon, that is dangerous, prone to infection and would just hurt too much.
However, it's common for ultrarunners to lose a toenail or few after a gruelling event. And the toenails eventually grow back, that takes a few months, but then they detach much easier when traumatized again.
I've pretty much lost every one of my toenails (not all at once!) over the years. And now either of my big-toenails will typically get hurt and fall off about once a year.
I run lots, and I also hike on rocky rooty terrain over weekends or during a weeklong adventure.
the first time it happened I hurt a LOT before the nail became black, then stopped hurting and eventually fell off on its own.
The second time it happened, it still hurt, but the gross-out factor was lesser.
I don't know too many ultrarunners on the ultra list who have preserved all of their toenails during their running years. It's a rite of passage - you read about it, it happens to you, you deal with it, you get over it.
Remember, ultrarunners run distances longer than a marathon (eg longer than 26.2 mils) during their events. These races could be 50k, 50 miles, 100 miles or even longer. And they train and train and train some more, leading up to these events.
So yeah, there might be a loss of a toenail or few during a training year.
But this is the first time I hear of a necklace (honouring some pretty courageous ultrarunners, too). Very funny, very gross. posted by seawallrunner at 1:21 PM on May 17, 2007
yuck. Can we request a NSFL {Not Suitable for Lunch} tag?
Anyone want my fusilli with black mushrooms in cream sauce, I can't finish it. posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:37 PM on May 17, 2007
When body parts start falling off, is that a sign that "healthy sport" has become "unhealthy obsession"? posted by Cranberry at 1:45 PM on May 17, 2007
Seawallrunner, do you get a toenail fungal infection after losing toenails? That happened to a friend of mine, and now she cant get rid of it. posted by BrotherCaine at 1:46 PM on May 17, 2007
There is at least one ultrarunner who had his toenails surgically removed and the beds cauterized so they wouldn't grow back. He's reportedly very happy with the results, and he is a good runner.
(I've never gotten fungus from losing a nail, but then I only lost nails my first couple of long races, after that they've gone partially black but never come off.) posted by OmieWise at 1:59 PM on May 17, 2007
BrotherCaine: I know how she can get rid of it, but she's not going to like it. When I was a wee intern one of the surgeons grabbed me in the hall one afternoon and asked me to help him with a case. We scrubbed in and I saw that the patient had been prepped so that her toes were exposed, which threw me because I was used to assisting (read: pulling blindly on a retractor for three hours) in the standard abdominal surgery of the day. The surgeon explained that this woman had had a problem with chronic fungal infection of her toenails and had finally gotten fed up and agreed to have them removed. All of them. I was handed a pair of mosquito clamps and told to go to town on the right foot. He showed me how to stick the closed clamps all the way under the toenail then open them to separate the toenail from the underlying tissue, then grab the toenail and pull it off. Once we did so blood oozed up from the exposed nailbed; we cauterized these areas and that was it. And that woman I presume is walking around today with no toenails. posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:02 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
Wow, thought it was just me. Never thought to keep it, though. Wish I had known it was common at the time. Kinda freaked me out. posted by dreamsign at 11:07 AM on May 18, 2007
Weird -- I know that Mark Williams! We work at the same place here in St. Louis. posted by bkeaggy at 1:58 PM on May 18, 2007
posted by Dave Faris at 6:07 AM on May 17, 2007