A Miracle Happened!

Last weekend, during the last of my twenty-mile runs in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon, I ran twenty-one miles—are you ready for this?—blister free! That’s right, people, blister free!

Never before in my life have I run that kind of distance without experiencing some sort of major foot discomfort (i.e., run myself lame) and I credit it to the following things:

First, I was running on nice, even terrain on a cool, fall morning.

Second, I remembered to pre-tape and lubricate my problem spots.

And third, I got new socks.

As our other blister-prone contributor will attest, those who suffer the curse are almost always trying out one new sock or other. Myself, I’ve run the gamut: Wrightsocks, Thorlos, REI brands, etc. None have lived up to their claims, and all have left me feeling fleeced and better off in my el cheapo rotten cotton.

Until now.

Drymax, how I love thee!

On a whim, and in a fit of desperation, I bought a pair of Drymax Maximum Protection Running v4 socks from ZombieRunner.com, a website devoted to all things ultrarunning. I figured if anybody knew anything about running blisters it’d be a bunch of crazy ultrarunners. And it didn't hurt that Runner's World Magazine rated them best blister-prevention sock in a recent poll in its May 2009 issue.

From the first moment I put them on and slipped them into my shoes, I had high hopes for these socks; it felt like I was walking on clouds. They fit slightly snugger than the Thorlos and Wrightsocks I was used to and seemed to be made of a greater percentage of synthetic fibers.

Under close observation, Drymax seems to have taken the best features from Thorlo, Wrightsock, Balega, and other brands and combined them into something undoubtedly more effective. Like Wrightsock, they have moisture-wicking dual layers; like Thorlo, they have extra padding in the footpads. Like Balega, the tops of the socks are a lighter, breatheable mesh.

The padding distinguishes itself from Thorlo, however, in that is coarser and a bit more nubby, with more space between the fibers – which actually seems to work better at wicking moisture away from the feet instead of simply absorbing it.

Usually, I change my socks at mile ten of a twenty-miler, but last Sunday I didn’t. I kept on the Drymax to see how my feet’d fare, and they worked beautifully in conjunction with my taping. I was still smiling at the end of my run, and not limping in the slightest – despite wearing the same shoes that shredded my feet two weeks before.

Really, I wouldn’t change a thing about the socks, except maybe the price. It traumatized me to pay $23.95 for a pair of socks. But given that they live up their claims, I can see myself spending another $23.95 in the very near future, maybe more – especially since they make hiking socks, too. But that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

Grade: A+

How'd I Ever Live Without It?

I stumbled onto the most versatile piece of my first-aid kit quite by accident: It came home with me after surgery. Though I used very little of it for my surgical aftercare, after seeing the wonder the leftovers did for blisters and hotspots, I have a roll of 3M MediPore tape in every first aid kit I own.

3M MediPore tape comes in ten-yard rolls of varying widths. I like the two-inch width because it’s wide enough to wrap completely around the biggest of toes yet narrow enough not to have to spend a lot of time cutting it down to size. It’s perforated for easy tearing every two inches.

It’s porous and stretchy and magically adhesive, even through days of trail grime and boot sweat. Properly applied to a clean, dry skin surface, it will last the duration of an entire full marathon. Best of all, it's somehow achieved perfection in design, in that it's gentle enough to do no harm yet strong enough to stay firmly in place. Plus, it’s easily removable in a warm shower without further damaging injured skin or leaving a nasty sticky residue like duct-tape or those super-expensive advanced healing blister repair pads.

I don’t hike without it. I carry it with me in a Ziploc during long races. Before strenuous treks or runs I use it to pre-tape places where I have a propensity to develop blisters and hotspots – especially toes prone to chafing and toes already without nails.

It’s a sin that it’s not readily available at your local Walgreen’s. Though I’ve had some limited success finding in specialty medical supply stores, and it’s available on the internet for a slightly more exhorbitant price, sometimes I have had to resort to bribing my friends in the medical industry to get me some to replenish the Blister Queen Stockpile. But it’s worth the search and the expense, as it’s saved me on numerous occasions.

I got some big, honkin’ blisters on the first day of a four-day snow trek in the Andes last year that if I hadn’t treated with tincture of benzoin, applied an adhesive foam corn cushion, and then covered it with 3M, I’d have never completed the hike. And let’s not even start talking about what happened to my feet around Mile 20 of the Disney Marathon--Denise and EB'll tell you: It wasn’t pretty.

I don’t know why adventure travelers, marathoners, backcountry medics, and first responders haven’t latched onto the miracle of 3M MediPore tape and made it a household name. 3M is missing a golden niche marketing opportunity, seriously.

Grade: A+^Infinity

Don't Be Caught Running On Empty

As Denise mentioned in her previous post, there are two of us currently in training for a full marathon this fall, so I hope you’ll forgive us as we barrage you with the failures and successes of our training.

Speaking of successes, I think I finally got this whole hydration thing down-pat. Or rather, Fuelbelt did, and I’ve latched onto ‘em.

I used to depend solely on the foresight of race officials to anticipate my water needs, but as my distance increased, so did my desire to drink whatever the heck I wanted to, whenever the heck I wanted to, not just at every other mile marker.

So I purchased the Fuelbelt Helium 4. I would like to say I did it after extensive research, but hey, in reality I picked it because it had my one requirement – it had four bottles - and it was blue. (Granted, the constant shifting and chafing of the small Camelbak I was using helped fuel this decision, as did a particular nasty bout of an intestinal bug I seemed to have acquired from a waterstop during the Atlanta Half a couple years back.)

In retrospect, after casing other waists at the starting line, I don’t think I could have done much better. The belt is comfortable; it neither chafes nor bites into my tech apparel, and it stays put. With the exception of a slight stretch, in the couple years I’ve had it, the elastic has so far withstood the test of time, as has the generous amounts of reflective piping around all the edges.

The belt is fitted with a small removable neoprene pocket big enough for a few gels or a spare key, and each bottle slides into a stationary elastic harness, which allows the bottle to bounce a little (reducing annoying slosh) while keeping it securely fastened. However, when I sit down while wearing my belt, say, at the starting line, I have a problem with the two front bottles hitting the tops of my thighs and popping out. I actually lost a bottle this way while making an off-trail pit-stop during an XTERRA. With all the adrenaline, I never noticed it was gone, till I reached down for it in thirst.

There are replacement bottles available if you misplace one, though, or if you unscrew a cap and find it irreparably corroded with mildew because you stored it while it was still damp. Not that I would ever do such a thing! ;-)

Though they aren’t advertised as being so, I’ve found the bottles are top-rack dishwasher safe, which is a big plus given the mildew issue.

Though Fuelbelt advertises its bottles as being ‘leak-free’ I have discovered that if I turn them upside down for longer than a few seconds, they tend to drip, and taking sips on the run is often a sloppy endeavor. Not so bad if you’re drinking SmartWater, but possibly worse if you’re slamming a cherry-red sports beverage while running in a white tank. And yes, I made this discovery before ever dishwashing them.

After using a Fuelbelt, I don’t ever see myself not carrying my own water for anything longer than a 10K. Carrying my own hydration has allowed me to tailor my own hydration needs and keep it consistent from my first training run to my race, whereas before, I was dependent on whoever the race directors partnered with for sponsorship, or whatever was left on the table by the front of the pack. (Not being a front-of-the-pack runner, I have often seen races run out of fuel before the last runners have had the opportunity to partake.)

If I were asked to redesign the Helium 4, I would include a larger pocket, big enough for a cell phone, and maybe a small tube of Bodyglide. And I would incorporate snaps normally seen on triathletes’ race belts, so that I could attach a race number without poking holes in it with safety pins, thus shortening the life of the elastic. (For now, I just wear my race belt underneath, and I’ve added a cell phone case to the belt.)

Four 8 – oz. bottles seems just about perfect for a 20-26 mile run. Despite the thickness of the belt, it’s still somewhat breatheable, and the stretchiness of the belt paired with its Velcro closure ensures I get a solid fit every run.

All in all, a worthwhile investment.

Grade: A-