So I had a “little” accident during my afternoon run on Monday. Just like I’ve been doing in the previous weeks, I went for a barefoot run in my Vibram FiveFingers, with the only exception that I wanted to increase my mileage. I’ve usually been doing 4 km runs in these shoes but this time I wanted to do a little bit more. I really felt great since the start of the run, deciding to go for 6 km roundtrip in the usual trails. When I got to the turnaround point, the afternoon was so great and I felt so well that I opted to go a bit farther, to complete 12 km.
Everything went well, I reached the next turnaround point and even though I continued to feel great I decided it was enough and turned back. I tried to be very careful during the downhill run but despite all my efforts and attention somehow I couldn’t miss hitting a little bulge in the rocky trail. A sudden strike of pain in my left foot forced me to stop completely, I tried to catch my breath as I suddenly felt like I was going to faint. When I recovered from the shock I could easily identify the origin of my pain, it was the little toe in my left foot. Everything went so fast that I couldn’t know how it happened exactly. I thought that the pain would cease if I continued moving, just like it always happens with these kind of things but it didn’t. After 200 meters trying I decided to pull my fingers out of the shoe to heal the pain. I left the ankle straps tied and continued trotting. It worked but it wasn’t a total relief. I was still 4 km away from home and in the middle of the woods, the night was coming and even though I had my cell phone I opted to continue my way down as fast as I could.
I arrived home after 30 minutes of trotting struggle. I took a shower and thought the pain would go away with some icing but then my toe started to swell and bruises appeared as well. I concluded something really bad happened, it wasn’t a simple sprain as it was hurting a lot. After getting some clothes on I called Beto and asked for a ride to the hospital. An X-ray image revealed that the proximal phalange of my little toe was broken. Fortunately, the bones were in their place, so it was easy for the doctor to wrap my foot with a cast to immobilize it. He prescribed 1 month with the cast as well as some medicine for the pain and swelling.
After some days of talking with friends and family I decided I’m not going to take any resolution about my upcoming run of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc until the cast is removed and I can test my foot. Meanwhile, I’m managing to continue training with a stationary bike and my anaerobic training regime. Let’s see how everything goes after a month… Wish me luck!! 
