When I began running by following a couch to 5K program, my needs were fairly simple. I bought a pair of running shoes and I was pretty much good to go. I rocked out to the techno-music podcast that set the tempo for my runs using my iPod and put in the work. I didn't have to consider much except looking forward to being told I could walk for a minute to catch my breath. A lot has changed in the last 15 years, not the least of which being the amount of gear I've invested in as part of this hobby. Gone are the "you just need a good pair of shoes" days, having been replaced by packs, bottles, poles, nutrition, chafe cream, technical and sun fabrics, GPS watches, portable batteries, and a slew of other items. One such item that I always make sure I pack on longer outings is a foot care kit. It consists of alcohol wipes, a safety pin for popping blisters, moleskin for preventing blisters, and tape for preventing further damage. I've made use of it on more than one occasion, often in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, with only my headlamp to light my way.
I mention blister management because one of the things you learn very early on, and often the hard way while doing ultra distances, is that you should deal with an emerging blister as soon as you start to feel it. The moment that hot spot develops or you feel debris in your shoe, address it. Failing to do so can lead to far more problems down the line. Heck, even when you do address the problems early, you're still likely to lose a few toenails!
There's a lesson in this approach for most aspects of our lives. If a problem is important enough to fix, then it's important enough to fix now. We often recognize a problem is arising long before we get around to fixing it. This happens for all sorts of different reasons. We remain hopeful that it will resolve itself, even if we have no evidence to support that expectation. Perhaps we don't want to deal with the problem and we hope someone else will step in and fix it for us. In some instances, we've seen others swoop in and fix the problem and we then come to expect that to happen in future situations.
One of the benefits of fixing it now is that you can take more time to approach your solution because the problem hasn't gotten out of hand. You can carefully lay out your mise en place, as it were, and not find yourself scrambling for a key ingredient at the last minute. This is your time to gather your resources, consider what you don't have that you need, and think through who else you need to reach out to in order to address the problem. The ability to do all of these things stems from the initial recognition of the problem and your prompt attention to solving it.
This idea seems fairly straight forward, but we all know how challenging it can be in practice. In the moment, especially when emotions are running high and our unconscious biases are kicking in, it can be challenging to recognize the importance of fixing the problem now. No matter how many races I've run or how many sketchy weather situations have given rise to footcare issues, I still find myself making preventable mistakes because I make the in-the-moment decision to delay fixing what starts off as a small issue. I've ended up in a doctor's office addressing an issue that got out of hand on several occasions, and all I can do is roll my eyes and say "I knew better". None of us will get is right all of the time, but we can keep reminding ourselves to do our best to fix it now and not later.
