Foot Fetish

I've noticed in the past week that the skin on my toes has been peeling off in chunks. First, it kinda bubbles up -- like a blister, but not painful -- then it peels off in a clump of skin. It's remarkably disgusting, and I'm not sure if it's a side effect from running, or if I'm just shedding some skin, like a snake, and soon the shedding will spread to other parts.

I'm a little dismayed at the sight of this peeling since my feet have actually been one of my features that I've always been rather fond of. I'm not ashamed to say that they are extrodinarily cute. For one thing, they are very small, almost child-sized feet, and my husband can cup one of them in his palm. So, that makes them adorable. But they're also nicely shaped feet: No strange arch or weirdly long or narrow shape; the toes are arranged in descending order (as God intended, not like some of these feet I've seen that have toes growing out all nimbly-bimbly ignoring the command of the Big Toe -- which should always be the largest); and I have a always had nice toe nails (with the exception of the spring I broke off my Big Toe nail in soccer; I'll admit, that was gross). But the thing that really makes my feet cute, is that on the bottom of one there is a mole -- not a big hariy mole -- but a flat, personalized one.

But just because my feet have always been cute, don't go assuming that I have treated them delicately. No, I spent most of my childhood with caluses as thick as plywood and playing sports in high school and college left them with patches of athlete's foot and dry skin. Later, as I worked part-time as a waitress for many years, my feet suffered from fatigue and stress as I stood on them for hours at a time. And now we come to this point, a point where I run on them four days a week with increasing mileage. Even though they have high tech shoes between them and the pavement, they still take a beating.

Still, I can't help but think this recent skin peeling is odd. It looks odd. And for the first time in my life, I feel like hiding those little toes away. Will the shedding subside? Will it increasingly get worse? Will my toes rub away? Will I be left with nubs (and therefore, will I be able to balance on those nubs)? I was so concerned about my waistline, that I never thought about the effects this running might have on my feet. What will become of them?