Toenail Fell Off Last Night

My big toenail fell off last night on my left foot, it had been black since my first half marathon in late March.

It's taken a while and Iuckily it appears that I have a new nail growing, albeit a little bit off it is showing.

It feels OK, I know loads of others on here have had it, just wondering if I'm OK to run on it or will it hurt?

The only slightly tender bit is the nail bed on the edge where it had been hanging on for the past three days, I imagine it will all calm down?

Oh

My 

God

.

It'll calm down pretty quickly - a couple of days at most.  As Deadstar says, give it a go and see how it feels.  It'll probably feel odd rather than sore.

I always slap on some Germolene antiseptic ointment - the pink smelly stuff - just to be on the safe side and as a local anaesthetic.

Its a war wound - be proud!!! Agree with the others, try it and see, i strap any really sore bits on my feet with melonin and tape, always works for me!

Happy running

I'm no Seb Coe but I think most of us know that a black/absent toenail won't cause us any pain when we run.

It's the in-growing toenails that are the bastards.

Jellybelly69 wrote (see)

sorry forgot you were seb coe or an other running god who can put newby runners down with a few key strokes....

D2D can usually be relied upon for a helpfull comment or two

Black toe nails aren't just confined to newbys. I'd been running regularly for over 20 years, including plenty of long fell races, when I did the Swiss Alpine Marathon in 2002. The toenails on both of my big toes turned black and, eventually, dropped off. I think that they drop off because the new nail has formed underneath and hence "pushes off" the old nail.

As long as you take care not to get the old nail torn off before it wants to leave I don't think you'll have any problem. I seem to recall some slight tenderness while the new nails grew and hardened but don't remember it costing me too much running time.

I think we all get them from time to time.

Touch wood (I almost wrote food then lol), I've got none at the minute but I do have a little piggy nail that's just about done growing back.

IMO poorly fitting shoes are to blame - when the shoe's slightly too restrictive in the forefoot and your toenails constantly pound the front of the shoe and so end up bruised.

Unless you've damaged the nail bed, it'll more than likely grow back normal and pain-free. As a safeguard, I generally smear some Germolene around it to keep infections at bay though - after I had a toe infection a few months ago, I can tell you I wouldn't want a repeat of that experience!

Thanks all, it now looks a lot better and there is no tenderness.

Tried a short run today and no reaction at all, so hopefully it will just grow back as normal.

I have different running shoes since the original incident and have had no repeat so once again all thanks for the advice.