This is another, and the last, of the historical posts I wrote early this year (2022).   I’ll be going back in time a little moving forward, but it’s all going to be new writing from my perspective.  I don’t have any relationship to any of the brands/products mentioned.  If that changes, I’ll be sure to mention it.

While I was doing mountain rescue stuff, our team doc told me about a process referred to as a “hot shot” for dealing with blisters.  Essentially, you drain the blister with a small insulin (or heroin or meth) syringe.  Then, you squirt a little tincture of benzoin in there, scream/cry like a baby for a bit, then get on with your life with the blister roof glued to the skin.  The good blister lady from down under is not a fan of the hot shot, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.  And yes, you still have to do something to deal with the cause in the first place, but this should help lessen the issue if you do so and keep going.  You can even buy said needle/syringe combos at any pharmacy or have them dropped on your doorstep in two days or less by the Amazon People, no prescription needed.

I gave the hot shot a try, but since it took so long for the tincture of benzoin to show up there was no hot in that shot.  The skin under the blister has healed up enough to not be sensitive to the alcohol in the solution.  Good news, though, it still glued down the blister roof so hopefully it won’t continue to be an issue as much and it’ll still help protect the new skin underneath.  I’ll take that as a win. Current update- it worked really well and helped keep that area from blistering up again.  Still haven’t had a reason to try a legit hot shot, so we’ll see how that goes if/when the time comes.

SOCKS!!!!!!!

A few years ago, I ordered some Injinji toe socks thinking they would help with my history of toe blisters.  Unfortunately, due to my big toes being cranked in toward my other toes, they were such a pain to put on that I gave them away.  Now that it’s time to get serious about this running thing again, and considering the distances I’ll be running, I decided to give them, as well as the Xoskin toe socks a try. 

After a decently long run with the Injinji’s I’m pretty well sold on the concept.  They are a little more work to deal with, but I think my old ones were a size too small, which didn’t help.  These weren’t bad to get on, and felt really good while I was running.  The arch blister on the sole of my foot didn’t look too bad after the run, and it didn’t flare up on me at all.  There was a little fluid in it after I got out of the shower, but I didn’t check before to see if it was from running, or from soaking my feet in the tub.

I also tried the synthetic Xoskin toe socks, and they are thin!  Like, liner sock thin.  I think these are going to be my go-to, across the board.  Pull these on over my little piggies and then slide on a pair of Thor-lo, or similar, running socks and I think I’ll be able to keep my feet in good shape.

Speaking of liner socks, the synthetic versions do a much better job of protecting my feet because the fabric is slicker than the merino wool ones I’ve tried in the past.  The point of a liner is to allow the outer sock & shoe/boot to slide over the liner so it doesn’t create the friction that leads to blisters.  Unfortunately, the wool liners tend to be “grabby” enough that they don’t slide well at all against the outer sock, and don’t offer much, if any, protection for me.  If they work like they’re supposed to, for you, that’s cool.  Just realize and accept the potential shortcomings of the material and don’t use them if they don’t work.  Same goes for very thin merino base layers.  They don’t allow the next layer to slide at all, and they wear out a lot faster than synthetics in my experience.  Not a fan of thin merino wool.