Even though many runners will post photos of their feet online, mine are currently in pretty rough shape so you can be guaranteed there will be no feet photos here. I’m here to talk more about how we care for our feet, whether you are a runner or nor. Remember, we only get on pair of feet so we need to look after them.

My mother would say a pedicure is all that is needed to take care of your feet. This may be so but I have some foot issues.It’s not that I don’t like having my feet touched. I love a good foot massage. Reflexology, you bet! Paint my toenails, sure. Have someone else trim my toenails, no way! Want the callouses I run hundreds, even thousands, of miles to earn – again, no way! So, where does that leave my calloused, very rough feet?

I will gladly soak my feet in warm, sometimes even hot, water and epsom salts. The extra moisture helps with the extreme dryness associated with my feet, particularly during an upstate NY winter.

Pumice stones are my friends, or so I tell myself. This is the only way to help sooth the ragged edges and heels of my feet.

Moisturizer may be most important. I routinely put a light moisturizer on prior to daily wear socks. I also put a heavier creme moisturizer on as the winter gets to working on my heels. The best thing for my feet, though, is the same thing I put on my feet for long runs, Bag Balm.

Cold winter nights scream for socks on my feet when I sleep, regardless of the flannel sheets and down comforter. To aid my heels from being cracked and bleeding, I will coat the heels with Bag Balm and wear white cotton socks to bed. I love the way my feet feel after a night or two of treatments like this. I seldom have issues, as I have had prior to doing this since I was a teen, with cracked and bleeding heels because of doing this.

How do you take care of your feet?