This running story starts with a toenail. When running races with excessive downhills, any ultrarunner knows that their relationship with their toenails is more akin to “one-night stand” than “yours forever”. During Comrades 2025, as I was speeding through the suburbs of Durban towards my first Bill Rowan medal, I could feel my left big toenail growing angrier with every thumping downhill step towards the ocean. As I ran, I imagined what the poor toenail would look like by th