London Marathon athlete shares gruesome photos to explain why her foot actually 'exploded'
Warning: This article contains graphic images which some readers may find distressing.
Team GB athlete and four-time Olympian Eilish McColgan shared some photos of her foot after completing the London Marathon as she said it felt like it had 'exploded'.
She posted a picture of a bloodstained running shoe as the long-distance athlete, who still managed to finish seventh despite her injury, said she had a 'sore body' after running the marathon.
McColgan, 35, explained she'd had some injuries in the run-up to the event but wanted to clear up some misinformation about what had happened to her foot.
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The athlete said what she had on her feet 'weren't new shoes or socks' as she'd been wearing them all throughout her training, and neither were they 'too small'.
So she's not completely sure what happened for her foot to bleed while she was running the marathon and suffered the injury, but she's got an idea.
"The only thing we can think of is that maybe my feet were swollen?!" McColgan wrote on Instagram.
"Even the day before the marathon, the rash had spread down to my calves. We still don't know what it was... as it would come and go throughout the day! But we think that perhaps played a part...
"Anyways, proud of another marathon finish! And THANK YOU for all the cheers around the course. It was insane and genuinely got me through to the finish line!"
It's the second time she's run the London Marathon and despite the injury, she finished seventh in the elite women's race, with a time of 02:24:51.
According to LBC, once McColgan had completed the race, she spoke about the pain she went through, saying: "Just not long after halfway, I had a really, really bad blister in my foot.
"It sounds strange saying it, but the only way I can say it is I felt like my foot just exploded."
Ouch.
The athlete said that the injury 'panicked' her a bit since she'd suffered it early in the Marathon, and afterwards she 'felt like I was then running a bit funny'.
McColgan said: "I couldn’t feel pressure through my foot. Part of me was like, am I going to… It’s a long way to make it to 26.2.
"I just started to hurt in different areas then as well. So I don’t know if I’m like running funny through it, I assume."
“Especially I got to like 24 miles and my knee started playing up and sort of went on me a bit, and I thought, 'God, I can’t get to 24 miles and not finish it at this point'."
"I’m just disappointed with how my body sort of held up there.”
Fortunately, McColgan did manage to get to the finish line in incredible time, and is looking at recovery ahead of the Commonwealth Games this summer.
London Marathon 2026 results
Women's elite race
- Tigst Assefa (ETH) - 02:15:41
- Hellen Obiri (KEN) - 02:15:53
- Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN) - 02:15:55
- Degitu Azimeraw (ETH) - 02:19:13
- Catherine Reline Amanang'ole (KEN) - 02:21:20
Men's elite race
- Sabastian Sawe (KEN) - 01:59:30
- Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) - 01:59:41
- Jacob Kiplimo (UGA) - 02:00:28
- Amos Kipruto (KEN) - 02:01:39
- Tamirat Tola (ETH) - 02:02:5
Women's wheelchair race
- Catherine Debrunner (SUI) - 1:38:29
- Tatyana McFadden (USA) - 1:38:34
- Manuela Schär (SUI) - 1:41:21
- Tian Yajuan (CHN) - 1:46:59
- Zhou Zhaoqian (CHN) - 1:46:59
Men's wheelchair race
- Marcel Hug (SUI) - 1:24:13
- Xingchuan Luo (CHN) - 1:28:45
- David Weir (GBR) - 1:29:23
- Suzuki Tomoki (JPN) - 1:30:05
- Jetze Plat (NED) - 1:31:04
Topics: London Marathon, Marathon, Sport
Joe Harker