jaunthie | Two steps forward, one step back

Oy. It has been crazy-busy at work, and I have *not* been doing a good job at blogging lately. My apologies, but coming home after a long, long day of cranking out words and then settling down to try and crank out some (hopefully amusing or interesting) words for the blog just hasn't had a whole lot of appeal. That, and I have to confess that the ongoing ouch factor in the foot has made me rather cranky.

The ongoing foot annoyance has taught me a few interesting things about myself, however.

First and foremost, I have confirmed something I was fairly aware of before: I really dislike being restricted by anything, particularly physical infirmity. I am absolutely NOT good at taking it easy and letting myself recover. I want to be better NOW, and if I can't be better RIGHT NOW, I am inclined to "suck it up" and try to do things that need to be done anyway, bad foot or no bad foot. Which is, of course, not entirely conducive to recovery. I know that, but I have a hard time making myself behave even so. Fortunatley I have been able to partially distract myself with other projects that I can do while sitting on my butt with my foot elevated. I have one sock almost completely knitted, and I completed an entirely different crocheting project. Yay me!

Secondly, and much more encouraging in a way, I have learned that I am far more accustomed to exercise than I would have ever suspected. I simply can't just *not* have any, not and fail to go stir-crazy. Apparently I have walked and worked out enough in the last few years that I have turned myself into something approximating an active individual who wants to exercise. Who'd a-thunk it?

Fortunately, I was able to figure out various ways to work out without aggravating things too much. Spinning (the kind on a stationary bicycle in a class, not with a wheel and fleece) works fairly well and doesn't really aggravate anything, as does any kind of upper-body work, although finding upper-body work that gives me enough of a cardio workout is difficult.

Heh. "Enough of a cardio workout." Another phrase I find myself astonished to write.

Anyhow, the foot has been healing, and yesterday it was so improved that I agreed to a nice walk around the lake with

monkeybard and a relatively new acquaintance, C. I particularly wanted to go not just for the exercise, but for the chance to get to know C better. I have suspected for a while that she might be one of those people who are a friend you just haven't met yet, if you understand the phrase. And yesterday's walk in the lovely (and rather unseasonable) sunshine pretty much confirmed my suspicion. It's always good to find a new friend.

Unfortunately my foot wasn't *quite* as recovered as I had wished. I was still compensating for the hole in the bottom of the heel a little more than I realized, and by the time the walk was done, I had a fairly impressive blister on the ball of that foot. Drat it all. So today I'm limping about as badly as I was at the start of this, and it will undoubtedly set back my full recovery by yet another few days.

Still, it was worth it.