Day 7 : this post is kind of all over the place

Hi my name is Gretchen and it has been 7 days since my last run.  This is probably the longest I have ever gone without running even a mile or two.  I haven't lost my sanity yet, but I am definitely starting to get restless.  I think the only reason I have been managing to cope is that the roads are covered in snow and ice.  Even if I was going to let myself go for a run, I doubt I'd get very far.

as you can see, I am fading away from lack of exercise

(still able to push down the piano keys though)

So why am I torturing myself with all this time off?  I tweaked something in my foot awhile ago.  Running didn't make it hurt worse, but it wasn't getting better either, so I took a few days off.  Then I went back to running, and forgot about it.  Several weeks later, the temperature dropped to the single digits and I went for a couple of runs.  Runs, not jogs.  The pounding on frozen feet brought back whatever is wrong with my foot.  At that point, I was less than 2 weeks away from a race. So I took it very easy, just running once every few days, to keep myself in shape for the race without aggravating my foot.  Then I ran the race.  And won the race.  But the beating my foot took while running down a mountain did not exactly help make the pain go away.  

It should be noted that my foot actually hurts worse to walk than to run, when it hurts at all.  It's not actually enough pain to stop me from running, but I'm trying to be responsible and let it get better, instead of continuing to stress it.  I don't think I've felt any pain in the last day or two, but I could be ignoring it so that I can go back to running again...  I suspect that I will go for a run as soon as the roads are semi-safe again.  If the pain comes back, maybe I will go see a doctor.  Hate to do that when I just finished paying for the 3 doctor visits it took to cure my ear infection back in November, but I if I have to go, I will.  

PS: I'm ever-so-glad that I've been paying lots of money for health insurance for 5+ years so that they could help me out just-a-little-bit the first time I ever decided to use the insurance.  Makes it feel so worth it.

PPS: And now that my deductible has gone up to $5000, it seems unlikely that I will ever reach a point where the insurance actually helps much.  But if something terribly awful does happen, I'm sure I'll be glad I have insurance...

ok rant over.

Here are some pretty pictures of birds.

Besides the fact that I haven't been running, I also haven't spent much time at work...because of all that nasty ice and snow that no one seems able to clear off the roads.  So I have had A LOT of time to sit around the house.  

I got so bored, I cloned myself.

Both my clone and I are fading away though...

All that time sitting around was good for something though.  I filed my taxes (and then found out the IRS won't process returns til the 31st...so I may as well have waited).  And...drum-roll...I registered GMcD Photography as a WV LLC!  So now I can conduct business legally.  And I suppose I will be charging/paying sales tax now.  Hopefully this turns out to be a good decision.  Time to start throwing around my business cards!  That is...when the weather is decent enough for me to set foot outside.

Until then...I'll be snuggled up in this awesome chair.  Making my way through this gigantic Game of Thrones book.  It's so big, my hand now hurts worse than my foot, from trying to hold it open.  

This is how excited I will be when the snow melts and I start running again.

And here are some pretty pictures of ponies in the snow.  Just because.