Moving forward again

I hadn't run in a week and a half, and it is amazing how quickly you can feel fat and out of shape. Well, that feeling doesn't really go away, but it does get worse with inactivity.

I managed to injure myself, and true to form, it was doing something stupid. There was a spider high up on the wall that needed to be escorted outside. Lacking height and anything better to stand on, I stood up on a set of dog stairs. I didn't trust that the stair treads would hold my weight, so I walked up on the outside frame. After trapping the spider under a glass and sliding a piece of paper over the top, I took one step down and the stairs shot out from under me.

I landed on my big toe.

It hurt like a mother. For the next couple of days I was limping around, and for at least a week I couldn't bend it. Since I have a half marathon in a little over a month, I had to balance losing fitness against possibly making things worse.

Today was the first run, and it went relatively well. I picked a flatter course hoping that this would reduce the stress on the toe. The toe isn't quite right yet, but it wasn't too painful during the run. Unfortunately, lots of other things hurt. It doesn't take long for muscles and tendons to get tight and inflexible.

I have also broken the vapor lock I was experiencing with the novel rewrite. I have been working pretty steadily on it for the past week or two, and I did another edit as I formatted it for a paperback. I whipped up some artwork for a cover, and I will hopefully have a proof copy in the next week or two. It is not ready for prime time (not sure it ever will be) but it is to the point where I need to walk away and let someone else read it with fresh eyes. I earned a free copy during NaNoWriMo last year, so I am looking forward to seeing it in book form soon.

It feels nice to be moving forward again.