Yesterday was the End of a Good Long Walking Streak

I didn't post anything yesterday, but it's important for me to acknowledge that yesterday ended a walking streak that included at least 1.5 miles of walking (only once did I go this short of a distance in a day) each day since 04 October 2014.  I don't know how many days that is, but it's probably in the vicinity of 450 days in a row.

The streak ended because I decided to rest my left foot which is experiencing shooting pains along the outside of the arch that have yet to be definitively diagnosed. The  X-Ray was inconclusive, which is reasonably good news, and I suspect a fifth metatarsal stress fracture or a ligament sprain/rupture of some sort.  I did manage to hobble down the the Anacostia River Walk and capture an image of the USS Barry.

 

Anacostia Afternoon Before the Blizzard of 2016 with USS Barry

The distance wasn't great enough to be counted on this jaunt, and my foot was on fire by the time I'd covered the round trip of about half a mile. That was it for the day and the end of a streak. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't keep it going. It was the right call, the rational thing to do, and I'm still not certain what kind of injury I'm dealing with now. Against all the rational arguments to end it here, for now anyway, I still feel like I've lost a little something that has come to define my daily existence.

Enough maudlin talk.  At the end of the afternoon today, I was able to make my way out to the front porch and capture the results to date of the Blizzard of 2016 currently being referred to as Snowzilla.

Snowzilla 2016

I haven't measured the depth, and I'm unlikely to take that scientific of an approach, but I guess that we've gotten pretty close to 20 inches of snow in the last 24 hours.  That smallish white lump near the street light is a Honda CRV, and I'm not dancing for in the streets at the prospect of shovelling it out tomorrow. It will have to be done, and it will be a good test of the impact of rest on the foot. Today was a good day for rest, and I actually have managed to pay down some of the sleep debt that I've been accumulating.

I'm looking forward to what tomorrow will hold.

Keeping the Streak Alive One Day at A Time

I managed to get in just over 1.5 miles of walking this morning, and even snuck in the normally recurring photo that I've been sharing over the last month or so of the USS Barry.

Anacostia Sunrise with USS Barry

That's one more in the books, and I fear that it might be the last for this little run. My left foot has grown increasingly painful during walking. Although the standard X-Ray did not reveal any fracture, I am pretty certain that something has gone truly wrong. My ability to be ambulatory is under assault, and I think I'll go to the ER tomorrow just to get a properly sized walking boot. For now, I'll borrow one, but it's really too small and given the predicted blizzard tomorrow it would probably be best to have one of the correct size.  The relief associated with wearing one is immense.

I kept the rest of the daily practice moving forward, albeit in a much diminished capacity. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

A Pop Accompanied by Fiery Pain Followed by a Dull Throb Interspersed with More Fiery Pain

During my morning ambulation, I misjudged a car and had to leg it on out to get across a street to avoid a thump squish encounter. At the end of my jog, I felt a sharp pop followed by a fiery wave of pain along the outside portion of my left foot in the vicinity of my fifth metatarsal. This was followed through the rest of the day with a dull throbbing ache which was interspersed with more fiery pain when I rotated the foot.

Left Foot with Hairy Toes Showing Some Swelling on the Outside Edge

I am pretty sure I've broken something or had a ligament detach.  This is going to make walking difficult I believe.  I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow, and we'll see where that leads.  This may be the end of a very long continuous string of walks. I hope not, but I'm a bit pessimistic about the prospect of this turning out in a way that keeps the string alive. We shall see.

Stomach Flu

I have had a low grade headache all day, and now I'm manifesting a bit of lower gastrointestinal  accelerated evacuation.  I am sick, and I'm going to bed with a hope that some sleep will nip whatever maleficent microbe that I've managed to contract in the bud.

I did get back to my sunrise view of the Anacostia River this morning, so even though I did not put in the distance I wanted to put in today, it's not all bad.

Anacostia Sunrise with USS Barry

This morning was breathtakingly cold. I did manage to get in all elements of the daily practice, and I suspect this little dance with an illness is the universe's way of telling me to slow down a little. Hopefully the level of braking is not extreme. We shall see.

Walking in the Shadow of DeKalb

Baron Johann DeKalb was a Bavarian born French Officer who was killed led Maryland and Delaware troops during the Battle of Camden during the American Revolutionary War. He was a well regarded officer, and due to the nature of that regard he has a number of cities, towns, roads, and municipal buildings named after him. Today I walked in his shadow.

The Shadow of DeKalb

DeKalb has a monument to his leadership erected on the grounds of the State House in Annapolis, MD, and today as I was walking through in the afternoon, I noticed for the first time the shadow of the monument silhouetted on the Maryland Statehouse wall.

Today was a really good day for noticing my surroundings in spite of (or because of perhaps) the brittle coldness that lasted throughout the day. The sky was clear and the sun was out, but it didn't really make a dent in the arm of the arctic vortex which has reached south to envelop the countryside for the first time this winter. Ice has begun to form in the creeks, and I suspect that the severn river is not too far behind.

Severn River

It's a bit tough to tell in this photo, but this morning, ice cicles were beginning to form on the pilings and lower deck structure of these piers at the mouth of College Creek on the Severn River.

Severn River Ice

Throughout the day, the north wind continued to zephyr down the river, and the ice that started earlier can be clearly seen making some headway on the bottom of the pier extending into the river.

Another thing that I've never noted before but was perfectly clear today was the the "heat" waves shimmering over the Chesapeake Bay.

Heat Waves over the Chesapeake

At first blush, I did not expect to see "heat" waves on a day like today, but on further reflection I'm forced to admit that the relatively warm air rising up from the water in the bitterly cold morning air will move in the same manner as the superheated air coming off the road in a summer desert.  It's the upward thermal that causes the shimmering view of the horizon at a distance, and the same effect was certainly prevalent across the reach of the Chesapeake today.

I find all of these small things that I see during these walks quite fascinating compared to spending a perfectly good, if cold, afternoon watching television.  I'm grateful for my health and my initial escape fantasy that's led me down this tangible and real path of discovery.

First Snow

Starting about 1100 this morning, we received what I estimate to be about a half an inch of snow over about the next four to four and half hours. Given the temperance of the winter to date, it was a welcome sight. I'm forced to estimate the snowfall because it did not accumulate on the ground, but it did collect on some of the trees, and during my afternoon walk, I saw some on Fitch Bridge.

First Snow on Fitch Bridge

This really is not a lot of snow, but thinking back on last year this is how things started. There was just a hint of a collection on the dead leaves along the Baltimore Annapolis Trail one morning. Just a few weeks later I was slogging through a storm that had already dumped about five inches on the trail and was showing no signs of letting up.

There will be a handful of disappointed little people around if we don't get one major snowstorm this year. Here's to seeing how this will all come together over the next month.