Sore legs and weekend plans

I went running yesterday. It had been awhile. And by awhile I mean ~6 months. I had been running a lot back in the end of the summer, and then I injured my foot. I'm not sure what I did, the doctor wasn't sure what I did, and there was nothing to do but walk around with a small ache and get out of shape...I'm not sure what caused this injury, which the sports medicine doctor called a "muscle/tendon sprain," but I have some theories. One is that I had been running a lot, and perhaps it was an overuse injury. Two is that I injured it hiking, while stepping on a rock awkwardly or recovering from some sort of stumble (I'm good at tripping while hiking, and thankfully I have quick reflexes so I recover without incident most of the time). Three is that I had just gotten new shoes, and maybe they are to blame. I like this last hypothesis because it removes the blame from me, unless I consider buying these particular shoes something I should've known not to do. The problem with the last theory is that these shoes were the same brand as my old ones, and built on the same last, so really I doubt they were the problem (although I haven't worn them since, just in case). In any event, all fall my foot hurt - it hurt going downstairs (but not up), it prevented me from doing any hiking, etc. Finally when I got back from Christmas at home I noticed it wasn't bothering me anymore, and I have to honestly say that I now can't remember which foot hurt (which is pathetic, and I realize this). The astute will comment that it is now the end of March, and I could've been running for the last 3 months, to which I say, yes, that's true, but I was scared it wasn't really healed, and that I would injure it again and be back at square one with summer hiking just around the corner. But, I've been snowshoeing a fair bit and that hasn't been a problem, so I figured it was time to break out the running shoes (the old ones, just in case). It was a short run, 20 minutes, because you have to ease into these things. And my legs aren't as sore as I expected (the snowshoeing paying off?), but I am out of shape. I repeat, out of shape. But my foot didn't and doesn't hurt, so maybe all is well.

Last night I went to Value Village, which is an experience, and hunted down a large stainless steel pot for the yarn dyeing. I bought dyes last weekend, and took a photo of them but it didn't really turn out. I plan to attempt a brief dyeing project this weekend to make sure I'm capable before subjected my friends to it, and will take lots of photos of said endeavor. I'm also hoping the weather cooperates because I want to go snowshoeing down at Mount Rainier tomorrow. They have guided hikes from Paradise and I've been wanting to go down all winter. Dave will be racing his bicycle, so I have to hope for dry roads as I don't have chains for my Jeep. I also plan to finish my secret project, gift it, and post photos...Oh, and spend a fair bit of time in the lab (boo hiss).

My mother left a comment yesterday asking what is an "Elspeth" to which I respond I have no idea. Rowan comes up with vaguely namelike titles for all their patterns, but I don't know if that refers to anything else. I do thank her for reading my blog though, and for posting comments, even with a slow dial-up connection!