After two weeks of zero running due to a little gardening injury setback, I hit the running trail on Wednesday for a walk and a few running strides. Those easy strides felt as glorious as the blue sky and white clouds look, and reminded me of why I love my sport so much! 

 

Feeling A-OK from the previous day’s short introduction back into running, I headed out on Thursday morning for an easy run, keeping my pace nice and slow. Late that afternoon I saw my sports medicine chiropractor (AKA the miracle worker) to hopefully figure out what had been bothering me and what to do to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future.

In simple terms, my left side and my right side were talking to each other too much. While sitting on the side of the examining table, Dr. Wong asked me to keep my knee bent and raise my left leg. My right side worked very hard to assist in the movement, yet when I lifted my right knee in the same manner, my left side stayed completely neutral. After forty-five minutes of blissful stretching and manipulation, I was asked to do the same two movements and waalah, I could raise my left leg with very little assistance from my right side.

It turns out that in addition to some knotting back there, my adductors are a little too strong in relationship to the other muscles and my right hip flexor is extremely tight. Whenever I took a stride forward with my left leg, my whole right side would tighten up causing pain in my SI joint area. 

Wanting to check out my newly fine-tuned body, I headed out for a solo run on Saturday morning. I started out slowly and picked up the pace once I felt comfortable. A mile into my run I stepped on this piece of mulch on the trail and twisted my right foot in a very painful way. A similar move sent me to urgent care for x-rays once, but after shaking my foot out, it felt fine this time. Whew! Dr. Wong told me to manipulate my arthritic foot to keep it moving, but I’m sure this isn’t what he had in mind!  😉

 

While continuing on with my run, I passed two bikers. In their defense, they were just getting started after crossing a street, but boy were they slow to accelerate! I said, “Passing on your left,” as I passed and they chuckled to be passed by a runner. Once they got going they passed me back about thirty seconds later, but I did capture the moment for the simple purpose of bragging rights.

Many years ago, when I was much younger and faster, I actually passed four adults biking and they didn’t pass me back. This was long before smart phones and always having a camera available, and as I passed, one of the bikers said he wished he had a camera because he couldn’t believe how fast I was running. I, on the other hand, couldn’t believe how slowly they were biking because I was in the middle of a long run and back then I ran my long runs around a 8:45-9 pace. I kept those thoughts to myself of course!  😉

 

A little farther down the W&OD Trail I saw John and Wookie out for a morning ride. Actually, it might not have been Wookie, but that’s the only horse’s name I can remember. I’ve chatted with John various times on the trail and it’s always a welcome distraction to see him riding one of his beautiful horses – something we rarely see in suburbia.

 

And finally, just before turning to head home, I heard several people shout my name. I turned to see a bunch of my MRTT friends waving. They were part of The Growler 40-Mile Relay and were waiting for their two teammates to come running in so they could pack it up and head to the next exchange. We chatted for a few minutes and then we were all on our way.

 

I ended my run after six comfortable miles at a 10:30 average pace. Once I’m confident that this little setback is fully behind me, I’ll start working on my speed again.

After my run and Bill’s bike ride, we leisurely rode our bikes to Subway for lunch. It was so fun!

As you can see, I cut back on my yoga last week, concerned that I was overdoing it (even though I’d been so cautious the previous week). I’ll be bringing it back in this week, cautiously at first as I ramp back up to my previous levels. My inversion board (affiliate link) continued to be my best friend…

 

Looking ahead to this week, please join me on Wednesday for my monthly Wednesday Word linkup where this month’s word is mind-set.

In case you missed it, late yesterday I posted Sunrises, Strawberry Shortcake, And Forgotten Classes as part of the monthly Ultimate Coffee Date linkup. On Monday I posted Race Linkup: May 2017 Edition, my monthly linkup where the goal is for everyone to see who else will be at races so we can arrange meet-ups with other bloggers and readers. 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included: 

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • What interesting thing has you seen on the running trail? 
  • What’s on your agenda for today?
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.  Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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