by Yesterday, I was really looking forward to the evening Hill Run; I needed to have a run with friends, some company, reassurances. I’d been down after the 5K and thought the group would help. But a change in schedule gave my daughter the evening off, and I just can’t pass up family time, so when she wanted to join us for dinner I let go of the Hill Run.
I wound up going over to St.Eds/Forest Ridge to get in an easy 8 miles a little after 3PM. The parking lot was packed–there were people all over the place! I think I probably scowled a little bit because I wasn’t in the mood to share the trail with the occasional weekend wanderer (OK, does that sound snobby or what?!?). In the first five minutes, I wound up dodging packs of yappy dogs and stepping aside for horses.
Thankfully, the minute I hit the uphill, everyone was gone. And the uphill felt good.
The 5K had felt pretty horrible–my legs were dead, I was plodding along alone, and it was muggy. But things were different now–the uphill was loosening the tightness in my hips, I was moving steadily, and I felt strong. My times (I always take splits at certain landmarks) were actually a bit on the fast side, and this was like a tonic to all the negative feelings I’d had on Saturday.
I was going from park entrance to park entrance; when I get deep in thought, I have a tendency to blow by stuff, and sure enough, I took a little side loop that added distance on the way down to the Forest Ridge entrance. At the time, I noted that the trail seemed longer, glancing at my watch, thinking, “Geez, why did I slow down so much?” and was peeved. But I realized on the way back when I did not see a certain fallen tree that I’d certainly added in something…my time back up to the water tower rock was some five minutes faster. That perked me up again; my splits were getting faster on the way back, and I was feeling good.
I decided to turn it loose on the downhills over at St. Eds–I was in the final 10 minutes of my run when my left foot hit a slippery patch. As I caught myself, shifting the weight on my planted right leg, the sore spot in my right hip SCREAMED at me. Ouch; what had I done?? I took a break, walked a bit, trying to sort it out. Bombing the rest of the downhill was out; running was kind of dicey; I just shuffled it in…still faster than when I’d gone out.
But there was no denying that I hurt. And that’s not a good thing.
I stretched last night after a warm shower, which helped a lot. But I’m uncomfortable when I sit…not pain per se, but awareness. I’ve got a 4-hour drive Tuesday and again Wednesday going back and forth from Nacogdoches, and that’s not going to help. Today I’m going to swim to see if that alleviates any soreness.
I’ve had an issue here since I tripped at Bastrop back in the first week of September. It may be time to go get it looked at.
