Running with a Straight Pelvis : )

Physical therapy update:  First, I don’t think I ever really posted details of the car accident and how I got injured.  Father’s Day, I was at a dead stop, and heard the accident happening behind me.  I wasn’t sure if we had been hit, because everything happened slow motion and I was confused by the crash sounds.  Anyway, I twisted around to my right to check on my boys in the back seat.  At that moment we got slammed.  It was that twist that did me in.  My whole right side was sore pretty much immediately.  It seems that the impact realigned my pelvis, where one side was higher than the other.  Neck, shoulder and side pain went away in a matter of days.  But that lower back, pelvis/hip pain did not.  So, back to the update on the physical therapy.  When I went in yesterday, my PT said that my pelvis was perfectly straight.  How it is that all those stretches, massages and exercises made it straight again, I do not know.  So – good news!! (My boys by the way thankfully – no injuries!)

This morning I went for a single loop, clockwise at Aliso Wood Canyons park.  That meant running UP Meadows Trail.  Tom met me at the ranger station and we ran up Meadows together.  It was tough!  My hip felt it before we even made the climb (I think it probably wasn’t the best idea to run up Meadows the day after physical therapy).

The sun really shined down on us as made that seemingly never-ending switch-back climb.  Arriving at the top we could not even see the Pacific due to thick fog.  A rainbow-like arch  hovered about the fog and above that, blue skies.

Tom ran back down Meadows Trail for a six mile out and back.  I continued onward for a little less than twelve miles.  After a short downhill then uphill asphalt run, I hopped onto the trail that runs behind the houses at Top of the World.  The trail makes a “V” – first a steep down, then a steep up.  Two cyclists made their way down the other end of the “V” as I ran up it.  Then suddenly, one of the cyclists ate it.  His bike crashed to the rock trail, making such a noise, I thought his bike would be shattered to pieces for sure (but it did not appear so).  Even though it wasn’t my accident, it seemed to happen in slow motion, just about fifteen feet away.  The poor guy flew to the ground, I gasped, relieved that his face didn’t smash into the rock.  He jumped up quickly. 

“Oh my gosh!!!”  I said.  “Are you alright?”

He didn’t answer, he didn’t even look at me.  Instead, I could tell he was pissed.  I knew that look – it’s how I have felt when I’ve fallen on the trail – like, damn it, I can’t believe I did that!

His friend behind him said, “Seriously, are you ok?”  No answer.  I continued running on past the two and didn’t say a word further. 

I got into my groove as I ran through the neighborhoods, arriving at Westridge a short time later.  I felt happy, relieved to have Meadows over with.  It was all basically down hill from here (except for minor climbs on Westridge).

About to descend upon Westridge

 

 Westridge, just after passing Mathis

Miles logged this morning: 11.65  Despite my hip, it seemed like a cinch compared to Saturday’s 21 mile run.