Sit on This

First an update on the Piriformis muscle situation.  Great improvement with switching my sleep position.  But I was still waking in pain.  Have been also doing stretches and foam rolling, and I am good all day long (mostly) – that is until I sit or run.  Also, nighttime has not been great.  Then in my desperate stumblings on the internet I came across the suggestion of using a tennis ball.  So, two nights ago, I sat on a brand new tennis ball (3 for $2!!) and OUCH, OUCH, OUCH.  The next morning, I am happy to report that I did not need to roll myself out of bed.  I did not need to hold onto the mattress as I walked out of the room.  Instead, I jumped right out of bed, WITH NO PAIN AT ALL.

You can be sure that I’m continuing this sitting on a tennis ball, rolling it over that muscle to help loosen it up, every time I think of it.  Of course, I have to take some hassling from our oldest son.  He thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous to sit on a tennis ball. : )  Just wait til he’s in his mid forties with Piriformis syndrome!

Now, back to running – trail running that is.  If I wanted to get in 3 trail runs this week, I had to run today.  And I wanted to, I wanted to!  So, I took off through Canyon Vistas Park, expecting the outhouse to be empty at Aliso/Wood Canyons’ entrance.  No such luck.  And for the first time in a long time, I ran off into the brush and . . . fade out . . .

The trails were empty, I mean EMPTY this morning.  The trails were also pretty eroded from the past days’ rains.  Deep crevices lead the way along with rock exposed from the dirt being washed away.

A changing Prickly Pear on Cholla Trail

I did not feel so strong on this run.  I tried to keep my pace up, but I couldn’t keep it as fast as my last run.  That’s all right though – the morning was lovely.  Lovely and strange.  Everything looked so different to me – the erosion, the brush now greener and growing onto the trails.  As I ran along West Ridge, a helicopter flew between me and the Laguna Coastal Hills at an elevation lower than I was running! 

Looking down on Laguna Canyon Road and Laguna’s Coastal Hills

The glutes began stabbing as I ran along West Ridge.  I popped 3 ibuprofen right away.  No way I was going to stop this run at this point.  I’m not gonna lie.  West Ridge was tough.  I blamed a day a Disneyland yesterday.  But who knows, it could have been anything.  I feel a little “out of sorts” in my training right now. 

Anyway, at Top of the World, I stretched that glute muscle.  And then I decided to take a little detour on the way back.  Instead of running straight down West Ridge, I took Park Avenue Nature Trail – another one of those trails I’ve neglected at this park.  Very quickly, I came upon a fork in the road.  I took the right which wound me up on top of a plateau with a lovely 360 degree view of Saddleback Mountains, Laguna Beach and all of Aliso Viejo.  But there was no way down to West Ridge.  So I ran that fork in the road back down to the turn off and took the left trail instead.  And what I saw beneath me on the hillsides was a whole other system of trails, seemingly leading down to Laguna Canyon Road.  More trails to discover!!!! 

Well, I ran a while when it seemed like I should be back to West Ridge.  But the trail cutting across was not West Ridge.  It was a whole other ridge trail that I’ve never seen before.  How could I have never seen it before?  It amazes me how geographical angles can obscure entire trail systems.

Park Avenue Nature Trail

I eventually made it back to West Ridge.  From there I (leisurely) ran back to Cholla Trail.  And even Cholla Trail, I didn’t take too quickly.  But I did see another person – a mountain biker riding, not walking, his bike up its steep eroded terrain. 

Miles run this morning: 6.5

Elevation Profile: