Two Injury Scares, But I Think It's All Good Now

Two weeks ago was the O'Gara's Irish Run where I lightly sprained my ankle. I got some therapy for it (having my chiropractor use Graston Technique on my lower leg which HELPED SO MUCH, and having acupuncture as well), and it got better quickly. I had no worries racing the next weekend at the Lake Johanna 4 Mile with both boys in the stroller:

This photo from my "race photos" post on Wednesday.

I NEVER had to give my ankle a thought in that race, which was great news! ESPECIALLY because the road was really rough in areas, and I could have stepped wrong and turned my ankle. (The stroller helped here - it's easier to take a longer stride and "fly" over a pothole when holding onto the stroller.)

Then the next morning after the race (last Sunday), my right butt cheek started to ache deep inside. I had just been on the trainer an hour before, but not doing anything weird. I stretched it out, but it never really got better. It got worse. Going up stairs hurt. I was bummed. I didn't know what I had done.

I saw my chiro (Dr. Backus) on Monday, and he figured it was a tight (maybe "strained," but not really "hurt") piriformis muscle deep in my butt:

Image via.

He massaged it with his elbows to help loosen it up. I'm supposed to keep stretching. I wonder if really pushing it up those hills at Lake Johanna while pushing a stroller just made something deep in my glute angry.

Then I had acupuncture 2 days later on Wednesday. I basically had to pull down my shorts and let my ass breathe for 45 minutes while being treated. He stuck some needles in it, and even hooked some up to electricity and did some e-stim (similar to what he did to my quad in this video from 2 years ago). It felt a lot better by Thursday.

And then on Friday, I had a massage my wife got me for my birthday, so it got even MORE attention! Jeez, 3 days of work on that butt between Monday and Friday - that's pretty good! ;)

This morning, I went on a long run, and it seems to be OK. It's a little tight right now, but I'll keep stretching it and I think we'll be good! Back with a training update soon!