A week ago, I tweaked a muscle in my upper thigh. The weird thing was it didn't happen all at once like I would expect with a pulled muscle; it just kind of started hurting more and more over a few days. Based on where it hurt, I figured it could be either an upper quad muscle, a groin muscle, or a hip flexor. My hip joint was also feeling creaky, so I went to the chiropractor on Monday morning (March 24th). The chiropractor said my muscle strain was likely caused, at least in part, by my hip being out of place, since the movement of the out of place hip torqued the muscle differently than it was supposed to move. He suggested that I check in with my physical therapist. [Side note: how high maintenance does this sound? "My chiropractor suggested I check in with my physical therapist." Yeah. This is middle age apparently.]
So I texted my PT friend Daniel Hernandez and set up a time to visit him for Friday (March 28th). In the meantime, I couldn't run. That muscle was too painful every time I lifted my right leg! Not being able to run is pretty much awful for me. It throws off my whole life rhythm, from sleep to food to housework to coaching. My injury is always on my mind and I'm constantly wondering how much I can and can't do, and when it will feel better. It's maddening! I actually had to talk to myself out loud several times this week, telling myself what Coach Shaina White tells every runner with an injury. It helped, but I was still sad and injured!
On Tuesday, after three whole days without running, desperation led me to the barn, where I figured out that I could ride the elliptical machine without any pain. I cranked out several elliptical sweat sessions in the barn over the next three days. I also lifted more weights than usual, avoiding that one screaming muscle in my upper thigh and basically shredding my upper body. What is it about my body that craves physical exertion? I stayed sane this week thanks to weights and the elliptical machine, but it wasn't quite the same centered sanity as I get when I am able to run regularly.
Not running all week did help my injured muscle to hurt less, to the point where by Friday I was worrying about being a total princess by showing up to the physical therapist with a teeny tiny almost-healed leg. "Maybe I should just be patient and let it finish healing instead of bothering Daniel," I thought. But then I did a few hours of yardwork on Friday morning and that tight brittle painful feeling dug stabbed into my muscle again. I decided to go through with the PT visit, and drove to the tri cities on Friday afternoon.
Bless Daniel Hernandez: he worked his PT magic and had me sprinting and bounding by the end of our 90 minutes together. Seriously, the whole process of physical therapy is absolutely fascinating. As I understand it, my tight hips plus weaker left hamstring cause pelvic dysfunction. When I run, my weak left hammy causes my left hip to dip, which pulls on my right hip, which makes the muscles on my right hip and leg compensate, tilt, pull, and basically work harder than they're supposed to.
So the root of the problem was actually my weak left hamstring and glute, not the right hip like I thought. The pain was sure in the right hip/groin though! With some very intense palpation and pinching, Daniel isolated the exact muscle on my right hip/thigh that was hurting, and named it: the sartorius muscle. My poor screaming sartorius! He worked and manipulated my hips and legs until the hip was much looser and more open. After that I ran fast up and down the street while he took slow motion videos. Then he showed me the videos, pointed out the signs of my pelvic dysfunction and explained how to combat it. He taught me some simple PT exercises to do to strengthen my weak side and support both sides. After that, he put me through a bounding-power-sprint drill to work my hamstrings and test my newly mobile hips. It was intense and I was pretty worn out after all that, but the pain was gone! My sartorius stopped screaming, and the pain was gone. It was amazing. Even though I was so thrashed from all the PT and bounding drills, I went on a four mile victory run celebrating my freedom before heading home.
I am totally going to be the type of elderly person who talks at length about her aches and pains. I can predict this about myself because I'm already like that! HAH. Other things happened around my screaming sartorius this week. For example:
Amber is in full learning mode with states and capitols. It's pretty cute. She drilled Rose in state capitals all the way home from practice today.
On Monday, Jay ran the hill at track practice for the first time in 3 weeks, and thankfully his ankle held up great!
Rose had fun helping at track practice by demonstrating exercises for me, since I was too gimpy.
Jeff tweaked his ankle walking down the barn stairs during practice on Monday, but his injury only bothered him for a few short days. For a while there though, we made quite the gimpy ibuprofen popping pair!
Tuesday: I finally managed to clean the bathrooms on Tuesday morning. Usually I clean them once a week, but I didn't do it last week. Clean bathrooms feel nice.
Amber was excited all week for spring break. I told her about a new puzzle that I got for us to do over spring break, and she looked forward to it every day this week. We got the new puzzle out after the last day of school on Wednesday and finished it within two days. It was very satisfying. Small pleasures!
Tuesday was the first hot day of the year--we had two days in the high 70s before the spring weather plunged back down into the 50s.
Wednesday was the last day of school before spring break. Thursday and Friday were officially parent teacher conferences for the elementary schools, with official spring break beginning a few days later on Monday, March 31st. I went to Amber's parent teacher conference after track practice on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, I pulled overalls on and used our new battery powered backpack weed sprayer for the first time. I totally felt and looked like a Ghostbuster, haha. I was able to spray the entire gravel driveway out front and back patio in just 30 minutes with the new sprayer! It was so fast! It took 8 gallons of weed killer, but it was fast! That same job would've taken well over 2 hours (and a lot more muscle) with our old 2 gallon hand pump-and-carry weed sprayer. Using that backpack battery powered weed sprayer was the most fun I've had doing yardwork in a long time!
Spot the stray dog watched me stoically from afar while I worked. She is a pleasant quiet distant companion. After I finished spraying for weeds, I went and sat near Spot on the grape patio. Of course Spot left and laid in the grass farther away because I got too close to her, but I still enjoyed the perfect weather: I laid down on the grape platform and watched puffy while clouds float across the blue sky. Birds were twittering and singing. A light breeze blew. It was a totally peaceful country life moment.
On Friday morning, Amber and I stayed home from the short pre-meet high school track practice to do some yardwork. We hacked up the grass growing in our side front flowerbed and scattered some wildflower seeds out there. Then I pulled a massive pile of dead last-year weeds from around the shed. It was breezy and 49 degrees so I wore a flannel shirt under my overalls and felt so protected from all of the scratchy prickly weeds. It was very satisfying work. There's nothing quite like laboring with my own two hands to tidy up our bit of earth. It makes me feel connected to God and nature in a unique way. Sitting inside while reading scriptures and praying is one way to connect to God, but going out and working to beautify a tiny piece of the world he created just feels special.
Amber was excited to plant the wheat that she grew at school during "wheat week." It looked like a few strands of green grass in the little cup she had sprouted it in, just like all the grass we hoed out of that flowerbed, but Amber planted it lovingly and surrounded it in a few rocks so we would be able to tell the difference between the wheat and any remaining bits of grass.
Once we had finished planting Amber's wheat seedling and our wildflower seeds, I started weeding around the shed. Amber disappeared around the corner of the shed. She reappeared a little while later, dripping wet from head to toe. "I accidentally sprayed myself with the hose!" she said. It was barely 49 degrees outside and cloudy with a breeze, so it wasn't play in the water weather! I laughed while she went inside to change.
On Saturday, Jay had a high school track meet in Yakima at West Valley High School. I was looking forward to going on a run around West Valley, because it's got such lovely rolling hills that are the perfect height for a good run but low enough to be bearable. I parked in the West Valley high school parking lot, and Rose and Amber played cards in the van while I went on my run. My legs were pretty sore from my PT session (plus all of the lifting I managed to do around my screaming sartorius this week), so my run wasn't exactly the run of dreams I had hoped for. There was a good amount of aching and thinking about the aching while I ran, but the rolling hills and perfect spring weather made up for a lot.
When I finished my run, Rose, Amber, and I entered the track meet. Almost as soon as I arrived, Jeff told me "we need you in the coaches' relay!" The coaches' 4x100m relay was scheduled for the end of the meet, after the last high school event. We watched Jay run the 1600 in 5:21, just 3 seconds off of his PR. Jay also ran in the DMR, the distance medley relay, which at this meet was a 200, a 400, an 800, and a 1200 (3 laps). Jay ran the 1200 for his relay team at the same pace he raced his 4 lap mile race earlier. He is finding his speed and racing legs again! He hopes to break the 5 minute barrier in the mile this season.
I enjoyed talking with the kids on our team, answering their questions, and also hanging out in the bleachers with my friends Ryan and Danae Kannely (two of their daughters are on the track team). It was such a fun happy track meet. The weather was perfect: mid 60s and sunny with a gentle breeze every now and then. We cheered as our Andrew Garcia beat his Yakima rival Bodie Alderson in the 800, breaking 2 minutes for the first time. We also cheered as Bodie Alderson broke the 60 year old West Valley track facility record in the mile, and while Sunnyside sprinter-jumper Mason Streik got a 4 inch PR in the high jump, soaring over 6'2''. It was a satisfying track meet.
Then it was time for the coaches' relay! Andrew Garcia and his buddy Andy "interviewed" each of the four coaches on our relay team throughout the day. Andy held the phone to video the relay, and Andrew held a baton as a microphone. He asked me one question: "What is your goal for the relay today?" I said "I'm hoping to go under 20 seconds!" Which was funny because 20 seconds is pretty slow for a 100 meter dash, but I am not a performer so I was kind of a boring interview subject! Hahaha. Those boys came and interviewed us after the relay too. They were hamming it up and just having a blast. It was cute.
My legs were so tired, even jogging for 5 minutes to warm up for the relay felt hard. We did a few practice baton handoffs on the infield before the relay, and Coach Winger (age 72) runs so fast that he pushed my back to get me to speed up after passing me the baton! I was the only woman on our mixed relay team, and my lack of top end speed is practically as legendary as Coach Winger's actual top end speed, haha. It was a no pressure event, but as I stood in my exchange zone watching Coach Winger hurtling toward me, I got scared! He was coming in so fast! Ahhhh! I kind of yelled a bit when he charged at me. I slightly fumbled the baton and he attempted to pass some of his speed on to me by pushing my back again, just like in our practice handoff. It was so comical, because my legs just don't accelerate quickly. I was laughing while trying to sprint around the curve towards Jeff. Jeff ran our anchor leg and we finished third out of three teams. It was silly and hilarious and a fun release after a day of coaching. We decided that our coaches' relay team had the highest cumulative age by a lot: together our ages added up to 182! We were probably the best relay relative to age. Maybe. Our time was 62 seconds--also hilarious because that's incredibly slow for a 4x100 relay.
On a completely different note, this morning (Sunday, March 30th), I answered a phone call from our Relief Society teacher. She was super sick and couldn't teach today. Immediately I knew that I needed to teach today. That responsibility settled onto my shoulders and into my heart before our phone conversation even ended. Just in case I was wrong (hah, Shaina), I did a Jonah-ish evasive maneuver text in our Relief Society presidency group mentioning the situation. But then I dove in and committed to teaching the lesson today.
I prayed for some major help and efficiency in planning a lesson, and an hour later I had a two page printed lesson outline in my hand as I walked out the door to church. That would not seem like a miracle to a seasoned fearless talented teacher like Jeff, but for me, it was a massive miracle. Shaina White taking only one hour to plan and prepare for 45 minutes of standing up front while facilitating a group discussion? Yeah, that is definitely an enormous miraculous blessing. Even more miraculous was how I felt while planning and also while standing up front to host the discussion: I felt shockingly calm. Like, when I paused and noticed my calmness, I got nervous because I was so calm. Then I let the calm take over again because being nervous about being calm is ridiculous! I had a few butterflies right before I had to go up front and start the lesson, but this was such an amazing experience of divine support the whole way through.
At the beginning of the lesson, I broke the ice by telling (and acting out--who am I??) the hilarious coaches' relay from yesterday's track meet. I related the nerves I suddenly felt when I was watching Coach Winger sprint towards me during the relay to how I felt the minute I walked up front to teach a last minute Relief Society lesson. The sisters in the room were all smiling, laughing, and enjoying my story. Getting people to smile at the beginning of any time spent up in front always sets me at ease. Smiling faces are attentive. Smiles make me feel happy, and happiness counteracts nervousness. The discussion went well, with I think everyone in the room sharing at least once. We had a mix of heartfelt stories shared as well as thoughtful and fun and practical ones. Basically, Relief Society at its finest. Bonus: I felt pretty much fine while I was up front talking--a little jittery during a few pauses, but overall calm. The room was so full of love and it set me at ease. It was a sweet experience.
A FEW PICTURES:
1 comment:
I loved reading about your RS teaching miracle and your laughing coaches relay! And Shaina the weed buster. And Amber with an hoe. And….actually, I loved reading everything you wrote!
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