A New Season: On the Road to Movement Recovery

Summer's here and Scooter and I are on the move. I love going out on all my different routes and seeing what's blooming in my neighbors' gardens or on the roadside. I use a hands-free leash to walk Scooter, and it has this lovely little pouch meant for storing keys. Of course, mine is stuffed to the gills with seed pods that I am collecting as I walk: columbine, lupine, whatever looks good. I am careful that I leave enough pods to reseed the wildflowers I encounter.

It has been very rainy this year and we have gotten caught in the rain a few times. But it reminds me of playing in the rain and stomping through puddles when I was a kid. Unless, there's lightning in the area, I do not rush home and Scooter is just fine with that.

We are training for a marathon, The Disney Marathon in January, that I will run with a friend. But before we can really get moving, I have some work to do.

I sustained a hip injury a few months ago that had nothing to do with movement. Actually, it had to do with lack of movement. So now I have an IT band issue (I had one a few years back--it is what got me into ChiRunning in the first place). You do not mess around with this injury. So I went to my Egoscue person (yes, even we certified Egsocue providers visit each other for help) and got a great new menu of e-cises. I have been diligent about doing them and am now able to ChiRun every other day without pain. I am not running every day as I want to give the hip time to settle down completely--not all the inflammation is gone. But it is so much better than it was and it does not hurt when I run. I am more likely to have a twinge mowing the lawn or rolling over in bed. HA!

In the between time, I am ChiWalking with the boy. What's really nice about being able to ChiWalk and ChiRun is that there are so many similarities that practicing one helps with the other. So while my hip continues to heal, I can focus on my core, relax my ankles and rotate my hips. In fact, I find that practicing the hip rotation when I am walking makes it easier for when I am running. Additionally, I practice diaphrammatic breathing, which will support me nicely in the running.

I'll check in again soon. Hope you are reclaiming your joy this summer!