On Monday morning I woke to find that my right leg felt peculiar. I had some overall muscular soreness in my hips and legs due to playing an extended amount of tennis over the weekend, and playing 1 on 1 basketball is an activity that I am sure worked muscles that I normally do not use. But my right leg felt odd when bent and pushing off going up stairs or uphill. It reminded me of my IT Band troubles a couple of years ago, minus the knee stiffness. The fact that both my knees held up from the weekend makes me breathe a sigh of relief.
So instead of running on Monday I walked to the cemetery after work and walked up and down the hill for 20 minutes. Tuesday the leg felt a little better, which indicated that the injury is hopefully a minor one. I walked the cemetery hill again, this time for 30 minutes. I guessed that with 1 week of walking and no running, the leg may soon return to 100%. Today I woke to find the peculiar soreness to have dissipated further, so I am planning to walk the hill a little longer today.
Maybe by the weekend I can return to running. With the Devil's Lake race less than 2 weeks away, having to rest isn't going to hurt me too much. I am considering running my first 5k in 2 years this Sunday. I have no idea what my time will be, but I am guessing it will be nowhere close to the 18:48 I ran in my last one. I would be happy with 21:00, and would not be surprised with 22:30. I have slowed down a lot, but am enjoying running more than ever before, so speed is obviously not something which presently motivates me.
Yesterday I jammed to Buddy Guy again with the electric, and noticed a change/improvement in how I play. David showed me a Jimmy Page riff from Stairway to Heaven, which entailed a mini barre on the high e/b strings while pulling off with the pinkie. I had already been aware of using mini barres when leading, but my skills were not high enough to allow me to practice it effectively. This time things started to click and I was using the mini barre for much of my playing, allowing for more efficient note changes. Things are starting to get interesting with my playing....
