One year, 2665 mile check up

Today I went in to see Dr. George Tang, MD, the orthopedic surgeon who so successfully repaired my fractured hip socket after my accident in 2014.

With Dr. George Tang, MD,  Huntington Orthopedics.  Best orthopedist ever! Note the plaque on the wall

 I'd last seen Dr. Tang at this time last year, a couple weeks before the 2015 Leona Divide 50.   I had taken a stumble running down the Sam Merrill in which I'd overextended my injured right leg forward while keeping my face from hitting dirt and rocks.  Ouch!  I'd been limping on a sore hip from that save for a few days after that and was scared that I had re-injured the hip.   X-rays were clear and he had encouraged me to work through it.  Sure enough the hip was back  quickly and I had gone on to a good run at Leona and was graced by a smooth ramp up for the 2015 AC100.

 Today was my one year, 2665 mile check-up so to speak. I made the appointment to make sure that after  twenty-six hundred miles and in light of the recent stiffness and pain in my right hip area that the joint was OK.   Relief:  I was given the all-clear-  no signs of trauma-induced arthritis.  But there is weakness as I'd gotten a bit complacent about my exercises in recent months-  Dr Tang encouraged me to get back with the regular exercise routine.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. Tang not only for the years of learning and commitment behind the perfect job he did screwing my hip socket back together --  enabling me to not only run again, but to run AC100 in a top-10 finish one year after getting off crutches--  but also for the no-nonsense clarity of his guidance on when discomfort is OK to work through versus when it is not.

The day before driving up to AC100 last year I dropped off a "thank-you" plaque that I had had made with my Leona finisher's medal.   You  can see it behind us in the picture above, outside his office.  Here is a close-up:

Today's workout:

• Kick-outs:  standing on one leg,  kick out  20 at each of 5 angles separated by 45 degrees starting with forward medial.
• Stair step-ups 3 x 20 each side
• 1-leg glute bridges 3 x 10 each side.  Still difficult on the right-  the right hamstring/glute  is weak.
• Clamshells-  lying on side, with elastic band, 3x20 each side
• Straight leg raises 3 x 20 each side, with heavy boots on
•  Hip adduction raises 3 x 20 each side, wearing heavy boots-  lying on side
• Hip hikes, 3x 20 each side
• Fire-hydrants with extension-  3 x 20each side
• Dynamic lunges 6 x 12 (length of my driveway!)
• Static lunges, 3x30 each side
• 1-leg RDL, 3 x 20 each side