Form With a Perfect Stranger

Sometimes the universe gives you just what you need at the time you least expect it.

I did my long run on Saturday while on a weekend holiday at a friend’s house near Sacramento.  I had eight miles to do and was kind of dreading it due to the fact that I have been suffering quite a bit with knee pain since the Nike Half Marathon about 1 week ago.

The run confirmed my worst fears.  The course was 8 miles of rolling hills and by the time I was on the back side heading towards home, my left knee was absolutely screaming. Nonetheless the course was really beautiful and quite isolated – just a few horses, very few cars and some random bicyclists, which made it pretty enjoyable.

At about mile 7, a guy riding a bike in the opposite direction passed me and bid me good morning.  A couple of seconds later I heard a voice behind my right ear, “Don’t be scared – I’m not dangerous or anything.” I turned quickly and saw the bicyclist.  “I’m not scared – how are you this morning?”  Here’s what he said to me:

“You’ve got pretty good form and you’re moving along pretty well, but would you mind if I gave you a bit of advice?” “No, not at all.”  “You are doing something very common to women runners.  You are running with your hips pulled back instead of with your pelvis forward.  I’ll bet you have back problems, right?  And maybe knees as well?”  I perked up.  “Try pushing your pelvis forward and tightening your abs while shortening your stride a little bit.  At first this might slow you down, but ultimately, the effect will be to decrease strike time and quicken your pace.”

I was stunned.  By that time I was also fairly exhausted. “Yeah,” I said.  “I do tend to lean forward – especially when I am tired like I am now – and my knee IS killing me. Are you a coach?”  He laughed.  “No, I’ve just been exercising for years and have had a lot of experience with this sort of thing.  I didn’t know how you would react to the advice of a stranger.  Thank you for being so open and listening to me.”  I proceeded to tell him about Traxee and our community of women runners and thanked him once again for the advice.  He rode away.

On Sunday my knee was so tight and so sore I could barely bend it.  I applied ice upon returning home and elevated my leg – but what pain!

My next scheduled run was this morning – a short 3-miles.  I decided to test the stranger’s advice.  OMG!  What a difference!  Yes, I was slower, but NO knee pain AT ALL.  And here’s the interesting thing – for the first time, I felt my hamstrings engaging instead of my quads – a sure sign that in this new form, I am working both muscle groups evenly (ultimately minimizing knee problems.)  I have to be very conscious about this form and it feels a bit unnatural to me right now- but I think the anonymous stranger may have saved me a lot of pain and heartache in the future.  I am going to have to work with this until it becomes natural – and work on speed running this way; but I am so grateful!

Anonymous stranger…THANK YOU!

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