Bit of a stretch

After damaging my hand 9 months ago, I stopped doing any stretching (which had become less frequent with slower but higher mileage anyway). Then I continued to hurt my right hand or wrist on a regular basis, so going back to stretching has been something I've just thought about.

The past two days, I've started stretching again and I'm discovering just how badly I need it. For those of you who never stretch, I can predict where my next overuse injury will be from what doesn't want to be stretched. That keeps me from a lot of injuries.

I can finally get into a push-up position, though it takes about 10 seconds to do so - when I read about people doing a push-up challenge, I really felt left out (and gratefully so). I can put a little weight on the right wrist, but 90-95% has to be on the left. Afterward, the wrist is sore. It'll be a while yet before it's back to normal.

There are other things that are even harder to do (I'm talking just about getting into a position, not about actual stretching here). If you know how sprinters put their hands when they get in the blocks [there are two; I'm not talking about the one where the fingers form a bridge] or how they're supposed to be for yoga sun salute poses... I can't do that. I can, sort of, kinda, get close to it, but it hurts a lot. Maybe with practice, the hand will become more flexible too.

Who would've thought that a hand injury would have such influence on a runner? Of course, it did have one positive: I discovered a way to rig a light to my water bottle. I won't have to worry about which drop bag at Kettle Moraine to have my headlamp.
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I haven't mentioned much lately about training because I haven't done much, but the past few days have average 8 miles under 9 min./mile. A good place to be right now.