A few months ago, I started to notice my right hamstring was feeling a lot tighter than my left one. I didn't think much of it, but I did try to make a better effort of stretching my hamstrings after my workouts. 

The stretching felt good and I figured the tight muscle would resolve itself in time.

But that's not what happened. 

Instead, it just kept staying tight, and would get really sore at weird times -- like on our 8-hour car ride to North Carolina back in April. 

I backed off my already low running volume and focused instead on strength stuff, until about two weeks ago, when I tried to go for a run and I felt discomfort more than just tightness. I made it less than a quarter mile before turning around to walk home. 

And that's when I decided to pump the brakes. 

I took two full weeks off running and about ten days off lower body strength training. 

I also started noticing my leg felt tighter if I didn't move it much all day so I started to try to get up off the sofa a bit more and sneak in a quick walk around the block here and there. 

Things seemed to be feeling a bit better after my rest so yesterday I decided to try a short run. My leg was definitely looser, but tightened quickly over time. I made it a mile before taking a walk break and then turning around and heading home. 

I've been liberally applying Icy Hot and trying to do some gentle stretches. 

But I've got to say, I'm super frustrated. How in the world do I end up with some sort of a hamstring strain when I am barely running at all? (I mean the answer is that I probably overdid the weights while deadlifting, but still). 

I've intentionally been trying to focus on weights workouts to help with my muscle imbalances and avoid injuries, and now here I am with this annoying hamstring thing. 

I'm trying to baby it now so it doesn't blow up into some sort of full blown injury, but my patience is wearing thing. I'm so antsy to not be able to workout when it's such a part of my day-to-day routine. I just feel like something is missing and it's making me crabby.

I'm hoping with another week or so of rest and babying I'll be able to get back to my regular activities. In the meantime, I'll just be over here trying to figure out what sort of exercise I can do to maintain my sanity that won't aggravate my hamstring.