outamojo, as I understand it muscle strains happen routinely with frequent runners (this from my own experience and from the testimony of a massage therapist I know who unfortunately lives out of state). Perhaps the disconnect is comparing the experience of high school runners with that of my 39-year old husk of a body.
walterwhite, thanks but this is not a question of “doing it wrong”… the issue derives from a weird anatomical situation that has caused me problems for decades, which is that my legs are of somewhat different lengths from one another. Such problems crop up once in a while and dealing with them as they come up, ie the metaphorical band aid, is the best I can hope for given the situation.