CARSON, Calif. – Todd Dunivant’s upbeat mood is unmistakable.
The Galaxy veteran and his wife, Caroline, not only are busy being parents to a girl, Lula, born 10 days ago but the left back is making surprising progress in his return from his second significant injury of the season.
The soon-to-be 34-year-old, who suffered a left groin tear in a collision with Colorado’s Nick LaBrocca on Sept. 5, completed another day of running on Thursday and said each day has gotten better.
“And hopefully tomorrow (Friday) is the same,” he said.
It has been a trying year for Dunivant, a 12-year veteran who has been limited to only seven games (including five starts) this season because of his injuries. First there was abdominal surgery in early April, followed by the groin tear last month. But he said he lost neither his optimism nor his determination to be back for postseason play, which will begin in just under a month.
“I was always confident,” he said. “The plan was always to get back by the playoffs, as soon as possible. I’m a little bit ahead of schedule, and that’s good.”
Dunivant said he has no specific date in mind for his return. The first three weeks after his latest injury were anything but promising; any movement, he said, resulted in sharp pain. Now he said he’s getting to the point where he can lift his leg and sit up straight.
“Honestly, it was that bad,” he said. “Just being able to do that stuff is a big improvement. I’m definitely a long way from where I was even a week ago.”
Dunivant also is at the point now where he has to be careful not to overdo anything.
“That’s the hardest part,” he said. “As an athlete you want to push yourself as much as you can, but you also have to be smart. You can run though a brick wall, but it’s not necessarily good for you. It’s not going to help you in the long run.
“I think it’s finding that right balance of pushing yourself but also being smart about not going too far with it.”
Dunivant said he detected a noticeable improvement in his status about three or four days ago and secretly tried running on the main stadium field earlier this week. That session, he said, went well. Even walking around and getting out of bed weren’t arduous tasks as they were earlier.
“We’ll see how long it takes to jump to the next level,” he said.
All he knows is he no longer can use the injury as an excuse to keep from changing diapers.
“That didn’t work,” he said with a laugh. “I tried it. That wasn’t flying.”
