Lynn (& Mike): Yup, I have cut the lunges and now I do about 15min of ab work before I do anything. As I mentioned above, I got "lazy" and cut out a lot of the preliminaries and would just shoot out the door for a run after work.
Mike: You were right, also, that 600mg Ibuprofin took away that deep "pressure" that I was feeling in the glute.
Steve: On top of the above, I did about 30min of stretches according to those illustrations. Amazing that I could feel the exact spot where the pain emminates from changing from sharp pain to more of a dull "used" feeling.
Ken: After Ibuprofin & stretching, I went for a moderate walk. During the walk, I realized that my stride had been shortening over a long period of time, because when I started to take longer steps, there was this "pain memory" that made me hesitate (no pain while walking, but my running stride had been shorting to the point where my foot started grazing the ground.)
Everyone: Do not let anyone kid you that rowing is "easy" ; after 10 minutes, everything was burning from (ab)use!
If all else fails,
I CAN ALWAYS MENTALLY OVER RIDE THIS WHOLE SITUATION 
