Stihl 026 recoil hard to pull

[restoholic]

I have a Stihl 026 that has been running perfect. I used it about 2 weeks ago with no problem. Went to start it yesterday and the recoil feels like a great amount of compression resistance, very hadr to pull start. removed the spark plug and she pulls just as easy as ever with plenty of compression..replace plug and same thing...hard to pull. Does the 026 have a compression release valve anywhere that may be sticking??? This is not the pro model....Bill