Artichoke's Running Blog (Ken Spence)

3+ slow miles on the road.  Still feeling pain in the hip and back.  Afterwards it's almost totally in my back.  Need to get back to the doctor this week to see what's next.  I'll probably try 3 miles every other day to see how I handle it for now.  5 whopping miles this week, but better than nada.

3 Miles tonight, very slow and easy.  Felt pain the entire run, but tolerable if I don't make it any worse.  I'm just planning on running 3 miles every other day to see how it goes and bike on the other days.  The doctor has ordered an MRI on my hip on Friday and it will take a week for results for some reason.  That will be the day before the Ogden Marathon, but I won't be running.  Maybe I'll be able to go up and run the first few miles since it is also a relay and they have transportation back to Ogden for all the relay runners.  We'll see.

3.8 miles in 34 minutes.  My 3 miler turned out to be longer than I thought, but it was still rather slow.  Felt about like Monday night, perhaps a little better.  Biked 9 miles on the stationary yesterday, will do the same tomorrow morning.  Nice night for a run.  70 degrees at 6:30 p.m., which actually felt too warm.  I'm becoming an evening runner because I feel worse in the morning and think it not best to run early for now.  Ragnar Wasatch Back team meeting is next week.  I found an alternate to run for me, but I should know in another week or two if I will be ready to go, also depending on the MRI on Friday.  Somewhat encouraged, but still far from being pain free on the run.

Home today from work.  MRI scheduled for this afternoon.  Ran 4 miles to the top of Little Mountain and back.  Fairly easy running on soft ground.  Felt fair.  At least I'm back running, but still with some pain.

5 miles today at 9:30 a.m. on my standard morning route.  How's that for a long run?  But at least I made it and for 2 consecutive days. 45:04, much faster than I thought I was going, so I'm calling it fast miles.  Hip and backl were all over the place today.  Feels fairly good going uphill.  Then downhill on the gravel road stretch not bad until and hit the paved downhill and then some pain.  I jumped up onto the grass park strip at Loma Vista for a while.  Met Liz coming back from her 11 miler.  I was at mile 4 and so we stopped to chat for about 5 minutes.  Alot of pain when I started back up coming down and then all of a sudden it loosened up and most of the last mile I felt great.  15+ miles running this week and about 27 on the stationary bike.  Ogden Marathon next week.  I plan on running the first 7 miles and dropping out for a DNF.  It will be a good course to do that because of the busses for the relay that I can hop on to get back to Ogden.  The weather is looking decent for next week.

4 miles in a very slow 39:00.  3 with Roger and Elaine.  Up to the cemetery with 2 loops, plus one more after leaving them.  Still hip pain, but actually felt a little better the last mile by myself and a bit quicker pace.  Rest until Wednesday.  Bike tomorrow morning.

5 miles tonight very easy.  3 with Roger, Elaine, and their son Ryan.  He's the one that looks exactly like our son Scott did at his age.  It's way weird.  No more running until Ogden Marathon.  MRI results tomorrow.  If good to go I plan on running at least the first leg of the marathon for 7 miler.  I might as well, I paid the money.  So I'll get a DNF, but at least I'm back running, but still having some issues with my back and hip.  See what the orthopedic tells me.  Biked 9 miles yesterday morning, will do the same tomorrow morning and take Friday off.  Plan on going up to the expo right after work on Friday.  Good luck to all those running.

I may have either done the stupidest thing in my running career or ran the 2nd gutsiest marathon second only to Boston '07 in the Nor'easter. I was registered to run Ogden, but due to my Sacral Stress Fracture, I thought I would just run the first leg or two, 7 or 13 miles. Just like my last two 5 mile training runs, my back/hip was hurting by mile 2, but by mile 5 it all but went away. I have been able to run every other day for the last two weeks, 3 to 5 miles, with some pain still. It was unbelievable! I decided to start out at about 9 minute pace and see what I could do. My longest training run was 16 miles, the week after Moab and then I didn't run for 4 weeks, just biking on the stationary. The last two weeks I've had improvement, an MRI, diagnosing the stress fracture and I'm scheduled for a CT scan on Monday to confirm, stress fracture or an outside possibility of a tumor, which they doctor doesn't think is the case since this clearly came on as a typical overuse injury. I didn't know if 7 weeks since my last long run could carry me through, but with the slower pace, (9:15 first half and 10:15 second half after hitting the wall big time at about 18 miles. I wanted to walk so bad, but thought that I would never get going again and held on through the finish. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but I was encouraged. 4:15 is well off my 3:23 at SGM, but all take it under these circumstances.  Now another week off to recuperate.

Resting most of this week.  CT scan this morning.  Hopefully results by Thursday's appointment with orthopedic.  They'll probably kill me when they find out I did the marathon, but the doctor said I could run if it wasn't "screaming" at me.  The information I have on Sacral Stess fractures indicates that they usually resolve themselves in 4 to 6 weeks of rest, which I had about 4 full weeks without running before I went to the every other day thing a couple of weeks ago.  My hip would have probably been screaming at me if I had run at a faster clip, but I was not trained for this one for sure.  I'm actually quite encouraged, my hip/back seems no worse than before the marathon and the everything else hurting is just typical muscle soreness.

6 miles tonight.  3 fast miles is comparatively only to the 3 very slow miles.  First training runwith Gina.  She got very excited after finishing her first road race at the Ogden Marathon Relay on Saturday.  Now she's already signed up for the Deseret News 10K and the Top of Utah Half-marathon.  I'm her "coach" and will be helping her to get there by running with her 3 to 4 times per week.  The timing couldn't be better.  The doctor wants me running modifiedworkouts.  Less intensity and less distance until the pain is totally gone.  It's been a lot better,but is still there.  The great news was I didn't feel too bad after the Ogden Marathon.  I ran very slow and conservatively.  Hit the wall bad by 19 miles and came through okay.  Regular muscle soreness rather than trouble from the injury, which was extremely encouraging.  Got my CT Scan results today.  They don't indicate much different than the MRI, but still is not totally conclusive as to whether I had a slight stress fracture.  It may just be the degenertive disks in my back that the chiroractor's earlier x-ray indicated.  I'll be taking it easy.  St. George may be another slower marathon, but I'd rather be running easy during my training than not running at all.

Made 8.25 miles today. 4+ with Gina. She's doing good and the 10K will be no problem for her in another couple of months as well as the TOU half in 3 months. Very easy running. I'm feeling much, much better. Although I still feel some problems early, it goes away and I feel pretty good afterwards. My pace is slow, but the doctor says to be very careful with my pace and increasing my distance. So running with Gina right now is a blessing.

6+ miles at 8:00 a.m.  Nice and sunny after the rain yesterday.  About 3.2 with Gina.  Very slow and easy, but it's helping nicely with my recovery.  Picked up the pace the last 1.5 miles coming home.

3 miles to cemetery and loops with Gina.  6:30 p.m. real easy.  Felt okay.

4 miles out and back on Skyline Ave.  5:10 a.m. Easy running, solo.  9:56 pace.  Hip and back pain, until 1/2 mile left.  Saw Matt out on the way back.  I actually finally saw someone getting a speeding ticket as the race down the street at 45 mph in a 25 mph.  It's about time!

5 miles tonight at 6:00 p.m.  3 miles with Gina.  She's getting stronger.  We both felt the heat tonight.  Neither of us are acclimated to 80 degrees, so struggled some.  Good otherwise.  Slow miles are helping.  Early morning run tomorrow won't feel quite as great.

5 miles in about 50 minutes.  10 minute pace.  5:10 a.m.  Didn't feel the best.  It's alot better running in the afternoon after I'm loosened up.  25 miles so far this week.  10 planned for tomorrow.  Gina has 5 scheduled.

Made 10 miles today.  Felt really good throughout, although running very slowly.  5 with Gina at about 11 min. pace.  She is doing great and is right on schedule for the 10K in July and the half marathon in August.  Just need to keep her healthy and her knee strong and she'll meet her goals.  Remainder of run at about 9:30 to 10:00 pace.  85 degrees on thermometer at the end of the run.