Marathon Top 10 Finishes: 7 Bridges ('15), Utah Valley ('13), Salt Lake City ('08), Top of Utah ('07), and St. Louis ('04). Ran around the equator (24901.55) in 4,388 days.
And my largest challenge to date, raise $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of my cancer survivorship and in memory of those lost to blood cancer...
DONE! $26,403.70
Grew up outside Chicago and joined the blog while I lived in Salt Lake City. Now living outside Birmingham. I am married with two daughters. Wife thinks I'm crazy for doing marathons. And yes I am crazy I'm a scientist for a living...
AM: Slept in a little. Out the door with Kaitlyn after breakfast. Nice and cool, low 50s. Then it started to rain. We forged ahead but by one mile there was some small hail so we turned back. The stroller has a nice cover that Kaitlyn didn't get wet but I didn't want to push my luck. Quads and knee sore, right calf still tight. Mi 2-R3
PM: Had to come into work to set-up for Tues. Was able to get out for a few more miles. Same aches and pains as this morning. Not as bad as I was expecting but still noteworthy. Just ran from Popperton to MG and back. Didn't end up going home until 11:30 last night though so we'll see how I'm doing in the morning. Mi 4-R2
AM: Another busy day. With the school year starting again there are a lot of meetings and grant deadlines coming up so work really hit me like a sledge hammer. I'm actually there again (now at 9:30pm). In the morning I had to get some things going and didn't get out for my run until ~11am. I ran home to check on Sandra as today was Kaitlyn's first day of school... My knee was the same amount of tight. I think because of some compensation during the race my left ankle is now acting up but just a bunch of aches and pains of an "old man"... Mi 5-R3
PM: After bedtime ran to suicide rock and back. Strecthed iced and now back in lab. Hopefully I'll get out of here sooner than last night... Mi 4-R1
Single: Well I didn't make it out any earlier last night but I DID NOT go back tonight. Just caught up on home stuff tonight. About midway through the day I'd had enough and went for a trail run up Dry Creek to the five trail exchange with some people from upstairs. I keep meeting people in my building that run. 2-yrs in and I'm still meeting new people. I would say there are ~10 people in the building that run >40 mpw. The run was fine, it was the best my legs have felt in 2-wks... Mi 8-R3
Single: Sorry but I need to rant and as this is part running
log and public diary you get to read it. I look at this as my therapy session. As
most of you know I was in a car accident on Dec 31st. Believe it or not I am
still dealing with paperwork/bills from that incident. For those of you that
know the details of the accident you will find this especially fun. I just got a credit report and this
accident (the bills relating to it) went on there. Unbeknownst to me my health
care insurance (auto is exhausted) was billed and declined. But they waited 4
weeks to do anything about it, not sending anything to me even though I had
initially called to verify receipt of the fax. The long and the short of it is
I had to pay out of pocket for the full amount to the collection agency that
was sent to get me and then, even if people ever get their acts together will
only have 35% reimbursed because of “out-of-network” coverage. Granted it isn’t
a “large” sum of money (only 5% of the grand total) as most was already covered it just really brings home
to me how incompetent the whole health billing system is that this process could take 9 months and end in a collection agencies hands for someone perfectly willing to pay his bills.
Enough of my rant. I did run before finding all this out and
ran up City Creek (yesterday was Dry
Creek). It was a good run and my knee continues to improve. Maybe next Tues I’ll
try some quicker miles on it. Mi 10-R3
Single: Same run as yesterday. Knee not as good but still "better"... Feeling better than yesterday. Sometimes I just get so worked up. Other than that not much to write today. Mi 10-T3
"Single": Last night Jon crashed at my place for his race in Park City today. It is always nice to get to talk to bloggers in person. This morning I did two miles with him before he hit the road and then headed back out for 10 on my own past Suicide Rock and down Wasatch Dr for a little. On my way back I was crawling as my knee was bugging me again :( and two guys caught me right at the drinking fountain. That kicked my butt into gear and I went with them striking up a conversation. They were doing a pace run for TOU at there BQ pace. It is amazing what a little bit of conversation (and competitive drive) can do for a pain killing affect. I ran them in for the last ~1.5 miles of there run and continued on. If you guys did end up checking out the blog welcome sign-up and good luck. (I of course gave them the blog sales pitch...). In any case I was not happy with how my knee felt last night during my walk with Kaitlyn or this morning during the run so I will take tomorrow off and keep the mileage low again next week. I was really convinced that the worst was behind me after being able to pull off that race last weekend but there is still definitely something run. I will "nurse" it through St. George and then take a few weeks completely off... Mi 12-R3
Some how my knee actually hurt worse at the end of the day? My calves have just been very tight, maybe atrophy from no use... Otherwise a nice day though.
With the increased pain despite the "lower" mileage week and extra days of rest I'm going to keep this week under 8 miles per day... Basically just focus on getting the knee completely healthy and not worrying about loss of fitness. Run STG with whatever I have left after ~6 wks of detraining and see what happens. Maybe this way I can just focus on an easier goal and help pace a different group. We'll see. Not too up beat about the recovery right now. Good news is that other things seem to be moving along. Later this month I go to a meeting where I get to give both an invited talk and a poster. It will be my first invited presentation and only my 4th time speaking at an international meeting so I better get working on that presentation... Mi 4-R3
Single: Overall a good run (my knee hurt the whole time, but a good run). It RAINED!!! That is always a nice way to start the run. It sprinkled lightly on me for about half the run. There were also about 5 other runners out on a course that I usually just see bikers on during the week. Ran out to the other side of Parley's and back (up out; down back). On the way back my run was timed perfectly to watch the sunset. I turned around when the sun had not yet reached the horizon. Then during the first mile back I got to watch the whole thing from "touching the earth" to going completely out of sight. Always nice to watch. Mi 6-R3
Single: Just trying to stay focused. My knee actually has hurt a little more with the rest. I think part of this is that the dull ache has subsided so that I can now more accurately pinpoint some of the pain and that seems to amplify it in my mine. I'm sure a bunch of the pain is just my frustration... There is an ache at the point were my IT connects to my knee and then an intermittent sharp pain across the front of my knee. Fortunately the latter is much less frequent. The good news is that we continue to have perfect running weather, a little taunting but good none-the-less. I was slow getting out the door this evening and missed the sunset but the colors in the sky were still there. I actually wore my flats today, new ones. I'd broken them in much more thoroughly and they are heavier than the previous ones. It actually felt better on my knee because I ran up on my toes a little more. Mi 4-C2
Single: Today was a little less hectic and good all around. As in running I have to take my science with little steps. At night I headed over to Eric's (Phoenix) place to have him check out the injury. He scraped it and that seemed to help the problem with the outside of the knee. I guess I've been another convert, it seems that this is a popular technique amongst the blog. I think Josse and Michelle are big proponents. The sharper pain in the inside of my knee was however still present but I'll give this a try over the next week. I think I'll take tomorrow off and try a little longer 8-10 max Sat. Overall the run was good but the conversation was better. Mi 6-R3
Single: Today was an up, down, up day so at least it ended on the right note. Knee about the same as yesterday. I can't believe St. George is only three weeks away. It is frustrating and encouraging. I think I can nurse something respectable out of my legs I just have to keep telling myself to be patient... I just did a home loop. Mi 4-R3
Single: I was wiped out this week. I couldn't get out of bed this morning. When I finally got up made breakfast for the family and then went into work for awhile. Later had some family errands and then a carnival to attend. After bed time did my old home loop. Knee about the same. I think I'm going to just keep my mileage here until it feels better and then work up, we shall see... Mi 6-R3
Single: Call me a liar. A couple hours after deciding I was going to take today off I decided enough work and went home for a few hours with the family. Since it was so nice out and Kaitlyn was asking to see the seagulls we ran to SH and back. Then I grilled some steak (but am back at work now...). The break was worth the couple extra hours I'll be here tonight though. Mi 4-T3
Goose egg. No that isn't a typo I managed a whopping 4-hrs of sleep last night. I did manage getting everything done though so that is at least something. Tomorrow I'll plan on running in the day or it probably won't happen... With such little sleep I decided to just take a nice warm espon salt bath stretch, sit-ups, push-ups and to sleep...
Single: Went to bed a little early and slept in a little. I needed it after last week. Also, I had the best run this month. My knee was still tight and I can really feel the loss of fitness but it felt good to push it a couple miles. I went by effort as my Garmin is still out... So by 2 at MP I have no idea what that means but it felt relatively good and fast... Mi 6-R3
Single: Still fatigued from last week but the run went well again. My knee felt about the same during the run, though I kept the entire run easy today. Afterward there was more discomfort but nothing too bad... Mi 6-R3
Single: Good amount of sleep, with a couple interruptions. With my daughter starting school the other week I get the joy of GERMS! So she woke up a few times last night pretty congested and then I spent the day a little sluggish. So far no major symptoms but a little insult to injury (literally). Overall the day went well though and I was happy to final get in a little more mileage. The other exciting part of the day came when I went to turn into a parking spot at work. There was a tarantula in the middle of the parking lot. I got out and moved it along to the grass. It was the first time I've seen a tarantula in the wild. The rest of the day was more of the usual with a home loop. I could have sworn I saw Paul P on 21st south or it was his twinner... Mi 8-R3
Single: No more imaginary sightings of Paul. Today was a normal day but I managed to squeeze out 30 minutes early to go home and take Kaitlyn on a short run. We just went to the Park and back. Both of us are pretty stuffy but her temperature went away. I was dragging all day with cold symptoms but the great weather and fresh air in my lungs helped but a little bounce in my step... Mi 4-T3
Single: Two nights in a row with 8 hrs sleep, it is unheard of. Today was an easy paced day. Morning errands with family then a solo run during naptime. Followed by more family time. Now I'm at work finishing up for my talk next week... Longest run in a few weeks and though I didn't feel "back" I wasn't in pain the whole way either so that is good... Mi 10-R3
Single: I was really feeling my cold last night. I just completely crashed. Kaitlyn is still coughing as well... We did however go for a brief run after church. Just to SH to give the geese some cheerios and back. Mi 4-R3
Big goose egg: Trying to tie up all my loose ends before I head to the meeting tomorrow. There is always more to "finish up" than I think, that and having your boss send you an additional two things to organize and bring with doesn't help. That being said I got everything done at 9pm and was about to head out the door for my run when I decided squeezing in 4 miles while sick and injured was not as valuable as spending an extra half hour with my wife before leaving for 6 days.
Single: Nothing easy about the miles today except that one of them was walking... I'm in Breckenridge CO for a conference now. The hotel is at 9600 ft, I can notice the elevation some but not as much as I expected. The sleep deprivation and work stress is probably more of a factor. That being said now that everything is lined up the work stress is much less. It will be one of the larger talks I've given with about 140 people in attendance so there is some stress with that but the talk is only 10 min so there is only so much that can go wrong. CO is such a beautiful state and the mountains are so amazing. After unpacking I went out the door and just headed up under the chair lifts. About the first 1.5 mi was "runnable" then I had to quick walk. I climbed 1900ft in just under 2.5 mi then took a winding service road down. Mi 6-R3 Avg. 13:18 HR 152
Single: Hopefully I'll get more sleep tonight. The meeting keeps you busy and there is a lot of networking going on so I was out until 11:45pm last night. Then up at 5:30 to get a run in before the sessions started up again. These meetings are definitely not vacations though we do get a good three hour block in the afternoon for sightseeing, chatting, etc. This morning I decided against running up the mountain in the dark and went towards town and along a bike path instead. Saw one other runner and one biker. Also, saw a cat chasing a mouse and a fox running down the mainstreet. Entertaining run with the fox and cat. Yesterday's run had 2450 total feet of gain today's run only had 835 BIG difference. I can still feel my knee but more so I feel the loss of fitness. My heart rate is higher than it should be for the relative effort. Mi 6-R3 Avg. 9:27 HR 149.
Another goose egg. Good thing it is taper time. My talk went well. There were about 100 people there and I got about 5 questions. The poster session before hand went very well and I had a lot of good conversation. However it was a VERY long day. I was in meetings/sessions/etc from 7am to 7pm then "networked" until about 15 min ago (it is 11:55pm right now). However, no run today. I was planning on getting up at 5:30 to run before the 7am session but with the talk and walking up about every hour I wanted the extra sleep...
Single: Well I decided I had to stop moaning and give a "real" run a try. So I headed out. I did three "hard" miles. The entire run was between 9300ft and 9700ft so relatively flat but high.The miles were 6:27, 6:00, and 5:55. Later in the day I went for a hike with my boss and a few other faculty members (5K with 1230ft of ascent). During the run I felt my knee almost the whole second half. During the hike it felt fine though. Mi 6-T3 Avg. 7:07 HR 172
The average pace of the run makes me think that a sub-3 is doable and I should stop worrying and even think that a 2:45 is realistic. I just need to have more confidence that everything earlier in the year was not for not...
The meeting has continued to go well. Today I opted not to get up early
to run as I only had 4 hrs of sleep last night. Then instead of going for my
run during the afternoon break I went on a 5.5 mi hike with two senior faculty
members. We climbed over 1300 ft but on a more rugged course than my climb on
Tues. Then after a brief meeting I went walking around downtown for an
additional 2 mi shopping for an anniversary present. Another late night of getting
to know people. Some crazy dancing but I behaved myself more than at my sister’s
wedding and managed not to hurt myself.
A whopping 5 hrs of sleep, then traveling most of the day. I was so dead
tired after a long and productive meeting. I managed about an hour nap and then
was able to visit with my grandparents some. They had spent the weekend
entertaining Kaitlyn and Sandra…
Kaitlyn was sick again when I arrived home yesterday and I woke up with
a sore throat. I had a very full day at work 8am-5pm and 7pm-9:30pm… I moved two
experiments to next week so hopefully the rest of the week I can focus on
getting sleep, getting healthy, and maybe running?
Well I did a little better in the sleep department, though my cold has me exhausted, and at least I made it out. I thought time off was supposed
to “cure” all woes… I wasn’t thrilled with the run tonight but then again
between the lack of sleep and travel related stress I’m not too surprised.
Keeping my eye on Saturday for now and then after will focus on what to do next.
I ran into BC and he seems ready to roll this weekend. Told him about my woes
but I think he thought I said 80 mpw for four weeks not 80 mi in four weeks… Though I guess I did slightly more than that anyway (90 in three weeks). Mi
6-T3 Avg. 8:01
