Craig Hudman - Simply Live

8.47/1:02:54/7:26 Just an easy loop around Shelley. The goal was 60 minutes and 8 miles. I am a bit tired from yesterday and wanted to keep an ok distance.

Building a house wouldn't be so bad if I could at least be building. This no home or bills thing is way overrated. 

8.47/1:02:16 Same run as yesterday. Tried to keep this a little more controlled. What a beautiful day to run.

Easy AM run with Nikki. I need to get her out more. Tendonitis is coming back, not bad I can just tell the ankle is not quite right. I'm just hoping to get to Ogden relatively health and still in race shape. 

Getting ready to leave today and my daughter starts crying by my wife. She's scared for me to run another race and wanted to know if bombs were going to go off again. Wow, that is tough. I didn't think Boston would have that much effect on them. 

5 miles with 5x400 reps at the end of each mile 

I was invited by Jeff to run this race a week ago and it ended up working out. He got me a free entry so it was pretty good.

The main goal of the race was to run as slow as possible and still win. I knew there shouldn't be anyone here that was real fast. Jeff and I arrived about an hour before the marathon and we went for a short warm up run. Weather ended up being really nice. I got a nice shot of Jeff coming out of the start and then headed up to wait until the start of the half.

At the starting line no one would get on the line but me so I thought ok no too bad. There was a kid behind me that said he wanted to run low 1:20's so I thought not bad. After the national anthem they gunned the race and I mean right after. It took me by surprise as it did everyone else. We started out and immediately the kid and three other guys surged out ahead. I was thinking that I might be in for a race but wasn't comfortable with what they were going out in so I just sat back. After the first mile I passed one of them and then had a guy pull even with me. He was breathing really hard. I just was thinking "really???" a mile in and you're already dying. He fell back at a mile and a half. Then there were two guys that traded postions a couple of time that came back around two and a half. I passed both and made some small talk with the second one for a few seconds. Then I just had the kid in front of me. We started a long climb around three and a half and I could see him slowly coming back to me. At four and a half the road turned from pavement to hard packed dirt/gravel. I pulled even with him and we talked for a few seconds and then I had a decision. I really thought about just slowing down and running with him and taking it easy until the turn around. I decided to keep hold pace and make him work hard if he wanted to stay with me. After a water station I knew I would be coming up on the turn around and nearly missed it. They didn't have any volunteers marking it and the police escort I had didn't have clue. I turned around and the proceeded to yell to the next few guys were it was at. After the race I found out that the cop had turn around the second place guy a tenth or so too early. After the turn around there was a climb that just didn't stop until just short of ten. I was pissed a couple of times because I sure didn't remember that much of a drop on the way out. I just focused on relaxing and running a good effort up and pushing it on the slight down hills. At ten and a half the course had a hard turn and I got a good look back. I could see I had a pretty big lead so I went in to shut down mode and kept telling myself to take it easy into the finish line the big goal is in a couple of weeks.

At the finish I guess the people were disappointed a local guy didn't win by the way they acted. But no big deal. I found out that the kid was 14 and it was his 15th half marathon???? A bit crazy but he was a super nice kid. Jeff and I proceed to get hosed after that. We both received a $25 gift certificate for the win and the 2nd place guys won a free pair of Pearl Izumi shoes. We asked the race director about it and he said he would look into it but had no idea that was all that was in the winners bag. I went from excited for a pair of shoes to feeling a touch upset. I think I even made the comment to the RD I guess I should've slowed down and taken secon then.

This still ended up being a fun race because I was able to be there with Jeff. We both won and that's why we went. So mission accomplished. I didn't have to push and was able to run an ok time and still feel great afterward. I was joking I should go run a shake out tonight because I still feel fresh. Awesome couple of days. THANKS JEFF.

Went out in what I thought was a 10 mile loop at least 2 more miles didn't kill me. Legs felt a little flat and heavy but started to loosen up at the end. I strained a muscle in my chest last week and it really bugged me today.

AM - 6.6 Today as I was running I wondered "why do I run and do this to myself?" It did not feel good. Everything hurt. My chest is just wrecked now and my butt/hip strain that I've had for a week or so is now going into my hammy. Breathing was labored but that was more due to my chest hurting than anything else. Around 5.5 some guy turned out a 1/4 mile or so ahead of me and all of the crap I was dealing with went away. My pace dropped and stride felt better. Hammy was loosened up and I caught him with in a 1/2 mile and was feeling better. Got home and just wanted to sleep. It was a mentally draining run.

PM I was going to do some speed work but then decided to be lazy and fat and sit on my butt at lunch instead.

My chest is still hurting today. Not so much I can't handle it but it hurts to take a deep breath. Couldn't sleep because of it.

8/52:49 progression run. Started at 6:56 and finished at 6:08. Moderate chest pain in my left peck. Not sure if its ribs or muscle but it still hurts.

AM - 6.8 slight chest pain. Not as bad as yesterday. This was a really slow run with my wife. Legs fell flat like normal.

PM - 6.2/42:59/6:57 Lunch loop. Haven't done that route in awhile. Ran with my dog, haven't done that in awhile. Nice hot afternoon to run. Pouring with sweat. Legs flat, chest slight pain. 

I can tell I'm on the end of an 18 week training cycle with two races thrown in because my body is really getting trashed. It has been a real good run. Hopefully next weekend turns out. 

Great company this morning as for the running well, parts of my body took turns hurting. First my chest then my hip/hammy and finally my ankle and then back to my chest to finish off. I'm not gonna lie I REALLY hope I'm halfway healthy next Saturday because right now that 8 miles felt like someone loaded me up with cement and kicked me. 

6/40:37 4 easy miles then 2 at MP. At the end of the 2 miles I was ready to go. It is honestly the best I've felt in quite awhile. Still have slight discomfort in my chest but hip/hammy is feeling better. I stretched it yesterday and will continue stretching to help keep it loose.

5.2/37:00 nice easy morning run before the winds decided to howl.

5/34:57 Wasn't sure about being able to run today but I really needed a break from work and people so I went for a short one. Good stress/attitude relief run.

4.1/30:27 Nice easy slow run. It did feel like a warm up so I guess that's good. Last run before Ogden Marathon. 

Met Curt, Andrea, Gama, Alana and everyone else around 4:40 to load the buses. I was a bit of a wreck. I got to Ogden around 12:15 and decided against a hotel room and slept in my car for 4 hours. That kinda sucked. It rained pretty hard all night so sleep was minimal at best.

Race.

1-8 6:14, 6:15, 6:04, 6:05, 6:10, 6:13, 6:14, 6:15

I could tell something was wrong pretty quick but was really hoping that by maintaining pace my legs would come around.

Well.....9-18 6:26, 6:46, 6:40, 6:35, 6:38, 6:45, 6:51, 6:30, 6:54, 6:27

My pace was all over, my hamstring locked up around 8-9 and by 10 it was screaming, this was my black stretch and I knew finishing would be difficult. I thought about dropping out at half but talked myself into just getting to the canyon and it would be easier. Tried and tried to push the pace back down, as my roller coaster pace shows but it was more or less useless I had nothing.

19-26.2 6:50, 7:10, 6:57, 6:42, 6:40, 7:13, 7:55, 7:10, 1:59

24-26 sucked, horrible pace, hamstring had got me so my right calf was screaming by then. I just had nothing today. I couldn't get my body or legs to respond and that was one horrible drop off. I did feel decent off and on during this stretch but the ups and downs were pretty serve. I managed to pass 2 guys right at the end, it just seemed like everyone was on a death march today.

I somehow made it over to the massage tent where a nice lady worked on my calf and hamstring for 30 minutes or so. Everytime she touched my calf I just had pain shoot through my whole body. They covered me with towels because I was shivering so hard. When she was done she told me to go directly to the medical tent because I was borderline hypothermic. So..... I got my bag and put on my sweatshirt, coat, pants, hat and gloves and stood under a tent (not the medical tent). Thanks for Curt and Alana, who let me use their shower before heading home so I could at least warm up some.

A bit dissapointed with today's results but I was able to push through some pretty rediculous pain and still run an ok time. Training since Boston has been pretty rough and I've felt pretty beaten up so now for some rest and a week break from running.

 A HUGE shout to CURT WELLS who ran a PR and BQ in this nasty weather. That made me happier than anything else would have today!!!! 

The only person that could've got me to run today did. My wife hauled me out for a short 4 miler. Hamstring and calf still hurt. I could feel both of them within a half mile but since it was around a 9 min pace I really didn't care. The rest of the body felt great and it was good to get out again.

Easy run with Nikki. Hamstring is finally starting to feel better and my calf did not have any notice of pain so I guess I'm on the recovery path. Last week's break was much needed and now some pointless running will help out before I decide what to do next. This 8.25 took about 1:20 with a nice 3-4 minute break somewhere in the middle looking down my driveway.

7.2/47:19 Really didn't look at my watch the entire run just tried to keep it honest by how it felt. My dog must be getting back in shape some because he handled most of this just fine. Pretty sure he couldn't have gone any further. Nice peaceful morning, no wind.

AM - 4.4/38 Ran with Nikki again this morning. I had less than zero motivation to run. I was wallowing in self pity because my ankle is still hurt after all this time, my arch on the same leg was hurting pretty bad yesterday and my hamstring/butt still hurts. I feel like I am still pretty beat up and was going to take another week off, not like I thought that it would do much better. I actually thought about taking a couple months off yesterday to try to get everything better. Well, after a mile into the run I started shedding all the pity crap and started to feel decent. By the end of the run I was ready to run a lot more and brought stuff to possibly run at lunch. I think the key may be just getting out the door and I'm lucky enough to have a wife who also likes to run and she got me out this morning.