Every Race is an Adventure!

Overall: 542 of 5617 finishers (top 10%), Men 45-49: 61 of 370

I'm satisfied, even somewhat pleased. Not thrilled. Not really too disappointed. Basically, I think I pulled out the time my training had earned me, but no faster.

I ran 3:07 two years ago, 3:11 last year in the rain, and now 3:18 in near ideal conditions this year. My training has been okay this year, but definitely down from the previous two years. I think one of the prime reasons was my job change last November. At Novell I would run two-a-days twice a week - an easy run in the morning with the neighborhood guys (9:00/mi-ish), then a second more up tempo run with the Novell guys or solo at noon (7:30-8:00-ish). With my new job I haven't found a way to work in the noon runs yet, hence fewer overall mile and fewer up tempo miles.

I decided on a "no risk, no reward" approach and started out on a 3:10 pace for the first 7 miles. I started feeling some tightness in my calves about mile 6...not good. I stopped twice during the race to have some Icy Hot applied.

I slipped to be being on pace for 3:15 after the hills of Veyo and Dammeron Valley. I hoped to be able to hang on for the 3:15, but by mile 16 my legs had lost their zip and my hip (which has bothered me all year) started hurting again. I could tell the last 10 miles were going to be a mental struggle to just keep my legs moving.

My splits were:

7:13, 7:10, 7:00, 6:47, 7:01, 6:53, 6:53 - These miles felt pretty good. Part of me wanted to go faster, but I held back slightly knowing I didn't have the training in to support it.

8:21, 7:51, 8:08, 8:11, 7:59 - I intentionally took it easy on the hills, but I was beginning to feel myself tiring.

7:26, 7:36, 7:12, 6:41, 7:14 - I  managed to pick the pace up again, but a little slower than before the hills. By the end of these miles I knew I was entering "just hang on" mode.

7:36, 8:19, 7:30, 7:44, 8:10, 8:09 - Hanging on. I just tried to keep my legs turning over. The uphills felt hard, and couldn't push the downhills much.

7:32, 8:02, 8:06, last 0.2 at 6:59/mi - The crowds the last few miles were a great boost. I slapped the extended hands of the kids whenever I got the chance trying to draw energy out of them. I tried to balance focusing on moving forward with enjoying the experience and smiling now and then. It was great seeing my wife and daughters shortly before the final left turn and the last stretch to the finish. I passed a few and got passed by a few but couldn't really put on much of a kick...that is until I got in the chute. I had just told myself there was no reason to kill myself when I guess my sub-conscious disagreed and I found myself kicking hard for the finish. It was strange. It's like my body just took over and I was along for the ride.

I am very happy for running friends, some of whom I used to be able to run with and even beat occasionally, that finished well ahead of me today with awesome performances...Marci 3:15, Josse 3:12, Jessi 3:10, Rich 3:10, Hal 2:59, Nathan 2:57, RivertonPaul 2:51.

The only real regret I had today was that I was in the portapotty at mile 14 when Josee passed me. I was grateful she yelled, "Paul, Josse is passing you." as she went by, but I felt bad. I hate it when I'm working hard to catch someone and then they stop right before I pass them. I felt bad I had unknowingly done this to Josse. She had earned the right to pass me in person as I was running my best. I saw her ahead after I got out, and tried to catch her for a couple of miles (7:12, 6:41), but she was just too fast.

I think the thing I enjoyed the most today was the weather...perfect temperatures...and no rain! As I said earlier, I feel good about my run. I worked hard to pull out all that my training allowed, end endured well through some very tough miles. For me, I race for the adventure, not just the finish time. I enjoy facing challenges, approaching my limits, and seeing how I will respond.

I run for the lifestyle. Besides the physical and mental healh benefits, the greatest benefit is that most of my friends, including my best friends, I have met and associate with through running. Runners are good people. Whether you set a PR, ran another average marathon, simply endured to the end, or even DNF-ed, congratulations for choosing to challenge and getting out and living.

Six easy miles on the canal road with the guys. The hip was pretty sore the last 2 or 3 miles.

I took this week off to rest my sore hip and to focus on my daughter's wedding on Thursday. The wedding was awesome...what a great couple of young people!

Larry, Wayne, Kent and I ran the canal road again this morning. Like last Saturday, my hip was pretty sore for most of the run. We bumped into Rich and Steve(?) along the road and Wayne and I pulled a little ahead and ran with them for a while. Running at a faster pace seems to be easier on my hip than a slower pace. Wayne and I ran about 8:00/mi pace the last 3 or 4 miles and averaged 8:41/mi overall.

I tried to run with Kent this morning. The jog to the THS track was okay, but as soon as I tried to pick up the pace a little my hip started hurting pretty badly. I quit two miles into the run and started jogging home. At 2.5 miles I slowed to a walk. The hip hurt even walking. I think it's time for medical intervention.

I emailed Dr. Kimball. He did my shoulder surgery and I really liked him. He works with BYU athletes, including the football team (I actually saw him on the sidelines on TV a couple of games ago). He's agreed to evaluate and treat my hip. He treats athletes, emails his patients, and doesn't do hip replacement surgeries. Those are all good things. I plan to get an appointment as soon as possible.

I went to Dr. Kirt Kimball yesterday to have him evaluate the pain I've been feeling in my right hip. The good news is that after an examination and x-rays he says my hip is in good shape. He confirmed, as I suspected, that the cause of the pain is my shorter left leg and the resulting unevenness of my hips.

Background: In 9th grade (at age 14) I seriously injured my left knee playing youth football. I was clipped, taking a helmet to the outside of my left knee. It tore up the inside of my knee. My leg atrophied quite a lot as it healed. The doctor told me I needed to exercise it. Ironically, this is when I began running, which led to me lettering in track and cross country in high school.

A year or two after the injury I noticed the hem of the left leg of my pants kept wearing out quickly from dragging on the ground. When I asked my Mom to start hemming the left leg shorter than the right, she took me back to the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kezarian. He measured my legs using x-rays and determined that my left leg was indeed just over 1" shorter than my right leg. My dad made me a leather lift that I wore for a while, but over time I quit wearing a lift. I limped a little, but have not really had any problems for about 30 years.

I ran my first couple of marathons in 1982 at age 22 (PR was 2:52). After marrying Karen in 1984 and beginning our family (eventually six children), I gradually quit running. I started up again about 2002 (at age 42) and started running marathons again in 2004. In the past 6 years I've run thousands of miles, including 13 marathons and a bunch of shorter races. I remember one marathon a few years ago when my hip bothered me quite a bit, but the hip pain hasn't been chronic until this year, where it has gradually gotten worse throughout the year.

Dr. Kimball's diagnosis is that the adductor muscles surrounding my right hip are being seriously overworked. He compared it to my left leg stepping into a hole every step. The adductor muscles around my right hip have to work extra hard to step out of the hole. They are simply being overworked and getting exhausted.

So, I plan to do two things:

1) To treat the current inflammation I plan to take "therapeutic" doses of naproxen. I've only been taking ibuprofen or naproxen when the pain was bad. Dr. Kimball says for them to be effective anti-inflammatory drugs they need to be maintained at "therapeutic levels". He recommended about 500mg of naproxen twice a day for at least 4-5 days. He said the half-life of ibuprofen is so short you have to take it 4 times a day so, while it is an effective pain killer, it is not a very good anti-inflammatory.

2) To address the 1" leg length discrepancy, I plan to increase the height of the lift I wear in my left shoe to the maximum possible and still keep my shoe on. Dr. Kimball said that most people's legs are uneven. If I get within 1/4" or so, it should be good enough. I've run for a lot of years with about a 3/8" lift. If I can raise that an additional 1/4" to 3/8", it may be enough. For any more lift, I would have to look into an external lift on the sole of each pair of my shoes. I'm not even sure if that's possible on running shoes. I will cross that bridge later, if needed.

I was worried I might have a serious hip problem that could end my running career. I'm very relieved that does not appear to be the case. Now that I better understand the problem and have a plan I can move forward. The adventure goes on.

I ran the Lindon loop with Larry, Wayne and Kent this morning. It felt great to be out running with the guys again. The cool fall morning felt wonderful to me.

I've added about 3/8" to the lift in my left shoe and have been taking naproxen faithfully since my visit to Dr. Kimball on Wednesday. The pain in my right hip has not gone away, but it seems to be getting better. I made it through all six miles of the run without it getting bad like on Monday's run. Just knowing that the problem is overworked adductor muscles and not a bad hip joint, and having a plan to fix the long and short term problems, gives me hope and confidence.

After some research, I ordered G/W Clearly Adjustable Combination Lifts (http://gwheellift.com/combo.html) which can give me up to 18mm (0.7") of lift inside my shoe. Their product description states: "The Clearly Adjustable Combination Lift is the right choice for many client needs where leg length compensation is required of greater degree than is commonly done inside the shoe." That's me. Modifying all of my shoes with an external lift is simply not an option for me right now. It would be far too costly. My only concern is that the lift "requires considerable room inside the shoe". I may have to buy slightly larger shoes, or shoes with a taller toe box. But this will also affect my right foot which will not have the lift. I will have to find the right balance. Regardless, having high quality adjustable lifts will be a definite improvement over my homemade gel pad lifts, hopefully enough of an improvement to keep me running strong for another 20-30 years.

Larry, Kent and I went to the THS track this morning. I think this was the first sub-freezing morning this fall. Between the cold, the extra clothing, the hip still being a little sore, and not running much the last couple of weeks my "speed work" wasn't much to brag about. I only ran 4 800's at 3:25, 3:31, 3:35, and 3:15. It felt good just to be running.

I ran the 2000 N hill route with Wayne in the windy cold this morning. This was my first run with my new heel lifts in my left shoe. They add some weight to my left foot, but I didn't really notice it and overall they felt pretty comfortable on their maiden voyage. Time will tell the overall effect on my running, but so far so good.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry and Kent in the windy dark coldness this morning. I just took it easy and didn't push much. I ran 7:45-ish pace the last mile and that was as fast as it got today.

I wore the new lifts again. No troubles. Felt comfortable.

I ran the Cascade route with Larry, Wayne and Kent. The temperature was still around freezing, but there was very little wind this morning, not even any wind out of Provo Canyon. Very unusual.

We only averaged about 9:30/mi. I've run 4 days in a row so far this week. My hip has still been a little sore, but it seems to be feeling better. It definitely is not feeling worse. The new lifts feel pretty good. I'm optimistic about them reducing, hopefully eliminating, the hip problem.

Larry, Wayne, Kent and I ran the route down to Wil's Pit Stop and back. I hate it when it I have to work so hard just to hold a 9:30-ish pace. A mile or so from the end Wayne and Kent had picked up the pace and pulled ahead. I decided I was tired of running slow. I locked into a steady rhythm and started closing the gap. When I crossed 800 E heading west on 1200 N I reset the lap on my watch and decided to see what sort of pace I could hold for the next half mile to 400 E. I caught Wayne and Kent shortly. As I went by, Wayne decided to come with me. I told him I was pushing until 400 E. He stuck with me and I was very surprised to see that we had averaged a 6:40/mi pace for the 1/2 mile. That's the fastest pace I've run since the St. George marathon and since I started using my new heel lifts. It felt pretty good. It's encouraging.

It's also encouraging that I got in 5 days (32 miles) of running this week. My hip is still a little sore, but it is not getting worse when I run. Hopefully continuing to use the new lifts to even out my hips will allow me to continue to heal and prevent a repeat condition in the future.