Breaking the Wall

December 21, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Orem,UT,United States

Member Since:

Jan 27, 1986

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of eleven children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, Bella. and Leigha. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	3010.45
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles:						640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles:						450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles:						124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles:						1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles:						732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles:						436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles:						380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles:						818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles:						637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles:						1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles:						698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles:						1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles:						720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles:						1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles:						759.93

Wed, Sep 05, 2007

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
17.30	0.00	0.00	0.00	17.30

A.M. Sasha House 10 Miler with Ted. 10.1 due to the new bridge route. Easy pace - 1:18:50. It was dark, rained a bit, flashes of lightning, tree branches on the trail. Ted as a precaution removed his HRM to not attract lightning with electric signals.

Saw in a newspaper report that Chuck Engle, the notorious marathon junkie who specializes in running local marathons all over the country trying to see how many he can win in a year, claimed Salt Lake City as his place of residence. He e-mailed me back with the following:

Unfortunately the job that I had moved to Salt Lake
City fell through. I would love to live in or near the city and run and
work...but without income it would not be a very wise move on my part. I
had accommodations lined up and I was working on packing for the end of the
month...but the company that I was to work for has abandoned their expansion
plans. Thank you for the invitation and if you know of anyone who is
looking to hire an HR rep, sales or someone with knowledge in running please
let me know. I have a Masters in biology and chemistry and multiple years
experience in coaching, sales, advertising as well as human resource work

I would love to have Chuck in Utah. He and Bill Cobler would get along great. If anybody is in a position to give him a reason to come, contact him at marathonjunkie at chuckengle.com.

P.M. Ran 0.5 with Julia in 5:15, then took the double stroller with Jacob and Joseph, 1.5 with Jenny in 13:30 (Benjamin on a bike), found Jeff on the trail, and he joined us, 2 with Benjamin (Jenny on a bike) in 15:53, then 0.2 trying to find Sarah, then left the stroller at home and ran 3 in 20;52.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

Comments

From callzee on Wed, Sep 05, 2007 at 19:05:50

i did my quarters in a moderate effort, it was 90 degrees out.

From Christi on Wed, Sep 05, 2007 at 21:49:45

That is good to know about Chuck- I'll keep my ears open. Thanks for the raspeberry tea tip. I did a little research and it looks like it has lots of great benefits. I'm going to try to get my hands on some ASAP!

From jtshad on Thu, Sep 06, 2007 at 09:43:59

I had noticed this fact in the articles as well and asked Bill Cobler if he had seen any sign of Chuck and thoughts of inviting him to the blog.

Add Your Comment.

Keep it family-safe. No vulgar or profane language. To discourage anonymous comments of cowardly nature, your IP address will be logged and posted next to your comment.
Do not respond to another person's comment out of context. If he made the original comment on another page/blog entry, go to that entry and respond there.
If all you want to do is contact the blogger and your comment is not connected with this entry and has no relevance to others, send a private message instead.

Debt Reduction Calculator

Featured Announcements

Most Recent Entries:

New Kids on the Blog
(need a welcome):

Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):