Breaking the Wall

Rocket City Marathon

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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:

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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

Sat, Dec 14, 2013

Race: Rocket City Marathon (26.219 Miles) 02:44:59, Place overall: 11, Place in age division: 4

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.40	26.22	0.00	0.00	26.62

Rocket City Marathon - 2:44:59, 11th overall, 4th master.

This year I actually got to the start healthy, and the conditions were good. The weather conditions, that is. My fitness was not, as evidenced by the result. I learned experimentally what happens when you cut too many of your long runs to 18 miles and do not do long tempos at the end of them. What happens is you slow down more in the last 6 miles - quite a bit more.

I went through the first mile in 5:39, then made it to 5 in 28:54. Plopped a couple of a little slower than 6:00 miles, but then Justin Leech caught me and pulled me to 11. This made me run sub-6:00 again, and I made it to 10 miles in 59:03, and to the half in 1:18:16. Then I started to struggle with the wind, but was caught by a group of runners. I was able to respond and latch on to the tail end of their pack and sit there until 20. The split at 15 was 1:30:24, and at 20 2:01:17. I actually felt quite decent between 15 and 20 and thought I would easily hit 2:41, and maybe with a valiant effort break 2:40. However, my lack of long tempos really showed in the last 6 miles. Before too long I slowed down to 7:10-7:15 pace and felt weak. I drank a double doze of Gatorade, but that did not give me a magic boost - only kept me from deteriorating further. In the last half mile I gave it all I had to dip under 2:45, and was rewarded with being 1 second under. The performance was not good timewise and pacing wise, but I felt that it was a good fighting experience - also a good kick in the rear end to brave the weather and do what it takes to be fit running tempos in the cold and through the snow if you plan to race a marathon in December.

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 26.60

Night Sleep Time: 4.75	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 4.75

Comments

From jtshad on Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 09:02:10 from 141.221.191.225

Sorry the race did not go the way you had hoped but good job battling through to the end.

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