Breaking the Wall

Week starting Jan 18, 2026

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:

Ukraine Can Win With Crowdfunded Drones!

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	424.23
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:						3424.44

Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
54.91	0.00	2.00	3.11	60.02

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

Mon, Jan 19, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-19 10:32:54
Workout Totals: Distance10.000Time1:19:47.30Pace7:58.73
10 total. Easy pace.
Leg 1: Distance3.000Time23:47.00Pace7:55.67ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 2: Distance2.000Time16:11.70Pace8:05.85ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 3: Distance5.000Time39:48.60Pace7:57.72ZoneEasy Miles

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

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Tue, Jan 20, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-20 09:47:51
Workout Totals: Distance10.000Time1:16:53.40Pace7:41.34
10 total. Easy pace. Got a new watch - Zeblaze Thor. Still fixing some issues with the Fast Running Friend. But the basic functionality works. I timed the run and am posting this.
Leg 1: Distance10.000Time1:16:53.40Pace7:41.34ZoneEasy Miles

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

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Wed, Jan 21, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.00	0.00	2.00	0.00	10.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-21 11:42:37
Workout Totals: Distance1.000Time7:49.00Pace7:49.00
10 total. Did a rabbit chase today, 2 miles down the canyon. The times were: Benjamin 9:54 (4:58, 4:56) Matthew 11:28 (5:40, 5:48) myself 12:05 (6:02, 6:03) Bella 14:18 Mary and Leigha 15:41
Leg 1: Distance1.000Time7:49.00Pace7:49.00ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin.
Leg 2: Distance0.000Time0:32.10Pace0:00.00ZoneEasy Miles

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-21 12:10:11
Workout Totals: Distance9.000Time1:09:37.80Pace7:44.20

Leg 1: Distance0.980Time8:03.10Pace8:12.96ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 2: Distance0.000Time0:15.30Pace0:00.00ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 3: Distance2.000Time12:05.60Pace6:02.80ZoneThreshold Miles
Leg 4: Distance2.020Time17:17.20Pace8:33.47ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 5: Distance2.000Time16:10.10Pace8:05.05ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 6: Distance2.000Time16:01.80Pace8:00.90ZoneEasy Miles

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

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Thu, Jan 22, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-22 12:25:40
Workout Totals: Distance10.000Time1:19:28.70Pace7:56.87
10 total. Easy pace.
Leg 1: Distance2.000Time16:28.70Pace8:14.35ZoneEasy Miles
With Matthew, Mary, Bella, and Leigha.
Leg 2: Distance3.000Time23:20.70Pace7:46.90ZoneEasy Miles
With Matthew.
Leg 3: Distance5.000Time39:39.30Pace7:55.86ZoneEasy Miles
Alone.

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

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Fri, Jan 23, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-23 09:46:50
Workout Totals: Distance10.000Time1:20:03.80Pace8:00.38
10 total. Easy pace.
Leg 1: Distance4.000Time31:39.10Pace7:54.77ZoneEasy Miles
With Joseph
Leg 2: Distance2.000Time16:54.80Pace8:27.40ZoneEasy Miles
With Matthew, Mary, Bella, and Leigha.
Leg 3: Distance4.000Time31:29.90Pace7:52.48ZoneEasy Miles
Alone.

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

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Sat, Jan 24, 2026

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
6.91	0.00	0.00	3.11	10.02

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2026-01-24 11:28:44
Workout Totals: Distance10.014Time1:25:13.60Pace8:30.65
SLC Track Club Winter Series 5K, 20:26 Most of the family ran. Results: Benjamin 17:23 Joseph 18:29 Matthew 19:35 Dad 20:26 Bella 21:51 (PR) Stephen 24:33 Leigha 24:33 William 24:44 Maddy 29:30 Sarah 39:51 Benjamin ran 5:21, 5:26 for the first two miles and then started stumbling. Makes no sense to me. Sometimes he stumbles and sometimes he does not in workouts. In races he has had very few when he did not stumble. We are starting to think maybe this is some form of a panic attack. All of our children at some age have manifested the symptoms of the nervous system just losing it in some way when running hard. Benjamin stumbles. Others have had a feeling that they cannot breathe as if they had asthma. Joseph felt like his legs were extremely sore but it was perfectly symmetrical and would immediately go away with no trace when he stopped. At first I thought for at least some of them that they were faking it because they just did not want to run hard. But then I realized this was not quite the case. Joseph had a good post-mission race and reached his goal of averaging sub-6:00 pace. Matthew started in 6:09 and then kept slowing down. It was not his best race today. I strugged as well. First mile was 6:27, then 6:36, and 6:46. I fought the feeling of depression because it seems not too long ago this used to be my easy run pace. But it was a very important fight. You have to learn to take your body in whatever state it happens to be on the day of the race and do your honest best with it. I made myself kick at the end in spite of not having the motivation and found something. Bella ran a PR in spite of the cold weather. Stephen and William were having health issues. Stephen with the tight back and William with a cold + the fallout from psychosis earlier this summer + the lack of training overall in the last couple of years. Maddy ran a decent race all things considering. Sarah was struggling with the calf tightness and had to take walking breaks.
Leg 1: Distance2.000Time17:30.20Pace8:45.10ZoneEasy Miles
Warm-up
Leg 2: Distance4.907Time40:11.40Pace8:11.42
Race + pacing Sarah afterwards.
Split 1:Distance1.000Time6:27.20Pace6:27.20ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance1.000Time6:27.20Pace6:27.20
Split 2:Distance1.000Time6:36.90Pace6:36.90ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance2.000Time13:04.10Pace6:32.05
Split 3:Distance1.000Time6:45.40Pace6:45.40ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance3.000Time19:49.50Pace6:36.50
Split 4:Distance0.107Time0:38.20Pace5:57.01ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance3.107Time20:27.70Pace6:35.14
Split 5:Distance1.800Time19:43.70Pace10:57.61ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.907Time40:11.40Pace8:11.42

Leg 3: Distance3.107Time27:32.00Pace8:51.70ZoneEasy Miles
Cool-down with Benjamin.

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

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
54.91	0.00	2.00	3.11	60.02

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

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