Breaking the Wall

Day rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting, then a lesson on the words of Christ to the Nephites - continuation of the lesson last week, and a lesson in the Elder's Quorum on sharing the gospel.

A.M. Total of 12 miles. Most with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, Jenny and Julia 3, William 0.5.

A.M. 12 total. Most with the kids. Jacob did 1, Joseph 2, Julia 3.5, Jenny 3, William 0.5. Benjamin did 7 with me. I did 2x2000 he did just the last one with me. The first one was uphill. I ran it in 7:11.3. Then I jogged maybe 300 meters and started the second one with Benjamin down the canyon. The target was 6:40 (5:20 pace).  Our splits were 80, 78, 80, 78, 71 with the total time of 6:27.9, which is Benjamin's PR for the distance. I suppose he could go under 6:15 if we really planned a time trial for that distance given that his mile is 4:52.

A.M. 13 total. Most with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

A.M. 12 total. Most of it with the kids. William did 0.5, Jacob 1, Joseph 2, Jenny and Julia 3, Benjamin 7. Benjamin and I did a pickup for 1000 in 3:12.

A.M. The kids were going to run in the state championship, so they had a taper. William did 0.5, Jacob 0.5, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1, and Benjamin 3. I figured since I was not going to get a good long run tomorrow, I'd do something today. The plan was to go 15 - first 7.5 easy up the canyon, then hard on the way back. It was raining hard, but I figured with 48 F I'd be OK in a long sleeved shirt and shorts. This turned out to be a big mistake, the biggest clothing mistake I have ever made in 28 years of running, and a humbling experience. The first 7.5 miles were nothing out of the ordinary. I felt a little cold in the first mile, then got used to it. The wind was blowing into the canyon, so my face and chest were protected, and I was going a decent pace - around 6:50 with a jogging effort. This did give me concerns about coming back as it revealed that the wind was rather strong, and that combined with the rain would make things uncomfortable once I turned around. But little did I know what was coming.

I turned around, hit 5:36 pace for about 200 meters, then was greeted by a gust of headwind. No big deal, slowed down to about 6:00, deal with it. Maintained a slight sub-6:00 as I was being pounded by the rain and occasional hail. Things got to the point where my legs started feeling numb, but I kept turning them over and still maintaining a little under 6:00. However, once I came out of the canyon a strange thing began to happen. All of a sudden the pace slowed to 6:20, although I felt that my legs were moving fast. Then a little after 13 miles into the run and a little over 5.5 into the fast portion while still a little less than 2 miles away from the house I started feeling like I could not run at all. I stopped and was feeling faint, so I laid down. I began to wonder if I was going to die right there from hypothermia. Now that I am writing this in retrospect this sounds like a rather improbable event. I had not been out for that long, and I had been moving, the fainting probably came from trying to run sub-6:00 into a headwind and cold rain while in a state of mild hypothermia already, so the body was saying - hey, you cannot do that. But at the time I seriously thought that the time might have come for me to go to the other side of the veil.

This was a good test of faith. It is one thing to bear your testimony about eternal life in a church meeting, but the question is if you are going to feel the same way when you actually experience what you perceive could end your life on Earth, and the threat looks real. One time in a BYU class the teacher asked for a volunteer to release a heavy led ball suspended on a chain and stand and wait for it to come back. According to the laws of physics the ball will not come back higher than where you released it, so no damage to your face is going to happen and there is nothing to fear. Having studied physics extensively I felt that I understood that law quite well, so I volunteered. However, when I saw the ball coming at me, I completely forgot about this law, and all I could think about was that it was going to hit me, so I blinked. This time, I did better, I think. There was no fear, no panic. I felt the assurance that everything would be alright even if I did not survive this as far as the mortal survival is concerned.

Laying down made me feel a little better, although I was still not feeling the greatest. I realized that if I chose to remain on the ground I would be there for a long time before anybody noticed. So I told myself to get up and start running. I needed to make to the closed warmest place, which happened to be a nearby printing business only about a quarter mile a way. Fortunately I was able to run, and got there before anything bad happened again. The office staff was very helpful. They got me warm, and I was able to call Sarah to come and pick me up. My jaw was shaking for about 20 minutes or so. Once I got warm, everything was fine, except I was not going to try to risk it and finish the run. So I ended up with about 13.2 or so miles, 5.5 of it tempo.

I think something like this happened to Logan in the 2008 trials, and I believe to Curtis Moore as well in 2004. Not sure why this happened to me today, never happened before under similar, or even worse conditions. Perhaps with age my ability to stay warm in cold conditions has declined. Regardless, I know now that I need to dress up when it is cold, and avoid doing long runs in those conditions. This will be an adjustment as I am used to ignoring the weather and going through with the workout that I planned, but it is good to be forced to learn new things and do things in new ways - often it makes you discover better ways. 

A.M. We got up early, drove to the Cottonwood complex, and were ready to run in the state cross-country championship. Unfortunately there was so much snow that the national headquarters of USATF made the decision to cancel the meet. So we drove home and ran there. There was quite a bit of snow, but it was manageable. I ran 12 miles. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5. I considered doing something fast with Benjamin, but there was too much snow for that. Plus I suspected I might have some hidden damage from yesterday's hypothermia, so I kept it low profile.