The bloody toe

In 2002, I was newly married and living in Springville, Utah.  My wife and I lived in an apartment with a No Pets clause.  We lived kept a cat hidden, inside, with complete disregard for following The Rules.  We were rebels.  I was 27 years old, working as a phone technical support rep, working 40 hours a week.  I was not a runner.

The first run that I logged was on June 6, 2002.  But I know that I ran before that, because I distinctly remember running my first run, down to the 7-11 and back (not quite 7/10 of a mile).  It was exhausting and immediately kicked up my asthma.  I made it home, huffing and puffing, but feeling like I’d accomplished something important.  The year of 2002 would turn out to be an important year for me, physically.  It would be the year that I really started to test my body’s ability to handle stress and my ability to stay calm as I ran over longer distances.  It was the year that I took my first run.

I used the strategy of telephone posts.  Every day, I’d run one post further.  Soon, telephone posts would no longer do.  I started keeping track of blocks.  Blocks turned to stoplights and stoplights turned to miles.  Pretty soon, I was driving the distance of my jogs to see how far I’d gone.

Then it got out of control.  I started increasing my distance by miles (instead of the recommended 10% of per week increase in distance rule).  One night, I went out and ran from my the city of Springville to Provo (only about 3 miles), but once I got there, I kept going.  That night, I ran about 9 miles (almost doubling my total previous feat.  I was lucky and didn’t get injured then, but I was excited.  You have to understand it from my perspective:  Growing up, I’d been told by P.E. teachers to take it easy (most would let me out of running laps, if I told them I had asthma).  I had never run anything more than 10 minutes- ever.  So that night, I felt like I could go forever.  A lot of runners have experienced this.  Some call it a Runners High.  I just felt normal.  It was the first time I’d been able to run so far without stopping to take my inhaler.  It was a very liberating night for me.

Then I got it into my head that I could run a marathon.  Then I did.  Then I ran more marathons.  Now, running is a very normal part of my life.  I can now run further than most of my peers, which is sometimes strange, because for a good part of my life, I couldn’t run a block without getting winded.  It’s not that my asthma is gone.  On the contrary.

Last week, I had a brutal run.  My asthma was as strong as ever.  We’ve had some bad pollution problems, here in Utah County.  It’s also been cold, which can be difficult for an asthmatic.  In a lot of ways, I’ve conquered by asthma.  While I still have to be careful about how I run (how fast I go out, etc.), I know that I can push through some of it.  Sometimes, I’ll go through my entire run with my asthma.  Other times, I won’t run at all, because I know that I’ll just make myself sick.

But for the foreseeable future, I’ll be running.  I’m signed up for the Country Music Marathon, which is in April.  I also have a relay that I’m taking on in June.  Running has opened up my world.  It’s made me a better and more determined person.  Those physical challenges that I felt defeated by as a child, no longer threaten me.  I continnue to look for opportunities to raise the bar.  Really, that’s the beauty of running:  No matter where you are, physically, there is a challenge to be conquered.

Running tips for beginners:

1.  Buy a new pair of shoes, if you haven’t already.  Take the time to go down to your local running store and have them check out your stride on a treadmill.  An expert can recommend a pair of shoes that will fit you properly.  Some of the most common injuries are from old or improperly fitting shoes.

2.  Start out slow and only go a short distance. Run and walk at a comfortable pace and only go a short distance.  The goal right now, is not to become instantly healthy.  The goal is to develop the habit of excercising, regularly.  Doing too much, too soon, will only discourage you and likely cause you to quit (or worse, get injured).

3.  Keep a running log. There are many websites that are capable of doing this.  For years, my dad ran 10Ks and marathons and logged them in a notebook.  However you do it, just make sure that you log your miles.  It will serve a dual purpose:  First it will keep you honest about the ammount of excercise you’re doing (whether it be too much or too little).  It will also serve as a way to track common problems that you face throughout the year (like temperatures and alergies).  My personal preference for a running log is Running Ahead.

4.  Run with a friend. Running, when starting out, can be a lonely and discouraging challenge.  Find someone else who will run with you.  If you can’t find someone to run with you, you might have better luck joining a running club, or just keeping tabs on a friend’s miles through a running log website (like the one I mentioned in the previous tip).

Wendy and I just watched Running the Sahara, a documentary that follows the expedition of three men who log 4300 miles running across the countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt.

Watching this movie made me feel like a wuss.  At one point, when one of the team wants to quit, the outspoken Charlie Engle quips that if he wants to quit, he should just go and run a marathon where there are water stations at every mile.  Maybe 26.2 miles isn’t such a big deal, after all.

Between this and Spirit of the Marathon, I should be pumped to go for a run…any day now…

Just over 4 hours ago, I finished the SGM.  I am sitting on the couch with Dad and Patrick.  David Bednar is speaking in General Conference.  In between muscle pains, and sudden bursts of a memory from today’s run, we listen.

We woke up at 4:30 AM and slowly got going.  We had a prayer and drove with mom and Daniel (Tim ran this with us, too).  We caught one of the later buses but it got a little tense for me when we couldn’t find the buses, right away.

Woah.  I just sat here for a second, contemplating my pain.  I really hurt.  Anyway…

So we found a fire to stand by (it was drizzling).  Dad went to find Charlie Passantino while Patrick and I waited for him to come back.  We never did find him.  Patrick and I took turns using the bathroom in the woods, while the other stayed by the fire.  When I came back, I almost couldn’t find him.

Finally the race started, so we lined up.  When we crossed the starting line, it soon became apparent that Patrick and I would not be able to run together, because he was running a little faster.  So that was the last I saw of Patrick.

I don’t like the beginning of these marathons, because of the congestion in the road.  It’s hard to relax and find a pace, because you have to pay attention to those around you (especially those who tend to jump out in front of you).

I got really hung up in the beginning of the race on increments of “six”.  I kept thinking that I just needed to hit that six mile mark, because then I could run twice that distance, plus one more mile and I’d be halfway through.  You think crazy and sometimes stupid things to keep yourself encouraged on a marathon.  Much of what you use to keep yourself inspired is not true.  For instance, I thought that when I hit that half, I’d be able to do the same thing to get myself across the finish line.  Not true.  As soon as I hit mile 13 (which I did with relative ease), each mile after that because more and more painful and difficult (that stands to reason; the further you run, the slower you are tempted to go and the more painful it becomes to create the same results that you set down in the first half.

At mile 18, I really felt that I’d finish this race.  My knees had been pretty good so far; only a little bit of ITB pain while running.  So I decided to let the downhills do their work.  I used a combination of my swivel stride and my normal stride.  It seemed to get me through.  Gravity pulled me down and I just tried to keep up.  After a couple of miles, I started to get exhausted.

At mile 24, I started to really struggle to keep running.  I kept looking at my watch, realizing that I might be able to beat my first marathon time of 4:44:31.  After a couple of minutes, it soon became apparent that this would not happen, probably.  So I needed to be satisfied with whatever happened.  There were points that I’d walk, then force myself to start running, again.  It was a mind over matter thing.  I really wanted to rest, but I knew that I should push through the pain and how tired I was.

When I hit 25 miles, I started playing mind games with myself.  “I’ll start running, now.”  “No, I’ll start running in .2 miles”.  I can’t remember what I ended up doing, but I ran the last .5 miles without stopping.  I was worried that someone might see me walking, so I just pushed through.

At the end, my family was there, waiting.  I kissed Roxie and Reagan and Wendy and started to stretch.  It was so nice to sit down, knowing that I was done.

I made sure that I mentioned running Nashville as soon as I could, so that I could get over the fear of my next marathon.  I’m pretty sure that it didn’t work.

Actually, you can’t cheat the Marathon Training System.  In my last post, I mentioned that I jumped nearly 5 miles in my long run, last week.  This week, I applied the same strategy of stupidity and risk and added another 3 miles to my long run.  So I am now up to 20 miles for a long run.  Now it’s time to taper (back to what, I don’t know) and prepare to jump that mileage by another 6 miles.  So for those of you keeping score at home, I will have jumped my mileage by 14 miles in less than a month.  I don’t claim to be a genius.

Me, at 19.3 miles

I atttribute my non-injury (so far) and non-pain (so far) to prayer, luck, ibuprofin, my new stride.  I don’t intend to train like this, again.  It’s not good for you and really doesn’t increase your physical strength (I don’t think).

Last night, dad mentioned running the Country Music Marathon.  If things go well during St. George (like I can get up to 20 miles with no injury, or even finish, then I might do it.  But if I’m injured at 13 or earlier, then I probably need to take another look at my running (or maybe even just do the Country Music Marathon 1/2.

So Patrick ran 15, yesterday.  Dad is preparing for a possible 17-18 mile-run, tomorrow.  I have gathered my things for a run for tonight.  I’m planning on leaving in about an hour to an hour and a half.  My goal is to run about 15 miles.  I’ve been stretching my IT band all weekend to prepare for this.  I was going to go yesterday, except that my calves were still very sore for a run last week.

This run is going to show me a few things:

1.  Whether my stretching has really helped my IT band.
2.  Whether this October 4th marathon is really viable.
3.  Whether or not next weeks’ run of 17-18 miles is really going to happen.

Am I nervous?  Yes.  Very.  I would very much like to have a successfuly run with my IT band.  So we’ll see…I’ll report back, later on.

So I’m waiting for Wendy to get home from wakeboarding and I’m watching the Men’s Marathon in the Beijing Olympics.  It’s crazy.  These guys keep an amazing pace for 26.2 miles.  Dad and I were just talking about how hard it would be to keep up for one mile.

I don’t think that anyone in my family is really looking forward to the St George Marathon.  I’m not.  I’m undertrained and not ready.  We’ll see how it goes.

I can hear the girls, back in their bedroom.  They’ve been talking, back and forth, for about one hour, since I put them to bed.  Go to sleep, already!

I keep another WordPress blog for my private journal, which is actually hosted locally on my computer.  That way, I don’t have to worry about Nelsonshack getting hacked and having more private thoughts published for the world.  So I’ve sort of been trying to figure out when to post on this blog and when to post on the Localhost.

There’s also the issue of posting things that the world may not be so interested in reading.  I’d venture to say that 95% of what I post falls under that category.  But at the same time, I like the idea of having a central repository for all of my stuff.  Makes it easy for searching, etc.  So that’s something that I’m trying to weigh.

Only about three miles left in the marathon.  It’s exhausting to watch.