Journey from 238.5 lbs to 2:38:30

Dam to mouth of canyon with Wes.  

Janika's soccer game to home in Lehi

Highland Loop

south on jrt

north on jrt

north on JRT

Well, that sucked.  With the horrible week I have had with back and hips, which I got fixed yesterday, I almost pulled out of this race due to body just not working.  But saw a new chiro, son of chiro I usually go to, and he fixed me up pretty good yesterday.  Haven't felt this good in a long time.  So I decided to go ahead and run and see what happened.  Went with trying to maintain around a 6 min pace for as long as possible.  At around mile 7 the wheels fell off the bus.  All energy in my legs left, and then the 20 mph headwind started for a big pile of miles.  I guess not running much for 2 months tends to lose some endurance.  I thought about DNF'ing a few times down the canyon, but figured I'd just keep going to experience a great blowup.  And it just kept getting worse.  Sour stomach for a few miles, leg cramping the last four.  Walked a bunch the last four.  I think at mile 22 or so I was still holding onto a sub 3 hour pace, but when the leg cramps started I threw that out the window, and just didn't have the energy to maintain a 6:51 pace anyways.  Really glad it is over.  I'll have to check the splits and HR later.

1 5:58 170

2 5:52 165

3 6:00 157

4 6:02 160

5 6:06 163

6 6:17 164

7 6:11 165

8 6:49 168    Headwind Started

9 7:00 167

10 6:30 162

11 6:40 161

12 7:04 162

13 6:38 162

14 6:27 162

15 6:14 163

16 8:37 150 Pit stop

17 7:01  164

18 6:51 158

19 6:45 157

20 8:13 145

21 7:27 153

22 8:08 146

23 10:18 126 Cramping started

24 9:41 132

25 9:45 132

26 8:51 133

.35 2:35 146 

north on jrt

south on jrt

Ran down Avon.  Went to Chiro right before race hoping to have a semi working body for wasatch back and alleviate some of the pain in my right leg, mainly in adductor, but also in both front and back of hip.  After visit felt pretty decent, though I could tell within a few minutes the adjustment hadn't held and I would be in trouble eventually during the weekend.

 The first leg has about a mile climb up avon then a 3 mile decent of around 1200 feet then some more less steep decent for 2 miles.  

We started later in the day than we have the past two years so we had just caught our first roadkill on leg five shortly before our runner got to me at the exchange.  There was also an ultra team that was really close to us at this point as well.  He ended up being right behind our guy at then exchange so as I headed up the hill, I thought at a pretty good pace I was surprised to hear him catch up to me and stay right behind me the last part of the climb.  And as I bombed down the dirt road he kept right on my heels for the three mile decent.  At about the start of the fourth mile I noticed that my left heel was on fire and the skin on about a 2 inch patch of my heel was sliding around already.  I started trying to compensate my gait to maintain pace while staying off my heel while still dropping at a steep angle.  This threw my pelvis/sacrum way out of wack and caused great pain my 2nd two legs.  As we came off the hill onto the pavement I pulled away from the ultra guy and came into the exchange.  I had the aid station put on some moleskin, which I'm pretty sure made the blister spread even farther out under where the moleskin was placed.  I was hoping that the heel skin would readhere by the time I had to run again.  Fortunately my next run was up hill and I could stay off of the heel for the most part.

1 6:37   for a +108

2 5:21 -425

3 5:11 -507

4 5:28 -293

5 6:06 -57

6 6:18 -74

.3 1:52 +3 

As I was getting warmed up for this leg my hip/pelvis/right leg were very tight, walking was very painful, as well as the left heel was on fire.  I just hoped things would loosen up as I went so it wouldn't be so painful.  I like this nice 8 mile climb.  There are usually lots of tail lights to run down to keep the mind occupied.  There were less than normal, but enough to keep me motivated to keep going.  The most painful part of the two days of running was after the 8 mile climb they had moved the exchange from the road down into the park, so I had to run down some steep road/trail into the park and between the heel and the hip I was hoping someone would hit me with a car to make the pain stop.  Ran the 8.2 in 59:28  Around 15-20 seconds a mile slower than last year.

The last leg was a little 2.5 mile flat run in Heber.  15:30, 6:22 pace  Still very painful, was almost done by the time things loosened up enough for the pain to mostly recede.  Was very glad to be done.   

After finishing the leg I noticed a chiropractor doing adjustments next to the massage people.  After talking to the chiro and him doing a few muscle tests he determined that my issue with the right side of my body was due to my right brain being turned off, so he ran a red and white vertical stripped piece of paper in front of my eyes a few times to turn on my right brain.  Interestingly I noticed some improvement over the next two days, but nothing lasting.   My right brain must be atrophied.

1 7:08 -8

2 6:49 +27

3 7:02 +97

4 7:04 +44

5 7:17 +76

6 7:10 +47

7 7:56 +214

8 7:39 +108

.2 1:18 -99

1 6:24

2 6:23

.43 2:42 

Loop in Highland with Scott

Orem soccer park up provo canyon

Ran in Diamond Fork canyon.  Great trails going up and down, didn't care for the road section, but it was very enjoyable to have a decent feeling run.

First time in months I have had a whole run essentially pain free.  Went to chiropractor yesterday.  This confirms to me nothing permanently wrong, must all be soft tissue problems, or muscles that are turned off.  Finally reached conclusion that going to Scott's Chiro in Syracuse may be last hope for lasting help for my body which will not stay working for very long.   

South on JRT

Highland loop from Scott's

Loop from Reed's.  The first five miles were very painful, again, getting so frustrated with the pain in the right leg, almost not worth it to keep putting myself in pain.  After mile 5 the boys started picking up the pace, which actually starts to feel better.  Last five mile progression, 

6:38

6:20

6:16

6:03

6:05

The end of this run gave me some hope that I haven't lost as much as I have feared, and that if I get the results I believe I will from Dr. Rowlin I will be back stronger than ever, without constant pain.