Breaking the Wall

March 18, 2024

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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:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 25.00 Year: 668.87
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: 1312.70
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.650.500.000.006.15

A.M. Flight to Memphis, TN. It was full of adventure. Security told me I could not bring soy milk and water on the flight, so I had to check it in. But I forgot to check in the honey, or rather did not realize it was banned as well. So my bag ran the alarms, and they confiscated my honey. I did not have the time to mess with trying to check it in as well.

A race volunteer by the name of David picked me and Wilson Chepkwani, a 2:14 Kenyan marathoner, 3rd this year at Hartford, at the airport. Simon Sawe was going to run, but bailed out at the last minute. Saw a list of 26 - 2 bailed out elites, both men and women. Joseph Sitinei who I raced at TOU is running as well.

P.M. Around 4.1 easy miles meandering in the downtown Memphis with MickeyB. Irritated throat is giving me concerns. I know I could race a good half with it, but marathon is a long way to go. Trying to hold off problems using my favorite Zmei Gorynovich (legendary Russian-fairly tale tri-headed fire-breathing serpent) method - lots of garlic.

P.M - 2. Legs felt a bit flabby, and I felt I would have a hard time falling asleep, so I decided to go for a brief shakeout. Ran around the hotel block 8 times. Course Tool showed it was 0.28, but being so short of a loop I think I ran into some small geo-coding error and mapped it out wrong. So I am going to call the distance 2.05, ran it in 13:14 with a pickup on the last 0.5 to a mild marathon pace. Felt better and more confident afterwards knowing that the systems were ready for a decent race even though perhaps not the very best.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Dale on Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 20:54:24

Best of luck tomorrow. Go get 'em!

From aroundthebend on Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 21:39:30

Welcome to Memphis! Good luck in the marathon in the morning. I'll be running the half and hope to get to the finish in time to see the elites finish the marathon.

From Paul Petersen on Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 22:09:15

Best of luck. Since you are now on Eastern time, I expect a full race report by the time I finish my run tomorrow morning.

From Jon on Sat, Dec 01, 2007 at 14:26:09

Watch out for those TSA checkers- if you try to take too much honey, you might get a strip search!

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