Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

GEB Shatters Marathon World Record!!!

2:04:26!!!

4:44 Per Mile!!!

Link on discussion forum.

AM - Easy 8 miles on the Provo River trail with Sasha. Sasha seems to be doing ok after being sick. We did 6x100m strides on the way back just to keep things sharp. It is nice to be tapering but it really feels like I am barely running at all. The remenants of the cold are almost gone, only very minor lingering congestion being spit up now. A few more easy miles planned for tonight.

PM - Easy 3.5 miles with boys and 5 x strides with James. I'm glad today is not race day.

At the link below you can see a story on Team Hoyt. If you have never heard about this man and his son he is truly an amazing father. I met him at Boston the year I ran it, if I remember right, and I was very inspired. Anyway I thought I would share.

Team Hoyt

Possible Logo for FRB merchandise such as singlet/t-shirt whatever, I have posted on discussion forum for feedback.

Ok, for those that read my blog I will put a daily qoute from Emil Zatopek who had a way with words. I love this one because it is so true about the marathon.

"Men, today we die a little."
Emil Zatopek at the start of the 1956 Olympic Marathon.

AM - Ok, typing this for the second time as it did not save the first time, which really stinks. Met up with Sasha, Jeff, and Adam this morning and ran on the usual Provo River Trail route. We ran a very easy 3.5+ miles and then did 2 miles at marathon pace. Sasha and Jeff went first and then Adam and I started a minute or so later. Adam wanted to try and hit 6:00 mile pace for as long as he could so I started at 6:00 pace and went through the first 1/2 in 2:57. I then picked it up just a little to what felt like marathon pace effort, maybe a little fast but comfortable considering it was a slight uphill section of the river. My mile splits were 5:48 and 5:45 for 11:33 for two miles. Still not feeling 100% but getting there. Overall pleased with the taper so far but not really enjoying it per se. I actually miss the high mileage weeks and feeling tired after a run for some reason. Well it is all pretty much easy from now in. Maybe a few strides and pcik-ups but other than that nothing much. A few more miles planned tonight and then I am headed to Cedar City tomorrow afternoon.

PM - 3.5 miles on grass at Jared's soccer game. Most with James and also did 5 x strides up a small hill. Last double run for the week. Three singles of 6, 4, and 3 miles left this week.

Ok, yesterday I decieded to put a few inspiring quotes from Emil Zatopek each day so if you missed yesterdays then I will post it and another one today. Also a FRB logo for possible use on merchandise such as singlets/t-shirts is also below. I posted it on the Discussion Forum as well for any feedback, psotive or negative so feel free to comment there as well. Enjoy!

"Men, today we die a little."
Emil Zatopek at the start of the 1956 Olympic Marathon.

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek

AM - Ran 6 miles with Sasha at 5:00am. Easy run just talking about Sasha's 100m sprint Marathon limit prediction theory and such. At the end I wanted to do about 3 minutes hard to stimulate a carbo loading phase. I figured I would give it a try but three days out versus the day prior as the study indicated that it would still work and the body would hold the carbos since one is not running much the last couple days. So we did the last 1000 meters hard but not all out. We hit 2:40 for the last 1/2 mile, felt decent but not too hard. Then I went home and started the carbo load. I figured I need to take in around 600g of carbos today. That is a lot. However, I have a high carbo drink that will help me get the majority in. No run tonight so below is the Zatopek quote for the day. Well actually four quotes since I am not sure I will have access to a computer the next couple days. See everyone in St. George!

"I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me.
But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known."
Emil Zatopek describes his marathon win at the Helsinki Olympics

When asked about his tortured expression during races,
Emil Zatopek said,
"It is not gymnastics or ice skating you know."

Two more Zatopek classics:

"It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys."

"Great is the victory, but the friendship is all the greater."

I especially like this one as I think it is so true. It is the journey we all travel to get to the marathon that I will remember the most and all of the great friends I have made along the way. I think that is what is nice about the blog as it allows us to develop those friendships and share our experiences with one another!

Easy 4 mile run in Cedar City with two easy strides at the end. Felt a little sluggish but that is normal for me after carbo loading.

3 easy miles with Kory in Cedar City. The wind was howling this morning at about 25-35 mph and if the race was this morning it would have been a straight on head wind. Pray for the wind to shift or cease by tomorrow!

Ok, where to start! First I had a great time and was very glad to meet a bunch of the bloggers at the pasta party Friday night. This was the highlight of the weekend! Thank you very much Clyde and especially Mik'L for holding such a great event and giving me the place to stay! I look forward to reading the race reports of the FRB runners as I know a lot had good days. The FRB ended up with at least 9 of the top 23 overall spots as well.

Before I get to my race story and results I have to mention that the Lord blessed me on the way home. The weather was bad and I hit a patch of ice and slid out of control off the road and over a very steep embankment. My car was totaled and I walked away without a scratch! When the ambulance and police saw my car they were amazed that I did not have a scratch on me and was feeling ok. If I had not had my seat belt on I would have not survived that is for sure but even with the seat belt they were surprised I walked away as I did. I rolled and flipped the car twice to the best of my recollection. I ended up at the bottom of the embankment on the other side of an 8 foot high fence. I did not go through the fence though because the fence poles were only bent at about the 6 foot mark indicating that when I flipped over the fence I was at least 6 feet in the air. The roof is crushed in on the front of my car the windows were broken out and the entire right side of the car was smashed. The front of the car is smashed along with the fact that I had to kick my door open to get out of the car. All of the shocks were completely blown out and the frame was bent. When the dragged the car up it the entier bottom was dragging ont he ground. When I hit the ice I knew I was in trouble as the back end of the car spun completely around and when I tried to counter steer there was no reaction. At this point I went off the embankment backwards and believe it or not said a quick pray asking heavenly father to protect me from injury. The next thought I had was instinctive from being a pilot to brace for the crash by tensing up all of my muscles and bracing for the worst. As the car came back around I think I rolled once down the embankment and then flipped over the fence, again this is the best I can recall as at this point I was just wondering when it was going to be over and during the final sequence I remember telling myself to stay conscious as I did not want to go out. When I stopped I remember quickly assessing for injuries saying, "no blood, no instant pain or feeling of broken bones, ok my hand hurts a little but no blood!" Then I looked around and saw air bags deployed and my stuff all over the place including things hanging out the window. Next I started looking for my cell phone and found it under my foot. I quickly called my wife and told her I was in an accident and totalled my car but I think I was ok. I then discovered that I could not open the door. I did not see anyone around at first so I thought I was on my own. I pushed the door open with my legs and climbed out again assessing for injuries, but found I was still ok but my adrenaline was pumping. At this point a man was on top of the embankment and yelled down to see if I was ok. He said there were two more cars off th road in front of me and I saw that two more cars had also slid off the embankment a couple hundred meters in front of me. I told him I was ok and he said he called 911 as two of the passengers in the other cars were hurt. I walked around the car and found a bunch of my belongings strewn all over the place and picked them up and put them back in the car. It started to snow and I was getting cold so I managed to climb the 8 foot metal and barb wire fence and went and got in a car to stay warm until the police arrived. Well, that is my exciting story for the day. The marathon story will seem quite boring in comparison. I am counting my blessings that is for sure! I will post a picture of my car when I can. We will see how I feel tomorrow after a marathon and a major car accident! Oh yeah during a 30 minute period I found out from the police that 9 cars had slid off the road in a 15 mile section of the highway and four people were on the way to the hospital.

Marathon story to follow:

Overall, I was vey pleased with my result, 2:32:58 with a 1:18:50 1st half and a 1:14:08 2nd half. Especailly considering I never really felt good today even from the 1st mile. It was a struggle most of the way. I never felt like I was working at or near marathon pace as far as breathing was and I felt converssational the entire way. I never felt like I hit the wall or ran out of fuel which was good as well. However, the legs felt flat the whole way and I was dealing with a nagging hamstring cramp from mile 15 onward. I just kept hoping it would not get worse. It didn't but it never went away either. I was in a just hang on mile to mile mindset and hoping to not completely cramp up. I was very glad to have the FRB guys to run with. I ran with Chad, Cory, and Chris for a large portion of the race and then we ran caught James and ran with him for a bunch as well. I caught our other training partner from Provo, Jeff, at around 22 as he was cramped up but convinced him to run with me to the finish which helped having someone to talk with. Chad had pulled away for a few miles and then at the end I caught him as he cramped up just before the finish but told him to come with me and he responded and we ran to the line together racing the clock and dipped under 2:33 together. I thought we tied but the chip gave me a slight edge, we were trying to cross together. It was awesome to see that Paul and Logan qualified for the trials and an so great. I was dissapointed for Sasha as he missed his goal, but I know he will make it two years from now. Again it was great to meet everyone and see everyone run well. My splits will follow: (not from GPS and I missed a few)

6:03

6:09

5:50

5:52

5:49

5:33

18:32 (miles 7-9)

6:08

12:22 (miles 11-12)

5:49

5:45

5:39

5:21

5:38

11:32 (miles 18-19)

5:55

5:10

11:18 (miles 22-23)

5:44

5:45

5:46

1:08 for .2 miles

Congrats to all and thanks to everyone for the support, friendship and good memories!