Administravia

So whats up???  Rachel and I are the only ones running???  You all need to post on the blog and let us know how you are doing.  How your runs went, on schedule, etc. - we all want to know so we can help motivate each other ("flippin burritos" - we have a 20 miler coming up on Saturday!).  If you cant post for some reason let me know and I can add you to the list of permissions to post.  Dang! 20 Miles!!!!.... #@!&$*!!!!

BJH

Einstein was right!

Finished the six miler a couple of hours ago.  It was a nice sunny day - about 26 degrees.  I did it along the Glen Highway snow covered trail near Ft. Richardson.  The first mile was kind of tough, cold and some of the lagging soreness still around.  Mile two I felt much better, warmed up and joints felt good.  I decided not to wear a hat (had it in my pocket) which was a good choice.  Mile three was the Mamma Mia mile.  I did it for time and no real improvement from my last one (which was indoors).

After running on firm ground in Texas earlier this week I felt the differences of running in the snow.  There is a lot more isometrics involved which I am sure burns up energy.  I also noticed that I lean further forward when running on the snow which, I think, is a good thing.  My upper body is more centered over my feet.

The rest of the run was OK - the fourth mile was hard because I was recovering from the MM.  The fifth mile was nice and the sixth I noticed I was getting tired but I could have easily continued if I did not hit the parking lot at the same time...

Michelle and I were talking earlier about how six miles does not seem like a big deal now compared to last summer.  It is all relative...

Crop Circles!!!

Returned from Texas in time for the six mile run - which I think I will do outside.  It is real sunny and bright outside today.  Michelle said she will do hers inside.  I will do the MM (mumbling mile) today also.
Here is a keyhole photo of one of my runs in Texas - the one where I WAS RUNNING ON THE FREEWAY.  I noticed that there is a real crop circle in the photo - can you spot it?
Congratulation to Rachel for healing so quick - I am jealous.

My Foot is Healed!!

So I was pretty nervous about todays run. Even though it was only six miles I haven't run AT ALL in 2 weeks, and really hardly at all in about 3 1/2 weeks, I felt really behind and was afraid I would have lost all my stamina. I was also nervous that my foot would just start hurting again during the run! I have been really anxious that if it kept hurt I would get too behind in the training and then not be able to run the marathon which would be a total bummer.

But, none of that matters because the run was great! I mean, don't get me wrong, I was SO TIRED at about mile 2 or 3, I was totally winded, but that may have been a combination of the time off and the fact that the first half of the route was pretty uphill. The last half was downhill and I felt totally fine. Our run ended up being more like seven miles, but thats fine because I (and Chelsea it turns out, total slacker for no reason!) are behind so we may need to alter the run lengths a bit to catch up, so seven was probably actually good. My foot felt fine the entire time! I am so happy! I had gotten used to running 3 times a week so I actually kind of missed it. So, I am double glad to be back at it.

I have to give a shout out to Josh Johnson, our Elders Quorum President (who is also the husband of one of the sisters I visit teach). He is studying Athletic Training and has been working with the BYU Men's Basketball team this past year, and since he was the closest thing I could come up with to a doctor (as we can't just go and pay for a bone scan out of pocket) I told him about where my foot hurt, etc, and it was his suggestion to take the 2 weeks of and ice it (which I did. that hurts.) and he seems to have been right on! I want Chris to tell him about his knee/IT band thing and have him try and diagnose something too, haha, but I don't know if Chris is a believer yet :)

Incentive to run...

Finished a 5k run a little while ago in Ft. Worth, TX.  I was just ahead of a big storm front with the winds picking up - extra incentive to run faster and beat the curtain of rain coming up from behind.  Finished in just over 30 minutes.

Four mile run in Dallas

Just finished a four mile run in Dallas.  The map they gave me for a three mile loop had part of the run on the freeway.  I guess it is OK to run on freeways in Texas...  I will post the map later.

Quick and easy five miler

Did a quick and easy five miler at the Alaska Club yesterday in between basketball games and errands.  Michelle's was even quicker and easier...

Crunch, crunch, karunch for 17 miles.

Did the 17 mile run with Michelle.  It was a success.  Started out great.  The aches and pains I had all week dissipated after about a mile.  Now I think about it - THAT WAS A LOT OF RUNNING.

We did it outside on the snowy trail at the Army Post - Ft. Richardson.  It was 17 degrees at the start (11:00am) and about 23 degrees at the end (~3:30pm). Mostly overcast and a light breeze form the north.  It beat the heck out of 17 miles on a treadmill and the psychological trauma that would have brought.  Our original plan was to run the Glenn Highway trail from Eagle River to Mountanview and back.  However, it snowed about 3 inches in the middle of the week and the trail had not been plowed.  I did a test run and I got snow in my shoes after about 50 feet.  We went to Ft. Richardson and they had their 4.2 mile loop trail plowed (Thanks Dean!).

It was almost four hours of hearing snow crunching under your feet.  The spikes in the shoes worked great.   I am sure it takes a little more effort to run in the snow but it was comfortable.  After mile 11 I noticed that my quads were feeling pretty sore.  About the same time Michelle started moaning - I thought she was having a baby.  I told her that and she started laughing.  But then I remembered where Deja got her drama queen stuff from.  Michelle's hammies were hurting her.  We kept running - and it was tough.  However, at the end I still did not feel as beat as I thought I would.

I was really worried about this run after having some pretty bad RA symptoms in my shoulders, elbows, and hips.  However it worked out good.  We were pretty beat the rest of the day - and today too.  You can follow the bouncing Brad and Michelle by clicking this link and click "Player" in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Dang!!!

17 mile run tomorrow!!!!   I am hammered and I have not even started!!!  :-O

Sunny and - - - hot???

Did the five mile run yesterday, which for various reasons turned into a 6.2 mile run.  I did it outside on the Glenn Highway trail.  They are actually plowing it this winter and it is good timing for marathon training purposes.  It was sunny and about 14 degrees but felt hot.  Sun was beating down on me and I dressed too warm.  I used the run to re-calibrate my watch with the GPS and Foot Pod to run indoors.  I hope I did not mess things up.  The run was real nice - a good break from the Treadmillitis.  When I was done with the run I must have been real hot because when I took my jacket(s) off and my CamelBak you could see all the perspiration vapor coming off everything.  My Screw Shoe video on YouTube went somewhat viral with well over 1,000 hits in less than a month.  Some people viewing it are from Ireland and they sent me some e mails wanting to know more about wintering running in Alaska.  I was going to post a video leaving the igloo and dodging dog sleds but ended up making this video from my run yesterday.

Not doing so good...

So, the 14 miler killed. We ran around the rose bowl and, Brad, it REALLY WAS 70 degrees. In fact I think it was closer to 75 by the time we were done. So it was pretty hot. We had half powerade half water in our running packs (Chris and I gave one to Chelsea for Christmas). We ran for 5 minutes, walked one, the whole time. Thankfully Chelsea is a math major so she did all of our calculating :) We were doing about 11:45 minute miles so that was pretty cool. Till about mile 11 1/2, or 12. Then we started feeling the pain. Or at least I did, somehow Chelsea kept me going the last 2 miles. And then I did the worst, stupidest thing you could ever do. I just sat down. I didn't walk it out or do some light stretching, the thought of taking one more step was worse than death. But then I really felt horrible, I couldn't walk for 3 days. And when I did it was this old woman hobble. I have to say, Chris had a hard time as well so we were both hobbling around together and my family was making fun of us quite a bit :) So, that was my first bad run. I will say though, Chelsea and I ran 14 miles in 2 hours 50 minutes so we are on track to do the marathon under 6 hours right now. I think 5 1/2 is going to be our goal.

The Second was this weekend, simple 5 miles right? Well, during the half hour run I did on Thursday my foot started hurting, but not too bad and I was almost done so I just finished. It felt totally fine the rest of the day and all day Friday though, so I thought the run would be fine. About mile 2 it started hurting again, and by mile 3 it hurt so much I had to walk the whole rest of the way home, 2 miles! Ugh it was the worst. Today, Sunday, my foot still hurts a little, I don't know what it is. It feels like its bone that hurts, not muscle, on the top/side of my right foot. But I don't know. I'm not running Tuesday or maybe even Thursday, but I really hope come Saturday for our long run I will be fine again. Unfortunately we have catastrophe insurance so I don't really want to go to a doctor because we will have to pay everything out of pocket. I might call the BYU health center and see how much it is for a non-student to just walk in and get a foot looked at...

Anyway, wish me luck that its nothing and that come Saturday I'm all better!

The 1 + 1 = 8 minutes. AKA, "There is No Spoon" run

Did the 14 mile run today.  I had a water with ice to drink in one container and big frozen Gatorade in another.  The ice and frozen Gatorade did cool me down from the hot 70 degree running environment.  I will have to do that from now on.  I also brought a second shirt and changed into it about half way through which helped a lot.  I will have to do that again too.  It was pretty much what you would expect for running 14 miles.  Fist two miles were normal.  I was completely zoned out from miles two to six.  I think I ran straight through all that without slowing.  I was in some deep concentration mode and when I snapped back to reality, at about mile six, I had no idea what had happened except about 50 minutes and four miles went by.  Deja walked by and said "hi" which is what I think snapped me out of it.  Then I was back in REALITY - running - - - on a treadmill.

Things were fine until mile nine when my legs started getting pretty tired.  I took a two minute walking break which seemed to help.  I was really pushing things by mile 11 and I got off the treadmill and started running around the track which felt like I was in a refrigerator - much cooler.  Mile 12, I got back on the treadmill and was in the pain and punishment mode.  Michelle was about a mile ahead of me and the last two miles she kept asking me how much longer I had.  It went something like this: Michelle, "How far have you gone?"  In Brad's head "I have no idea, I am too tired to look."  Brad's body movement = rotate my arm to show Michelle my wrist which had my mileage displayed in 1/16" fine print numbers on a bouncing arm.  Michelle squinting, "how much longer till you are done?"  Brad, burning his last molecules of ATP, "I don't know."  Michelle, "How many more minutes?  Fifteen?"  In Brad's mind, "That requires a calculation that is way beyond my current capabilities."  Brad's mouth, spits out some random number between one and 30.  The next thing I knew I slogged through the last mile of the 14 miler and finished.  Now we are done we are both pretty sore.  I am not looking forward to any more long runs right now...  Next long run I am bringing a calculator.