The Zion Narrows

In August I went to Zion's National Park to hike "the Narrows".  My brother-in-law from Phoenix invited me to go with him, my nieces (Naomi & Erika), and some of his co-workers.  I brought along a friend, Jeff, from Ridgecrest.

Hiking the Narrows is a slot canyon hike down the Virgin River in southern Utah.  We had permits to hike the top to bottom, an 18 mile hike we planned to do in 1 day.  However, the Narrows can be extremely dangerous with flooding, and the flood warning was high for the day we were suppose to go.

So, instead, we hiked the West Rim of Zion's, which included Angel's landing.  This was a really cool hike.  A little precarious, but with the chains it was pretty easy.  It reminded me a little bit of Machu Picchu.





The plan was that Jeff and I would hike it from the bottom up, while everyone else who would fit into my car would hike it top down.  That way we wouldn't waste several hours at the end of the day to shuttle cars around.  In the middle of the hike when we passed each other, we would pass the keys off so I could drive my car back.  Problem was that we never passed each other!  In the middle of the hike there was a loop.  We agreed that we would take the north side of the loop.  That was the problem.  So Jeff and I ended up waiting for about 3 hours at the car before my brother-in-law arrived to give me my keys.  Oh well.



The next morning we decided to hike all of the Narrows that we could from the bottom up.  We got an early start and the hike was fantastic!

It was amazing to see the high canyon walls and to be forced to go through the water.  You can see why this would be a dangerous place to be during a flash flood:  there is nowhere to go!  Water depth was sometimes only ankle deep, and other times it was waist deep or more.





We took a side trip up Orderville Canyon - another slot canyon.



Looking for a route.



So much fun!





Back into the regular Narrows canyon, this was our turnaround point.



We loved that deep water trekking!



Just keep swimming!



On the way down we ran into Paul's coworkers.



Even though we didn't get to do the whole thing, the Narrows hike was still amazing!  With the change in plans, we were also able to do a really cool hike in Zion's Park that we otherwise wouldn't have done.  It was great times with great people!  What an awesome trip!

St. George Marathon!!!

Last Saturday I ran the St. George marathon!!!  It was my first marathon.  And I loved it!

The day before we left for St. George, when I came home from work I was greeted by some inspirational sidewalk chalk, courtesy of the Halls and my family.  That was an unexpected surprise!

The next day we drove to St. George.  We drove up to the start line so I could check out the course.  I remember thinking: "wow, this is a long ways away!"  And I would be running that whole thing the next day!  Here we are at the start line.



That night I barely slept.  Rachel dropped me off at the bus loading and I made it on the very first bus to the start line which left at 4:00am.  I sat next to a 72 year old runner who was running his 5th marathon this year!  He had interesting stories to tell.  I was up at the start line a little after 4:30am.  It was cold (in the 40's) and windy.  They handed out Mylar blankets and I huddled in one behind a firetruck that served as a wind block.

About 6:00am I met up with Jack C.  He used to live in Ridgecrest years ago, and he is now into running ultras.  So we spent some time catching up as we awaited the start of the race.

At 6:45am, the marathon began.  Because of the thousands of people, it took about 2-3 minutes for us to even cross the start line.  We were unofficially divided up by our expected race times.  In the beginning it was hard to even move.  Too many people and trying to dodge out of the way and not run over anyone.  It took several miles before I no longer had to worry about running into someone as the crowd thinned out.

As planned, I held back the first several miles.  Eventually Jack left me behind as he was trying to qualify for Boston and needed to run a faster pace than I was planning on.

There was lots of chatter among runners.  I also found that I often ran with the same group of runners.  I also admired how many girls were out there that were much faster than I.  There was one lady who ran in front of me for a good 12 miles of the race at least.  Every time I passed her she insisted on passing me back.  So I consented to let her run in front.  She held a good pace that I was doing, so it was kind of strange to actually run with a silent "buddy" that encouraged me to run a fairly constant pace for much of the race.

Passing the time during a race is much different than during training.  I was often distracted by strange running strides.  There was one girl who literally ran on her toes like a sprinter.  I wasn't sure how she was going to run all 26.2 miles that way, but she had already done it for a third of the way.  Another guy ran like a duck, with his feet pointed outward at a 45 degree angle and not straight forward.  I couldn't stand to see that so I had to pass him.  There was this other young guy who was totally social and messing around. He seemed to know everyone.  At one point he ran backwards at a good 7:30 min/mile pace for a good minute, just so he could "see his friend".

In the first 9 miles is a large hill, called Veyo hill.  At first it looks pretty intimidating, until I reminded myself that I ran bigger hills in my training outside of Ridgecrest.  On this hill I found I was passing a lot of runners.  Hill training does pay off!

There were aid stations basically every two miles, until near the end when there was an aid station every mile.  I took water at every aid station. I carried 3 PowerBar "gels" that I consumed about every 35-40 minutes upon approaching an aid station so I could down it with water.  After I ran out of the "gels" I started sucking on PowerBar EnergyBlasts - or gummy blocks.  This was my plan to get electrolytes and some fast energy, and I stuck to it.

The scenery was very beautiful.  Mountains, red and white canyon walls were all around to be seen until the last few miles of the race that concludes in the town.

A little after halfway, somewhere after mile 14, I was still feeling really good.  And I decided to forget holding back and to start picking up the pace.  So the last half of the race I tried to maintain a 7:45 min/mile pace or faster, while in the first half I tried to stay between a 7:45-8:00 min/mil pace.  I started passing people all the time.  I kept telling myself that this was easy, so I believed it was.

Starting around mile 18 or so, I started to notice runners who were "hitting the wall".  Many were running very slow, walking, stopping, and even throwing up.  It seemed odd, as I felt awesome.  I knew that they had all maintained a faster pace than me up until this point.  But now I had the advantage so I ran even faster.

Also around this time, I noticed I was chafing.  I had used glide previously, but it apparently wasn't holding up.  Fortunately all the aid stations have Vaseline, so I partook to relieve the chafing.  No sense in running in that kind of pain if I don't have to.

As I entered the city of St. George, I saw Becky T., who took my picture here:



It was awesome to see so many people cheering along the side of the road, even from the race start.  Little kids were giving me "high-5's" which I gratefully returned.  Lots of funny signs everywhere to encourage runners along.

I won't lie, the last few miles were long.  I kept thinking I should have run another mile by now, but I'd only gone another tenth of a mile.  My pace was fast, but time was slow.  My feet were also getting tired of the pounding on the asphalt.

The last few miles I continued to pick up the pace.  Eventually I hit the last straightaway to the finish line.  I saw the kids holding up signs and cheering me onto the finish!  What a great inspiration they were!  I was full of gratitude to see them.



Here I am waving at the kids.  I ran over to the side to see them better before the final hundred yards.



Almost there!



And I finally crossed the finish line!  My time was 3:24:41.  I thought, "wow, that was a lot easier and much more fun than I thought it would be".  An old man (who I later found out was the famous BYU football coach LaVell Edwards) put a medal around my neck.

I walked through some misters and arrived at a table of chocolate milk.  I downed a pint in one gulp.  I had a moment of dizziness, realizing that my body was already starting to shift from running mode to recovery mode - and I had a thought that maybe this was harder that I had convinced myself.  That quickly passed and I did a few stretches and got some more chocolate milk, water, and a very yummy ice cream sandwich!



I went over to see my family on the other side of the fence.  This was the best tasting ice cream sandwich ever!



Here I pose with my support crew!  They were the best!



We found my stats posted.  704th place!  Not bad for a first timer out of 7100 registered runners!



I sure feel blessed to be in such health to be able to run a marathon.  I'm also greatly blessed with a great family who supports my running addiction:)  I think Rachel is concerned I might want to run another marathon.  She has every right to be concerned!



It is hard to explain why a marathon is so rewarding.  Maybe it has to do with all the preparation coming to fruition.  It could be that I am simply capable of running 26.2 miles, and run it at a fairly quick non-stop clip without running out of energy or breath.  It is kind of like climbing a mountain; it is very hard, but the satisfaction comes from completing a hard task and enjoying the view at the end.

First Marathon - Preparation

Last Saturday I ran my first marathon!!  26.2 miles!  I ran the St. George marathon in southern Utah.  It was quite the experience to prepare, train, participate, and recover in a race that requires lots of physical & mental preparation, stamina, and strength.

It started back in May.  I had just recently completed the SoCal Ragnar Relay (a 200 mile relay race consisting of teams of 12 running non-stop from Los Angeles to San Diego).  A friend on my Ragnar team was going to apply for the St. George marathon lottery.  I figured I might as well put in for the lottery, and if I got in I could train for that.  Running a marathon was never previously a goal.  But after the Ragnar I realized it was within reach.

I was selected in the lottery, so I began searching out training plans.  I was resting from running at the time so that I could heal from my tendinitis that was bothering my left foot.  It was cutting it close, but I could prepare just barely in time with a 16 week training schedule.

The first few runs were very short, slow, and not very comfortable.  I started with less than 10 miles/week, slowly building mileage at a slow 10% increase per week.  My tendinitis was hassling me, so I was careful to ice it constantly.  During the beginning of the program I went on travel, and went on a 2 1/2 week family vacation, followed by another business trip.  So my first month of training was somewhere different practically every day.  It was frustrating, but I did it.

By the time August rolled around, I was starting to get long runs over 10 miles.  I probably jumped mileage too fast about here, because my long run went from 10 miles to 14 miles in a week.  The 14 mile run was downhill from Wagon Wheel to Ridgecrest, and I ran it fast.  The following week I ran 16 miles for my long run.  Then a few days later - I got injured.

I was running downhill from the college for a shorter run, and my knee was hurting.  I kept thinking that if I just kept running, it will work itself out and I'll be fine.  Eventually the pain got so bad that I stopped and walked about a mile home in knee pain.  I was devastated!  I figured something bad happened and my marathon might not happen.  Ironically, when I uploaded my GPS data from that run, Garmin notified me that I had set a PR (Personal Record) that morning for a 5K!  I had beat my last 5K PR by over a minute!  No wonder I was in pain!  But I was still devastated with the injury not knowing how long it would take to recover and if I could still run the marathon.

I got checked out by a trusted running friend who confirmed that it was my IT band.  Her advise was that I could continue running if I could withstand the pain.  I did a lot of my own research and started using a foam roller to stretch out the IT band.  I took nearly a week off of running, then started to run again.  It was painful, but got better every week.  After the long runs, I was in excruciating pain for about a day, but that would quickly subside.  Oddly enough, I realized it was getting better even though I was running more and more.  I also realized that my tendinitis was no longer bothering me either.  I had completely forgotten about the tendinitis!

My post-run routines altered to consist of rolling out the IT band, stretches focusing on the gluts and IT band, and lots of core-strength exercises.

During the training, I also found that I was always hungry.  It became annoying.  I would eat & eat, but I would have what I call a "carb crash" - just like sugar crash even though I wasn't eating much sugar.  I felt awful all the time.  After some research, I decided maybe I needed more whole grains.  Rachel made some whole wheat bread for me - and that made a world of a difference!!!  I started to feel normal again and have energy throughout the day.  I was never "full", but I was now at least satisfied and feeling fine.  So I continued to focus on eating whole grains for the rest of the training.

Eventually I arrived at the longest run of my training:  20 miles.  I dropped my car off in the desert and ran home.  I felt great!  I had heard about this mysterious "wall" that runners hit around 20 miles, so I ran another 1.5 miles to see if I would hit this "wall".  Never happened.  This last long run was a huge boost in my confidence.  This was the moment I was 100% positive I could run this marathon.

During my long runs, I trained to refuel.  I found I could never eat anything more than a banana within several hours of a run or I would be miserable from indigestion.  I eventually settled on eating a PowerBar Gel about every 30-40 minutes during the run and I would be fine.  I also would finish off the last 30 minutes of long runs by sucking on PowerBar Gel blasts (like fruit snacks with electrolytes).  It tried all sorts of brands and types, but I found that PowerBar was just right for me.

At one point near the last 3 weeks of the training, a friend in Ridgecrest who was also training for the St. George marathon had to drop out.  It turns out she has developed some major spine issues, so that was crazy to find out.  I felt really bad.  I kind of knew how she felt;  I had felt so devastated myself the day my IT band went haywire and I believed I may have to drop out.  And this was way bigger than my stupid IT band tightness issues.

About 5 weeks before the marathon I decided to participate in a BYU study about visualization.  I filled out some surveys and then listened to an audio recording at least 3 times per week until the marathon.  The audio helped me relax and visualize me running the marathon - but it included things like "you pass the next mile marker and you think - wow, this is easy!  All your training is coming back to you and you glide along the road to your destination..."  So whenever I was running, I often found myself saying some of those phrases to myself - especially this one: "this is easy!".

The last three weeks of training I tapered off.  Tapering off is extremely annoying!  I felt like I wasn't pushing myself or getting any good workouts.  I had strange, localized muscle soreness that would randomly appear, then go away after a day or two, only to show up somewhere else.  I also focused on drinking more and more water and continuing to eat lots of protein and carbs.  I also started to get obsessed about getting sick.  It felt like everyone around me was getting sick.  Even a nasty stomach bug was going around and everyone at work was getting a stomach bug or getting a nasty cold.  Alas, I never did get sick.

I also monitored my weight during the training.  I didn't keep a diary or anything, but I would check it periodically.  I found that my base weight was about 148-150 lbs.  That is usually what I weigh first thing in the morning before I do anything, including go for a run.  After a long run and before refueling, it drops about 5-7 lbs.  After a short run, it only drops maybe 2 lbs at most.  At the end of the day before going to bed, I'm usually up to around 155 lbs.  Those numbers remained fairly constant all 16 weeks of my training until the tapering period, where my base weight seemed to move up about 3-5 lbs.

The day before the marathon, we drove to St. George.  I picked up my bib and shirt, and attended some seminars regarding the marathon.  I listened to Bart Yasso (a famous runner and an editor at Runner's World magazine) give a seminar, and attended a first-time marathon running clinic.  Bart Yasso gave an extremely interesting presentation about his running experiences, but the first-time clinic was worthless.  It also turns out that Bart Yasso competed in the Badwater Ultramarathon with my boss back in the 80's when it went all the way to the summit of Mt. Whitney (my boss actually held the record back then).

We also ate at the all-you-can-eat pasta dinner.  I chose it because I figured it would be fairly bland and safe last meal the night before the marathon.  And it lived up to my expectations.  Rachel wasn't too thrilled; it was like paying a premium price for a low-end meal for the whole family.  Maybe next time we'll do something different.

That evening when we headed back to the hotel, I felt achy all over like I was getting sick.  I also felt cold all over.  So I bundled up and that helped.  Rachel reminded me that apparently this happens all the time to people just before running a marathon - you feel really sick the night before, but you aren't really sick.  She was right - it was just the pre-race jitters.  I also hardly slept that night I was so nervous.

So, what sticks out to me as important from my race training and preparations:

• Don't add too much mileage too fast


• Do more core strength training


• Eat more whole grains (and take out more processed carbs) to feel better