Don't take Life for Granted

At the age of 62 my father was still playing slow pitch softball. That same year he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I loved that my dad was still active at the age of 62. Over the next 14 years the disease gradually took its toll on my dad’s body. He slowly went from being active and mobile to having to have help dressing and walking. The muscle rigidity made his Trapezius muscles in his neck feel almost like iron. He had a hard time sleeping for very long at a time. The disease finally took his life through pneumonia at the age of 76.

In watching my father fight this disease, as gracefully as anyone can, I remember thinking how hard it must have been for him to hang on. He would try so hard to be able to just walk on his own. Seeing this made me resolve to try and never take my health for granted and yet I did just that. I let myself go over a period of four years, three of those years being the last three of my father’s life, going from 176 pounds to 212 pounds. I did not have the energy to walk even a mile with my wife. I did not feel like playing ball with my son or even playing golf riding in a cart. I had gone back to school and two years after starting school my father died. I finished school with my BS degree in Electronics Engineering. That is when I knew I had to make a big change so I decided to train for a marathon.

I ran my first marathon in March of 2000. When I crossed the finish line I could not imagine running another one, but a few days later I decided that I could do better and why let all this training go to waste on just one marathon. I ran that first marathon at a pace of 12:12 per mile for a time of 5:19:49. Just two and half years later in October of 2002 I qualified for Boston with a time of 3:33:40 at an 8:09 pace. I ran Boston the following April. I was hooked on running. I knew that I needed running to keep me healthy and sane! Even if I came down with some debilitating disease like my father I would at least go down fighting and take every advantage of my health as long as I possibly could.

Now I am 60 years old, just two years younger than my dad was when he was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Other than a few aches and pains that tend to slow me down a bit, I seem to be in perfect health. At the present time I am recovering from three broken ribs sustained on a trail run three weeks ago. I am also rehabbing a chronically sore left heel and have five more weeks of physical therapy to go through. Hopefully this will work so that I won’t have to have surgery. Either way I will do my best to stay as active as I possibly can. As long as I am able I will continue to run and if I can’t run then I will cycle or swim.

My mother was taken from me about a year after my father passed. She died at the young age of 64 from a stroke, heart attack combination. She was obese and had diabetes, which tends to run in her side of the family. I remember being upset when she died because she did not take care of herself. I had been running for about four months when she passed. I was hoping that she would be able to hear about me finishing my marathon. Hoping that it would spur her on to try and work on getting healthy again.

I have a brother who has been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He has, for the most part, taken his health pretty serious. It is possible that his occupation as a stone mason had something to do with developing his disease but it could also have to do with living about four miles from one of our nations worst nuclear disasters, when he was a young teen, at Rocky Flats Plant on Mother’s Day 1969. I happened to be away at boarding school 30 miles to the north of where we lived in Golden, CO at the time. My sister also suffers from respiratory problems and another brother had asthma when he was young.

The point of all of this is, that because of my family's health problems I am very conscious of how precious my life and health are. I don’t want to take anything for granted. Anytime something could happen to take that away from me, but as long as I can do something about it like run, cycle, hike and swim I will continue to be as active as I possibly can. Running is my first love, but I enjoy being active in any way I can.

One of the best things we can do for our health is to do 40 minutes or more of some aerobic activity at least 3 times as week. This will help keep our hearts, minds and bodies as healthy as possible. I love to go beyond that for my own enjoyment, but for health reasons all that is necessary is the small amount mentioned above.

Don’t take your life for granted. My brother and sister would love to be able to run or cycle if they could. I run for them and for myself because I can.

Happy Trails,

Russ

To Run or not to Run?

As runners we are sometimes confronted with the question, "Should I or shouldn't I run." Most often this comes up because of illness, aches and or pains, injuries or any other assorted reasons. How should we determine if it is alright, or even advisable, to go ahead with a run under one of the above circumstances?

Some injuries like broken bones or muscles pulls are obvious, but what about the not so obvious? Let's cover soreness and or pain first. As a general rule one should not run with pain if it can be determined that it will not go away during the first 5 - 10 minutes of a run. Even then, one should probably not engage in racing and or speed work with such pain as this will tend to make it worse.  Things like Plantar Faciitis can vary based on the severity of the symptoms. If it is only sore for the first 5 minutes or so, while running easy, it is probably alright to run as long as one doesn't run a lot of hills. However, if the pain is persistent after a period of 5 to 10 minutes it would be better to not run and to give the injury complete rest for a period of at least two weeks or more. Do not resume running until you can walk without pain. If the pain is only there for a few steps in the morning when you first get out of bed then you can still run but should take it easy. Also you might want to see a foot specialist about getting a pair of orthotics, to correct what is causing the injury in the first place, in order to keep it from reoccurring. 

Another common injury is IT band syndrome. The IT band extends from the hip to the knee on the outside lateral portion of the leg. When inflamed it can be very painful and generally gets worse the longer one runs with the injury. One can probably finish a race in which the IT band becomes inflamed, if they are able to deal with the pain, but they must weigh that with the probability of increasing the intensity of the injury and having more downtime recuperating after the race. The sooner one stops running when IT band inflammation occurs the sooner they will be able to heal and get back to running. Again one needs to find out why the IT band is becoming inflamed such as severe road camber, muscle imbalance, running form etc. Sometimes your local shoe store sales person can help you determine this by looking at the wear on your shoes but it is probably best to have it checked out by an orthopedic specialist if possible. The right therapy can usually correct the problem alleviating any recurring symptoms. Weak glute muscles and or a lack of lateral stability muscles in the hips, thighs and or legs can also be the cause. Can you run with IT band syndrome? The answer is yes, but if you do it will only get worse not better. This injury is best dealt with, by using rest. One can cross train by cycling with this injury but it is imperative to make sure that the seat height is not to high as this can exacerbate the problem causing the hip to over extend from side to side. If you have recently added cycling to your cross training to high a seat could be what caused the problem.

Chronic knee pain is another injury that runners sometimes try to run through! I feel that it is not a good idea to run with knee pain unless one has gone to a sports doctor about the problem and after diagnosis the doctor says it is alright to run. It is very important to know what is causing the knee pain before continuing to run. A lot of irreversible damage can be caused by running with knee pain so be very careful with this one and seek professional advice. It could be something as simple as old, or incorrect running shoes but find out what the problems is so that you don't permanently damage your knees.

What about just general muscle soreness after a particularly hard run or race? If the soreness is just "Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness"or DOMS for short it is OK to run but you should keep it short and easy until the soreness leaves. If the soreness leaves within 10 minutes of an easy jog you should be fine to run up to 30-60 minutes of easy running. DOMS is usually worst 36 to 48 hours after a very hard or unusually hard race or workout and the symptoms gradually subside over the next few days. If you do to hard an effort while still sore, even if the soreness disappears after warmup, you can end up being even more sore the next day or so following as the tight muscles cause even more micro tears in the muscle fibers. You don't have to wait until the soreness is completely gone to do another hard effort but you should let it at least subside to a more comfortable level. Always do a little longer warmup when resuming a hard effort after being really sore.

It is not my purpose to cover every type of injury, only to give you an idea as to when to seek professional advice before you resume running or not.

We have discussed injury and soreness but what about illness. Is it alright to run with a cold or flu?  I think it is alright to run with a cold after the third day but one should keep it short and easy when running ill. There is some evidence that racing, with even a cold, can cause heart problems. Sometimes the virus can migrate to the heart causing inflammation which in turn can cause arrhythmia or other problems with the heart. Never run with the flu or pneumonia like symptoms as doing so can further weaken and damage the immune system. Use the "neck check." if the symptoms are above the neck and no fever you are probably alright to run an easy run. However if the symptoms are below the neck such as  congestion, coughing, fever or body aches it is not advisable to run. See this article at Livestrong.com .

The hard part for runners is dealing with the downtime from an injury or illness. One thing I like to do during these times is read and learn more about running. Go over my log book to see if there were warning signs I missed that could have prevented my from getting injured if I had paid more careful attention. I try not to dwell on not being able to run, but try to think about planning my return to running in a careful way so as to avoid re-injuring myself.

Another helpful tip when coming back from an injury is take the time to run with some of your friends who are a little slower than you are normally. This will help keep you from getting a little competitive and over doing it as you return to form. Trying to pick up where you left off right away is a really bad idea and usually ends in disaster

Hope this was helpful!

My start into the World of Running!

I have been a runner since July of 1999. That was almost 12.5 years ago. It started because I had just graduated from ITT Technical Institute with a Bachelors Degree in Electronics Engineering at the age of 46. I was totally out of shape at 5’11.5” and 212 pounds. After graduating I needed a new goal and had often wondered what it would be like to run a marathon. So, I decided that I would train to run a marathon, lose weight and get back in shape all at the same time.

I knew nothing about training for a marathon other than I would start with a mile and gradually try to build my mileage. But, how hard to run? How far to run? How many days a week to run? These were all questions that I needed to find out.

I decided to do a one mile fitness test to see just how out of shape I was. I went to a track and started running. My mind told me I was in better shape than I actually was and by the time I had run one lap I was feeling like I needed to stop but I kept on going. My legs were on fire and before I had finished two complete laps I had to walk. Soon my legs felt a bit better and I resumed running. I ended up doing this run walk several times before I finally completed my first mile.

I was in shock! It had taken me a little over 13 minutes to complete just one mile. I remembered back in high school where we had an 8 min test. If one could complete a mile or more in 8 minutes then they were considered to be in very good shape. I had blown that test away; without even trying that hard I had run a mile in just a little over 5 minutes. (Don’t remember the exact time.) Now, here I was completely exhausted doing a single mile in over 13 minutes. I thought to myself that surely there must be some mistake. How could this be? I felt truly humiliated with what had just transpired.

Of course, in high school I was 5’ 11 3/4” tall and only weighed 147 pounds. Now I had shrunk a quarter inch and weighed 65 pounds more, and of that 65 pounds I had added only about 8-10 were muscle, the rest was all fat.

As I drove home I started reconsidering my goal of running a marathon. It seemed like an impossible task after what I had just put myself through. But, I convinced myself that surely I could get back to at least an 8 minute mile by early March of the next year for the LA Marathon. I would just start running and walking every day and gradually get back in shape. Boy was I wrong about that 8 minute mile.

After two weeks of running by myself, my wife came to me with an article she had read, in the local paper, about a group that trained people to run a marathon. The name of the group was the Loma Linda Lopers. They met every Sunday morning at 6:30am and had seminars and talks all about running. She thought it would be a good idea for me to join them as they had only been running their marathon clinic for two weeks and that was about how long I had been training on my own. So, the following Sunday I showed up early and joined the group.

I don’t remember a whole lot about my first day with the Lopers other than I was overwhelmed to see so many people all out to train for a marathon. There were well over 600 people there and they had smaller groups divided into what they called “pace groups.” I decided to join the 13 minute group. The distance for the day was just 3 miles. Our pace leader took us out at a pretty good pace but then after 5 minutes we started walking. After a minute we resumed running and continued this run 5 minutes walk 1 minute, for the complete three miles. He explained that the Lopers used the Galloway method for marathon training and that doing a run walk was the quickest way to build endurance for new runners.

I was elated when we were done as I had done the whole 3 miles and did not feel like I was completely worn out as on my other runs. I continued going to the early Sunday morning meetings and doing the long run each week with the lopers. Each Sunday we added another mile to the long run for the week until we reached 10 miles. We also had home work miles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Each week we added a mile to the homework miles until we reached 6 miles. Before we got to the 10 mile milestone for our long run, I had switched groups and had moved up to the 12 minute group. I ran with them until we got to 15 miles and then I let my ego get the better of me and I joined the 11 minute pace group. Now each long run seemed more like a race for me each week and I could hardly run again until Wednesday. I continued this insanity for the rest of my training with the Loper marathon clinic. I was so exhausted after each long run that I would come home each Sunday and fall asleep in my recliner while watching TV. Then came the marathon.

March 5th, 2000 was my first marathon. The weather forecast was for rain and lots of it! I had on a trash bag with holes cut for my head and arms. It was a great way to stay warm until the race began. We heard the gun go off but it was minutes before we started moving as there were so many people ahead of us. It took over 12 minutes before we crossed the start line and even then we weren’t really running right away. Soon we were actually running and the rain started coming down hard. I got too warm and threw the trash bag away. The rain was really coming down hard for most of the race, but I was fine as far as temperature. Some of those I was running with seemed to think it was really cold.

At about mile 17 I started to have trouble with my IT band and the outside of my left knee was beginning to hurt some. At mile 18 I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into as I was really beginning to feel fatigued and the knee was hurting a bit more. I said to myself, “Just two more miles and reevaluate the situation.” I made it to mile 20 and didn’t really feel any better but no worse either. I said to myself, “I have made it 20 miles there is no way I am quitting now.” So on we ran. With three miles left to run my knee was really hurting me, especially when resuming running after each walk break, so I decided to slow down a little and just keep running without doing the walk break. About one mile from the finish two of my friends, who I worked with, greeted me from the sidelines and jumped in running with me to the finish line. I felt a rush of adrenaline with their enthusiasm for what I was doing and that they would come all this way just to cheer for me. I was rejuvenated the rest of the way to the finish line. As I crossed that line a wave of emotion hit me as I realized I had actually finished my first marathon. 5 hours 19 minutes and 49 seconds is what it took me to complete my first marathon. At that time the thought of doing another marathon was far from my mind. In fact when asked a few hours later I said I would never run another one. Two days later I reevaluated and decided to sign up for another marathon. Two and a half years after my first marathon, (Oct 5, 2002) I qualified for Boston at St George, UT with a time of 3:33:40, needing to be at or better than 3:35:59. I ran Boston the following April and it was the highlight of my running career thus far.

I have now completed 20 marathons and am hoping to soon enter the world of ultra marathon races. Running distances from 50K (or 31 miles) to perhaps a 100 miles or more. First I have to overcome my troubles with sciatica, but I am confident that will happen.

By the way as I mentioned earlier I started running at 212 pounds and finished my first marathon at 195 pounds. I now weigh about 182 pounds but have a goal to be down to 165 pounds by this summer.

April 2013 update: I am not down to 165 pounds!  Wahoo!