A Personal Half-Marathon

Next Saturday would have been the AF Canyon Run Against Cancer. Then covid happened and the race was canceled. I was disappointed, but understood given the unprecedented circumstances. I was originally signed up to run two half marathons this year. In addition to the AF Canyon run I was going to run in the SLC half-marathon in April. That was also cancelled due to covid. 

Even if the SLC half-marathon would have not been cancelled I would not have been able to run it. I developed an injury about half-way through my training program. I actually developed the same injury last year when I was training for the AF Canyon run. This year I adopted a new training program. I used the Audible Half Marathon Training by Katie Barrett. I liked the program. It is time based and is a mixture of easy runs, interval runs, and long runs. It has a strong focus on form and Katie is very motivating. I was hoping that the changes to my training would avoid injury, but as a neared half-way I began developing pain in my lower inner calves. In the past when this has happened I have tried to push through. This year I took a different approach. 

I stopped running and did some research. I found the runner's clinic at University of Utah Health. I made an appointment with a physical therapist, Jason Miller. He observed my running and performed some diagnostics and helped me realize that my pain was likely resulting from issues with my form. He gave me some exercises and told me to work on increasing my cadence. 

This was great advice. It was a lot of work. I did the new exercises diligently. I focused on increasing my cadence. The increased cadence helped with the pain in my legs. It was a difficult process. I had to relearn the way I ran. I spent more time on a treadmill so I could control my speed and focus on my cadence. 

The SLC half-marathon was cancelled, which worked out since I would not have been prepared anyway. Instead, I turned my focus toward the AF Canyon Run. I was most of the way through my training program when I found out the race was officially cancelled. 

I decided to continue to the training program. It was going so well. This was the first time training for a race that I completed all of the training runs. Every single one. I was proud of that accomplishment. I will also say that by the end of the program my legs were tired. I continually increased my cadence and it was difficult. 

Since the race was cancelled I decided to run my own race. I woke up early this morning and headed over to the Jordan River Trail. I ran 13.2 miles (I put in an extra .1 mile just because). The run was great I was feeling good until around mile 9. That is when I hit a wall. My legs were tired and I was losing the mental game. I focused and kept running and I was able to hold on until mile 12. At that point my legs were really feeling it and it took all I had to finish my race. 

I finished 13.1 miles right around the 2 hour mark. It was a little longer than I hoped. I would have loved to beat my personal best, but it didn't happen. There are a lot of reasons it didn't happen. Today's race course was harder than the AF Canyon Race would have been. It was mostly flat with a little bit of uphill/downhill. It was also really windy the entire second half of my run. There is also less adrenaline than when I participate in an organized race with hundreds of other racers. My legs were also tired before I even started the run. Ultimately, I didn't have the will to overcome these factors and run faster. I learned a lot from this race and I am confident that my next one will be even better.