December 2008 Archives

My slowest marathon.  3:16 - that's over a minute slower than my first marathon, Grandma's, which I ran in 3:14 and change.  Oh well.  It was a tough day out there.  I have lots of reasons for the slow time - kidney stone the week before the race, the flu just days before the race, lack of training, strong winds (35 mph), hot temps (into the 80's towards the end), etc.  But, that's racing.  I've raced in poor conditions before and performed well.  It was just an off day.

The race started out OK, although I got stuck in a crowd and couldn't get out.  It made for a slow first mile - just under 8 minutes.  After that, I had to play some catch-up to get to my sub-3 pace.  I finished my first half in 1:29, on pace to get in under 3 hours.  But, I knew it wasn't my day, and that became very evident by mile 14. We started running straight into the headwind, and I had nothing to answer with.  It was a long final 12 miles, as my mile spits continued to slow.  I didn't really have any goals, other than to finish, so I just tried to conserve energy on the end and enjoy the day. That said, I wasn't feeling too well the last half of the race, and nausea, heat, and wind made for a long day for me. 

Dallas White Rock Marathon - December 14, 2008:

Time:  3:16:40

Pace:  7:30/mile

Place:  130th out of 3938 runners

Well, my trip to the Mayo had an unexpected turn of events.  It was around 9:00 on Friday night, and I was just getting ready to go down to the treadmill in the Marriott for a short run.  I have my halter monitor on, and wanted to get some readings of what my heart was doing while running.

I noticed a slight burning sensation when I went to the bathroom, and it progressively got worse.  Then I was hit with a terrible pain in my low back - a dull, intensifying pain on my right side.  I suspected right away a kidney stone, as my dad, brother, and grandpa have all had them.  So I called Dad to confirm the symptoms, and he knew exactly the pain I was referring to.  The pain kept getting worse, to the point where I had Heather run down to the lobby and call a cab to the hospital. So, we took a trip to St. Mary's Hospital.  On the way to the hospital, the pain started to subside, thank the Lord!  I was following Dad's advice to drink a lot of fluids, and perhaps I flushed it out.  I got to the hospital and they did some tests to confirm I had likely passed a stone (found blood in my urine).  Since the pain had subsided, they advised that I go home and continue to monitor (perhaps I passed the stone, or perhaps it passed into my bladder and would later return). 

Later that night, I passed what I believed to be a stone (about the size and shape of a pencil tip). 

I'm feeling better today, and am hoping to go for a short run before I turn in my halter monitor.

Well, I made the visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN today to get a look at my heart.  As many of you know, I have WPW (Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome).  It is basically an extra electrical pathway in my heart that will cause my heart to beat rapidly on occasion.  I haven't had a lot of problems with this lately, but I have noticed a significant increase in my RHR (resting heart rate) a couple of years ago.  My typical RHR was always around 50 bpm (in the evenings, if I would do a test, it would go down to 44 or so).  This was the case until last year, when I noticed my RHR go up into the upper 60's.  It doesn't seem likely that this is related to WPW, but we thought it was worth checking out.  Last year, I noticed a lot of chest pain and fatigue in training, and that was cause for alarm.  So, I took a lot of time off, stepped down in my training, and gave it some time to recover.  While the chest pains have subsided, I still experience fatigue and my RHR hasn't gone back down.  Also, my blood pressure is slightly elevated.  So, I got a referral to the Mayo to check it out. 

Today we had some basic tests - an electrocardiogram, an echogram, a chest x-ray, some blood work, and a halter monitor set up.  I will turn in the halter monitor on Saturday, and return to the Mayo on Monday for a review of the results.

I was very impressed with the Mayo - they were extremely efficient and had the work done within a couple of hours.