American Fork Steel Days 5K

• Distance: 5K
• Place: 4th
• Time: 16:18.5

Running Form

About a month ago, I went on a few harder runs, including one that was 13.1 miles (half marathon distance) long. I started feeling pain in my left ankle, similar to pain I've felt in the past when I've had tendinitis. I felt hopeless. I felt like all my hard work to get to my current point of fitness just went down the drain.

I later went in to my chiropractor and he suggested going in to Runner's Corner to get a gait analysis. I did. They also showed me my running form. I had never seen video footage of my form so well before. They also showed me what I wanted to look like and told me about a book Programmed to Run by Tom Miller. I bought the book, started studying the new form and trying to put it into practice. The image below sums up what I used to run like and now what I am trying to match.

The new running form seems to be making a difference. My ankle pain went away after about 3 weeks. At first, my calves were extra sore, but are starting to ease up. I'm hoping I can master this new form and that it can make a noticeable impact on my performance! It's definitely going to take some time, however. And a lot of reprogramming.

The Race

I felt pretty smooth until mile 1. Started feeling really numb and sore with the new form, but moreso had a really bad stomach ache that got worse to the point of not even being able to cooldown afterward.

At the end I pulled ahead into 2nd, but took a wrong turn!!! Nooo!!! I wish they didn’t have so many turns at the end of some races. I ended up right behind the other guys and made 4th place just 2 seconds slower than my PR.

I think I would have blasted through my PR if I had eaten better the last few days and didn’t take a wrong turn...

Fun race overall! I give it up to the high school boys who helped me push the pace toward the end.

Post Race Fun

A photographer was taking photos so we jumped in while the kids were still eating their yogurt breakfast. That just shows how supportive Tymber and the kiddos are of my races. I appreciate them so much!

There was also a massive foam-bubble machine (using Dawn soap, haha!) that the kids absolutely loved.

And of course Lawrence got distracted by some golf carts that rode over as officials were setting up for a city parade. They didn't mind him trying them out 😃.

He's really good at looking chubby sometimes, haha!

Strava Race Results

I use my Garmin watch to track my races and then they get uploaded to Strava for sharing.