Grappling With PD

When I registered for the 12/7/24 Hyrox in Anaheim, I asked if they had an adaptive division.  They did not.  Nothing was said about changes that were in the works, but when I looked at the rules in the days leading up to the race, I saw that they had separate rules for athletes with disabilities.  Not just one division had been added, but six (nine if you count the subdivisions).  They are (a) Lower Limb Impairment (b) Upper Limb Impairment (c) Short Stature Impairment (d) Visual/Hearing Impairment (e) Neurological Impairment (broken down to the following sub-divisions) i.  Neurological Major ii. Neurological Minor (f) Seated Impairment (broken down to the following sub-divisions) i.   Seated With Hip Function (SWHF) ii.  Seated Without Hip Function (SWOHF) iii. Seated Without Core Function (SWOC) I assumed that I would be either neuro minor or neuro major due to Parkinsons, but I reached out to the race organizers to...

. . . and running downhill. Today I ran the inaugural Las Vegas Marathon--and by "ran" I mean ran some and walked some. Ok, I walked a lot, but that's ok.  My goal was simply to finish, crossing the finish line before the cutoff.  Races that shut down the strip, like the Rock'n'Roll marathon, back when that was offered in the series, tend to have shorter time limits.  I recall 5 hours, the one time I ran it (in 2013).  This new course today had a longer window--and a better opportunity for me to finish--at 6.5 hours. First, prep.  When I was brainstorming a list of items I would need for the race, I went a little overboard.  I was certain that I would need my cane toward the end, and the one cane soon morphed into a pair of trekking poles.  An emergency blanket (included in the race package distributed with the bib and shirt) and warm clothes.  The usual food and medication.  Maybe some water and Gatorade, but not much since the race is ...

The inaugural Las Vegas marathon is one week from today. I signed up for it a year ago. I must accept the very real possibility that I may be unable to finish. How did I get here? I worked pretty hard from May through September this year to prepare.  Toward the end of summer I had begun to feel some persistent pain in my left heel. In mid-September I took a week and a half off to take my daughter to college, during which I walked a lot but did not run at all.  That inactivity left me well-rested upon my return, and I had a pretty good long run that Saturday.  However, succeeding Saturday morning long runs were characterized by decreasing performance.  This result came from running less to allow my heel to heal.  I was willing to accept being a little out of shape in exchange for pain-free feet, but surprisingly, the pain in my heel did not decrease. I had long been planning to take a week off before the marathon, but having taken far more than just a week, I als...

When I write my blog entries, I try to be as unbiased and accurate as possible.  Sometimes events make me look good, sometimes bad, but it's never about beating myself up, and it's never about bragging.  Except today.  I'm feeling really good about this particular event, so I'm gonna brag.  Just a little. First the background.  This part of the continuing saga of the injured left little finger, begun in previous entries.  I have been trying to make progress on diagnosis and treatment, but it has been difficult and slow.  Who knew the little finger could present such a big challenge?  In spite of the fact that it never was broken, it has been splinted virtually nonstop for over two months.  In that time I have used three different types of splint: 1) the traditional "tie or tape it to something stiff" variety; 2) the thermal-molded plastic or fabric variety; and 3) the sprin-mechanism variety.  The goal at this point is not to keep it str...

So when I fell at about mile 2 in the Utah Spartan Beast on July 20--just over a month ago--I felt confident that my finger was broken.  The medics agreed, and they applied a makeshift split made of a popsicle stick and tape.  That kept the finger straight and provided a small amount of protection. I got home late the next day and visited the doctor morning after that.  I did not get past the desk at my primary care physician's office; they don't deal with such things and told me to go to the urgent care clinic.  The urgent care doc said that it did indeed look broken and referred me to a hand specialist for x-rays, diagnosis, and treatment.  When I called for an appointment, they gave me the first available:  July 31!  That was pretty rotten, as it failed to account for the importance of timely treatment for a broken bone.   Quick side story:  the first time I had a broken bone was in the Navy in 1992 or 1993. I was at the base in Newpo...

The race was scheduled for Saturday, July 20, 2024.  I ran the same race--and presumably the same course, though small changes are always possible--on July 9, 2022.  I knew what to expect.  I knew  how hard it was.  How hard it *is*.  In 2022 it took me 6 hours 29 minutes to finish (in the Open division).  This time, in Age Group, I planned for 7 hours, maybe longer if I ended up doing a lot of penalty loops.  With a 7:15 AM start time, 7 hours meant finishing by 2:15 PM. I started out walking, following the advice that my friend and trainer Orlando gave me at my first Beast in Seattle in 2019.  It was a brisk walk, and as the slower runners reduced speed and transitioned to walking, I passed several of them  So far, so good. Note that the goal is to finish, not to beat anyone in particular.  However, I learned early on that I can't compare my results at one venue to my results at another, because the venues are different.  I...