Carl Hutzler’s Blog

A year ago my wife, Rylan, got me to start exercising. She basically plunked down $500 for a dozen sessions with a personal trainer at our local YMCA. Since the money was spent, I figured I had to go.

On the first day Nikki (the trainer) had me run on a treadmill at 5 mph for 15 minutes. I did it, but I thought I was going to hurl. We finished that day with some weights. I was in pain for about 4 days (like could barely walk kinda pain!). Boy, that was a long time ago.

I go hiking with a group of guys pretty much every year. This is our tenth year (I believe) hiking in and around the Salt Lake City area (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah mostly). One of the guys, David Crocker, started doing ultra marathoning recently (about 2-3 years ago). If you are not familiar with ultra marathoning, just read one of his trip reports. They are insane. This one is my favorite.

So the group is heading to Southeast Utah this year for a hike in a canyon with some ancient ruins. David suggested we drive the 4-5 hours to the grand canyon after our hike. From there he suggested we run the grand canyon…he is thinking of doing his 3rd double crossing. Some of the others will be doing a day hike. I am going to try a single crossing (basically a marathon with 5000 ft of vertical up and down).

I have only been running distance for 3 weeks now. I started with 4 miles during a 1 hour session with Nikki. I was huffing and puffing. Nikki was barely breathing. My heart rate was around 190 which is very high. But I did it and didn’t feel too bad. My calves hurt a lot the next day or so. I continued to run short distances of 4-5 miles for 2 weeks.

Last week on Wednesday I ran 7 miles and included some hills. My knee and hip hurt after that, but no more calve pain. And although I did not run the first hill at the beginning of the trip, I was able to run the last hill. Strange that the body is able to do more at the end! Good for me as my uphill will be at the end in the GC.

Today I ran a half marathon in about 2.5 hours. And it was not all that bad. I felt great for the first hour and a half and even forgot that I was running for a good portion of that period. Towards the end I got a blister on one foot (in my arch) but I was able to just run through it. After a few minutes it didn’t feel so bad because it puffed up with water. The human body is kinda cool that way.

As I rounded the last mile or so, my body started hurting…knees and hips mostly. Not a bad hurt, just one of those “we are almost home…I know it…let’s stop” kinda things. My heart rate has continued to drop dramatically. I can now jog at 4-5 mph for a long time without feeling bad at all. And my heart rate now is in the low 130s instead of 160 or more. And all this in a couple of weeks. Pretty cool.

I never thought I would enjoy running. Heck, until 3 weeks ago I had never run more than a mile in my life! But it actually is pretty fun…as long as you have a) Music and b) Something interesting for the eyes. Basically you need to anesthetize the brain which would otherwise keep telling you to stop because it hurts.