If A Runner Can't Breathe, He Can't Run.

By Steve,

This winter has not been very kind to me.  My whole life, I've struggled with nasty coughs that last anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks every time I catch a cold, which usually happens 2-3 times per year.  This last autumn, a couple days before we ran the OTM 100, I started picking up another cold.  It got the point where at the 50 mile mark I was wheezing with every breath, and decided to DNF with Sam.

That cold turned to a nasty post nasal drip, and the post nasal drip left me vulnerable to more colds.  It was a frustrating cycle of beating down the colds, only to have the post nasal drip flare up again afterwards.  My runs, when I could get them in, would include stopping multiple times to hack up the crap in my lungs and throat.  In the 4 months since the OTM 100, I have caught 4 colds.  I talked to doctors and tried everything I could to fix the problem.  Nasal rinse, asthma inhalers, hot herbal tea, more asthma inhalers, and even a prescription for Singulair.  Some things seemed to help a little, but nothing could get rid of the problem all together.

My running started falling apart.  We did the Wellsville Traverse in November, but I was already starting to get in worse shape, and had a hard time keeping up with Sam that day.  My final big run was a little before Christmas when I ran 24 miles from my front door to Adams Canyon Waterfall and back.  I got home and was absolutely exhausted.  Since then, nearly two months have passed since I have run again in the mountains.  Sure, I trotted my way on snowshoes halfway up the Lone Peak winter ascent, but actual heart pounding running was still out of my grasp.

At the beginning of the year, I tore my left MCL while sledding, but that was the least of my worries.  Time passed and I did lots of walks and small runs when I wasn't coughing too much, and the knee healed very well, but I simply could not shake the chronic cough and throat clearing.

Finally, about 2 weeks ago, doing more research, I discovered a condition called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or silent reflux.  The symptoms were exactly what I was experiencing.  Essentially what was happening is that I was drinking and eating a lot of acidic things to beat back the colds, such as a lot of orange juice, canned fruit, italian foods, and spicy foods.  Then at night that very acid was escaping up to my throat at night and burning it, causing the post nasal drip.  I immediately stripped my diet of chocolate, carbonation (Mountain Dew), caffeine (sigh... Mountain Dew), canned fruit, orange juice, tomato based foods, and spicy foods.  I replaced that with daily oatmeal, bananas, and more leafy green foods. Within a day, I was already feeling free of the effects of the post nasal drip, and haven't felt them sense.

Unfortunately, the day I discovered this was followed by me catching yet another nasty coughing cold that my daughter brought home from school.  With the cold now clearing up and my cough fading away, and I'm seriously optimistic about the coming months.  Sure, there is a possibility that the issues will flare up again within the next few weeks, but I'm confident now that the worst is behind me and that I can get my fitness level where it needs to be in order to run the OTM 100 in May.

After a drought of 2 months, I ran my first 5 mountain miles on the Bonneville Shoreline trail this morning.   I remembered the euphoria of running on the trails, and am feeling very excited to start training for real next week without any coughing.  At the end of the day, if a runner can't breathe, he can't run,  And if a runner can't run, he can't breathe.

Just a regular day on Mt. Olympus...

Summit Dew

Orange Trail Monkeys and the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers

By Steve

In the summer of 2011 the Orange Trail Monkeys consisted of me, Sam, and another trail running buddy of ours, Brian Wells.  At that point, we didn't have a blog or any name we were calling ourselves, but we did have monkeys on our shoes.  We were proverbially in our infancy of trail running and were exploring our new world. 

The first major event we wanted to do was to run Kings Peak.  We had already walked it once in a single day before, and now that we were all in marathon shape, we decided to aim a little higher.  All summer long we made plans and settled on a date.  About two weeks before we were to run it, Brian talked with someone at his work at Adobe who somehow knew of a small group of trail runners who had organized a little event called the second annual Quest For Kings Marathon.  We didn't know any of the people running this event, but sent some whack-o named Craig Lloyd an email telling him that we would be there to join him.

Sam in his trail running infancy.  2011

Let me tell you about our first experience with what would become the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers unofficial board of directors. Brian, Sam and I were headed up Henry's Fork Basin when down the mountain came a couple of runners, Josh Greenwell and Scott Wesemann.  They had started some time around midnight and were trying to do a double summit of the mountain.  But Scott changed the plans when he started puking all over the summit ridgeline.  Since that day he has become Sam's mentor in the art of dumping bodily fluid onto mountain sides.

Fast forward 4 years and hundreds of solo and group runs to last night.  Craig and the refuse2quit team put on the first annual Wasatch Mountain Wrangler formal dinner at Thanksgiving point.  With the Facebook group currently standing somewhere over 1,400 members, this was to be our first giant get together with the whole group.  At first I was pretty hesitant to go, since I usually prefer to be a background kind of guy.  But after only a few minutes, I was very glad I had come.  In the end, counting spouses, the attendance was somewhere around 100-150 people, and all these dirty, stinky trail runners were dressed in their finest.

The atmosphere was fantastic.  The food was delicious, and everyone was chatting as though this was a group of lifelong friends.  There was a drawing with prizes donated by local companies and race directors that were of significant worth, and there were awards for the best Wranglers.  As the awards were given out, it became quite clear that the recipients of the awards had garnered a lot of respect from this group, and even became a little emotional as Matt Van Horn received the "Most Inspirational Wrangler" award.  So basically, what I expected to be a somewhat socially awkward  night out with running friends turned out to be one of the best nights out I've had in a long time.  And it turned out to be an even better one for Sam.

Summit Monkey on Dromendary, after completing the Triple Traverse.

As Craig said a few words about the person receiving the "Peak Bagger" award, I couldn't help but wonder if Sam was going to win.  This award was supposed to go the guy or gal who had an unquenchable thirst for new and great summits.  And I knew Sam fit this bill better than most.  This is a dude who loves summits.  All summer long, he climbed each and every summit he could find.  He summits one peak, and while standing there snapping a picture of his monkey (sounds kind of dirty), he looks around and figures out where to go next.  This year he hit most major peaks in Utah County, Salt Lake County, Davis County, Weber County, The Wellsville Ridge, The Stansbury Ridge, and a handful in Logan and even out of state.  Always up for the next and great challenge.  I gave out a loud cheer as they called his name.  Only a few minutes later, Sam's raffle ticket got drawn for a free entry to one of Matt Gunn's ultimate adventure races.  He certainly deserves it as much as anyone in that room.

But lest anyone think I'm getting all mushy about my best friend of 20 years, let me even things out a bit.  He comments too much on Facebook, tells awful "I'll show you a..." jokes that don't make any sense, and farts in his sleep (I've shared way too many tents with this guy).  Whew.  I feel better now.

But enough of stupid Sam and back to the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers.  Craig and co has done a great job organizing this group and it's amazing to see how close they have become.  It was truly a night to remember. Those who missed out, really missed out.

On Mt. Si near Seattle, WA. Mt. Rainier in the background.

Video complilation by Aaron Williams