At the start of September, shortly after Jeff Young began training in new shoes, his right calf began seizing up during his speed workouts in preparation for Sunday's New York City Marathon, which made the timing particularly troubling.
He dialed back his training and sought treatment, undergoing ultrasound and Rolf therapy. Still, the problem persisted. Finally, Young wondered if his new shoes were to blame, so he began running in his old shoes and noticed his calf quandary seemed to be ceasing.
That prompted another visit to the Skinny Raven running store, and this time he took along his old shoes. Turned out those new Adidas shoes Young had bought were slightly different than his old model and prevented his foot from its customary pronation – rolling inward – as it struck the ground. He bought a new pair of the correct shoes, and his calf pain vanished.
"As soon as I bought the right pair of shoes, it was gone, instantly,'' Young said.
And Sunday, so was Young's previous personal-record time for 26.2 miles.
The 56-year-old construction worker from Anchorage blistered the New York City Marathon in 2 hours, 44 minutes, 42 seconds, slashing 1:44 off his April time in the Boston Marathon, where he won the men's 55-59 age group.
The race website reported Young, who turns 57 later this month, finished second in the 55-59 age group, trailing Fred Zalokar, 55, of Reno, Nevada, who clocked 2:43:10. Age-group results are unofficial until mid-November, according to the race site. Young was still psyched about his PR.
"The happy rating is better than Boston,'' Young said by cellphone after the race.
Sunday's marathon was only Young's third, but he continued to lop serious time off his personal standard.
In his marathon debut in June 2014, he finished fourth in the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, clocking 2:48:07. He knocked 1:44 off that time with his 2:46:23 at Boston and Sunday lowered his PR by another 1:44.
Jerry Ross, the Anchorage runner who has coached Young, said his friend's performance Sunday was particularly astonishing because runners typically slow as they age. But Young took up serious training and racing only in the last two years.
"Part of me thinks, 'Wait until you're 60, Jeff – you'll really be blowing people's minds,' '' said Ross, who tracked Young's race progress online Sunday.
Both Ross and Anna Dalton of Anchorage, Young's training partner, said Young's ability to listen to his body enabled him to overcome his setback in training.
"With running, you have to be really, really patient, and runners are pretty obsessive about their training,'' Dalton said. "But he's so smart about his running and his body. He's patient.''
Ross, who said he isn't Young's coach so much as collaborator these days, said Young understands his body and doesn't over-train.
"It's more of a consultation now instead of coaching,'' Ross said. "I don't tell Jeff what to do. Jeff knows what to do. He's got it dialed.
"One of the things that works for Jeff as an endurance athlete is he's not greedy. He doesn't say, 'I have to run 15 more miles this week' or 'I have to run 80 miles this week.' Jeff knows what works for Jeff.''
Young covered the first half of the marathon in 1:21:36, about 30 seconds faster than he planned.
"I was a little over-aggressive in the first half, and the second half is a lot more rolling, and that's where all the bridges are,'' Young said. "So, the last six miles for me was harder than the last six miles of Boston.''
Still, Young, who ideally wanted to run the race in even half-marathon splits of 1:22:00 – Ross called him "Mr. Consistent'' -- covered the second half of Sunday's race in 1:23:06, just 90 seconds slower than the first half. And that second half included a fall about Mile 16, when Young said he was tripped and "skinned my right side from knee to head.''
"I dug in and toughed it out,'' he said.
"Blue collar all the way through,'' Ross noted.
Dalton, who is taking care of Young's dog, Lu Lu, a Weimeraner he runs with, said her friend's performance did not surprise.
"He's super-fit and super-consistent,'' Dalton said.
And after the race, Young was super-hungry. A hamburger, fries and chocolate shake solved that. And more of that is in his future. Young said he is scheduled to depart New York on Monday, bound for Florida to visit family.
"I'm going to lay on the beach every day and eat fried chicken and drink beer,'' he said.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr