Gaining more than you lose

5 miles on the bike (waiting for a TM) and 4 on the TM in the work gym. My 'outside' running clothes were left at the sister in-laws yesterday while we were washing them there. New washer comes tomorrow! Being a runner and a week without a washer makes for some rank clothes.

Threw Kilians "Summits of my life" on the iPad and watched that on the TM..actually made it bearable. Beautiful scenery in the film, just covered the TM screen with my iPad and ran until it was over - didn't worry about pace or distance - decent way to do it.  

Hit up Olympus with a pretty decent crew in the mornin' - Jun, MVH, Warlordblade, my bro-in law Ben, Jeremy and Francesco, a guy who had heard of the run from Jeremy. Had a nice little wagon train going up. As we got higher we started running out of tracks, and pretty soon were following a single set that Francesco had put down the night before. Once starting up after the saddle though, we reached his turnaround point and were scrambling up. Thank goodness for microspikes, they made all the difference on that kind of snowy, rocky and icy (all at once) terrain. We had a fun time taking different routes and 'racing' to the top. I stopped to take pictures of everyone near the top, and then got to the summit to find Craig sitting on about the only visible rock there - looking longingly down the side of the mountain...he had somehow dropped one of his spikes down the hill, so he then had to go retrieve it.

The weather and the views did not disappoint, then we had a blast just goofing off the entire way down. The snow was so deep if you took the tiniest step off the trail you'd go thigh deep into snow and usually end up crashing. I probably fell at least 5 times. It was fun.

Once home, Aaron and I took our wives out for a little run on the Kaysville BST/Vitacourse, with Aaron and his wife going for a couple of extra miles after my wife was done. 

Beautiful Morning!

 Wagons...East!

Aaron and Jeremy closing in on the top

Farmington Canyon with the Farmington crew, including Aaron and MVH. Wasn't feeling super fast on the way up, and had to turn around about a quarter mile early so that I could make sure and get to a meeting on time (which ended up getting pushed to later!). Cruised down pretty easy, especially after I was able to make a pit stop. Good mornin'. 

Very short Ave Twins route with a guy from work. Slow going, but it was really nice to get above the muck in the air. 

Who in their right mind gets up at 3am to be running by 4 so that they can get a solid 20 miler in before work? Idiots. I guess that says something about our sanity. 

Jun and I met up at the City Creek trailhead at 4 to run to the Zoo and back. Sam joined us for about the first 4 or so miles, and then we were on our own. We kept a pretty decent pace, it was weird though, we were running about the same speed, but for some reason I kept settling in about 20 yards behind Craig, and we just cruised along like that for most of the way. Added the Red Butte loop on the way out, which added a mile +, along with some extra vert. At the Zoo, we pretty much just made a U-turn, and started hiking up the hill, only to break into a run after only a minute or two. Took a more direct route to Dry Fork, and I was determined to run that entire section up to the top. I was slow, and Craig put a pretty good gap on me, but I didn't walk a step. Got really low on energy shortly after that (duh) and finally ate some real food (had only been on EFS) in the next and only other place that I hiked on the way back. Felt much better and was able to keep a pretty good pace, though Craig really turned it on at that point and pretty much left me in the dust, putting 4 minutes on me in that last 4 miles. Beautiful morning, especially as the sun was coming up!

Really rough getting up that early, but it is pretty nice to get a 20 miler in mid-week and still be able to get a day of work in!

Jun was able to come up and join my brother and I for a nice run up Farmington Canyon. Conditions were pretty good, well tracked. On the way down the snow was kind of hard and wet, and stung the eyes! We ended a a pretty good clip. My legs were pretty tight and a little fatigued from Thursday at first, so it was nice to have them feeling good at the end. I love the runs where your legs feel better after than they did before. 

Must've eaten something weird yesterday, but my stomach wasn't happy for most of the night - I probably would have been just fine, but it gave me just enough of a reason to not pull myself out of bed and running this morning. I was pretty much mad at myself all morning for not getting up, but at least I was able to crank a few miles out on the TM during lunch. Another round of Summits of my Life. At just under an hour, its the perfect length to fit in to a shorter run. 

Was actually planning on just hitting up the TM again at lunch today, but as I was changing I decided to throw on some outside clothes and head for the hills. Ran the BST from the I street TH. Trail was in pretty good shape up to the junction, where it seemed to stay pretty good going up, but I stayed low on the BST and from that point on the trail conditions really weren't that great. 

Another amazing day with the crew out at the Wedge. While the trail was too snowy to run on, we still found plenty of miles in gorgeous weather with fantastic scenery. 

6 miles up City Creek with a friend from work. Casual pace for the first mile and a half, then when he had to walk I took off and pushed the pace, ran up to 3 miles and then turned back. I knew he was turning back at 2.5, and I think I had caught up about a half mile after he had turned around. Weather was awesome, shorts and a tshirt. 

AM: 4 mile Baer Canyon run with Aaron and his wife. Pretty much right in the middle of the blizzard. Breaking trail, limited visibility, frozen faces, slow going = lots of fun. Had a great time. 1300 vert.

PM: With this week being very busy and light on the miles, I wanted to get a few more, so I ran a quick hour on the TM. 8 miles. Was happy with how comfortable the pace was.  

Farmington Canyon with the Davis County crew, which today consisted of Aaron, Steve, Phil Lowry and myself, with Twinkies having started up earlier. It was snowing, but really wasn't too bad, though the ground conditions weren't the best. I'd be just fine if the snow would melt and give us a little dirt. 

Was home today with my son, so no time to get out for a run. Another hour on the TM.

Ran the Ave Twins with Jun this mornin', starting a little later than our normal time, which ended up meaning that we ran almost completely in the sunlight...something we don't seem to be used to these days! It was a really nice morning. Got to the summit in a decent time and hung out on top for a few minutes just enjoying the view. Chatted our way down at a good clip and finished off strong. Felt really good today.