Gaining more than you lose

Had to ring in the new year with a good run, and what a perfect day to do it! Cold temps (15 degrees) and sunny skies were beckoning. Layered up and threw on the microspikes for a 7.5 mile run on the BST in Kaysville. A lot more people had packed down the trail since my last run a couple of days ago on this trail, so in most sections, the running was fairly quick. There were a few parts that were less traveled that required a bit more effort, but that mixes it up a little and keeps you on your toes. Spikes performed phenomenally over an ice covered rocks stream crossing. Lots of people were out enjoying the weather. Never thought that I could love running in the snow as much as I do!

Lower gully run with Jun. Beautiful day, nice and easy 2 mile out and back in the snow with the spikes on. On the way back by the park we ran through a bunch of smoker kids from the high school (one was trying to hide the pipe he was packing). Gee I wish I could be as cool as those guys. Ran another quarter mile to the school so Jun could pay for daycare...mentioned the smokers and the hall monitor lady was all over that. Ran back to the car in time to see kids scattering like mice and the hall monitor yelling at them. Good times.

Church ball. Have no idea how far I ran, but I ran my butt off the whole game. Sure is nice to play an entire game and still have some legs left!

Jun bailed on our Antelope island run, so went with a buddy and hit up the pool for a quick 500 yards. I haven't really swam since my tri in June, so we took it easy and just wanted to see how it felt to swim again. Much better than our first outing last year, where we could barely swim 25 at a time! Feeling good to be getting back in the groove.

Church Ball - I decided to give myself a mile for each 10 minute block played...even though I know I ran more than that :) 

Was sitting at my computer last night when I got an email from active.com saying the first 5 people to enter this contest would win an entry to the Utah Valley Marathon, so I clicked on it, filled it out, and a couple hours later got a confirmation that I had one a free entry! Sweet! I guess that means I'm running that marathon...Ragnar is the next weekend, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. June is looking busy! (June like the month, not Jun - he rarely looks busy)

6.06 miles on the Draper BST with Jun - See his post for details...

3 mile easy run with a friend, ended up being in the sleet/snow on the roads, which I'm not a big fan of (the roads part), but it was still fun. A whopping 132 feet of elevation gain...Definitely not used to that. :)

Played 2 hours of hard full court 3 on 3 ball. This is what I use for my speed work-Ran hard and fast as often as I could. Gave myself 6 miles for the effort. It would be interesting to play on an outdoor full court with a GPS to see how much distance you actually log.
 

Double up today, did an easy 700 yards in the pool (no stopping) followed by a quick 3 mile outdoor run. People were giving us funny looks as we were leaving the gym all geared up in our running stuff to run outside...as they were coming to the gym TO run. I guess as long as you're doing it, it doesn't really matter how, but for me I certainly prefer to be outside, with very few weather exceptions. I would've done at least 800 in the pool, but my friend was gassed and waiting to run. Pleased with swimming so far, considering this is the second time I've swam this season. Last year at this time I was probably barely able to swim sets of 50 straight.   

Didn't work today with the holiday, but I was stuck at home watching my son...and I kept reading everyone's posts about how nice it was to run today, so by the time my wife got home, I was itching to go. She told me that we were having dinner at my brothers house in an hour! Not to be foiled, I decided to just run to his house, since its not that far. Made for a nice 5.5 mile run. It was dark by the time I started, so I thought it might be a little cooler, but by the end of the run I had my sleeves rolled up, beanie turned up, and gloves stashed in my shirt - it was still pretty warm (around 40, I think!!) Crazy to see those kinds of temps in January. Couple of more days of work till we head to Denver to visit my parents. Looking forward to it!

Was all geared up to see how muddy the BST was, then my buddy called and wanted to run. Hes not much of the trail running type, so we just did a slow and easy west Farmington run down Glovers Lane and back. The whopping 110 feet of elevation gain (all going up Glovers at the end) really got to him, I think he walked out a little while I pushed the pace to finish (I think my fastest pace was going up the hill). Beautiful day, can't believe the weather these past few days. 

Church Ball later tonight. 

Jun texted me about hitting up Lake Mountain this morning, and was nice enough not to be doing it at 5:30 am, since I live about an hour away. I'd never done it before so I was excited to give it a run. Started off fast (a little too fast :)) Jun just hung back a little till my steam wore off and he easily caught back up. Going up had a mix of running and hiking, with mostly hiking in the upper half. Was definitely draining, but I felt pretty good. The last stretch to the top was super steep, with drifted snow - I felt like Indiana Jones as you never knew which step would hold you up and which one would send you knee deep in snow. Stopped for a few minutes on top to take some pics and stretch the legs a little. Then began the way back down. Took a little bit to get into a rhythm on the steeper downhills, but eventually got settled in at a comfortable 7:30-8 min pace heading down. Jun kept a little bit ahead of me, but I kept him about the same distance for half the way down, then at the halfway point he just took off. I didn't really change my pace, so he definitely picked up some steam! Lost sight of him for a while until the canyon opened up, and then he was a ways ahead of me. He probably finished a good 4 or 5 minutes ahead of me. Felt like I finished strong, though I was plenty tired!

On the way back Craig wanted a drink from Micki-Dees, so as I pulled into the parking lot I wasn't really paying attention enough to notice that there was 2 fast food places in the same parking lot - so I accidentally pulled into the Del Taco drive thru...Not all bad since we noticed that they had 49 cent tacos and we were both starving. Picked up 10 to share and sat in the parking lot and devoured them. Nice little detour. 

Good run/hike with some solid elevation. See Juns blog for pics.

 Heading to Denver tomorrow to visit the parents, should be fun (once we get the driving over with).

While spending the week with my parents in Colorado, I thought I'd see if Aaron K would want to try and get a run around Boulder while I was in town. He was nice enough to comply, so we met up early in the morning. I'm sure his neighbors thought I was casing the joint as I was walking up to his house in my all black ninja running getup to make sure I had the right house. Once I was fairly certain I had the right place (the minivan and LOTOJA window stickers helped), I chilled in my car until Aaron appeared from the dark. 

We exchanged a brief greeting that started out right from his house, running about a mile or so before we hit the trail. We chatted as we began a nice gradual climb that would last about the next 2 to 2.5 miles. The trail was mostly dry with little patches of snow or ice every now and then. No need for the spikes here (yet :)) Beautiful views of Boulder as the sun was just starting to peek out over the distant horizon. About a half mile of downhill before we met up with another trail and started heading up again. I was probably good for about a half mile, and then the incline really picked up as the trail turned into what I called never-ending stadium stairs, which didn't take long before I had to start to hike it. Aaron just kept powering up that climb. The forest got to be quite thick with pine, and contrasted with the snow and the rocky trail (aka "rockstairs") it was a gorgeous place to be. There were a few switchbacks and at times I felt like I was in a movie where the person thinks they're seeing things in the forest - I would see Aaron above me and then it was like he would disappear, only to appear again a little later-Last of the Mohicans style. :) Totally cool, I love that kind of rugged terrain. I finally made it to the top of the trail, and Aaron was nowhere in sight (again) so I just started down the other side, only to run into him coming back up. We thought about going to the end of that trail (sign said it was only a quarter mile) but Aaron had to get back so we decided to head back down.

The first 4 miles and were about 1000 feet of gain, that last mile was 800 (most of it being in the second half of it).

We went down at a decent pace, although we did take it a little easy since this top section was pretty much all snow and ice, and a slip here would have hurt really bad! We both came close a couple of times, but were able to keep it together. Once we were out of the steep stuff we were able to have a nice fun jog down. We took a little different route back, taking a trail cutting through some wider open forest and then down a different road back to the house.

I had a great time and really enjoyed the views and running new trails. Thanks to Aaron for showing me the place! I later told him that I actually appreciate getting dropped like that because it keeps me humble and keeps me going! :) 

Drove 8 hours home from Denver...wish that counted for something! :)

Could there be a better combo than shorts and spikes? I submit there cannot!!

Such a nice day that I wore shorts--still kept the longsleeves, hat and gloves-- lets not get carried away! Started out with a mile and a half on the BST in Kaysville. The first two climbs were pretty muddy, and I wondered about wearing my spikes, but they did help. Got to Adams canyon at 1.5 and decided to go up the canyon rather than sticking to the BST. What a trail! Snow packed trail that runs next to a (at least today) running creek. Decent incline (about 800 feet in the mile up). Stunning views with just about everything you'd want - pines, rocks, snow, water. So cool. Slow going up but I was just enjoying the climb. So glad I had the spikes as there were several spots of slick ice, and a few really steep spots where they gripped really well to sheer rock. Was planning on 5 miles, so I hit the 2.5 mile mark at the perfect spot, a little waterfall will a combo of running water and ice. Had a great time running back down as the sun was heading down as well. Made it back to the car just as the sun was disappearing into the smog. I'll definitely be making that route part of my routine.  

AM: 6.2 slow miles with a friend on the road in Farmington. Nothing too exciting. Hoping to get another 5 or 6 on a trail this afternoon. 

PM: Added 5 miles on the BST in Kaysville. Pretty muddy and slushy, but the sun was out (at least I think it was - hard to tell through all the crud in the air) so it was a nice run. I pushed the pace a little on the way back, I wanted to see if I could end up with the same pace as the road run this morning. Came within 5 seconds.