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.  

Church Ball game tonight- since I didn't get a run into today I just tried to run hard the entire game. 

I feel like I should make a note that one year ago today I took that fateful step onto the treadmill that would result in a transformation of body, mind and soul that has changed me forever.

I will never forget that first "run" - a Jillian Michaels iFit program where "Jillian" is in control of your speed and incline, adjusting one or the other (or both) every minute. It was a meager 30 minutes of jogging and a lot of walking, with the incline changing throughout. While I never slowed it down or decreased the incline, a good part of that first run was spent holding on to the sides, and I think I even had to step off onto the rails a time or two. My breathing was heavy, I could feel my heart trying to leap from my chest as sweat poured down my face...it was near torture, but I had made a commitment to myself that today was the day everything would change. When the 30 minute program I was complete I looked down at the distance - a scant 1.65 miles!! (if my memory serves me). I was wrecked, I literally crawled up the stairs from my basement and then laid on the floor in my family room until I didn't feel dizzy and could actually breath.

This probably is not the "doctor recommended" way to start a workout program, but it did make me decide then and there that I didn't want to feel like this ever again (especially after running only a mile and a half!!).

While I've mostly left the treadmill for "greener pastures" outside, I still hop on every now and then to have Jillian kick my butt (on a much higher program now!), and theres not one run that I go on that I don't, at least for a second, think about that first run.   

I had my running stuff with me so driving home from work I was checking out the mountains and decided to stop off and run the Mueller park trail. Didn't hit the trail until just before 5, so I was in shadows the entire time. It was really cold, but the trail did not disappoint. I only saw 2 people right at the lower part of the trail, and then I had it to myself the rest of the time. The trail was packed really well, especially on the first half of the trail, it got a little less traveled the higher you went, and every now and then you'd run into some energy sucking snow drifts that you'd sink into. I always try to see if I can be light and fast enough to make it across the top, but it usually doesn't pan out.   

You gain about 1500 feet in the almost 3.5 miles to elephant rock. Didn't look like anyone had been higher than that in some time (at least since the last snowfall). Took me 40 minutes to get up and 30 to get down. Could have been faster on the way down, but was battling stomach stuff the whole way that slowed me down every now and then. Still came in a few minutes faster than my last run of the trail, which I pretty much attribute to the microspikes, which I didn't have the last time. 

What a day! Jun and Scott made the trip up to my neck of the woods and we headed on out to Antelope Island to give the 25K loop trail a go. Weather reports had chances of snow and overcast, and even as we were driving across the causeway it appeared that we were probably in for another cloudy day. Couldn't have been further from it - started off a little overcast with very little wind, however as the run wore on the sun made appearances with a blue sky to the west -we could not have asked for better running weather. We'd only wished we'd worn shorts! 

Started the run a little slower to warm up, then after the first mile Jun dropped it into gear and picked up the pace. I tried to stick with him as best I could, because I know that if I lose him he's hard to catch back up to! Had some good sub 9 min paces as we climbed up out of the valley. Dropping back in the White Rock bay valley we picked up the pace, ran past a big herd of buffalo on the valley floor, then began our way back up towards the Elephant Head turn off. That Lone Tree climb is about the only spot on the course that required any walking. We paused for a brief pee break and regrouped. We headed back down into the Split Rock valley, and Jun was flying! I stayed right on his heels, and at one point I looked down at my watch and saw 4:54 - it certainly wasn't for long, but it was fun to think that my legs could actually move that fast. I heard Scott yelling at us from behind, but neither of us could discern what was later revealed to us as some friendly advice for Craig. :)  

The trail starts to take you back up with a gradual climb, and then there are a series of switchbacks. This was very cool for me because when I had looked at the maps, I assumed these would be steep switchbacks that would require some walking. Not so, they were completely runnable, and since Craig had gained a little ground on me, it was cool because you can still have a few words as you pass by each other. Hitting the top and heading back along flatter ground, I fell into a surprisingly comfortable (for me) 8:30 pace. I could see Craig moving well a ways ahead of me (he really gained ground on the uphills) and then I noticed three people between us. So, of course I picked up the pace and decided that I needed to pass them before we got to where I knew Craig would be waiting, at the Elephant Head turnoff, where we had stopped before. I passed one guy fairly quickly, and didn't pass the faster 2 until just a few yards before I made it to where Craig was waiting.

The three guys left after a very brief chat, then we regrouped and chatted for a couple of minutes ourselves, and then headed on out. It was a little harder to go super fast down the Lone Tree hill, since its fairly steep and hard to get a good rythmn, but we got down quick enough and pushed through the valley, again with the three guys ahead in our sites. I did walk about 10 feet of the hill up out of the valley, and the back onto the flat stuff for a bit, where I passed 2 of the three guys as I tailed Jun by just a few hundred feet. He ran with their leader for a bit, then dropped him, then I caught up and chatted for a bit, they were also going to be doing the 50K and he was going for a 2nd loop today as well. He stopped to walk and let me go on my way. I tried to keep Jun about the same distance from me the whole time, and again I was surprised when I thought my pace was feeling slow I looked down and was about 8 min/miles. Trail started heading down and so the pace remained well under 8 minutes until the finish. Finished only about a minute behind Jun, and about 4-5 minutes overall behind him, all of which was him waiting that second time at Elephant head.

I felt great the entire run, no knee pain to speak of. Did get a couple of hot spots on the balls of my feet, so I need to figure out what that was all about. Simply an amazing run, with perfect weather, and my personal long though it didn't feel like it, which is even better. I was very happy to get the full look at the 50K course and am feeling much better about having to run 30 miles in less than 2 months! 

16 miles - 1:25:30 - 9:05 pace - 2000 feet  - See Jun's blog for pics

3.5 miles @ 5% on the TM...that's about as exciting as it gets.

Trying to get back in the habit of doing something everyday.

Hit up a quick 10 miles on the bike trainer while my wife ran on the treadmill - getting her started on training for the Wasatch Back Ragnar. 

Nothing too crazy -  20 MPH average, 131 Average HR. 

Met up with Scott and Jun for a lunchtime Wire peak fiasco. This was my second time doing it, the last time was dry but very windy. Today was snowy, so I threw on the spikes and we all had some trekking poles to help us up the 'hill'. I was able to run a little over a mile, and then it just becomes a slugfest as you work your way up. Craig and I were running together, and I couldn't see Scott for the longest time...then I realized that "some guy" up ahead of us was Scott! He had taken a cutoff to get ahead of us and I just hadn't noticed. A little ways up he waited for us to catch up and we continued on. Somehow I was stuck at the front pushing along, having no idea how fast I should be going - I was just going as fast as I could, probably slowing those two down :). Just near the top Craig and Scott both 'slingshotted' around me (Shake'n'Bake!) to finish 10-20 yards ahead of me. Got to the top in 49:11, about 4 minutes slower than my last time, but the conditions certainly weren't ideal, plus the last time Craig was leading, so I just had my head down following him and letting him set the pace. We chatted up top for a bit and took in the scenery, I do love that it just sets you right on top of the city, you can pretty much see everything. 

Craig and I bombed our way down with the help of our trusty spikes to keep us grounded, only once did I catch my toe on a rock and almost lose it...that would have been messy. Made pretty good time to the bottom. While we were waiting for the microspikeless Scott, my boss called me with some seemingly important issue that she really wanted me to attend to, so I had to head back to the office while Scott and Craig added the couple of extra miles that we had planned on.

Wire Peak - 4.4 Miles - 2170 vert

So after I got back to the office and got the non-issue quickly sorted out, I was really feeling kind of chapped that I didn't get the extra miles in that Craig and Scott had...I certainly didn't want to settle for 4.4 on the day, as good as those miles are. I figured since I was still dressed, I might as well run the loop by my office. I had initially planned on the 1.5 loop, but figured that was pointless so I did the 3.3. Tried to push the pace a little on tired legs, gotta get ready for the Buffalo Run!

Road - 3.3 - 7:52 AP - 135 Vert :) 

As always, see Juns post for pics.  

As usual, when we decided to do this run, I believe Juns words were something to the effect of "every step of this is runnable...". I 'm pretty sure he must have been referring to the summertime, for today that was certainly not the case. 

We started of in the shadows of the mountains as the sun was rising, and worked our way on the Draper BST over to Corner Canyon. The trail was fairly well traveled, and while the powdery snow was annoying (like running in sand) it wasn't too bad. When we got up to the Ghost falls trail turn off the tracks we had been following went down that trail, and not up further where we were heading. About 100 yards up, though, we could see some tracks appearing in the snow and after some debate decided to hike up to them and hope they were good. Well they were cross country ski tracks and they weren't good, but we continued to follow them anyway. At this point there was no hope of running, so we just hiked for the next few miles. Finally made it to the road by SunCrest and headed towards View Benchmark. Were able to run a good part of that trail, again only hiking the parts where we were breaking through the snow. Summited at just over 9 miles.

We headed back down after a brief break with no real idea where we were headed - we knew what trail we wanted to get to, just weren't quite sure how to get there. We found a road/trail they were building off a neighborhood and it led us right down to a trail that would take us down. We were following the trail of 1 or 2 snowshoers, and Craigs skinny butt was able to float on top of the tracks, so he could pretty much run the whole thing. I, on the other hand, kept breaking through to knee deep snow anytime I tried to run, so I just tried to hike fast to keep up. Some parts were quite fun though, as you plow down a hill in the deep snow. We made it back to the road a few miles south of the Draper Temple, and decided to stick with the road until we could hit the Coyote something or other trailhead. It was nice to be back on a well traveled, albeit mostly still snowy trail.

Back on the BST Craig started to pull ahead as my energy was certainly starting to go down. It was fun as we passed the 16 mile mark to know that every step I took was further than I had ever run. Craig made the mistake of telling me he was going to walk the big hill that hits with about 2 miles to go, because once he said that I knew I had to try and run it! :) He had a decent lead on me, but I was able to get fairly close on this hill as I slowly ran it. When I got to the top, however, Craig was already at the bottom and headed back out on the flat. Those last couple of miles were killer - mostly because the snow offered no grip, and just slid around everywhere - literally sucking the energy straight from your legs. I was able to run (very slowly) the remaining climbs. I could see Craig finishing as I had about a half mile to go.

This was a brutal, but super fun run, with at least 5 miles of deep snow hiking that we had expected to be running. While I felt plenty tired and worked, my legs felt good with no pain. 

18.67 - 3500 ft - 3:52:52

I knew that if I didn't get a run in this morning, it probably wouldn't happen. Ran an easy 5 on the BST. The trail was mostly dry so I didn't wear spikes, although there were a couple of spots that I really wished I had packed my spikes with me. The south side of the Adams canyon trail was literally like bobsled track, I had to crab walk down the steep rocky section (and good thing because I totally lost my footing), and images of swollen butt cheeks relegated me to carefully walking almost the entire part. Its especially tricky because you really have no shoulder on either side, one side goes up, and the other goes down, so if you slip, you could very well be rolling down the side of the mountain! Was just as bad, if not worse when I came back and had to go up it. There were a couple of spots like that, but overall the trail wasn't too bad. Next time I think I will pack my spikes so that I don't slip and I just like to see how good they do. :)

Happy Valentines Day everybody!  

Got out for a quick run in the Dimple Dell upper gully trail with Jun. The weather was so nice - I haven't run without a hat and gloves for a while! We ran further up to the Bell Canyon trailhead to go up to the reservoir, but the steeper trail was so icy and we didn't have our spikes so we decided to forgo that portion of the trail and just head back. No one likes swollen cheeks. Nice run to start the day. 

7.31 mi - 1:01:49 - 600 Ft - 8:27 pace 

4 miles with Jun on the lower gully trail. Felt good to shake the legs out, and I felt better the rest of the day. I love runs like that. Trail was lightly dusted with snow which made for a nice run. 

Took another trip out to Antelope Island with Jun and Scott, this time we also met up with a new friend Adam (Julies husband). We got out to the island fairly early, just a little after 7. We started from the paved road just by the fence line, where the 50 mile Buffalo Run trail will follow at about mile 20 or so. Since Scott and I are running the 50K, we won't be running this section, but Craig and Adam will be doing the 50m, so it was a good look for them and fun for us.

Running down the fairly steep hill right from the start, we all knew that section would be a pain in the butt at the end of the run. We ran together for a few miles and chatted a little, then we spread out a little. I tried to stay with Craig, and kept him fairly close for most of the way to the turnaround. We were making pretty good time, keeping it around an 8:30 pace. The trail was nice and dry pretty much the entire time, with very gradual inclines. We got to the Ranch at a little over 10 and half miles, my average was a 8:35 at that point, Craig had gotten there a couple of minutes faster.

After we regrouped, refueled, and released, we hit the trail heading back. Craig had mentioned that he was going to take it nice and easy on the way back, which by now I know means he's going to push it. I was right. I stuck with him for 2 or 3 miles as he was pushing 8 min miles, and I knew if I kept that up I'd probably run out of legs, so I slowed my pace down, and continued the rest of the run by myself - our whole group had pretty well spread out so we were all kind of running on our own. Craig continued to get further and further away, and I was keeping a fairly steady pace, so I knew he was cruising. He especially pulled away in about the last 5, but that was probably also in part to me slowing too. I passed a Buffalo just off the trail as I reached my personal distance (18.67) from last week, so it was nice as I took each step further past my longest distance. 

Craig ended up finishing a good 12 minutes ahead of me, just under 3 hours, at about the same time that I hit the 20 mile mark. Just as we thought, that last hill was a pain, especially as it had warmed a little, so it was nice and muddy as you finished. This was a great run, I liked the fact that we pushed the pace going out, so my legs were a little tired on the way back so I could learn to deal with that :). We also only stopped once, which pushes you just a little more.

Overall a fun time out on the island - we were happy there was no wind! 

21.37 miles - 624 feet - 3:14:52  - 9:07 pace  

Beautiful day for a quick 5 miles on the BST...although the trail really wasn't that nice, making for a not-so-quick run. Plus I couldn't find my sunglasses - bad day for that, as the sun and snow mix, while beautiful, left me half snow blind by the end of the run.

The snow on the trail was decently traveled, but was heavy and melting, so every step sunk you in a couple of inches, making it nearly impossible to gain any momentum to keep up a good pace. It was a very nice day though, so I just ignored the pace and enjoyed the scenery. 

Nice afternoon run with Jun on the Dimple Dell upper gully trail, with a little jaunt up the road to the Lower Bells trailhead. A bit gusty at times, but shorts and a long sleeve shirt were perfect. Negative splits the entire way. Felt really good just letting gravity pull me down the trail on the way back. Its nice running with Jun when he's already run 8 miles and a few thousand feet of vert today - makes it a little more even. :) 

7.27 - 1:00:05 - 8:16 average - 567 vert 

Well, I was planning on a lunchtime run with Jun, but apparently its difficult for him to pack a pair of shoes that actually match...in size. Yes he brought two different sizes of the same shoe. I suppose thats what happens when you have a kid that wears the same kind of shoe and are closER to the same size as you. I can't see myself having that problem for a few more years. 

I thought about just taking today off, but when I got home I decided I might as well go make a run of it. 5.5 around the neighborhood just skirting the mountainside. While I don't particularly care to run on roads, at least around here you can get an OK amount of vert in.

 5.5 miles  - 44:37 - 8:09 pace - 562 vert

Lunchtime run with Jun starting on the lower gully trail, crossing over 1300 E and heading up the upper gully trail as well. I only had some oatmeal earlier for breakfast this morning, and began feeling like I was running out of gas at about 4-5 miles in...Yeah, at least the last 5 were pretty much downhill. My legs actually felt good, no pain, soreness or even tightness, just no fuel in the tank to lift them up! I figure that its good to do that every now and then so you can deal with it when it happens in a race. :) Stopped by the Philidelphian and grabbed us some Philly cheesteaks to replenish the calories...So good. 

10.07 miles - 1:28:13 - 8:45 pace - 783 vert 

With the last three weeks including personal long distances for me, I decided that I'd take it a little easier with the weekend run (though my weekly mileage wasn't too far off last weeks).

I met up with my brother at Mueller Park in the morning and we hit the trail. For a little bit we were following one or two tracks, and then ended up breaking trail for the rest of the way. A little slow going, my brother hasn't a ton of vert, so we took it easy. Absolutely beautiful trail, with a light snow falling. I noticed that some branches seemed especially low on the trail, and realized that the trail was just that high, even from the last time I ran it a few weeks ago. At least 3 or 4 feet deep, which makes it really interesting if you venture off trail just a foot (I got hip deep in snow trying to catch a picture of my bro, ha - good thing he was there to help me out). It was really fun to feel the powder hit your legs as you plow along, especially on the way down. Saw a few more people near the bottom as I came down, a lot of people hit that trail, but many don't go very far up. When I got to the bottom I dropped my bottle and ran a quarter mile or so back up to catch up with my brother and then finished the run together. I had planned on running it twice today, but with the conditions and time it took, I was satisfied with the outing and the company. 

7.07 miles - Long time - Yeah that was slow too - 1700 ft vert 

I worked from home today and noticed that Jun decided to go out and get 10 miles without me, so I figured I'd better do more than my usual Monday 5. Ran about 2.25 miles from my house to the Kaysville BST trailhead, threw on the spikes and hit the trail for another 2 and a half out - a total of five on the trail. The sun was setting as I was cruising the trail, not pushing the pace much, just enjoying being out. I wish there was a way to explain that feeling to non-runners! Nothing quite like it. Got back to the road, pulled my spikes off and traded my sunglasses for my headlamp. Even though it was a little bit light out, I'd rather be seen than heard (thud!), and it was pretty much full on dark by the time I got back home. Pushed the pace a little on those two road miles, which helped pull my overall average down a little, since I had been taking it easy. Nice way to start the week.

9.43 miles - 1:27:44 - 9:18 Pace - 1000 ft vert 

12 miles - Dimple Dell lower and upper gully to the Bell Canyon trail head with Scott and Jun. Nice, easy pace going up to the top, where we stopped for a few minutes to chat and eat a little. So nice to be running in shorts and a t-shirt. Started at a decent clip down, then really picked up the pace on the last 3 or so miles. I figured as long as Craig was on my shoulder that I'd keep the pace up, thinking if he slowed down I would too. :) Ended up with 3 miles in the 7's at the end of the run. Had to run a little past the car and back to hit 12. Was plenty tired at the end, but felt fine after a few minutes. Ran into about every kind of trail - dry, wet, muddy, slushy (Slurpee), hardpacked snow, ice, and slippery. Did I miss anything? :) Great run with the guys, perfect weather! 

12 miles - 1:44:32 - 8:42 pace - 890 ft vert

Once again, another phenomenal day on "The Island". I had to get up early to get a couple hours of work done before we headed out. Luckily everything went smoothly so I was able to leave on time. Met up with Jun near my house, then headed to the Island gate and met up with a group at the gate (Kelli, Scott, JD, Dragonvulture, and Brian Beckstead). We piled in a couple of cars and headed to the trailhead. 

We saw a bunch of people at the trailhead as they were finishing off the first part of their run, so we chatted for a few minutes and then finally headed out. Felt like a nice easy pace as we made the first climb, and I found out that the way Craig and I had been running the course was a little backwards at the start - you circle the first hill going clockwise rather than counter. Kept up a decent pace as we hit the 1st aid area, went out and hit Elephant head, and continued on with the loop. Saw lots of people from the blog and elsewhere, which was great. Blazing pace down the hill into the valley, and then kept a good pace as we hit the switchbacks - partially due to to the fact that I had Craig pulling about 10 yards in front of me, and Brian and Dan pushing behind me, so I couldn't slow down - which was a good thing. Coming back the group stayed pretty tight as we went down lone tree back into the valley, then a few guys (Craig, Brian, Dan, Josh) pulled a little ahead of me as we ran the hill back out the valley (but I DID run it!). I caught back up as I got some downhill help, and got dropped again a little as the hill started going back up. So cool to see the group of 4 just trucking at a sweet pace just ahead of me, with Scott just a little behind me. Hit the end of the loop a couple minutes back, at right around 2:46 for the 18.9 miles.

Once again, chatted it up some more as the earlier group had finished their run before we finally decided to head out for the end of the 50 miler loop. We were all pretty heavy legged from the few minutes hanging out, so it took a few minutes (for me at least) before I felt like I was back in the groove. Ran across open fields until we finally cut across the trail and were able to pick it up a little (and just a little). It was really a fun trail, nice and rocky in spots, which is particularly interesting when you've got 20+ miles on your legs! Craig and Brian pulled up ahead after a bit, so I ran with Kelli and JD for a while until Kelli ran around me "I need to go faster". Ha! Couldn't blame her! :) As I told her after, I NEEDED to go faster too, just couldn't :) She is speedy!  Spoke with JD for a few and he picked it up to finish strong. 

Finished in about 3:40. Weather was great, overcast, but spent most of the day in shorts and a short sleeved shirt. Great time running with a super fun group! Didn't take any pics because I felt like we were just cruising the whole time! Jun has a few on his. Thanks to everyone for coming and letting me run along!

24.62 - 3:40 - 8:56 pace - 2500 ft vert.  

Stuck at home with my son and with plans tonight, so I took advantage of his naptime and got a quick 5 miles on the TM - I think thats the furthest I've run on it! :)

5 miles - 40:00 - 8:00 pace - 2% incline (a "grade calculator" tells me thats 528 ft of vert, but that doesn't seem right, at least it didn't feel like that)

Had to get another quick 5 in, but couldn't bear the thought of running on a TM on a day like today. Threw on the shorts and just dashed out the front door. Ran up Mountain Road and back (with a few neighborhood blocks added to get the mileage). Pushed the pace because I had to get back to go to dinner with friends. 

5 miles - 36:17 - 7:15 pace! - 276 vert

Lunchtime run with Jun. Both of us ran on the roads yesterday, and therefore didn't really want to do that again for a while. Decided that with all the snow, most trails would be pretty nasty, but thought we'd give Dimple Dell a try, as it's usually pretty mild. We were pretty much wrong. 5 miles slogging up through heavy, wet, deep snow. At least we could run the whole time, however slow and slippery. Got to the top and decided to run the road back. So much for avoiding pavement. Cruiser down, hips started getting a little tight from the fast run yesterday and lifting through the snow today. I figure at least its a good training run! :)

 10 miles -  1:31:27 - 9:08 pace - 731 vert

P.S. - I think 300 miles is about the limit for the NB MT 101s. I was hoping that they'd last through to the Buffalo run, but they're pretty hammered. The small holes on the outside edge would explain the excess dirt getting in and causing a pinky toe blister on Saturdays run. 

Early AM - Got up at 4:30 to meet Jun at the Pipeline trail head at 5:30. Started out the run on somewhat packed, but still uneven and heavy, dense snow. It was still runnable, but not very stable. We both kept thinking it would get better. It didn't. In fact we got to a point where there were no tracks. Great. Had to plow through a bunch of it. The highlight was we came across a relatively fresh deer carcass that, by all appearances, had been killed by a mountain lion. Craig was hoping to see it lurking, but that didn't happen. Oh, near the turn around point we did see a little bit of that brown stuff, I think they call it dirt. It's been so long, I believe thats what it looks like. Ended up cutting down to the road and running back up to the car via that route. I think we're going to try and go back out in a bit and see if we can muster up some more miles.

After a few finger sized holes appeared in my 101's, I went ahead and picked up some Cascadia 6's yesterday, so this was their maiden voyage. So far so good.  

Lunch - Now thats what I'm talking about! After a fairly dismal start to the day, and a pretty pathetic run on the Dimple Dell trail on Wednesday, we decided to go give it another shot. I couldn't believe the difference from then! Where we had been slogging through snow at an 11 minute pace just two days ago, we were now enjoying cruising up the hills on dry ground at a decent pace. Hardly any snow to be seen. Ran to the top of the trail, up to Bell Canyon trailhead, and up the Reservoir. I couldn't seem to get very good speed on the steep climbs, I don't know if it was the early morning miles, the snow covered trail (there was snow on that part) or getting used to the new, heavier shoes. Who knows, maybe a little of both. Ran around the reservoir and then made our way back down. Tight switchbacks in the snow always make for an entertaining run. The fun thing about this trail is that you can work pretty hard to climb all the hills to get to the top, and then you just kind of go on autopilot and cruise down. Was pretty dang tired by the time we got back to the car, but I was SO happy with the weather and condition of the trails, and equally as please with the splits I ended up with.

I don't know if you're supposed to run 24 miles on your new shoes first outing...but I did. Seemed to work out OK. Scott...they did get a little dirty though. :) 

2nd run - 15.4 miles - 2:19:39 - 9:09 Pace -1359 vert 

Got my wife to go out for a beautiful 2 miles in the neighborhood with views of the valley. She did great, this was pretty much the first time she's run outside. We had a couple of good sized hills to tackle, so it was nice (she didn't quite think so - she'll thank me later, I'm sure). When we got back to the car she drove back and I ran the extra .5 back to my aunts place, who was watching our son. Ran a 7 min pace for that half, which included a big 'ol steep hill. 

Once we got home I cranked out another 2.6 on the TM at an easy 8:30 avg. on 3%. 

Starting this tapering business. Dimple Dell upper trail with Jun. Nice weather, pretty chill pace.

5.5 miles - 49:32 - 8:30 pace - 473 ft vert 

Dimple Dell with Jun and Kelli. Warm and windy. I hate the wind - but the company was good. Taper.

7.27 miles -1:03:44 -  8:46 pace - 555 ft vert  

Jun came up to my place with his kids this morning, my wife was kind enough to watch them (and mine) while we went running. Craig had never run the BST in Kaysville, so I figured that would be a great option. Ran the BST with about a mile up Adams and back then continuing on the BST to a mile or so past the Fernwood trailhead. Plenty of climbing, neither of us seemed to feel any extra pep in our legs even though we'd taken the last two days off. My legs actually started to feel better and better as the run went on. Craig started feeling better too and was pushing the pace pretty good on the way back. A little windy and cold in spots but overall a beautiful, fun run. Mostly dry too, which I'm very happy for. All of the canyons were draining lots of run off as well.

One week to the Buffalo Run 50K!! SO excited.

9.7 miles - 1:33:38 - 9:39 pace - 1717 vert 

5 TM miles @ 2% 8:30 pace

4.16 miles on the lower gully trail with Jun. Beautiful day, and the gully kept us mostly out of the wind. Tried our hardest to keep it slower than a 9 min pace, and ended with 9:08. Nice'n'easy final taper run before the race. 

4.16 miles - 38:02 - 9:08 pace - 216 vert 

"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll (hopefully) love ya  tomorrow..." I sing as I look out my window to the snow falling. Good luck to the Buffalo 100 milers starting in the next couple hours! And good luck to everyone else running (or helping)!

Rain or shine we'll see you tomorrow!!

And yes, this post is mostly a result of my excitement and boredom waiting to run.  :)

What a day! It's truly incredible to experience the extreme highs and lows that come with running distances, and how a little persistence can seem to win out and get you to the end. 

I was so happy to be pulling up to the island as the sun was shining down, and not having to start in the snow like the 100 milers, or like we would have been today (the day after). As people were milling around it seemed like the start was quickly upon us. Everyone lined up and I tried to position myself a little towards the front so I wouldn't have to dip, duck, dive and dodge around other runners. There was a tangle of legs right from the beginning as one guy went down, but was quickly up and running again as the runners around him made a good effort to make sure he didn't get run over. I had been looking for Scott at the line, and hadn't seen him, but finally noticed he was up in front of me, so I caught him as we crossed the fence onto the course. We ran up the hill and chatted a bit, which would pretty much end up being the most social interaction that I would have over the the whole race. I ran by myself for the next couple of miles, and as I was dropping down into the White Rock valley all the sudden Scott was back on my heels again, so we talked for a minute until he dropped back a little. Walked up Lone Tree hill and saw JD bombing his way down it on his 50 mile quest. I didn't stop at Elephant head that first time through. Kept a good pace down the hill into Split Rock, though I did hold it back a little - didn't want to burn anything out just yet! Ran the switchbacks and was feeling pretty good as I made a quick water stop back at Elephant Head. My right calf was acting a little tight from the beginning (and would end up cramping periodically throughout) and I always seemed to forget to take a second and stretch it out at the stops - funny how your mind wanders, even with all this time to think! Made it back to the turnaround sometime around 2:25, running down the hill chatting with one of the top 4 or 5 females - Mostly about how this 50K is really 32 miles and how a porta john at the aid station would be nice. :) 

Was able to meet Lily at the aid station, and she gave me a quick update on how Jun and the 50 milers had looked coming through there earlier. Grabbed a few gels from my bag and took a couple bites of a Cliff bar, then headed back out! Its certainly a little daunting to have to head back out there and do what you just finished doing again! I passed Scott as he was coming down the hill, so it was nice to see him still going strong. After you make the left turn I probably ran half of that hill, then decided to walk for a bit to see if that would help my leg - the tendon/bone whatever on the inside back of my knee had been hurting almost the entire first lap, especially when lifting to go up hill. At this point I started to feel really low on energy - I'd been gelling it up about every half hour, but I realized at that point I hadn't taken any salt pills. My gels have a very good amount of it, but as a profuse sweater I should have kept up on it more. Shortly after running the short downhill to the saddle and cruising (slowly) the flat part, I had this moment where I suddenly felt like I was about to pass out and throw up. I immediately stopped, bent over for a second, walked a few steps to make sure I was OK, then I took a minute to pop a couple of S-caps and an ibuprofen. I then walked for a little ways, and felt like a complete idiot walking on a flat part, especially since it was right by the turnoff that everyone coming back takes - but I wanted to make sure that I was OK before running again. I'll admit, right when it hit me I had a split second thought wondering if I was going to have to just take that turn and cut the run short. Finished out that flat part running, and ran down the hill into White Rock. Started walking really early on the Lone Tree hill, was feeling better than before, but still wasn't feeling 'it'. As I was trudging up the hill a 25Ker was running down, who I recognized from a class I had taken at Weber a few years ago. We had sat next to each other and as an assignment we had to write a story about each other. The story I had written about her was about running...and at the time I had thought she was crazy for wanting to run these 'half marathons'...and now here we were, crossing paths, and me doing a 50K. We exchanged brief words, I'm not even sure if she really remembered me, but it was one of those things that just gave a little pick me up and got my legs moving to the aid station, where I got another pick me up in the form of a cup of Pepsi - Man that hit the spot! Running down the big hill into Split rock I started feeling better and better. I felt pretty good on the switchbacks, and while I probably could have run them all, I alternated walking up one, running the other, figuring that I could get better energy/time gains by saving it for the flat parts.Once I hit the top of the switchbacks I ran the rest of the way to the aid station, getting there at 4:30 - only stopping to fill water and get another drink of Pepsi that I had promised myself! :) Felt really good running down Lone Tree and along the valley. Walked the hill out of the valley, and could hear a pack of Coyotes playing up above us, they were making all sorts of laughing/howling noises. Once I hit the top of that hill I knew I was pretty much home free and didn't walk another step of the race. At the turnoff (mile 29 or so) I was running just as fast and feeling as good as I had the first time around. I felt like a completely different person than the one that had been near there not so long ago! Pushed the pace as hard as I could as I ran down, slowing on the gradual incline but still running and pushing. Such a nice sight to see the cars parked in the valley below! Now it really was all downhill from here! Saw Lily again at the gate who gave me a little final encouragement (thanks!) as I crossed the fence and made the turn to the finish.   

Crossed the line just over 5:20 (Garmin had 5:20:27). My goal time had been 5:30, so I was super excited that I beat it by ten minutes...AND the goal time was really based on 31 miles, so even better! :) My wife was there to cheer me on, which was fun. She also had a chair waiting for me so I sat and stretched for a bit. I had left my bag of clothes in my car, and was heading to go back, when it hit me that Scotts gotta be finishing soon, so I started to walk back to wait just so see him hitting the home stretch, so I waited at the end of the finish chute to congratulate him.

Then I was in the middle of changing my shoes when I looked up just in time to see Craig run right by and finish, so Scott and I ran over the the finish to catch him. 8:02! So cool to see him finish, and in the time that he wanted. Then waited a little longer (but not long!) and were able to see the female winner of the 50 miler finish - Kelli!! What a great job!

So cool to see and meet a lot of people from FRB and be inspired by all of the strength, speed and stamina that it takes to do all of this craziness.

Thanks to Jim and all of the VOLUNTEERS for putting on such a fantastic race. We couldn't have been luckier with the weather.

And thanks to Jun (and others) for helping me have the perfect training buildup to make this race even possible for me to run. In January my longest run was 13 miles. Before the race it was 25. Now its 32...  :) 

After promising myself the entire week off after the Buffalo Run, the weather was looking so nice that I figured that Saturday counted as a week. We had driven to Fillmore last night to visit family, so I set my alarm to get up early and try to knock a run out. 

We had stayed up late talking, so I set the alarm a little later to 6:30, then when it went off, I told myself that I'd wait till the sun came up and it warmed up a little - then I noticed that my phone said it was 65 degrees out...65 at 6:30?! I hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed.

I knew the general area that I wanted to run in, but wasn't sure what trails there were, so I just headed up Chalk Creek Road, which is kind a mix of paved/dirt road for a couple of miles, as it runs right next to the creek. There were a couple of turn offs that went across the creek, and after a while of running on pavement I ran back to one and crossed the stream, only to hit a "No Trespassing" sign about 20 yards later. So, back across the icy stream and back up the road. The road I was on connected to a more established dirt road, then a bridge and a sign. One trail continued up next to the creek, the other took a climb up the side of the hill, towards the hieroglyphics, so I guess I wanted to climb a little, because that's where I headed.

After a brief climb, the road forked again, and I took the road towards the hieroglyphics, which was a gradual downhill for about a quarter mile, where it ended. Just off the road to the east was a small cave, and in the morning light I was a little hesitant to go running right up to it, but made my way up to it and I could see the hieroglyphics, which were on a rock face just above the entrance.

 I wasn't sure if I was looking at the right things or if the 'real ones' were in the cave, but after looking around in there I figured that those must be them. Spent a couple of minutes poking around and then headed back out. (Once I got back I was curious as to the history of the signs-one man believed it was directions on finding a buried chamber with gold plates - and spent years and lost lives digging for it, while another describes it more likely as being Indian writings from the 1800's-www.mysteryglyphs.com). 

Going Up!

Once I got back to the fork where I had turned down, I kept going up, and continued on a fairly steep climb for about two miles. I was now on an ATV trail, where in the very steepest spots they had put sections of cinder blocks to help get traction when the red dirt turns to slippery mud.

It was a beautiful morning, I was heading east towards the mountain top, so I was chasing the sun back, staying in the shadow of the mountain. The trail then opened up into a wide flat area and, judging by the earlier signs, I think I was at White Sage Flats. Ran to the end of the flat where the trail split, one going up further, and one heading back down towards the creek. As much as I wanted to explore either one, I thought it would be best to start heading back.

Where I had stopped there was a small sign pointing to where I had come from (and where I was heading back) that said "Most Difficult" - I wondered if it was most difficult for an ATV, what does that make it for running? :)

Had a nice run back down, navigating the rocky terrain. Made it down in nearly half the time it took to get up! Only saw one person the entire time, and that was when I was back down on the paved part. Took this run super easy, wasn't a recovery run, not really a training run, more like a fun run! Left the clock running.

11 miles - 2 hours - 10 min pace - 1500 ft vert (which was all in 2 miles)

Once I got back home we ate breakfast then my wife and I went out for a couple of slow and easy laps around 'the block' for another 2 miles - gotta love the country. :)  Looking forward to checking out some more trails when we go down there again.

10.6 on Dimple Dell with Craig. We just suited up and headed out, and a couple miles in I said "So, umm, how far are we going?". We had no plan, just figured we'd run until we decided to turn around. Got to the the usual turn around at the top and headed back down, taking one of the lower trails that I hadn't ever been on, which I liked. Felt really sluggish and tired today, probably because I hadn't really eaten much before running. Kept a pretty consistent pace the entire time, so that's good.

The weather was great, but I started to get really hot and just started shedding layers till I was down to shorts and shoes! Oh yeah! Felt like a pack mule with all of the said gear hanging off of my shorts. :)

10.6 miles - 1:38:00 - 9:14 pace - 883 vert

Did a quick 9 miles on the trainer while my wife ran on the treadmill. 30 mins/18mph. 

Met up with Scott and Jun at Willow park and hit up the BST in Draper. Trail conditions were excellent - I had literally forgotten what that trail looked like without snow. The wind however, was another story, a fiercely strong headwind as we ran south. At 3 miles in Scott turned back (since he had done Wire this morning) and Craig and I continued up Corner Canyon road. That's where the wind really blew (yes, pun intended) - there were times that I felt like I was leaning so far forward I could have kissed the ground. We just kept plugging away and finally made it to the Ghost Falls trail. After a brief break so Craig could take care of some bidness, we headed down the Ghost Falls trail. As I had never run that trail, Craig was nice enough to let me run in front, which in this case is like having the front seat on a roller coaster - best view in the house! Super fun trail to run down, with wide, banked turns that you can just fly down! The legs really appreciated the fast downhill pace after slogging up that hill. As we headed north back on the BST the wind gave a nice push at the back, which was appreciated after fighting it the whole way out. 

I gotta say, even though I was itching to run the Tuesday after the Buffalo Run, I feel like I'm really feeling the benefits of taking the whole week after off. Time will tell, but I'm ending these back to back 10 milers with my legs still feeling strong with no accompanying aches and pains. 

  10.3 miles - 1:36:08 - 9:18 pace - 2094 vert

 Added 30 minutes on the bike trainer when I got home while my wife ran on the TM next to me. 8-9 miles. My legs are fine (it actually feels nice), I'm mostly trying to get my butt used to being back in the saddle for the duathlon in a couple of weeks.

Another Slurpee run with Jun from Jordan Commons up Dimple Dell to the Bells Canyon Reservoir. Slow, slow, slow in the snow. Hard to think that I was running the same trail 4 days ago with no shirt, and here I was today running it with 4 shirts. Long gradual climb to the mouth of the canyon, with a brutal short climb up to the reservoir, and a fun, slippery run back down.

With about 4 or 5 miles to go, Craig turned to me and said "I'm not really feelin' it, so if you drop me, it's OK, I'm not going to try and stay with you, not today". I, of course, knew this was total BS and figured that he wanted someone to chase, so I took it as a challenge. I picked up the pace a little and created some separation (but not much). Once we got back on the paved trail with less than a mile to go, he was still a little back, so I figured if I just kept about an 8 min pace he'd probably stay back. Ha, I knew better...it wasn't long before the footsteps got louder and pretty soon he was next to me, telling me he hated me. Now that we were together we seemed to push it more, hovering around the 7 min mark for the rest of the run. We were both pretty wrecked by the end...and starving. :)  

Topped off the run sharing a Big Daddys pizza with Craig, and washing it down with a 44oz Coke. Both of which were gone by the time we had driven back from the run. Gotta love it!

 14.54 miles - 2:21:12 - 9:42 pace - 1255 vert

Got my hands on some Altra Instincts today and couldn't wait to try them out, but could only manage some TM time. Threw down a quick 5.5. Very impressed with the shoes so far, extremely comfortable with an incredibly spacious toe box. Can't wait to take them out and see what kind of abuse they'll take.   

5.5 miles - 43 min - 7:49 pace - 300 vert

First "real" run in the Altras. Hit the Gully with Jun and Scott. I knew Craig had run it yesterday at a good pace, and I yesterday I had mentioned that I didn't think I had ever run it that fast with him -  so...of course Jun seemed to be pushing the pace pretty good right from the get go, especially when we crossed 13th and started up the hills. I had forgotten my watch (OK, it was in my bag) and I didn't want to let Craig get ahead of me because I wanted to have an accurate time. :) When we got to the top of the horse trail Craig mentioned we were a little faster than he had been the day before...ha.  

Once we had Scott with us we headed up the road to the towards the Bells trailhead. Up to this point the Altras had already been feeling REALLY good, but once I hit the pavement, they were like "butta" - incredibly smooth and comfy on the pavement, while still allowing my feet and legs to do what they're supposed to. Moving on, hit the steep trail part and this is where Craig always gains a little ground on me - I run the whole way, but right near the top of the first climb I can't seem to hold the same pace as him...one of these days. Cruised down the little flat section then up the climb to the reservoir, getting there about a half a minute after Jun. Scott showed up shortly thereafter. We hung out up there for a few minutes, chatting it up and pounding a gel. Once it started to feel a little chilly, we headed back down. I was right on Craigs tail as we flew down the rocky downhill, and had to back off a little, cuz if you follow too closely to him you'll find yourself taking routes down, across, over, under, and through rocks that you probably wouldn't have selected yourself. Craig even leapt from one boulder to another at full speed in full stride...I thought for sure he was going to eat it because the trail was so wet. No such luck. 

As we hit back on the horse trail, Scott seemed to be runnin' hot, just pushing the pace as we were heading down. We just shrugged and kept the pace going. Just as we were getting close to crossing 13th, he started to say that he would be normally be cursing us by know if they're weren't so many houses close by. As usual, Craig decided that meant that we should really pick up the pace and he put the hammer down and we started our final couple mile stretch. He and I kind of took turns who would punish the other by setting the pace, and we ended up sprinting out the last couple hundred yards, to finish as a couple of heaps on the grass in front of the car. 

  Fantastic run, with very nice running weather and a blistering (at least for me) pace. Speaking of blisters, there wasn't even the slightest hint of any on my feet! I was very impressed with the Instincts. Even though they are a road shoe, they would perform just fine on all but the most rugged trails (and even then they'd wouldn't be bad). Looking forward to having them as my go to road shoe (gotta wear something for the UV Marathon), and everything else shoe! I think they are a great shoe for those that want the benefits of barefoot or "minimalist" running (zero drop, foot shaped design, roomy toe box, etc), but still want some protection and *gasp* a little cushion. Now to see how they'll hold up with the miles I put on 'em! :)

  13.3 miles - 1:51:35 - 8:23 pace - 1225 vert

See Juns report for a couple of pics

There really is nothing better than running with a couple of friends on a nice rocky trail under the sunny sky. There's also nothing much worse than having to take part in the years debut of Craig's shorty shorts - I was just glad I didn't forget my sunglasses. 

Today it was the BST Draper with Jun and Josh (jsh). If I had a nickle for every time Craig said "Today we're going to take it nice and easy" and then he doesn't, I'd have....well, not much, but at least a dollar. I was actually feeling tired as we started, but, as is seeming to be usual, felt better and better as the run went on. Craig led us out for the first 3 miles until we hit Corner Canyon, then we could all run next to each other up the road. Our speed wasn't terribly fast here, just a nice hill eating pace that got us to the top of the Ghost Falls trailhead at 45 minutes flat. Stopped there for a minute or two to stretch and eat a gel - we also found out that Josh had worked where Craig and I both work and had been there when we were! HA! I thought he looked familiar. :) Small world. 

At this point my eyes sorely needed a rest from the shorty shorts, so I led out as we ran down the Ghost Falls trail. This trail is a blast to run down, made especially interesting today as there were several spots with a significant amount of mud...sketchy! I had one really close call, but luckily never went down. Josh said he usually runs up that trail and down the Canyon road, so we'll have to try that sometime.

Once we got back to the Corner Canyon road and connected back to the BST, I was starting to slow down, trying to find a little speed in the legs, but hadn't located it yet. Craig ran up next to me and said "remember how we are going to take it easy today? Umm, when is that going to happen?" I commented that I think it was happening right now, to which he responded by immediately taking up the lead and taking up the pace. Well that helped me find the gear I was looking for, and I was pretty much able to stick right with him for the remainder of the run. Once we hit the pavement I sprinted it out to the end. Great run. I was glad that we ran early enough in the day to miss all the crap that is coming through and still see some sunshine....or maybe that was just the glare from Craigs legs...

10.3 miles - 1:35:51 - 9:18 AP - 1600 vert

Ran up City Creek with Jun after we strolled around the marathon expo, running into Kelli and Scott, as well as Craigs friend Jason. Cruiser of a run at a relaxed pace, just enjoyed the perfect weather. Haven't done a purely road run for quite some time. The Altras didn't disappoint.  

Jun met up at my place this morning to go hit the BST in Kaysville. He told me he was on his way at like 10:30, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything yet. I was shopping with my wife, and so thought I'd give the stomach a nice little running test, and stopped by Einsteins and got a Turkey bagel sandwich. It was tasty, and quite filling. Craig showed up about 5 minutes after I got home so it was perfect timing. Took a last sip of Coke and we were off. 

Started a little cloudy but was still warm. I led the whole way out, with a brief stop at the Fernwood trailhead (about mile 3.5) and then we kept on. From there it really starts to pick up in vert, so it was a little slower, but we kept running. Took the Great Western turn (4.7) and made our way up that about a half a mile more, then found a good turnaround point (5.2, 55 min) and stopped for a few minutes. It was a beautiful day, with a blue sky valley below us, and snow capped peaks above us, some hidden by the passing clouds. 

Taking the turn

Craig led the way down, and since the majority of it was downhill, we were flyin'! I think that got his legs turning over well, because he kept a solid pace from then on out. He had forgotten his watch, so being the kindly friend that I am, I let him know (from about 10 yards back) that he was running sub 8 minutes on flat/uphill stuff, which of course, he took to mean that he wasn't going fast enough. He pulled further away despite my efforts. I kept looking at my watching and though it told me I wasn't moving slow, I just couldn't seem to reel him in. On the last stretch I really pushed it hard, hovering just over and under a 6 min pace, and didn't quite catch him by the end, finishing about 10 seconds after. We had covered the 5 miles back 14 minutes faster than the way out!

Jun Cruisin'

Great run, legs felt like they could have kept going (though not at that pace) for another 10, especially with this weather! Always a good time on the BST.

Blue skies and sunshine!

I guess it hit me that I'm signed up for a duathlon this Saturday and I've ridden my bike 3 times this year. Did an hour on the trainer, followed by a zippy 1.5 on the TM - I wanted to make sure that I could run in my bibs. With the proper application of Glide, they'll be fine.

I really struggle on the trainer and TM, my legs feel fine, but I just can't seem to get in a good "go all day" rhythm when I don't feel like I'm covering any ground. I'm really interested to see how this thing goes. 5K run, 22m bike, 5K run. Just glad I don't have to swim! :)

Similar route as Saturday, only by myself. BST in Kaysville to the Great Western turnoff (4.7). This time I didn't continue up. I did run down the BST for a little to see where it went, but it got really steep and muddy so I turned back - didn't want to run back up that slop. Overall the trail was in fantastic condition, significantly better than Saturday even after all the rain yesterday. The streams and creeks were running full and strong. Didn't push the pace on the way back quite as hard, but still made good time. Ran into a friend on the trail, so I did stop to chat for a few minutes. Beautiful day!

9.75 miles - 1:31:49 - 9:24 Pace - 1710 vert

30 minutes on the bike trainer while my wife ran - nothing fast, probably 8-9 miles.

I haven't ridden my bike outside this year yet, the three or four times I have ridden have been on the trainer, so I wanted to preview the course for this Saturdays Duathlon. I've ridden Legacy plenty of times, so really I guess I was previewing myself. Rode 11 miles out and 11 back starting from the Farmington Frontrunner station, which is the turnaround point for the race. Finished the 22 in 1:04:50, with an average speed of 20.4. My legs actually felt great, I guess those quad pounding trails paid off. My butt, however, was plenty sore - its not used to being on a bike, so I'll just have to run through that in the race! 

Met my buddy about an hour later since he wanted to see what kind of 5K time we could get, so we met back out on Legacy. Ran it in 21:22, 6:53 AP, just 2 seconds off my PR!!...beat him by nearly a minute. Not bad considering I had just ridden 22 miles! 

I really didn't know what to expect heading into this race, as I really hadn't been training at all for the 5K distance, and REALLY hadn't been training on the bike. My buddy had called me a "one trick pony now" so I figured I'd do this race with him and show him this pony could beat his. :)

1st 5K - 20:50 (PR) This this entire race is on the Legacy Parkway trail system, there's not really a place to do a mass start, so they did a staggered start. The race director told everyone to just "go talk to each other" and figure out who was the fastest and then line up behind them based on time. I was probably 15 or so people back, settling in the 22 minute range. Then they began starting people about every 3 seconds, so I was quickly off. My friend was right behind me, he wanted to pace with me because he didn't have a watch. I started off pretty fast and within the first half mile I turned to him and said "I'm pretty sure I'll PR my 5K time here", as I was feeling comfortable with the 6:30 first mile pace. Passed several people. This was an out and back, and I gained some ground on my friend on the way back. There was also a "short course" option, so I began passing a lot of them as they headed back from their turnaround. I quickly ditched my shoes, threw my bike shoes and helmet on, and was getting ready to leave as my friend ran in. Had about a minute on him...

Bike 22.11 miles - 1:06:34 (20 mph avg) - Once I got on my bike it took me a minute to navigate around a few people as they were getting clipped in. My method is to just hop on and start riding, and clip in as I go. Once I got settled I followed my fueling schedule and ate a gel. My plan was to eat 3 gels and drink all my fluids on the bike, so I wouldn't have to worry about anything but running on the runs. I passed a few people and was passed by several sleek, expensive bikes that wurred by. There were a lot of decent cyclists out there, and a lot of nice bikes! One of the challenges of this course is that the it is an open course, so not only do you have to be aware of passing racers, but you also have to dodge other recreational bikers, joggers, strollers, rollerbladers, etc...This was especially bad on the way back when you had a lot of racers coming towards you on their way out to mix in with the regular traffic. There were a couple of times that I had to slow down almost to a stop until I could get by. A little frustrating, but its all part of the race. Gelled up just after the halfway mark, and about a mile away from the transition area. Stretched the legs just as I was coasting in to the exchange, they were starting to feel a little cramped. 

2nd 5K - 21:52 - Right when I hopped of my bike it was hard to walk (especially when you're trying to move fast) you just have to trust that your legs know what they're doing. Tried to quickly change shoes and get the bike racked. Took me a second to pull my watch of the bars (as my friend came in) and then I was on my way. He was still close - turns out our bike times were identical (though he will quickly point out that he was .9 second faster) I'm glad I had my watch because I couldn't feel my legs/feet yet and after cruising along at 20mph for an hour, its really hard to tell how fast you're going. I just kept my turnover going, and felt like I was dragging - I looked at my watch and was running a 6 min pace. I knew that wouldn't last, but just kept the effort strong. It was funny because I had noticed a few people from the Buffalo Run 50K, but one kid in particular that I had run with (and near) for quite a while on it, was running right behind me as we made the turnaround. He caught up to me with about a mile to go, and mentioned that the kid a little ways in front of us was in 1st for their age and "I want to catch him so bad! If I pass him I'll be in 1st!" I had seen that other kid struggling a little on the bike, and noticed that he had stopped to walk for a minute as he took water on the turnaround, so I just said "well lets go catch him!" I picked up the pace a little and pulled him along for a minute, and then he just slingshot up and cruised past the kid and far beyond. He was cookin' (turns out I beat him overall by 15 seconds). I caught up to now second place kid and passed him as well. Its cool to see these young kids competing and getting into stuff like this (especially the 50k). Tried to turn on the jets a little for the last part, finishing that leg only a minute slower than the 1st (and only 40 seconds of my previous PR). I felt confident that I could run this 5K strongly, as my legs are used to running tired! My friend really slowed down on this leg, finishing almost 5 minutes back - giving me the "W".   :)  

Goal time had been 2 hours, finished in 1:51:34. I had counted most of the front guys coming back on the run, and even though that's not completely accurate on a staggered start, I figured that I had to be in the top 20, and most of them looked mostly older than me, so in the back of my mind I thought there could be a chance that I could place decently in the age category. Though I will admit I was a little surprised when they were announcing awards and they called my name for 2nd place in the 30-34 mens age group. I hadn't even been standing in the area so I had to run over to accept my medal. Ahead of me in my age was Dane Rauschenberg, who was there promoting his 52 marathons in 52 weeks book (See Dane Run), pretty cool.

Fun race, only thing that was tired and sore was my butt! Its not used to being in the saddle. If not for the Easter family stuff that took the rest of the day, I probably would've hit the trails up too. ;)

"A nice 6 or 7 miler..." - Thats how Jun described our planned run before we started. I had run most of what we were going to do, so I was familiar, but it was the second half that I wasn't too sure about. 

We started at the flight park in Draper, and hit the BST heading north along the base of the hillside. That trail is a really nice, relatively flat trail with some rollers before it picks up a little vert as it hits the saddle at the mouth of the canyon. We were a little surprised to see the trail end into a massive pile of dirt with construction equipment scattered about. It looked like they were putting in a water tank. We bushwacked up the hill, skirting the construction, then ran down the other side until we hit the new trail that makes its way up towards Suncrest. This trail is a very gradual climb that snakes its way in and out of the small canyons. We had fun trying (unsuccessfully) to stay out of the mud that got worse the higher we went. Just before the trail abruptly ends, there is a little mountain bike trail that turns sharply and steeply up the hill. We carefully hiked up it to avoid slip sliding our way back down. We had anticipated having to run a short section through a neighborhood on the road, but were happy to see another switchbacked trail that headed in the direction that we wanted, and it literally dropped us out just yards from the View Benchmark trailhead, just where we wanted to be!

We ran up that road, and the wind began to pick up and get even colder. We waded through some snow for a few feet as we made the turn to head up to the peak. There were some muddy sections here, we often ran right up the middle of a little stream that had formed in the road, simply because it had exposed the rocks which provided the best traction. We hit the summit and didn't spend long up there as the bitterly cold wind bit in to any exposed skin. The bushes looked really cool as they had a inch of frozen wind blown ice covering them. We bombed our way down the trail heading back, luckily not slipping in the mud.

This time we crossed the snow and instead of going back the way we came, we headed further southwest towards the South Mountain ridgeline. A couple of small climbs here and then we dropped off this crazy steep and winding trail, dubbed "the Wild Mouse" with all of its steep, sharp turns. More rollers and then we came to a massively steep climb to the South Mountain summit that we hiked up. As I looked up the hill I literally felt like I was walking up a wall! Got to the summit to be greeted with a steep dropoff, followed by a few more steep inclines preceding the steep decent down the other side.  Then it was just a lot of steep downhill - geez how many times have I said steep? These are the kind of downhills that are just really hard to run down because you'll either go way to fast and eat it, or you'll go to slow or pound your knees to hard keeping yourself slow. Either way it was fun. :) Speaking of eating it, on one of the flat sections between drop offs, I toed a rock which sent me forward - normally not a big deal, but when I quickly brought my leg forward to catch myself, it cramped up so I ended up with one knee and one hand on the ground as I quickly kept going. So, still not a big deal. Gotta have a little blood every now and then. 

We were now above the gravel pit area and I knew from the map that we were supposed to just run this ridgeline all the way down to the end, and then run back to the park, but then Craig made a sharp switchback like turn down the hill, and then went straight down! The dirt was soft, so it was actually quite fun bounding down this super steep hill to the road. This dropped us just inside a "Construction Zone" gate, so I figured that's why Craig took us down early. Had a nice jog back to the car on a pretty flat section of dirt, my legs had kind of forgotten what that felt like.

It was a brutally fun run, made even more so by the bitter cold winds and snow flurries that should NOT be happening this time of year...We'll just hope it gets better, it usually does. :)

Run with Scott and Jun on the BST in Draper starting from the Red Rock trailhead and heading back towards Corner Canyon. This route starts out with a little climbing and some downhill into the canyon. Since the Clarks trail was closed due to mud, we decided to run up the Ghost Falls trail and back down Corner Canyon Road. The trail was beautiful, and was actually much less muddy that I anticipated. As we continued up, my legs did feel a little heavy from yesterdays endeavor, but I tried to keep a steady effort. I had let Jun get a little lead on me, but once I realized we were close to the trailhead at the top, I punched it into gear and caught up to him as we hit the top (3.75 miles I think) at 38 minutes, with Scott moments later.

We chatted for a couple minutes, and then bombed down Corner Canyon road. For being a dirt road, all the runoff actually made parts of it kind of technical when you're running fast, which made it fun. Took us 9 minutes to cover the mile and a half down. Once back on the BST Craig continued to keep the steam on, and slowly pulled ahead. Scott was right behind me for quite a while, which pushed me to keep my pace up as we started some more climbing up. Craig continued to pull away until I couldn't see him anymore - which just pissed me off :). Once I hit the top of the climbing (at least that part) I just pushed the downhills really hard, knowing that Jun probably was as well. I was feeling pretty good and knew my speed was good, but I hadn't eaten much today and knew it probably wouldn't last. Finally I had him in my sights, just 20 or 30 yards ahead. I kept pushing, thinking "OK, this is the last hill, sweet, then I can cruise the last downhill and catch him". Well, these "Last hills" just kept coming. When I finally did get to the last one I had almost run out of energy and, while I still pushed it, just didn't have the speed I was hoping for. Ended up finishing 24 seconds behind him, with Scott coming in a minute or two later.   

As always a fun run with some good conversation and beautiful scenery. Its so nice to start to see some green coming in! 

8.22 miles - 1:14:24 - 9:03 Pace - 1500 vert

Craig and Scott had been talking about doing a Stansbury run earlier this week, and mentioned that they'd like to try and get 30 miles in. Even with two decent runs already in the week, I figured it be fun. We wrangled Josh to come along as well, so that rounded out the group. See Juns blog for the Garmin map and some pics.

The venue was Stansbury Island, which is just off I-80 a little ways past Tooele. We had scouted out a 10 mile mountain bike loop, that we would do several times. The other three met in South Salt lake at 5:30, and since I was coming from the north, I met them off I-80 at Redwood Road. The rain was coming down, which soon turned to hail as I climbed into Scotts car with the rest of the crew. Great, I thought, this could be a long day. However, the further west we drove, the clearer the sky seemed to get, and the road got dryer and dryer. When we got to the island, the ground was completely dry. Only a blustery wind greeted us. I had planned on wearing shorts (come on, its April for cryin' out loud!) but once we got out of the car, all of us were throwing on more layers to combat the wind, including gloves, hats and pants. 

Loop 1 - 1:32 - From the trailhead, the trail starts an almost immediate 800 foot climb that lasts for the first mile. I was in front, so I pulled the train up the hill. It was actually quite runnable with switchbacks. We were also greeted very early to the rockiness of the trail that would be our nearly constant companion. Once we hit the top, there was a very steep trail that dropped down the other side, so Craig headed first and we started to ski down that, but then realized that there were switchbacks that crossed back and forth over this trail that we could use. Ahh, much better. The next several miles of the loop cut across the face of the mountain, winding in and out of the various canyons with some hills, but none that last too long. The scenery was very stark and rugged, yet beautiful. The technical trail was covered in rocks that would jut up, reaching for a lazy foot to catch, which made it a fun challenge. Clearly they would become more challenging as the day wore on! Shortly after mile 5, we took a right turn on a trail that ran us straight down a little canyon. It was steep, but mostly runnable. My knee would complain a little on this part - it was still a little tender from the beating it took on Tuesday. The grass in the area was green, with tiny purple flowers in full bloom that gave parts of the hillside a purple hue, with big rocks scattered about. Craig said it reminded him of Switzerland. Once back at the base of the mountain, we now would complete the loop by running the remaining 4.5 or so miles back to the trailhead, by way of a series of dirt roads, with a little pavement thrown in as well. While this wasn't nearly as fun as the top section of trail, it was a nice variation to just let your running gear go after dodging rocks for so long. If one wanted to stay entirely on the trails, you could simply do this route as an out and back. We cruised our way back to the car, finishing up the first leg in a respectable1:32. We opened up the "aid station" (Scotts car) and fueled up on Pepsi, chips, cookies, part of a bagel - you know, the usual fare.

Loop 2 - 1:36 - For variety, we decided to do loop two backwards, then when we got done we could decide which one we like better (or would rather do) for loop 3. So this meant heading back out on the road. We started at a decent clip, and made our way the 4 miles to the base of the hill. Craig, Josh and I ran mostly together at that point, but once we hit the hill Craig pulled ahead a little as Josh took a pit stop, passing me a couple of minutes later. This hill was pretty straight and steep (no switchbacks) and at about 15 miles in now, I was ready for a walk up the hill, so we walked it. Craig and Josh finished a bit before me, and we headed out after chatting and fueling for a minute. We could see Scott as he continued his way up. This time they put me in front again, and I dubbed myself the 'Pace Car' because I'm wide enough to block the trail so they can't pass me :) and I try to go at a nice even pace, which they were kind enough to say they appreciated, "so they didn't get carried away and overdo it being in front". I tried to keep it right around a 9 min pace, and it was feeling really effortless and good at that point. We just cruised along and enjoyed the ride.The nice thing about going this way is you get a lot of mileage out of the way on the road to start, so by the time we came to the switchbacked climb to the last ridge, it was nice to know once we hit the top of that it was all downhill. At the bottom of the climb my shoe came untied, so I stopped to tie it, relinquishing my pacing duties. At the top of the hill Josh stopped for a second so I pulled in behind Craig for the decent. The shoe I had just tied came undone again...I normally double knot, but figured it should stay tied for a mile! Guess not. This run down was really fun. Technical in spots, smooth and winding in others. We could see the car, though it wasn't quite as welcoming since we had come to realize that Scott had the keys, and was somewhere behind us! We cruised on down, finishing the second loop only 4 minutes slower than the first, in 1:36. For some reason, the area where the car was parked was one of the windiest areas on the island! Luckily, there were huge boulders outlining the parking area, so once we determined which ones would best shield us from the freezing wind, we each picked on to hunker behind. We could see all the way up to the ridgeline that Scott would be coming over, and after a few minutes a small figure appeared and started his way down. As he got closer I mentioned to the guys that I didn't see Scott running down the hill, what I saw running down was a can of Pepsi! :) Scott made his way down, then it was round 2 of fueling up, this time though, much of it was spent in the car and out of the wind. 

Loop 3 - 1:48 - Yes we were tired at this point. We decided that the best plan of attack would be to hit the hill straight away, while our legs were more fresh, leaving the road section for the end. Though there are some mental challenges with the long straight road at the end, I think it was the best option. The climb up the hill was slower this time, hiking the majority of it, though we still kept a decent pace for hiking it. Off the top side, Craig pulled out of the lead to take some pictures, so I was back setting pace. Again, I tried to keep a steady 9 min pace and was feeling pretty good. A couple miles in, Josh felt a little bonky, so he pulled off the trail for a minute, and it was just Craig and I. As we wound in an out I could see Josh, then Scott behind us, and I wasn't sure if Josh would catch back up, depending on how he was feeling. Once I glanced at my watch and saw a 10 min pace, and Craig said "come on, we're getting lazy". I couldn't really argue, so I picked it up. It wasn't long before Josh was right back with us. Speedy! As I was navigating a rocky section, I toed a rock and it sent my body in some weird contortion, but I didn't fall, and after stumbling through a couple more sections, I realized I was a little behind on my fueling, so I took a gel, paid more attention to what I was doing, and continued on. Back at the dropdown trail into the valley (I felt like we'd been here before...) we took a quick pitstop, rewarding ourselves for the good effort we had put in. Now it was pretty much downhill and flat to go! Took it really easy down this long hill, Craig said he could see Scott on the trail up above us, but I kept looking and just couldn't find him. We hit the marathon mark at 4:17, shortly after the bottom of the hill. Once we got to the dirt road, we took a brief walk and then picked up the run again, trucking along trying to come up with conversation to distract us from the few miles left. Took another small walking section and then ran it out to the finish. Once we got to the finish, we noticed we were at 29.80 (or something) miles - you can't end it on that! So we started up the trail for a tenth of a mile and then ran back to get the 30 mile finish. We stretched out on some rocks for a few minutes and then huddled up in the car, snacking and drinking while we waited for Scott. A few minutes later we could see him on the horizon, making his way to the finish shortly thereafter. He had taken a different road back (there's a maze of roads) which gave him the perfect 30 finish without having to run the extra at the end. Nice!

Overall it was a really good day on amazing trail with some good friends. Kill the wind and it would have been almost perfect! Doing a long run with loops has a lot of advantages, like being able to fuel up and not have to carry everything with you. I certainly got plenty tired, but didn't bonk at all, which I'll chalk up to eating plenty. 

Back to the basics today...Jun, Scott and I hit up our typical lunchtime run up Dimple Dell to Bells reservoir and back down. Beautiful weather, slight breeze but warm. I had to stop just before mile 5 to take a quick call, so that added a few minutes to the time.  We were a little surprised when we got to the Bells trailhead and the water still wasn't on! Its May for crying out loud.  My goal on this section was to stick with Craig to the top of the first climb, since thats when I always seem to lose him. I was successful today, but he gained a few seconds on the final climb to the reservoir. After a brief stop we blasted back down to the trailhead, then took an easy pace down the top section of Dimple Dell. Stopped and got water from the bathroom sink at the Wrangler trailhead. Once we crossed 13th and headed back down the trail, our pace seemed to pick up a little, then all of the sudden Scott puts his head down and starts pushing the pace. Well, obviously I have no choice in the matter, so I just hooked onto his shoulder and hung on for the ride. As we went under 7th he slowed a little and I just tried to keep the pace up, and was able to create a little separation. As you get closer to the end, there are a few of these little tiny rollers that are a pain in the butt, even though they're little. Then you get the hill up to the dog park that I just huffed and puffed up, seeing Scott just a little ways back kept pushing me. Hit the paved trail and just tried to cruise it in to the end. I told Scott I was not in the mood for that! Jun came in shortly after, his hip had been bugging him, so I think he was happy to let us try and battle it out for no good reason. :)

13.25 miles - 2:02:09 - 9:12 pace - 1223 vert

In the evening my wife wanted to get out and go do something, so we took my son and went up Baer Canyon in Fruit Heights a little ways (home of the Bair Gutsman). He loved running up the rocky trail and then throwing rocks into the stream. For part of the way up and most of the way down I ran with him on my shoulders and he just laughed the whole way. Great workout with an extra 35 pounds on - crazy to think I used to always carry more than that around!!

JRP with Jun. Nice afternoon run in the sun! Took it super easy at a nice slow pace. So nice to actually sweat because of the sun and not because of the layers I have on. Shorts, shoes and socks...what more do you need?

8 miles - 1:10:00 -  8:44 pace - 200 ft of vert (grueling climb, I know).

Lower Dimple Dell trail from Jordan Commons with Jun. Felt a little sluggish after a couple days off, but still came out of it with a decent pace.  

Got up early this morning to get to the airport to catch a flight to Spokane. Going up with the in-laws to help my wifes sister and husband move back to Salt Lake - Flying up and driving back. Ran into Bryce at the airport in the security line, having quick conversation each time we passed in the snaking line. Hope you have a nice vacation, sure am jealous! :) 

I figured that as long as I could get one good run in while I was in Spokane, I would be happy with having to help move and driving back! After flying in the morning and then walking around all day, everyone was beat, wanting to lay around a nap. The weather had turned really nice, so I thought that would be the perfect time to go. I had scouted out a route from the Spokane River Run 25K, and so I figured I'd go and see if I could run at least in the general area. Couldn't help but pull out my phone and take some pics - wish I would have remembered my camera.

Didn't really start running till about 6:30, but there was still plenty of light. Right from the beginning I was in heaven. Greenery everywhere, with a canopy of huge pines overhead. I just picked a trail and started running. I knew that there was a trail right by the river, so as long as I could make my way back to that I could find my way back. I thought I'd do a big loop, so I started running away from the river to get a little vert in.

I ended up getting way off 'course', eventually running into railroad tracks and through a little mountain neighborhood, but eventually I found my way down to the river trail and started heading back. Since this follows the river, it was actually quite a bit longer going back than it was coming out. I kept wondering if I was somehow in the wrong place, but just kept going - there was a big river right next to me, kind of hard to get lost with that to guide you.

There were parts of the trail where I felt like I could have been in the middle of Yellowstone. I was often surprised by the rockyness of the trail. Very technical in several places. Made it back to the car with just as the last light was fading. I had carried my headlamp with me (wrapped around my bottle) the whole run, since I didn't know how long the sun would last. Despite persistent stomach issues the whole run, this was an absolutely fantastic run! Always fun to run somewhere new, especially when the scenery is so different. I definitely felt the elevation difference as well. While only 1200 feet of vert, it all came in short, steep climbs, and I was able to strongly run them all with little trouble.

 12.55 miles - 1:59:19 - 9:30 Pace - 1200 vert

I have waited to do a write up of the Zion Trainwreck, because I honestly don't quite know what to say about it - feel like I'm still processing everything that we did and saw in such a brief time - and am a bit speechless!!

Though I haven't been at this running thing for very long, I can easily say that this was the most fantastic run I have ever done - Breathtaking views, different scenery greeting you around every turn, intense climbs and quad crushing downhills, add in some great company and crappy weather and you've got one amazing time!

I won't go into the full report because everyone else has done such a great job! Read 'em here if you haven't already: Jun, Josh, Scott. 

Though we had to turn back and didn't complete the Train, it was well worth the trip!

I also learned a lot - or was reminded about things that I already know, just seemed to let slip by me - it's funny how your brain seems to change focus when you're in the middle of a run, especially one as scenic as this one! Here are a couple of takeaways for me personally that I thought I'd share-

• I carried way too much crap...I like to be prepared, but when you have to carry it all, its good to go light. I could definitely tell a difference in my pace from the little extras I was packing.
• I am a heavy sweater and MUST keep up on my salt/electrolytes - I didn't take salt until 2 hours in and I ended up feelin' it! 
• Who you go with can make all the difference in the world! This crew was the best!
• When I started to feel like I was going to crash and I fell back a little at the beginning of the climb, Josh just kicked back with me and helped me keep plugging along while I got everything balanced again (which seemed to take forever!). It was fun with all the switchbacks because, while you might be a couple hundred feet back, you can still see and talk to each other for quite a while.
• As we neared the top of the climb and it the weather was getting worse and the trail getting muddier, while I'm sure we were all thinking it, Craig had the nuts to bring up and press the option of turning around before we got ourselves into trouble. I would suspect that many of the groups that do run into problems run into them because no one wanted to bring up (and make) a tough decision.
• And then it’s always nice to have someone like Scott around who is willing to, and offered on many occasions to, apply Glide to all of those hard to reach places - even on non-runners (though I don't think anyone ever took him up on it).  :)

 I mean seriously!!!

8 miles on the Kaysville BoSho. Seems like its been a while!

A couple of the miles out to were with Davis' track coach, Corbin (who's team had just won 5A in track and field Sat!). He started a little before me, I passed him on the first hill as he took in the view, then he caught back up by Adams and then we chatted the rest of the way to Fernwood. He headed back as I took advantage of the facilities and decided whether I should keep going or turn back. I looked to the west and saw a storm rolling in, so I headed back. Ran through some wind and rain, but tried to keep a decent pace. With about a half mile left, I passed three ladies, and just as I was passing I noticed it was my sister in law running with her mother-in law and sister in law. So I made a u-turn and ran with them for a bit, up the first climb again. :)  

8 miles - 1:12:11 - 9:01 pace - 1100 vert

More BoSho for me today, this time the Draper variety. Jun and I met Scott at the trailhead (park) and when we pulled up Melzter was just getting out of his car to head out. So we chatted with him for a few and then he took off and we waited for Scott to change in his car. So cool to just run into one of the best in the sport and just have a casual chat and then have him in your sites for part of your run (he won a 100 last week, so that helped with the pace :)). 

Great run on the BoSho, up Corner Canyon, then down Clarks trail. A little muddy and sketchy in spots, but super fun. Tweaked my knee a little on one of the 'slides', just felt like it hyperextended a little. Nothing major, I'll just ice it up and rest tomorrow, should be good to go. The weather was decent enough, a little windy and cold in spots, but no real rain to speak of, just a little mist that accompanied our trip up Corner Canyon road - though it certainly doesn't feel like the end of May!!. My legs still felt a little heavy on the climbs, probably just be the mileage and vert from the past week.

And I just remembered its a holiday weekend - oh yeah! :)

11.4 miles - 1:47:22 - 9:24 pace - 1500 vert

Run with Jun in Corner Canyon. This time we started at the Red Rock trailhead and went up Ghost falls. My legs felt super heavy going up, and Jun was flying, which made me feel that much slower - it didn't help that he kept thinking I was going to catch him, so he kept pushing it, ha. Just kept a solid pace and trucked my way up. We continued up Corner Canyon road and then came down Clarks. I saw Jun for the first little bit and then he was just gone. I kept looking at my watch and I was running a 6:30, but I just couldn't catch him, he was feelin' it! He waited for me at the bridge, and then I kept right with him as we made our way back to the start. With about a mile to go Jun clipped a rock with his toe and went down! It actually looked fairly graceful, but falling on a trail will usually leave you with something, and in this case it was some nice lost skin right on the fleshy part of his hand, and a bloody elbow. I knew how he felt, I had fallen on that very trail last year - its one of those injuries that doesn't really hurt terribly bad, its just in such an annoying spot! Anyway, he hopped up and said "Well I'm not going to let that slow me down" and we were off. I kept right with him again, until just before the very last hill I noticed him make an effort to drop me, which he did. I turned it on and ran as hard as I could to catch up, and made it to about 5 to 10 feet behind him when we hit the finish. I'd say that counts. :)  Ended up with a pretty decent pace and some good vert. Nice shirtless run! :)

7.63 miles - 1:08:13 - 8:56 Pace - 1440 vert

More Kaysville BoSho for me to round out the week. Beautiful day, lots of people on the trail. Ran from the Vita Course (200N) trailhead, over to Fernwood and up the Great Western. This time I ran up (no hiking) to the point where Craig and I had run it last (5 mile mark)- the furthest I'd been up that trail- and then allowed myself to hike the steep stuff for the next mile, with running mixed in when I could. A little slow going on that last section, but it was super fun to blast down. Felt much stronger today on the uphills than I have the rest of the week - though maybe that's because I was by myself and wasn't getting left in the dust! :)  Glad I was able to get a run in while there was still some sunshine.

Got slowed down a few times by hikers and such, its always amusing to see people panic when you come up behind them and announce that you're coming through. It doesn't seem to matter what you say - "On your left" "Excuse me" "Coming through" "Pardon me" "EVERYBODY MOOOOVE" - you still get one person in the group that can't decide which side to move to and so they end up doing a potty dance in the middle of the trail. Come on people, its America, drive on the right side. (I nearly got pushed off the Angels landing trail in Zion when a dude with a huge pack WENT left, when I said "on your left" - I literally had to grab his pack to make my way around him! :)

On another similar note, near the end of my run my shoe came untied and so I stopped to tie it. Just as I stopped I heard a horse galloping up the trail, so I moved off to the side of this very wide section of trail so that I could tie my shoe and they could pass. So I'm tying my shoe and the guy and his wife are just sitting there like 10-20 feet down the trail just watching me...then he's like "If you squatter down like that they'll pick you up as a predator..." like he thought I was trying to hide from his horse or something. Anyway, here's my complaint, and as an avid horseman and someone that has trained and worked with horses my whole life, I feel like I can say this with some experience to back it up. Here's my problem - If you are worried that a human being crouched 5 feet off the side of the trail tying their shoe (after your horse watched me walk over there) is going to be a problem for your horse, you 1 - probably shouldn't be riding your horse on a trail that is so heavily trafficked, and 2 - If you do choose to take it on those trails, you really should be using it as a training opportunity to show your horse that it shouldn't be scared of everything on the trail, not sitting there waiting for every person you pass to stand in just the right statuesque position so you can ride passed. I want my horse to be able to have someone go flying by and not have it even bat an eye. It is NOT the responsibility of other runners/bikers/hikers/whomever to tiptoe around your horse because you think that mike spook it. Prepare your horse for the conditions you'll be riding in. I once had a horse that I was going to be riding on trails that I knew there would be mountain bikes on, and I was not confident that he had been around them at all, so guess what I did - I spent several days leading up to it riding him up and down the road with my wife riding a bike next to us, behind us, beside us, around us, etc... While I will always be courteous to anyone else on the trail, especially horses, I've heard of other runners having similar experiences with riders and it really just bugs me when they expect everyone else to watch out for them.  Anyway, long rant over - it was a little thing but it bothered me! :)

12 miles - 1:58:52 - 9:54 pace - 2555 vert

What a weird weather day - Snow on the ground in the morning, rain, then sunshine then more rain, then a nice sunny evening - Guess we should be used to it by now. 

When I saw the snow this morning I didn't think I'd even try to get a run in, but when the sun came out in the evening, I decided to hurry out and give it a shot, only to get caught by a rainstorm mid-run, finishing the run in the sun again!

7 miles on the BoSho Kaysville to Fernwood. Saw about 3 people today, as opposed to the about 50 on Saturday (or so it seemed). A little muddy in spots but overall still in decent shape considering all the rain. Not a single car parked at the Fernwood trailhead. Sat out the worst of the storm there and then started back. With about two miles or so to go I thought I'd try to beat an hour and ran them really hard and ended up hitting it right on the nose.

7.08 miles - 1:00:00 - 8:28 pace - 1080 vert

I was sitting in Juns office this morning and we both noticed we had an opening in our calendars, so we made a quick decision to head out and get a lunchtime run in. Headed down to AF and hit the Grove Creek trail.

I had never run this before, it starts out with a pretty steep climb, and I took off at a decent pace going up. I knew when Craig was hanging back a little, that I was going to be in trouble. So what did I do? I kept pushing the pace! :) Ended up really tiring my legs out in that first mile (at which point Craig motored past me), which slowed me down considerably on the next two miles. At mile 2 you cross in front of a huge waterfall, which was flowing strongly, cascading off of the rocks as it made its way down. The trail just keeps going up and up, with very little relief. Craig kept a consistent running pace the whole time, while I had to hike some of the steep stuff. In some places parts of the trail became little streams flowing rather strongly down the mountain. Got to Indian Springs at 3 miles on the nose in about 45 minutes, Craig arriving shortly (or not so shortly) before me.

We took a minute to take in the beautiful scenery, with snow covered Timp rising directly behind us, surrounded by a grassy green meadow. Refilled our bottles with some cold spring water, and then headed back down. It was a little muddy and slippery for a ways, and we had a good time picking our way through it. At one point I could here laughing and talking a little ahead of us on the trail (we had passed a bunch of college aged kids on our way up) and then Craig rounded a little bend (trying to make as much noise as possible) I hear this blood curdling scream erupt from this girl, who was completely unaware of her surroundings, and didn't notice the two of us bounding down the trail. The guy she was with took full advantage of the situation, 'catching' her and saying "oh, are you OK?" ha ha. Atta boy. It was pretty funny. You would have thought she saw a bear.

Once we passed the rest of group and got out of the sticky stuff, Craig really started to open a gap on me. I was keeping a decent pace (high 7's) but my legs just didn't feel like pushing it, (and I'm trying to take it a little easier on my knee that's still a little tender), and he was just flying. I was happy to just let my legs spin and let the hill pull me down. What a brutally beautiful, fun trail, and a great way to get some (almost) completely runnable vert in a relatively short distance. I'm pretty sure we'll make that a frequent run - perfect type of trail to work those climbing legs (up and down!).     

6 miles - 1:08:11 - 11:21 pace - 2400 vert

PM - 3 slow, relaxed, easy miles pushing the stroller running with my wife. 190 vert

Started a run with my wife, then realized I had to be on an evening conference call for work, so I sprinted back home. 

3 road miles with my wife with a little vert. I pushed the stroller and paced her running next to me. She ran it 2+ minutes faster than before, which aint bad when you're only talking about 3 miles!

A whole week without running! Wow. Been a long time since I've done that. My knee was still hurting last week, and I had some business travel coming up, so I thought I'd use that as some time to give it some rest and see if it helps. Plus I really didn't want to have to try and find somewhere to run in Dallas :). 

Today was a great day to break the famine. OK I did 3 miles last night with my wife, but that doesn't really count. Knee didn't really feel any better, so I figured if not running doesn't help, I might as well run! Met Jun bright and early and we drove down to Lindon and hit up the hills in 'the valley'. A little chilly to start, but just beautiful. Started on the BoSho and just enjoyed the subtle climbs and meandering trail. The grass was tall and the trees were green. I love the smell and feel of an early summer morning!  Once we hit Battle Creek the trail started to pick up and we ran for a good part of the way, and then the steepness of the trail relegated us to hiking. I was glad Craig had so much vert on his legs so I could stay close. :) My knee had felt just fine up to this point, it just tweaks every now and then going uphill, and then I stepped off a log bridge and it tweaked hard, making the hiking up a little more difficult, and much slower than I would have liked - Craig was able to gain a little ground as I didn't put too much power on the leg.

The views were spectacular. We wished we had a camera. We stopped at a spot near the top of the climbing and just took in the sights. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, then you run 20 more yards up the trail and you crest over the ridge and can see the whole valley! So cool to be so close to stuff like this.  

On the running sections, my knee felt fine, absolutely no pain...so weird. Even as we hit the top of the climb and headed down some pretty steep trails, I was able to run and keep right behind Craig with no issues. He was going strong too, at a great pace. I'm looking forward to Laramie to see how he does.

Great morning run, looking forward to more, though I think I'll force myself to spend a few weeks on some flat stuff to see if I can get the knee to track better so I can get back to climbing! :)

9.66 miles - 1:39:15 - 10:20 pace - 2700 ft vert

Gotta catch up on here!

3 miles up Mountain Road with my wife. Shes gearing up for Ragnar. 

6.5 on the JRP with Jun. At the turnaround there was some creepy dude who seemed to enjoy taking pictures of us with our shirts off a little too much. Yikes. 

Nice easy going run. 

The 2011 WBR relay was run with 3 of my brothers, my wife, and my sister in law. We had a really fun time - definitely the best way to do an event like this!

"Haulin' Mast'

I was runner 9 for the WBR. 3.2 in 23:06 - 7:04 pace. Yep, 23 feet of elevation gain. I think thats a first.

Ran another 2 with my wife as she ran her second leg from East Canyon up those (for her) gigantic hills. She told everyone that I had lied to her when I said "you go up this hill from the start, then down a hill, then it just kind of gradually goes up a little from there". Ha, I wasn't going to tell her there was a hill bigger than she'd ever run! She was a champ and did amazing throughout the whole race, running farther than she ever has.

WBR leg 21 - 10 miler in the dark. 5 on the roads, 5 on "the trail" AKA - dirt road. I really enjoyed getting on the dirt and getting away from the noisy roads. The nearly full moon reflecting off the water was fantastic. Thought it was funny how many people complained afterwards about the "rough, rugged, uneven trail". Ha ha. I was hoping for some singletrack with some rocks! Not this buttery smooth dirt road :) I was happy to be on dirt though. One lady even complained that (on the following leg) her shoes were 'ruined' from the 'stream crossing'...Umm if my shoes were ruined everytime they got wet or muddy I'd need a new pair every day. We won't even mention that the 'stream crossing' was like 2 feet wide! Ha.

Took a nice easy pace, the couple of guys that passed me close to the middle I ended up re-passing near the finish. 

This was our team mascot "Schmee" - he rode on the back of the van the entire way

10 miles - 1:28:13 - 8:48 pace - 500 vert

 WBR leg 33 - "Pre-Ragnar" leg. This is the first of two legs that takes you up over Guardsman Pass. Took it nice an easy and ran the whole thing (aside from about 10 power hiking steps around part of a switchback). Weren't a lot of people at first, and then I slowly started catching them, they seemed to get more bunched up the higher you got. I passed one guy who was hiking his way up, and since I had my watch on, I knew how far we had, so to try and encourage him a little I said "Come on man, only a third of a mile to go!" To which he gave a huge groan and said "are you serious??" So I don't think it helped out all that much! 

3.2 miles - 36:55 - 11:32 pace - 1500 vert

This'll be long, but here's my "Pace Report" for Jun's running of the Laramie 100.

When Jun told me he was going to be running a hundred miler, I just pretty much planned on trying to find a way to go and be a part of it. I told him I'd pace as little or as much as needed, that I would be just fine filling bottles and shoveling food into him for the whole race if that's what it took. Lucky for me, there ended up being plenty of time for some running! I did make sure that Craig read Bryce's Bighorn report before the race, in case I needed to reference it or Davys Bighorn report. Luckily, I never really had to break out the big guns! :)

Craig picked me up from work Friday afternoon, and after picking up his son Tyler and a few other essentials, we were off. We had hoped to get there with a little light left, but that wasn't to be. I guess we should have known when an overhead sign said "Crash ahead - 50 miles - road closed, expect delays". We just thought "50 miles? Surely they'll have it cleaned up by then!" Apparently we also forgot that we were in the middle of nowhereyoming, when a short time later we were greeted by standstill traffic. We took the time to bust out the football, eat some snacks and play some games on our phones. We even saw a dude on a bike in full on gear go cycling back an forth - might as well get a ride in I guess. After about an hour and a half we were back on our way, driving past what was left of a semi cab that had been melted to the ground - a motor, frame and wheels were the only clues to what it had been.

Finally making it to Laramie, we stopped off for a quick bite at the local Pizza Hut, and also got our first taste of what would become our constant companions, and really, the one downside of the trip - the pesky, swarming, mosquitoes. The course was just off the Laramie summit exit, and we were able to find a spot to quickly set up camp and get to sleep. Craig was sawing logs all night, which woke me a few times, but I was glad to hear - I figured that must mean he's getting some good rest, which should bode well for all of us.

Crewing

We were up bright and early race morning, and with a 9AM start time, found ourselves (and most everyone else) just sitting around waiting for the race to begin. Finally the countdown began, with Tyler and I moving ahead on the course a little ways so we could get a little video of the start. Once all the initial hoopla was over Tyler and I went about setting up our own little aid table, right near where the runners would come in to check in for their laps. The setup of the course was such that we overlooked a little meadow where you could see the trail from both directions, giving you a good view, and good notice of when runners were coming in. Since you change direction on each loop (running back the way you just came), it only took a few hours before people were coming in from both directions. I brought my big ol' cowbell, so Tyler and I took it upon ourselves to ring it anytime a runner appeared out of the trees from either side. While I'm sure there are some cowbell haters out there, we got a lot of smiles and thanks from runners as they were coming in. Plus, "You gotta have more cowbell!!" 

At around 45 minutes, the first two relay runners appeared neck and neck to finish the first 5.6. Then, only 5 minutes later, we see Craig burst out into the light in 1st place. Our first few exchanges were quick and painless. He'd toss his empty water bottle as he ran to the tent to check in, then we'd hand him a fresh bottle with a gel in the pocket on his way out. The 2nd place 100 guy (Jeremy) came in only minutes later. As Craig ran his second lap, Tyler and I hiked a little ways backwards on the course so we could get a little video and check out the course. The trail was cool, and the mosquitoes were, as always, horrendous. We were shocked as we waited to see runners when one of the relay guys came blazing by us, to finish the lap in 30 minutes! Craig came by about 20 minutes later, just cruising along. We let him run on ahead as we hiked our way back into the start (don't worry, we had left a full bottle/gel on the table waiting for him, though it was probably a little warm).

The laps just seemed to cruise by (for us anyway!!), Craig was running very consistently, with his first 5 laps under an hour each, and the next several just minutes over. Tyler and I spent our time hiking around, playing catch with the football, building a fire (seemed to help with the mosquitoes) and just hanging out ringin' the cowbell. I was totally impressed with this 13 year old kid. Willing to help out however and whenever asked and didn't complain ONCE. How many 13 year old can you say that about?!

From about the 3rd or 4th lap, Craig kept saying his legs were tired, but the way he looked and the time he was taking to click through these laps sure didn't seem to correspond! We seemed to be fielding "Are you guys with the guy in the orange shirt - who is he?" questions all afternoon. We still tried to keep his aid stops brief, about 3-4 minutes for laps 4-7. We wrote down when he came in and when he left, so that we'd have a good idea of when he'd be coming back. I kept trying to get him to eat some real food - I offered him a PB&J about 5 times before he finally said "I am NEVER going to want that sandwich". Of course, I still continued to offer it, mostly just to mess with him, but it did indeed go uneaten. Jeremy (#2) continued to stay close, but the lead was growing, from only a few minutes to start, to 10 then 15, then 20...I think one of the biggest things at the beginning stages is that our aid stops were much quicker which added more minutes to the ones Craig was already picking up out on the course.

By the time lap 10 came around, we could tell that he was eager to have someone to run with, so while he was out on the 10th lap, Tyler and I got changed and ready to run. Since Craig would be coming in at mile 56 here, I was planning on Tyler running a lap or two with him alone, and then me picking it up from there...I just didn't know if I had 45 in me! As it turned out we all just headed out together after his 10th lap, nearly 11 hours into his run.

Pacing

When we picked up Craig to pace he was a big old pile of grumpy (and rightfully so). He was 56 miles and 11 hours into this race, was getting stabbing cramps in his side and I could tell he just didn't want to think about anything. I pulled in front with Tyler behind me and Craig in the back (bad idea):). We chatted for a bit at first, stopping once in a while when the cramping became unbearable. Aside from the very brief cramping spells, he was still running at a decent pace. I knew as we continued on that the solution to the cramping and the grumpiness was some real food. So at the next aid I made him eat some pasta, and although he was only able to muster a few bites, the difference in his attitude was remarkable. We put Craig up front, leading with us pushing from behind, and that worked much better for him. I think it also helped that we were now running in the dark "with his boys" as we began up that second loop. This direction of running was much better, as you get all of the vert out in relative short order, while the other direction teases you with steep climbs, then drops, then more climbs, that just stretch for miles. Craig was now joking and talking again, much more in line with his usual demeanor. We'd holler out to headlights coming our way (and would all night) and would get especially noisy at the mid loop aid station. As we were heading down, Tyler - who at this point was looking at 11 miles of running, almost twice what he had ever done before - mentioned that he thought he'd like to try and get 20 miles in, by running the last two laps with us! What a stud - and this was even after he had taken a little spill on the trail.

We dropped Tyler off after lap 12, and began our quest to "Own the night". We talked about how things usually slow way down at night, and that we had been running in the dark all winter so there was no reason to back off now. Off we went - I was shocked at how much of the course we were still running, and power hiking the hills with gusto (yep). It was also around this time that we pulled into the aid to find #2 sitting in a chair eating some food - we had lapped our closest competitor - which represented about an hour and half lead. I think that gave Craig a bit of a moral boost - as much as you might say you don't think about winning and just try to run your own race, when you're in first place it's hard not to think about everyone trying to run you down!

At mile 65 Craig asked me if he could sit down in a real chair at the next aid, and I decided that Craig had earned it (so long as we kept it brief and kept moving) so at these aid stops he would sit while I refilled bottles and got food for him to eat. I also found they had grilled cheese sandwiches ready and waiting, which would become my steady diet for the rest of the night (paired with boiled potatoes and the usual gels). I was pretty much ravenous the entire night, eating one after each loop, and getting hungry again about halfway through! I probably ate 8 grilled cheese sandwiches, 4 cups of potatoes, and countless gels. Craig mostly stuck with potatoes, bananas, gels and the occasional sandwich.  

The entire race we had been planning on, and been told that we would be running 17 laps, it was, however about this time that they informed us the course was shorter than they thought, and that we would have to add a full extra lap for a total of 18 laps (100.8 miles). A little kick in the gut, but Craig took it in stride without complaint, and we just trucked on ahead. We began counting down miles in race lengths - "What a 50K left? Thats cake!" It was a little daunting to think about 6 laps left, but they just started to fly by as we went from end to end to end, passing the few lights coming toward us that were out in the night - the 12 hour racers had finished, and the rest were slowing down considerably.

The night then began to get cold, particularly down in at the start/finish aid, where there was lots of water around to cool the air. There were a couple of longer (for us anyway) aid stops that saw us shivering as we headed back out. There was one point where we were leaving and Craig paused and looked at a fire just by our aid table, started to lean that way and then he just shook his head and hit the trail. You'll heat up just as well moving! Might as well cover some ground while you're at it. For several of the aids we decided to make them quicker, "grab and go" stops, where we would carry our food with us and eat it on the move, since we were hiking the hills anyway. On top of the course the breeze was warm and nice. We would often turn off our lights (usually during a pee break) and look up at the sky, which was exploding with an abundance of stars. We wished the moon had been brighter so we could run by its light for some of it (and try and sneak up on people).  

Craig was still moving really well, I couldn't believe how he just kept pushing. The part I liked about pacing was that I didn't really focus on how far I had gone, or would be going. I just new we had to get Craig to the finish. I certainly had my own usual thoughts of pain and discomfort - "Oh, I could just let Tyler run with him during the final two laps and I can take a break...that's still a good 34 miles" but its kind of hard to let those thoughts linger when you're running behind someone who has 55 more miles than you on the day! I finally just told myself I would get him to the finish, and I was going to get there too, and that was the end of it. Interestingly, I never got sleepy tired at all during the night, that would just come later!

We checked off all the distances "A marathon left?...easy peasy", "20 miles? Thats a nice weekend run", "16? You run that on a Wednesday!" We did become curious as we hadn't seen #2 Jeremy in quite some time. It was no time at all before the sky started to lighten, and we knew we headed to pick up Tyler for the FINAL TWO LAPS! Oh yeah. I went and woke up Tyler from his brief catnap in the car - he had hung out most of the night at the race tent chatting and helping out when we came in - and he hopped right up and was ready to run. Two laps to go meant only one more time traveling each direction. Luckily (I thought so anyway) we got the crappy direction out of the way first. We told the mid-aid station guys, we'd be back one more time for good and blasted our way down the hill. Coming back from the last aid stop, Jeremy appeared, looking strong and refreshed. We decided he must have retired to his tent for a bit to regroup, and he was looking good. He still had a good hold on 2nd place, now he just had to finish. 

We pushed hard up those hills, spent a minute at the aid station thanking the awesome crew for a job well done, and then continued on for the final 4 or so miles of mostly downhill. Craig was killing me- before the race we had talked about pacers complaining about being dropped by their runner at mile 95 - and I swear that's what he was trying to do. I think he also knew that I wasn't going to let that happen, which pushed us both to keep the pace up. Tyler hung on like a champ right behind me, never uttering a word of complaint. We were all hurting at this point, but the thought of finishing (and winning) just spurred us on.

When we came to the final half mile or so, I ran ahead so that I could grab the camera and film the finish, and run I did. It still amazes me how the body is able to respond to what you ask of it, even after putting it through so much - it does help when it knows its about done! I got to the finish a few minutes ahead, there were a few people hanging around - the relayers asked me where Craig was. I said "Well, he said since I had only run 45 miles, I had to run ahead and get the camera!" I got a little chuckle out of them - it is hard to argue with someone who has just run 100 miles! I yelled "Craigs coming in!" and looked over to the finish tent to see the two people there attending to who knows what, not seeming to pay much mind. It was a little weird, but that was certainly out shined when Craig and T appeared from the trees and made the final run through the meadow and across the finish line! Finishing the Laramie 100 in 23:21!!

We sat for a few minutes after, resting, eating (yes I had another grilled cheese), and chatting it up with the runners from the other races, many of whom were full of questions about our Altras, especially since neither of us had any foot problems or needed to change shoes at all during the race. We then quickly packed up camp, Craig was able to cheer on a few of the remaining runners as they completed a lap, and then we headed on out. It was almost unbelievable to think that, for much of our drive home, there were still people out there running the course! 2nd place would finish 3 and a half hours later, with others coming in 4 and half and over 5 hours later! I have a lot of respect for those guys who pushed though some serious low points and just stuck with it to the end. That would take a lot of guts to sit out for a while and then get right back at it!

If you made it this far, congratulations! :) This was a most incredible experience well worth being a part of. Craig was an absolute machine that just kept on pushing and giving it everything he had. Having run with him all year, I certainly never doubted his ability and just tried to do my part to help him get there and not hold him back. Tyler made the perfect crewing team mate, and we got our runner to the finish with the win!

Quite a sight to see such a fantastic group of people from all walks of life out there laying themselves on the line to see what they are made of. Some excelling, and some falling short of their goals, but all of them learning and gaining something from their experiences. To those that say this sport is "bad for you", I say this world would be far better off if we spent more time challenging our bodies and our minds than we do sitting on the couch eating chips and drinking a soda, criticizing the amazing things that others do, that we, by our own choices are unable to.

We always go to the Murray Parade with my wifes family. I'm not a huge parade fan, so I try to make up for it by getting a little run in the 5K. 

Weather was cloudy with the occasional raindrop, and it felt humid. I ran for a bit before to warm up, this was my first run since 45 at Laramie last weekend. This course runs from Murray Park south down State about a mile, then turns around and runs back to Vine street, up Vine for about a half mile, then down into the park, finishing back near the entrance. When the gun went off I started out fairly fast, but tried to hold myself back a little, trying to save some energy for later.

This is not a flat or fast course, there's a decent little hill (for a 5K anyway) south of 53rd, and then more when you come back and make your way to Vine. I felt great the first mile, then started to feel a little tired in my legs shortly after the turnaround. I just couldn't seem to hold the pace, I also felt like the humidity was making me overheat, not sure that full on sun would have been any better though! I find it interesting they do have one water station on the course, but its at about 2.75 miles in, at that point I just needed some to dump on my head! Pushed hard and finished strong at the finish, coming in at 22:19 - a few seconds slower than last year, and not as fast as I would liked, but I guess I can't complain with the time with the long run last weekend and it not being a super fast course (though the winner did it in 15:15 :)).

Had a good time and it made for a good start to the very fun and full day!

Ran up Holbrook canyon, just north of Mueller park by the Bountiful Temple. Beautiful trail, fairly steep with some decent climbs, lots of ups and downs, but pretty much all runnable (1000 feet in 1.75 miles). It was really overgrown in spots, which turned out to be where I had to walk at times, because I couldn't see the ground and there would undoubtedly be a big rock in the middle of the trail where its covered. Crossed the stream about 10 times until I got to a crossing that I just didn't feel like crossing without anyone else around. I'm sure it would have been fine, but you never know, and I was close enough to the mileage I wanted that I didn't worry about it. I didn't push the pace at all, just enjoyed being on the trails, felt like it had been a while since I just went out and ran on a trail for no good reason other than the enjoyment of it. 

Wasatch Crest with Jun and Scott. This was my first time on this trail, and man was I impressed! The road was closed on the way up towards guardsman, so we had to run an extra mile up the road, then hit the dirt road for a couple of uphill miles. Then you hit the singletrack for a couple of rolling flat miles, followed by 4 miles of bombing downhill to the end. I kept yo-yo-ing away from Craig then I'd catch up to him, then he'd pull ahead again, then with about a half mile to go I just completely ran out juice and had to just coast my way in. Fantastic run full of amazing views surrounded by pines and aspen. Can't wait for more runs like it. 

I've got the Bairgutsman coming up in a few weeks, and I had yet to run the canyon this year, so I figured I needed to get up and start running at least part of it. The Bairgutsman is a 12-13 mile run that begins with a 4000 foot climb up Baer Canyon over the course of about 3-4 miles, then you finish the rest of the mileage along the top of the mountain by Francis Peak and then part way down Farmington Canyon. The first few miles are really more of a slog than a run, but I tried to run as much of it as I could before I was relegated to hiking. Climbed 1750 feet in about 2 miles, then turned around and bombed my way down. I figured I probably went slightly more than halfway up - and it just seems to get steeper the higher you get. Its a fairly narrow and technical trail going down, so I did my best not to fall on my face - and was, at least this time, successful. Accidentally turned my watch off for about 10 minutes, but my time was right around an hour - which was about 40 minutes up and 20 down! :) Beautiful canyon and a great hike if you want a pretty quick (mileage wise anyway) way to get to the top of the mountain.   

5.2 with Jun in Dimple Dell. Ran through the new tunnel that goes under 13th, that'll be nice. No more crossing the road. Hot. 

Amazing Timp attempt with Jun, Scott and Jsh. Lots of snow and lots of fun. See their reports for pics and details. 

Family Reunion at the West Piney girls camp that sits between Swan Valley and Victor ID, about 40 miles from the Tetons. Had a great morning run with my older brother as we explored the trail from camp. Just at the very end of the trail we ran into a guy with a bunch of pack horses following him. He went passed us, but the pack horses didn't want to. We sat there for about 5 minutes off the trail, then decided to just run back the way we came to a different trail. Later the pack horses came wandering into camp, with the guy spending the next hour or so trying to chase them down. Oops. 

BoSho in Draper with Jun. I hadn't eaten much today and got tired and overheated, but plugged on through it. 700 feet of vert in about 1:02.

Baer Canyon run, almost to the top and back. It's a rough, steep trail. Getting excited for the race on the 6th. 

Had an early morning run with Scott and Matt VH, got up at 3:30, and since I live only a couple of miles from the Wasatch100 start, we met up at my place. We decided we'd do the first 14 or so of the W100 course, but rather than go back the way we came, or continue on to Farmington Canyon (would add another 10+ miles, and found later that its closed anyway), we would make a near complete loop by dropping down Baer Canyon - a steep, quick way to get from the top of the mountain to the bottom. So we dropped a car at the canyon trailhead, and then drove the mile or two over to the East Wilderness Park, where the race starts.

 Scott and Matt headed towards Chinscraper

This is my 'home trail' so I led us off and played tour guide for the first 5 or 6 miles as we ran on the BoSho, then connecting up to the Great Western. I had never been more than 6 miles on this trail, so it was cool to go past that and start to see some new stuff. I was actually quite surprised at how scenic the trail was. The higher you went, the better it got! And, though it was fairly steep, the trial was much more mild than I had anticipated. There was a nice spring at about mile 8 as you came up on Chinscaper, and after a brief detour (glad we didn't keep following THAT trail!), we made our way up Chinscraper, where Scott promptly scraped his knee (I guess he didn't want to fully commit with a chin scrape). We spent 20 or so minutes watching Scott try and see how many band-aids he could stack on top of each other while still allowing the blood to flow, then finally decided we might as well just keep on moving (I did offer to call for a life-flight, but Scott turned it down).

Last little push up to Chinscraper...Scotts knee has no idea whats coming 

VH on top of Chinscraper 

Scott's patch job...yes, he's wiping blood off his leg with a rock 

From Chinscraper there was still some climbing to do, but there were also some longer stretches of overgrown, but mostly runnable trail, which was nice after all the climbing. We skirted the base of Thurston Peak (and only 500 or so feet from the top, was killing us not to summit, but time was getting long), climbed up over a couple hills, hit a very short snow patch that took WAY too long (but I'm glad I had my poles, my shoes were in no shape to be dealing with snow). We summited one more, unnamed peak (I think it might have been unnamed peak number 9491) which topped us out at our highest elevation of 9506 feet, then continued mostly downhill to our junction with the Baer Canyon trail at about mile 13.75.

Great views 

Trail? What Trail? Yes VH is actually running on the trail 

Still a bit 'o snow up there 

I had told these guys that it was a steep, gnarly, overgrown trail, but I don't know that they believed me until we actually got on it. The first half mile or so is literally straight down a run- off trail - the switchbacks that once cut across the face of the hill are clearly visible from afar, but mostly useless to follow once you're there. You cut back across the face and then descend a bare, rocky ridgeline before getting swallowed up by the foliage, where you will pretty much stay until you are spit out at the bottom. We all stayed fairly close at the start, I stopped at a few critical spots to make sure that they made the turn, and then I just kind of took off. I was glad to see that the trail had actually be cleared a little of some of the overhanging trees, and the logs that blocked the trail further down in anticipation of the Bairgutsman coming up next weekend. I was also in a bit of a hurry because I had a conference call I needed to attend, and the cell service in the canyon is spotty. At some of the easy to miss turns, I stopped to put rocks to block the wrong way, and put arrows with twigs - don't know if they actually saw them, but its the thought that counts, right? As I got further down I was starting to get really hot and tired, we had been going for quite a while now, and the sun was in full force. I dipped my hat at the stream crossings, which helped keep cool. Once I got through the last stream crossing and pulled up away from the stream, I dialed into my call and just walked the last half mile or so to the end while I was on the phone (I had to talk every now and then so I didn't want to be running!)  Found a nice place to sit in the shade at the finish and waited for them to come in, about 10 minutes later.  

This was a fantastic, tough run that provided some calf crushing uphills, quad busting downhills, mingled with some fantastic views and a drop or two of blood. :) I'll try and post some pictures. 

 As a side note, VH had been telling me that Farmington Canyon was closed due to mudslides, which got me wondering what they were going to do for the Bairgutsman, since you run down part of it (and people have to come pick you up). So when I got home I looked it up, and sure enough they had to change the course for the race, which I'm kind of excited about. Now the race will go up to the top, run to Francis Peak, do a small loop and then head back down the trail! So, why am I excited? Well for one, the race will now finish where it started (a block from my house), so no one has to pick me up. But also, I'm guessing that a lot of the people that would normally be faster than me on a road probably don't do a lot of technical downhill running, so that could make it interesting! I just wish the Altra Lone Peaks were already out - my Instincts are starting to get a little slippery on the really steep stuff.    

This was a race that I wanted to do again this year for three reasons - 1- it was cheap, 2-I had run it last year and wanted to see if I could beat my time and 3-After the race last year I could barely walk, my knees hurt so bad (ITB). This race was kind of the turning point for me making changes to the way I run and I wanted to conquer the course and walk away pain free. 

The race is held at Soldier Hollow and is what I refer to as a roller coaster course - it starts out with a long climb the first mile and a half, followed by an overall decent down, but filled with tons of ups and downs along the way, some big, and lots of small. This year the race was run in conjunction with the first running of the Wasatch Back Marathon, a mostly trail marathon that looks very tempting.

The race started at 7:30am and as we began running, I pulled ahead with about a group of 10 speedies in front of me. It was a gradual climb at first, and then picked up slightly more as we went from pavement to the 'trail'. At first there were a few people just behind me, but as the hill continued, I noticed the breathing and voices began to become more faint. There was now one young guy hanging with me, and then a lady a little ways ahead. We caught up to the girl after a bit, then the three of us ran together for a short time, until about mile 2, where the young guy pushed on ahead, and I dropped the girl. We would stay in this order, though spread out a little, for the remainder of the race. Aside from that brief time at the beginning, I would spend the majority of the race alone, all the time trying to pull the kid back, and all the while being pushed by the girl behind me, who I could feel just wanted to catch me.

For some reason last year I had tried to hold myself back on the downhills, to 'pace' myself or something...while you certainly need to do that in a longer race - this was a 10K! This time I just tried to keep my feet turning over as I raced down the hills. One cool thing about the race is you spend a good amount of time on the face of the mountain above the start/finish area, so you can see down there and hear the music they're playing - though being able to see the finish does mess with your mind a little, as you wind back and forth along the hillside. There are sections where you pass within just a few feet of other runners, but are over a half mile ahead (or behind!) them.

I had run this in 59 minutes last year, so my first goal was to beat my time, but I also wanted to see if I could get close to 50 minutes - and deep down my real goal was to beat 50. As I was getting closer to the finish, I knew that 50 minutes was possible, but that I would have to push it. I put the hammer down on the last mile, coming quite close to the kid in front of me, as he passed a guy he had been chasing. As I hit the pavement and made the last little turn toward the stretch home, I could now see the clock, and it read 49...as I got closer I could see 49:34 and counting. I knew I could make it if I sprinted, so I pushed it hard, getting into the mid 4's and crossed the line just before the 50 minute mark. They had to scan my bib as I came in, so I really wasn't sure if my time would end up officially beating it or not. This was a runnercard race, which was nice because you just wait for a minute or two (and notice that you forgot to stop your own watch) and they give you a card that has your time and ranking on it. I was happy to see 49:50, with an age placement of 3rd - the same I had gotten last year.

I was very happy with how the race went, and the best part was, I felt great and could have gone for another round! Far different than last year! Just goes to show what changing your form and technique can do for you! Don't know if I'll do this one again though, its a bit of a drive for a 10K (worth it if you're in the area though).   

Run with Jun, Scott, and Steve from work. Ran Dimple Dell from the bottom to the top. This run was terrible for me, I don't know if was the heat, lack of calories, fast race last Sat or what, but I just couldn't keep up with Craig and Scott and just felt like molasses. Finally decided to stop trying to catch them and found that about a 9:30 pace felt fine. Blah. Must just be slow this week. We had planned on running only 6, so I didn't put any sunscreen on, then as we started we decided to do 10, so with no shirt I got a little fried.  

Ran with Jun on the BoSho from Sandy, up Canyon Hollow trail, down Ghost Falls and then back. That was my first time up Canyon Hollow, and it was a pleasure to run. I was still going slow, but it's a completely runnable trail from bottom to top. I've been eating like crap and was feeling it, had to take two way too long stops, one of which included a nearly 30 minute 'emergency' conference call at about mile 7. I felt bad for making Jun wait around, but he was a good sport. We cruised down Ghost Falls and I hung with Jun until we hit the BoSho and he took off. Cloud cover with a little rain was absolutely perfect running weather in this heat. 

BairGutsman on Saturday then off to San Diego for a week. I think I may take the week off and then get back into a better training mode when I return. We'll see...  

A really nice thing about this race is that it starts really close to my house, so even with the 6 o'clock start time, I didn't have to leave until around 5:30. 

Just before the start I said hi to a few people from my neighborhood that were running, then found Twinkies and said hi to him just as the countdown was starting. The course has a little less than a mile of pavement to start, so I wanted to try and use the road to get some separation, cuz I knew that the course turned into bottlenecking singletrack. I think I got into a decent spot as the trail started to narrow, I had a few people pass, and passed a few myself, and then for a while felt like the pace was pretty balanced. This course starts steep and just gets steeper the further up you go.

My legs felt tired for most of it, but my goal was to just keep moving without stopping. A little before the last big & steep climb to the top, Twinkies passed me looking really strong and moving well. I figured he would catch me, I was just hoping it would be a little later :). The steep part just goes straight up the face of the mountain, where some visible swithcbacks used to be, but are no longer used. It was just at the base of this that I saw the first runner (Corbin Talley) blasting his way down. I passed a few more people on this section, and for a while could still see Twinkies, again, moving really well up the steep, steep trail. I was starting to feel a little bonky, but knew the top was close, so I just kept pushing. For a bit I chatted with the  guy behind me that had just done Speedgoat last week - that's quite the 1-2 punch!

Got to the top aid station almost exactly at two hours, which was right where I wanted to be. I did take a minute here to drink a couple gatorades and grab a cup of swedish fish, which I just dumped in my mouth and slowly worked on them as I made my way down. Going down was a lot fun, but a little tricky at first, with so many people coming up the same trail, and trying to get around the people in front of me heading down. There was one spot where I knew the trail went one way, but the group was going another, so I figured that they were following a marked path (they had made a couple changes to the course in spots) so I followed them for a minute and then realized they didn't know where they were going, so I had to cut across a rocky hillside to get back to the trail. When I hit the trail I was running fast and came up to a guy that was blocking the trail tying his shoe, he looked up and saw me coming, and rather than just moving over to finish, he just hurried and tied his shoe and turned around and started trying to run ahead of me, so then I had to wait for an open spot to squeeze around him...kinda weird. I passed a few more people and then spent a lot of time alone, just blasting down the trail, I caught a few people that had been a good ways ahead of me going up - some of them looked as though they were just taking their time being careful coming down, while others just looked completely worked over, just trying to get themselves to the bottom.

Once the really steep, quad crushing stuff was out the the way, it was lots of fun to cruise the less steep downhills. I passed the (I think) second place female, and then caught a glimpse of a few more guys as I hit the road. At this point I really tried to pick up the pace as I could see they were really hurting, walking parts of the flat road. I may not be the speediest, but I do try to just keep moving. As I passed one guy walking DOWNhill, I tried to urge him on and he just said "I got nothing man, I am completely spent" - this course can certainly do that to you!

I passed one more guy and then rounded the bend where the finish line came into sight, probably a quarter mile down the road. Pushed the pace a little more, and sprinted out the last block or so in front of the 'crowd' - happy to see my wife and son there cheering me on - I didn't know if they were going to try and make it. I didn't catch my exact time, and I (like usual) didn't stop my watch until a little while after, but I think my time was about 3:04. I took a couple minutes to catch up with Twinkies and a couple others, then I had to just grab my stuff and take off - had a 10 hour drive to San Diego ahead of me. I didn't get to hang around for any results to post, so I'll have to update when I see the official results. (28th overall, 16 30-39 AG)

This is definitely not a fast running course, but if you want a good test of your climbing/descending skills on some steep, nasty, overgrown trails - this is a well organized, punishing, super fun race. I had a great time and will likely make this a yearly race. I really hope they keep the course they had this year.   

5.5 miles on the good old treadmill. Bleh. Trying to keep it flat for a while, plus I just didn't have time to get out. Took it nice and easy about 8-9 min pace at 2%. Watching 300 helped the time go by.

Three and a quarter on the TM - just wanted to get something in today. About an 8 min pace. Knee felt fantastic all day today after the run yesterday...maybe its NOT running thats hurting it! :) Hoping only a week or two of this crap and then I can hit the trails running. Need to get my miles bumped back up quick if I want to run the Pony Express 50. 

Rode the mid mountain trail in Park City with some of my wifes family - it was a ton of fun, I haven't been on my mountain bike for over a year (had to dust off the cobwebs and pump up the tires). We dropped a car at the bottom of the hill at Park City Resort and then headed up to the top of the hill and just rode our way down. Couple little rollers, but mostly all downhill. Started early and missed the masses that were getting started when we finished. Now I want to go run that one sometime. Wouldn't be too bad to run up.   

Five plus on the TM. Loads of fun... :

 Knee is feeling better and better though.  

5 miles on the JRP with Jun. Ran a pretty consistent 8:30 pace, which felt a little faster than it should have. Knee felt good, legs were a little tired, but they're getting used to it.  

Got home late and was relegated to the TM again. Ran nice'n'easy for about an hour watching a movie with my wife, then cooled down walking a while more at 10% incline. 

Followed up last nights TM run with a mid morning run on the Gully trail with Jun. I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I grabbed the closest thing in my office - a cup o' noodles - and powered that down before heading out. Yum. Weather was perfect and it felt great to be out. Effort was harder than it should be, but I suppose that's to be expected for a little bit. I felt good, just a little slow. Knee felt fantastic - well, my knee felt NOTHING, even on the downhills, which was fantastic! Usually I can at least feel it, even if its not really painful - so that's great news. Craig dropped me just after the last hill and pulled away for the finish...just has to rub it in after running over 60 miles in the last few days. :)

 6.04 miles - 54:18 - 8:59 AP - 434 vert 

Ever since our last attempt at Timp in July - where we were unable to summit do to an incredible amount of snow still on the mountain - I had been wanting to get back up there to get the summit (and just to see the mountain again!). So when Jun said he wanted to get an early morning summit in, I just couldn't pass it up - despite the early rising it would require. 

We started the run at a very casual pace as we chose not to wear headlamps (Scott still has mine from Wasatch anyway...:)) as it would be getting light soon. I appreciated the slower pace as I hadn't been running hills for a few weeks. It was fun to run in the dark and see all around you, not having the 'tunnel vision' that a headlamp gives you. As we got higher up it was amazing to see the difference in the mountain and the trail without all the snow.

I kept Craig mostly in sight for the first couple of miles, and then he really pulled ahead and I completely lost sight of him. As we later compared mileage I would learn that he had cut nearly a half mile off by taking little shortcuts here and there - that's a good 10 minutes on a trail like that! Once we got up to the saddle I had no idea what to expect, and was surprised at how rugged and steep the trail was. It was super cool. I could only imagine trying to make your way back down that with a line of hikers coming up! I also kept trying to fathom how Davy did this 5 times! Amazing!

We spent a little bit on the top just taking in the views, and then finally decided we'd better head down. The run down was a lot of fun, once you get past the super rocky stuff up top, its a pretty good run down. The grass was green and the mountain flowers were out - it was fantastic! Craig ditched me fairly quickly and I just tried to keep a consistent pace going down - I hadn't run like this in a couple of weeks so I wanted to make sure that I still had enough in the tank. As I got closer to the bottom and knew where I was, I started pushing the pace harder to see how my legs felt. They were tired but felt like there was still plenty in there.

Can't wait to get back there again! Total moving time was about 3:30. I certainly wasn't fast but that wasn't why I was did this one. Knee felt great the whole run which was good news.

New socks AND new shoes? SOOO Nice!

While my Altras remained super comfy on my Timp run the other day, their nearly decimated tread on the bottom made for a few sketchy descents - so I decided that it was time to pick up a new pair, if only for the trails. 

Jun and I decided to do a Mt Baldy loop above Alta. As we drove up there I commented that I don't think I've ever been up that canyon in the summer - and man was it spectacular! Even having lived here all my life I am constantly amazed at how quickly you can leave the valley and get views that you feel like you should have had to hike days to see. 

We started in a lower parking lot and began running where the dirt road starts. This is a nice relatively easy gradual climb up, but man after Wednesdays Timp run my calves were screaming at me quite a bit! I just kept plugging along as Craig pulled further and further ahead of me. I can't believe how fast that dude has been running, even with all these miles.

After a couple miles on the road, we turned off onto a trail and made our way up to Secret Lake. The last push to the lake had my calves exploding, but it felt good to keep 'em working. As we made our way up past the lake and into the steeper stuff, the hiking provided a little respite to the calves which was nice. The climb remained pretty consistent up to the ridgeline, where we moved towards the summit with some nice rock scrambling, followed by a nice trail to the top.

Wow. What a view. As we got to the top a cloud surrounded us, and nearby peaks would show through breaks in the clouds - it felt like you were looking at a painting, that you could just reach out and touch the canvas. We, however, were not merely partakers of the beauty, but for that moment, felt a part of the mountain itself. 

From there we backtracked the way we came, but then from the ridge followed the fire break road as it wound us down the mountain, giving us more amazing views. There was one point we hit a little bit of singletrack for about a half mile through a rolling meadow, with flowers waist high and a huge mountain in front of you - I commented to Craig it that had to be one of the best little sections of trail ever! What another fantastic summit to hit. 

Still not feeling very fast, but I do feel like my endurance is still there, so I'll just keep plugging away! 

Can't seem to find a minute to get away...another late night TM run. 5.5 miles @ 2% - tried to pick up the pace a little on a couple of 'em. 

5.5 mile Dimple Dell run with Jun. I was at least able to keep him fairly close by on the way up, he got to the top about 30 seconds before me. On the way back I was feeling fairly tired and my stomach started bugging me. On one of the only significant uphills going down Jun dropped me and pulled quite a ways ahead. I felt like I made up a little time in the last mile, but he still finished a good couple minutes ahead of me. Overall felt pretty good despite being dropped like a rock. 

Early morning run with Jun on the BoSho downtown, starting by the Capitol. I could tell Jun wasn't quite feeling it when I was able to stay right with him on the uphills. Ha. A little later as we were hiking up a hill, he told me he felt like "poo on a stick". Well, I guess we all have those days, and we were both content to just enjoy the scenery, however slow we were going. Hit the top of our run (4 miles) on a little hill just shy of the avenue twins, and then headed back down. As we ran down I started to feel better and better, and just let the hill pull me on down. I don't think I've run that fast in quite a while, and it felt nice! I think the new shoes helped give me some traction too, which kept me from sliding on my butt, or eating it trying to run around a tight switchback.

After the run I felt like a cold was coming on (have had a scratchy throat the past couple days), so I'll cross my fingers that it doesn't last too long.  

After our run yesterday I started feeling worse and worse. Mostly just cold symptoms, but it made for a not so fun day. Luckily I was working from home which made it a little more bearable. Last night I just knocked myself out with some Nyquil and slept for half the day today. That usually seems to do the trick. Still not 100%, but feeling much better. 

By the afternoon, though, I was actually kind of restless. Add to that the amazing weather we've been having, and I just had to get out. Finally made it out for an evening run on the Kaysville BoSho.

Ran a hair over 7 miles from the East Wilderness Park to the Fernwood picnic area and back. Didn't run fast at all, just tried to keep a nice consistent pace. Kept it under a 10 min average overall, which is about all I can ask for right now. 1027 vert - 9:53 AP

6.8 this afternoon with Jun in Corner Canyon. Started on the BST at Red Rock, Craig dropped me once we hit some uphills. I caught back up to him about a half mile later after some flats and downhill. Once we turned up Clarks and hit the constant, yet gradual uphill, it was adios. I did catch a glimpse of him here and there up ahead, but just didn't have the legs to catch him. Near the top of Clarks we headed south on a new trail, which was a lot of fun - went pretty much straight around the face of the mountain above the Draper Temple, with some sweet views of the valley. Once we hit Suncrest road we hit a trail that took us back down to the BST and back to the car. Hung with Craig until about the last half mile when there are a couple of little climbs that he just left me behind on. I know I'm a little slower than I used to be, but I think a lot of it is that he's just that much faster. Looking forward to seeing how he does at Pony Express. Almost exactly the same stats as yesterday - vert, distnce, pace, but today felt harder. I think its because with this you get all the climbing pretty much at once. 6.8 miles - 1100 vert - 9:51 pace

Well that was a lot more vert than I was planning on...though for the distance it wasn't terrible.

Was hoping for a semi-long, relatively flat trail/dirt road run. I thought I'd give the BST/Firebreak road from near my house in Fruit Heights over to Bountiful and back a try. Ended up being lots of rolling hills up and down and in and out the entire way. Dumped me out at Cheese park in Bountiful at about 9.5, where I was happy to see a bathroom with running water, where I refilled my pack, ate a little, and headed back.  

I by no means was fast at all on this run, nor was I trying to be. :) At about mile 15 I was surprised to find that I was out of water already - I had refilled 50 ounces 5 miles ago! Still had 4 miles, and just trudged along the best I could. The entire run is extremely exposed with virtually no cover, so it got a little hot. A slight breeze helped cool things down a little. Had a couple of REALLY slow uphill miles in those last 5, but made it back to the car just shy of 19 miles. Really just wanted to hit 50 for the week.

Drank a 44 oz Coke in the 5 minutes it took to get from Maverick back home. :)

18.88 miles - 3:34:30 - 11:22 pace - 2550 vert   

AM: I've been hastlin' my neighbor about getting out for a run ever since he told me he hadn't run since the Bairgutsman (8/6), so I finally got him out this morning for a casual run on the BoSho Kaysville. 
He's not a big runner so we took it nice and easy and just had some good conversation. I think he enjoyed it and felt motivated to get out more and run. Just shy of 5 miles, 530 vert, 10:12 AP.

PM: Corner Canyon run with Jun. Started at Red Rock, ran north and up Canyon Hollow trail, followed by a little dirt road run up to the top of Clarks, then down Clarks and back. Jun pulled way ahead on the climb and I just got into a steady comfortable rhythm and worked my way to the top. That trail keeps going up, but it really is a nice trail to run up. The leaves are just starting to change, which made for a beautiful run up. Coming down Clarks was fast and fun - I was able to stick with Jun the whole way down. Once we got to the bottom and started to climb a little, I was dropped again. Just kept working my way along until I stopped paying attention for a minute and turfed it. Ha. I wasn't going very fast, so it probably looked really funny. Luckily my water bottle took the brunt of the fall, I just got a little dirty. Felt really slow on the last little bit. There are a couple of little hills that always seem to take it out of me on this section. 7.7 miles, 1330 vert, 9:57 AP
 

Spent the night at Juns house so we could leave bright and early for a pre-work Lake Mountain run. Got up, dressed and left by about 3:15. Drove to the south end of Lake mountain and spent a little bit of time looking for the right place to put a drop bag - we didn't want to drop it too early and miss it, or too far and have to run further than we needed to get to our stuff. Found what we thought was the right spot, and luckily it ended up being right!

Headed back north to Eagle Mountain where we parked the car and set off running. We ran clockwise heading south on the east side of the mountain. The first few (ok 12, really) are a pretty much a bunch of rocky, rolling ups and downs as you make your way along the side of the mountain. At Enoch pass you hit the high point of the run and we stopped there for Craig to take a 'break' (I had already had a couple). As I stopped to wait I started to feel a little bonky - or at least like one was coming on, so I tried to eat a few things while I was waiting. From there you have about 3 miles of a long gradual downhill, and once we got started on that Craig left me in the dust. It was cool though because you could see the road just stretching for miles out in front of you. At this point I just tried to keep a nice, steady pace - I knew I still had 20 or so miles to go and didn't want to push anything too hard.

I had to make a quick, urgent stop about a half mile before I hit the road at about mile 16 and caught up to Craig (who was walking so I could catch up). A hair over a mile on the road brought us to our turn off and 'aid station'. We refilled our water and grabbed the Coke and food we had waiting. We spent the next few minutes walking along - I with my Coke and PB&J, and Craig nursing a Pepsi and eating a burrito, laughing about what we were eating while running and the responses other people often give when you tell them what you eat and how nothing beats a Coke on a long run.

This next section is a couple miles of gradual uphill on dirt road. I had to walk on a couple of the 'steeper' (ha) parts - but eventually got into a rhythm and was able to move along, although (of course) Craig pulled ahead of me. The road then starts to head South again, which your body says should NOT be happening at this point (the car is NORTH!! :)) Eventually though, the road does bend north and down, dumping you off on the Eagle Mountain dirt road that would take us to the finish - in about 12 miles. Craig waited for me (again) at the road and we moved right along. I still wasn't feeling great - I hadn't really felt good at all this run - just OK, and kept feeling like I was teetering on the edge of a bonk for a long time. Anything that hit my stomach would make it turn. I stopped to walk a couple of times on this stretch, which felt ridiculous because this was finally a nice long, FLAT section. I finally did come to a point where I realized that walking didn't really help anything other than to make this take longer, so I'd pick it up and run along.

We didn't really know exactly how far we had to run, but as we got closer we began to assume that it was likely going to be more than our goal of 31 miles. Kept moving along and it was quite  nice sight to finally see the car off in the distance. Craig really turned it on and had a strong sprint to the finish. I just kept going until I got there :).

Overall I felt fairly good about the run - I had run 13 miles the day before (and 20 a couple before that), and the goal was to run this one with some miles and vert on the legs. I didn't ever feel great, but was happy that I was able to just keep chugging along. Driving home I joked with Craig that we might as well just drive over and hit Timp - and had we not had to get to work, I think he probably would have gone for it - if only to spite me. :) 

Little Cottonwood Canyon Trail with Jun. Ran this 5 mile out and back twice with Jun. You gain about 850 feet of vert in the 2.5 miles up, then turn around and fly back. Pretty rocky, but a beautiful trail, especially this time of year as the leaves are changing. Jun charged ahead as usual, getting about 4 minutes ahead overall. I pushed the first downhill hard, like I wasn't going to have to run it again. Once we went out for a second round I actually felt better, just a little slower than the first loop. Ended up 3 minutes slower on the second lap over the first - which I was acutally pretty happy with. Was still able to pull a few 7 min miles in there.

1:32 - 9:15 pace - 1720 vert.

So Jun and I got all dressed and ready for a lunchtime run, drove to the trail head at the Equestrian park in Draper. Upon arriving , we opened our doors and were greeted with a blast of sideways rain and bitter (at least it seemed) cold wind. We both shut our doors and sat in the car for another minute, before changing our course and driving NOT to another trailhead, but to the nearest Arctic Circle for a nice milkshake...somehow that seemed like a good trade. Ha.

Got home tonight and knew I had to get a run it, so it was on the treadmill I went...my goal was to run for an hour and a half. Got 10 miles in and my new record for time and distance spent on a TM- not a record I'm proud of. 

10 miles on the JRP with Jun. Enjoyed a nice (but cold) tailwind on the way out. Coming back, that tailwind was now a very chilly headwind that pushed against us. We ended up running a negative split back, which was good considering the wind - I think we just wanted to get in out of the cold! I felt fairly strong and was able to push it to the end. 1:21:00 - 8:08 AP 

Ran the BST in Draper with Jun, Scott and Brent, Juns brother. Kept a fairly casual pace until about a half mile until the turn around point, where Jun turned up the heat a little. I was feeling good and was determined not to let him drop me, so I stuck right with him as we hit the low 6's and into the 5's. I was feeling plenty tired as we started back, but gradually my legs came back and I started feeling better and better and again, was able to stick right with Craig, which felt nice - especially right at the end where we sprinted it out on the short paved section to the finish, touching, if only for a moment, about a 3:30 pace - ha - much more that would have had me face-planting under jello legs. Weather was perfect, I felt good and had a fun time out with the boys. 58:04 - 9:12 AP - 1150 vert 

6 miles on the BST in Kaysville - didn't want to get a ton of vert, so I did some 1 mile repeats along a flat(ER) section of trail. Started as the sun was setting and it was a spectacular view. 6 miles - 56:15 - 9:22 AP - 1000 vert

Grandeur Peak loop - met up with Jun and Scott at the trail head off 3300 S and they were standing around scratching their heads wondering where Matt VH was, as his car was sitting in the parking lot, but he was nowhere to be seen. A moment later though, down comes a lone runner from the trail - turns out he hadn't been able to sleep and so just headed up early and got a summit in before we started! We then all started back up together. The trail to the summit is a steep, fairly consistent incline for just over 2 miles before you hit the summit. I could see Craig until 1.5, and then he just disappeared, topping out about 5 minutes sooner than the rest of us.

Once on top we took a few minutes to survey the scenery and take in the beautiful sunrise and changing leaves. Craig decided that he didn't have time to do the entire loop (he really did, I think he was just tired....ha, kidding, of course), so he headed back down the trail we had just come up while we dropped down the east trail.

From the summit looking east

 While the west trail is steep and a bit of a slog - you gain over 3000 ft of vert in just over 2 miles - but it was well worth that price to run down that east trail into Millcreek Canyon. Wow. The trail was a pleasure to run down, and the morning sun and turning leaves made it dang near magical. Ha ha.

 After a bit of running along the ridge and side of the mountain, you duck down into the trees and work your way along towards the Pipeline trail. This section was a blast and I just let gravity do its job and pull me down the hill. I just got a new camera so I was testing it out by just snapping a ton a pictures to see how they'd turn out while I was running.

 Once we got to the pipeline trail, we took it west for a few miles then dropped down at Rattelsnake Gulch where we ran down to Millcreek canyon road, running that to Wasatch and back north to the car.

Overall it was a shade under 11 miles, took about 2:30 - it took almost as long to climb the frist two miles as it did to run the last 8! Super fun day on a fantastic trail. 

Pony Express Trail 50 Mile Endurance Race 

Alrighty...those of you that know me, know that I am very long winded with my writing, so read this in bits, or get comfy with a good snack (or sack lunch).

I didn't want to worry about getting up and driving the morning of the race, so I decided that I'd camp out the night before at the starting line, so I could just get up and go. Jun was doing the same, so my crew agreed to come out as well and make a night of it. We chatted around the camps for a bit, Craig used his banana hands to fish Maurines keys out of her jeep, and then we pretty much just spent the evening hanging out at the campfire chatting, laughing and telling stories. Finally, as the fire was dying down and the boys were getting rowdy, we decided to turn in and try and get a little rest before the race. 

I borrowed my mother in laws van, which was nice - I didn't have to worry about setting up and taking down a tent. I didn't sleep well, which wasn't too surprising. I didn't really feel nervous or anxious, just not sleepy. Probably a little excited. It also didn't help that I was on a slight hill (Craig and his brother were smart enough to move-though I don't know that they slept much better), so it took me a little while to get comfy. Got a couple hours of sleep in overall, usually I would dream about running and then wake up. I seemed to wake up just a minute or two before both 5am and 6am early starters - so it was fun to hear the countdown and start for those. 

Finally I decided to get up, not needing the 6:45 alarm that I had set. I wanted to be up to see the 100 milers start, and it would give me time to get my stuff together. I got dressed and got out to see Jun getting amped up and ready to go. He was actually just leaving one of the tent POPs, unable to figure out quite how to use them, luckily he didn't need to go too badly. We cheered the 100 milers on their way, and then went about starting to get ready for our own start. 

As it started to get light and people started to show up, I started to get excited about running. My crew would consist of a co-worker Steve, his buddy Vince, and unfortunately due to his dad not being able to run, Josh was able to join along for the fun with my crew, for which I was grateful. Steves two dogs, Shredder and Marvo (?) would also tag along for the ride. Hopefully they were OK company for Josh in the van. Steve volunteered his van for the race, which was fantastic. We put all of the food in the stow-n-go area for the front seats, which made them accessible for the crew, but not for the dogs!

My Crew Steve, Vince and Josh, talking to Scott Wesemann 

Threw all my stuff into his van, tried to give a few instructions on what I would need, and hoped I wouldn't forget anything. Scott Wesemann showed up to crew Matt Van Horn, Kelli was there with her Scott, so we all kind of gathered at the start area to chat and then listen to the race directions (which was pretty much "stay on the road for 50 miles, except at Simpson where you drop down and back for a minute"). No need to worry about course directions out here!! It wasn't long before the 5-4-3-2-1 GO and we were off. 

The start 

I didn't want to start off super fast, since this was a long race, but kind of settled in with a group of about 5 people (including Britta, the eventual female winner), but after a 7:59 first mile, I pulled back a little bit, not wanting to overdo it too early (although mile 2 was 8:02...who knows). Matt jumped out to the front quickly with eventual winner Seth Wold, and I was a little worried that he was going to blow up with such a fast start (which wasn't the case!). 

Several people had early stops, some at about the two mile mark, I had told my group to go to mile 5, couldn't imagine needing anything I didn't already have by then. Kelli passed me in her car and commented that Scott needed binoculars to see me, but I knew that it wouldn't be long before he caught up with me. Sure enough, probably at about mile 8, I heard footsteps come clip-clopping behind me, and there was Scott by my side. It was nice to have someone to run with, since letting the front group go, I had been running solo from then on out. We chatted for a few miles and enjoyed the sunshine beginning to warm the air. Scott was kind enough to hold my water bottle while I took my long sleeve shirt off. 

Running with Scott, about mile 8 - Photo courtesy of Kelli 

At about mile 11 our crews stopped a little ways apart, so I left Scott as he stopped, and then I had my crew pull a little more ahead and have my luggable loo ready, since it seemed that breakfast (or maybe dinner) was starting to hit. Made a relatively brief stop (still had a 10:28 on that mile) - that loo was worth its weight in gold! It was very nice not to have to worry about where, when or how you were going to take care of business! Scott passed me while I was on the throne, and didn't stop even when I asked if he could spare a square. Once back on the road he was just a little ways ahead of me, but I never could quite catch up to him, and then, it seemed like he was just gone! It would be several hours before I would see him again. 

I then picked up Tyler, a young runner who I had run with at the Buffalo Run, and ran into again at the Legacy Duathlon - he had looked like he was struggling just a little, and as I ran up to him at his car, I called out his name and he just jumped over from the car and started running with me. We chatted for a while, he mentioned that on both of our other races I had helped him pull through and finish the Buffalo Run, and then at the duathlon I helped him pass a guy to get him the 1st place AG. We talked about how he won the Wasatch Back Marathon, and that he is Lilys cousin! Cool kid - very cool to see a 17 year old out doing stuff like this! Ran into Kelli who offered me a cold towel, which was very nice! We ran for a couple of miles, but just as the hill starts to climb to Simpson Springs, he latched on to another runner that was passing and kept on moving. I would try for quite a while to catch him again, got close a few times, but could never pull it off. He stayed strong and ended up finishing in 5th place!

Running down into Simpson Springs - lots to look at... 

Coming out of Simpson Springs, with Josh 

Thus far I had made no stops, just exchanging bottles and gels with my crew and moving on. At the top of Simpson I walked for a bit and drank a Coke (I ended up drinking a lot of Coke!), then made the turn onto what I called "the treadmill"...the 18 mile straight as an arrow stretch of road that just folds out in front of you as far as you can see. The next 10 or so miles just seemed to fly by without incident. I hit the marathon at about 4:20, a little slower than I had hoped for, but close enough.

This is about mile 20 - can't quite catch Tyler 

Shortly therafter, around about mile 27, I went to take a gel, and the second that hit my stomach it tried to come right back out! Yikes - so there it was. Felt really nauseas, hot, a little dizzy, and a lot of tired. I decided to walk it out for a bit to get over it. I could see the runners I had been chasing for the last 4 hours fade off into the distance, and what had been an empty desert behind me, seemed to fill with a flood of runners who would soon overtake me. It was here that I had to assure myself that I just needed to run my race, stick to my plan, and not worry about placing or ranking - you can't control who shows up to a race - you can only control how you perform. I gave myself nearly a full mile of walking - I had worked in a few minute walk breaks every now and then, but that was it - this was by far the longest I had, and would walk. The worst part about walking is that it takes SO much longer!! When the car that I had thought had been my crew car drove off ahead, I finally kicked it back into a running gear and ran another half mile or so to the car. My goal had been not to stop at all for at least 50K. I was at 28.5 here. I took a quick sit on the loo, then told my crew to meet me at the 50K point where I would take an actual pit stop. I was starting to feel very overheated and hungry, so I hoped a stop would help. I felt much stronger as I ran to the 50K mark where my crew was waiting. I had them soak my hat and bandanna in the ice water in the cooler while I draped a cold towel over my head and around my neck (thanks Kelli!!), stretched, ate a sandwich, drank a ginger ale, ate some chips and then decided to move on. It took 10 minutes - much longer than I wanted, but I felt like I really needed it.

Mile 32 or so - who really knows? :) 

Shortly after leaving, I noticed a green shirt up ahead of me - could that be Scott? I hadn't seen him in hours. It looked he was having a rough time, and when I caught up to my crew car, Josh confirmed it was Scott (with pacer). I gained a little more on them, and as I got closer they took a walking break on a little incline. I told myself if I could catch them, I could walk with them for a bit. As I caught up and started to walk with them, Scott tried to urge me on, but I just said "No way man, I earned this walk!" We chatted for a minute, taking a look back at where we had just come from (we were just coming to the end of the 18 mile stretch). Jarom was just behind us at this point as well. Finally I decided it was time to roll and I bid them goodbye. Scott told me to go get 'em (thats probably not what he said, but it was something like that!:)) and I pushed on ahead. 

Finally caught up to Scott at about 33 - his pacer is trying to run me down!- Pic by Kelli

At mile 35, just as you start the initial approach to Dugway Pass, Josh jumped out to pace me. It wasn't too exciting of a pacing job to start, since we did a fair amount of walking up the pass. At the top we caught a 100 mile runner, who looked like he was having a really hard time (he was wearing Merrel tough gloves, which probably aren't tough enough for a race like this) and was just picking his way up the hill. I stopped for a brief fuel stop at the top here, Kelli offering me more food, water, fruit, whatever I needed - what a good person to have around! I think I ate more of a sandwich and then we left just as Scott was getting to the top. I was glad to see that he was still moving pretty well. 

Getting to the top of Dugway with Kelli checking on us 

I was actually a little excited for the stretch from Dugway on, and I just let my legs roll as we hit the downhill. It felt great to be running at a decent pace again, and Josh and I just started cruisin'. Steve had said he was going to run with us for a while, but I hadn't seen him, so I thought he was going to ride the van down and then hop out. I noticed, though, that Josh kept looking back every now and then, and finally it dawned on me that Steve was trying to catch up! I walked for a minute (to let Steve catch up, of course :)) and as we continued on he commented he was running at like 190 BPM and 90% of max on his HR! It was fun to run along with a friend on both sides of me - I felt like I was someone important with my bodyguards alongside! Ha. I think Steve ran for about three miles with us, and then Vince jumped in for a few miles of running. He just cruised along wearing cargo shorts and sandals! We caught up to Smooth along here and didn't have much time to chat, but they did catch a picture of me and my posse and we ran along. They were all smiles and looked like they were just out for a jog in the desert - not 45 miles into a run! So fun. 

Me and my gang - about mile 42 - pic by Kelli 

We dropped Vince at the van and really tried to pick up the pace. I had had some cramping earlier, but now it hit me hard. We would be cruising along and then my hamstring would seize up and I couldn't move. So I'd stop, stretch it, walk (make sure it worked) then we'd go back to running. Then a calf would take a turn, then the other hammy. Josh was great, he'd stop and wait and then when we'd run he'd get right back at it. I had him just run right in front of me and I would just try and keep up! I was feeling really tired, but was also happy with how we were running (9:28 for mile 48!), we talked about how nice it is to be this close and smell the finish and think about just sitting down!! The only sitting down I had allowed myself was on the edge of the van (or on the loo). So the thought of just sitting seemed mighty nice!
It was great at about mile 47 to just tell the boys to drive to the finish! Was happy to see Matt VH somewhere around here, and was elated to hear his time (8:30!). We continued to run and as we got towards Blackrock, I told Josh to just keep running, no stopping, that I didn't even want to LOOK at the finish line yet. So we ran on the far side of the road and I just kept my eyes focused forward and kept moving.

Slow Children at play indeed - this is as I run passed the finish line towards the out and back.  

I had no idea how far ahead the turnaround was, but we just kept running. We saw Kevin Crockett on his way back from the turn around, and there was a guy in Red running that we were determined to pass. I saw the sign up ahead, and could make out the 5 on it, and for some reason I was thinking it was saying something like "500 yards to go" to the turnaround, or something. So I was actually quite please when I realized that WAS the turn around point! As we made the turn Josh said "You know what we have to do right?" What? I said. "Catch that guy"! So Josh turned on the jets (at least they were jets for me, I think he was taking a nap) and pulled me hard as we reeled the guy in closer and closer. As you get close to the finish there is a slight incline that takes you up to the finish. We passed Kevin here, and then the guy in red started to walk - as we got to the hill Josh said "you love hills, lets hit this thing" and we picked up the pace as we ran up the 'hill', even getting a comment from the guy in red, something to the effect of not being able to imagine running that right now. I may have cursed Josh a little at this point, but he and I both knew this is what I wanted and needed. I was going to finish this race pushing hard and leaving it all right there.

The finish!! 9:37:01 

What a sight to turn into that finish line and realize that you just completed 50 miles! 9:37:01 I high fived my crew and immediately went and peed - it had been nearly 7 hours, so I was glad that I finally needed to. At that point I knew that I was really quite dehydrated and needed to get some fluids in me. I went and sat by the monument and had my crew bring me some water and a burger. For some reason they brought me a random warm jug of water, that I just chugged...I don't know if it was the warmth, amount, flavor was off, or what, but the second that hit my stomach I was immediately (again) nauseas and thought I was going to puke. I hate throwing up and my body doesn't seem to want to allow it, even though it was going through the motions! My crew moved me away from the women and children, and it finally subsided - though my appetite was now gone...

Juns crew and brother, Brent showed up right at that point to chat with us for a minute, and to see if we could drive their other crew members car back to the 100 finish, as he had come late and they didn't want to have to leap frog two cars the whole way (especially if one of them wanted to run!). I was glad they were able to catch us so we could help. I wanted to stay around for Craig to get back to Blackrock, but didn't know how long that would be, likely about an hour, and I knew I needed to get myself and my crew back, but I was glad I saw Brent so we could at least pass on our support. 

Josh and I hopped (OK, Josh hopped, I hobbled) into Juns friends car and headed back towards Simpson Springs. We passed Kelli and Scott as he was getting close to the finish - I was happy to see them still moving along, but I knew it had been a hard day, and wish there was more you could do to help. We gave them a high five and cheers of support and then drove on our way. 

If theres one downside to this race, its the drive back across the course! I guess the advantage to the 100 is that you just run back most of the way! :) Josh and I cruised along and had some good conversation while we wondered if the car we were given to drive would actually make it - since we noticed that we were now riding on the "E" of the gas gage! We finally made it to Simpson, and the second I hopped out of the car to get in the van I was hit with chills and became freezing cold! I climbed in the van and cranked the heat up to get warm - then got really hot. I think my body was still in a bit of shock and having a hard time regulating itself. We arrived at the starting line (after searching for a bit) chucked what stuff I could from their van to mine, and then set off.

The drive home was rough. I was by myself, super tired (though not sleepy), dehydrated, calorie deficient, dirty, smelly and would soon be very hungry - yet I still had a nearly 2 hour drive home! I was very tempted to just grab a hotel in Tooele or someplace, but something in me just wanted to get home. I was also supposed to be picking up my son (my wife was away with her mom and sisters for a girls weekend) from my sisters, but when I called my sister to let her know I was on my way she was kind enough to offer to keep him overnight, which I was SO thankful for. Once I got home I ordered a pizza, and then just laid on the floor while I waited for it to come! Ha. I must have been quite the sight! I ate some, took a bath, then went to bed, only to wake up dripping wet an hour later, then wide awake at about 2:30. I was thinking about the 100 milers out there, and wondering if Craig was done by then (turns out, he was!). Since I couldn't sleep I went back downstairs and grabbed some more pizza and put on a movie, which I finally fell asleep to. It was a rough night - certainly would have been helpful to have someone around! :)

I can't thank my crew enough for the time and support they gave me - it's not anyone that will come out and let you boss them around all day while you punish yourself! They did an amazing job and were more than I could have asked for. Josh (jsh) was a complete stud for pacing me and pushed me hard to get the job done. It was just what I needed and helped immensely! Kelli was great to have around too - even though she wasn't on my crew! So many other great crews and runners made this event an absolute blast to be a part of. Congratulations to all my friends and fellow runners who were out there!

What an amazing experience. It truly is hard to put into words the things that you go through and endure in an event like this. You come home and try and tell people about it, and they just don't seem to understand! I guess thats why we have things like this - a place to tell your story and share your events with each other so we can all be a part of those experiences! 

If you would have asked me just two years ago if I wanted to (or even could) run a 5K, I would have told you no way! A marathon? In your dreams! 50 miles? Nobody does that! Wow, incredible what you can do with a little bit of dedication and hard work (and a lot of fun!). Can't wait for more to come! Wanna come along?   :)