Gaining more than you lose

Ave twins with Jun, Scott and je10, with MVH catching up to us a bit later. Started off COLD. The run on the road in City Creek canyon was brutal, my fingers were frozen in a matter of minutes and I was wondering how miserable this was going to be. Once we hit the trail and got a little higher though, the temps really warmed up, at least a few degrees. I didn't have a chance to eat anything for breakfast, so my energy was feeling pretty low on the climbs. Luckily no wind, with spectacular view of the night sky with numerous shooting star sightings. Hit the top in 1:05 and chatted on the summit a bit before heading down. On the steep section down I couldn't help myself and just blasted through the powder and had a great time cruising down. Got back to my car which kindly told me that is was 4 degrees. Brrrr...

Was hoping for a longer run today, but opted rather for some trail breaking up in the hills. Time and effort was about the same as a longer run! Aaron and I started at Davis Creek in Farmington and went up to Hell Hole. No trail once you fork off the Pretty Valley trail, so it was all breaking trail. Did come across some snowshoe tracks once the trail met up with the other part of the PV trail. Followed those up to Hell Hole, which was pretty awesome this time of year, lots of frozen water. Followed the tracks up and over towards pretty valley with about a half mile out and back detour to "Prayer Rock". Made it down to pretty valley and then completed the loop back. Slow and steady, but had a great time on a gorgeous day.

"Lunchtime Route" to the Ave Twins. Started at the upper TH, so it takes off a little bit to save time. Could have cut off more on the way back, so I will keep that in mind for even shorter days. Weather was amazing, especially on the twins, where the sky was blue and the air was fresh. 

This is in front of me - Yummy... 

And this is behind me- it was HOT 

Quick 4 on the City Creek BST west (north?) side. Trail conditions were pretty good, definitely warmer today, and could tell a few spots were starting to get icy. 

These are the days mountain running was invented for. Perfect morning, the inversion appears to have begun to clear out, and is settled much lower than it has been in the past. The fellas (Jun, MVH, and Scott) were going for a long run today, and since I had to work, I just joined them for the first part - up Wire, along the Red Butte ridgeline, down the the living room, where we parted ways and I ran back from there, with them continuing on. 

Sunrise from Wire

Always happy to be on a summit 

Craig with Wire in background 

Still looking nasty, but getting there

Craig trying his yoga moves

East Wilderness to the top of Adams Canyon and back with my brother (Warlordblade) and brother in law. It was certainly slow going, and a lot of extra work with all of the snow, but at least it was well traveled so there was no post holing involved. Weather was great, sun was shining bright on our way back. I don't run the Adams canyon section off the BST much, but I particularly enjoy it in the winter. 

Aaron Cruisin' up 

Farmington Canyon with MVH, Twinkies, my brother and a couple of others. Met dark and early at 5:30 and just took a nice easy pace up and up and up. The three of us Matts kind of pulled ahead a little, and then a few miles up (I think around 3) Twinkies split off and headed back down, so MVH and I just plodded on up ahead. Got to 5 miles, made a U turn and headed down, with the others turning when we got to them. Passed a couple of entrail piles from what I would assume was from poachers cleaning their kill and dragging it out on a sled. Left 'em right in the middle of the road. I'm sure some mountain lion will enjoy that once it thaws a little.  Good morning. 

Up at 3, running by 4 with Scott, Jun and Sam, starting from the Capitol. Sam hung with us until the BST/Twins junction before having to turn back to make it in for work. We decided to continue on the BST to see if the trail was tracked out enough to make it to Dry Fork, and then to the zoo. It wasn't to be so - after a fairly decent trail for about a mile or so, it just ended with a couple of post holes continuing on. No thanks. We turned back, ran to the junction and then up to the first twin. Trail was in pretty good condition. Tried another little jaunt out towards little black, but again, the trail got crappy pretty quick. Ran back down to the TH in City Creek (and through the inversion, yuck!), where we crossed the street and hit the BST on the northside. It was decent going for almost 2 miles and then turned to crap. Are we seeing a pattern here? We had all had about enough of crappy trail, so we jumped on over to the City Creek road and ran up about a mile and a half more, and then turned around and cruised back.

In summary - freezing cold (couldn't feel my face at the end), crap trail, and a nasty inversion (luckily we were viewing from above for most of it) - well that sounds about like a standard run for us!

Village Inn breakfast and a 20 minute hot shower was a nice way to cap it off. 

Very casual morning run up Farmington Canyon with Aaron and brother in law. The air was thick and nasty with the inversion and some morning fog. Once we got up above it though, it was a beautiful, cloudless day. Lots of snowmobilers, but they've got the road packed down quite nicely. It was nice to see the sun. 

 Running through the fog

The Sun! 

Yum - Antelope Island floating in mid air 

Ninja Aaron on the way back down

5 miles on the TM, mostly flat/low incline with a quarter mile hill sprint at 15% somewhere in there. 

Met up with the Farmington crew this morning to run up Farmington Canyon. About 5 of us started, and MVH and I ran along at a decent clip with one other guy,Casey, until VH needed his morning pit stop and peeled off. The two of us continued on until Casey decided to turn around at mile 3. Well, I was now a ways ahead of everyone and all alone, so I decided to take a pit stop of my own, and then waited a few minutes for VH and Steve to catch up. We ran a little ways and then I heard a Tarzan call coming from across the canyon and a little behind us. I figured it had to be Aaron, and it turned out it was - he had started a little late and he had forgotten his light again! Sneaky Ninja! We waited for him and then all ran to the turnaround at 5 miles.

Coming down we ended up moving at a pretty good clip, I think everyone was just trying to keep up with someone else, so the pace was pretty fast, but it really felt pretty good. There were a couple of spots where the light was so flat that you couldn't see any depth and made it pretty interesting. We strung out a little at the end and had a good time finishing it all up. 

Ave Twins with Jun, Scott and a speedy OR visitor feller named Brian. Felt super slow going up, and just fine and speedy coming down. Our jackets were covered in ice by the time we finished, as were our cars. Luckily though, we started early enough to miss all of the traffic nastiness created by all of the ice.  Warm.

Ran the first couple of miles on the BST - conditions were decent until after Adams canyon when they turned to crap (one set of snowshoe tracks). There was a semi tracked out trail up the ridgline from there, so I took that up a ways, until the tracks ended at the 'crown' of one of the rocky outcroppings. Then just bounded my way back down. Took in nice and easy. 1400 vert. 

Another early morning slog with the crew: Jun, Je10, Scott and I. I was tempted to bail since we got a fair amount of snow in Fruit Heights, but figured I needed to get myself downtown for work anyway, so I might as well avoid all of the traffic headaches. 

Started from the capitol and it was snowing and windy. The snow just pelted our faces until we were able to make it to the cover the trees provided on the trail. The BST wasn't too bad, once we got up on the ridge though, it became a lot harder for me to keep up. Those three were just scampering along the top of the snow, while I seemed to break through with every step. I was able to mostly catch up by the base of the second twin, where we all hung out for a couple of minutes once on top.

The way down was more of the same - running downhill never knowing when you'll have a good foothold or whether you will sink thigh deep, but we plodded along, laughing and complaining all in the same breath. I watched Craig try to save himself from falling, but ended up running parallel to the ground, arms flailing, for about another 20 feet before finally succumbing to gravity and faceplanting just as we were approaching a group of skiers. We laughed and continued on as they looked at us with a bid of wonder (and maybe a little awe...we'd like to think so anyway). Cruised on down the rest of the way and then I had to rush off to a meeting.

The funny part is, as stupid and ridiculous as most of our runs seem to be, and despite all of the complaining, I really do enjoy it. 

Took a couple of fellas from work for a lunchtime run on the BST, starting from the I Street trailhead. The weather was amazing, shorts and a T-shirt!! Incredible after the single digit temps we've become accustomed to.

Really, really, really casual run, trail conditions weren't too bad - a couple of soft spots, but it was decently tracked out. Lots of skiers seem to be out lately.

While we were slow, I still really enjoy getting out and helping others get a little taste of what trail running can give you.  

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

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

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

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

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

Beautiful Morning!

 Wagons...East!

Aaron and Jeremy closing in on the top

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antelope Island slog - the weather was perfect, trail conditions were not. Many miles of breaking trail postholing in knee deep snow. Great company though, and felt good once we hit dirt, even on tired legs. 

Ave Twins with the crew: MattVH, Craig, Scott and Leslie. Beautiful morning, trail conditions were pretty good, a little slippery. VH took a shortcut on the way down sliding on top of the frozen crust. Legs felt great with a little pep left in 'em.

One hour on the TM - 8 miles. Finished up Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

A pitiful 4 on the TM, just wanted to get something in!

Thought I'd try for another week out on the island. Met up with Jun and we headed out with blue skies and high hopes. We had a blast running the Mountainview trail to the ranch and back. Made very good time out and were blasted by a headwind on the way back. Legs felt good but I did feel like I got behind on calories, which slowed me down a bit. Will be sticking with carrying water for the race. I've been toying with other stuff, but don't like the sweet sticky feeling that stays with you. 

The best part of the day was the trail was snow free and aside from a few muddy spots, nearly completely dry. Ended up running 5 more miles than last Saturday, but more than an hour faster!

Kaysville BST - been a long while since I've run this trail, and I forget how much I enjoy it. Mostly dry, north facing trails were still fairly deep in snow, but it's melting fast. 1:05

Hit up Flag Rock with Aaron after work. Started from Davis Creek from the south, where trail was nice and dry. Made a stop at Patsys mine, where we ventured into the belly of the beast. Goes back a couple hundred yards and gets pretty dark! Once we hit Flag rock and headed down the north side, things got messy. I figured there'd still be some snow, what I wasn't expecting was 2+ feet of it! And its been warm enough that you just sink all the way down - it was like trudging through a snow cone...without the tasty flavor. Took a bit of extra time, but it wasn't too long before we were back on dry trails. 

Casual run with Aaron and his wife on the BST. Practically perfect day. Trail is looking better everyday. Dry nearly everywhere, with a few snowy patches on the shady north facing parts. 

Another casual run on the BST to keep things loose. I don't know if it helped, seemed like I was off and on about how I was feeling. Ha. I think its just my brain messing with me. Loved that I could start a run after 6 PM and still be in shorts, Tshirt AND sunglasses for the whole time. Reverting back to my last pair of shoes since they have fewer miles and are in better shape than my 'newest' ones.

Great day at the races! Full report up on refuse2quit. 

Thanks to everyone that raced, ran & volunteered out there! I had a great time.  

5 on the TM - bleh. 

Backside of the Bo-Sho marathon course with MVH and Andrea. Starting from City Creek, up to Ensign Peak (slight detour - I had never been) then up to the towers, where we took a right when we should have gone straight. Met back up with the right trail just in time for the bombing downhill. Other then the very start and finish couple miles on the BST, I had never been on these trails. 

Kaysville BST - Fernwood and back. 

Kaysville BST - Fernwood and back.

St George - started at the Chuckwalla TH, took the Beck hill trail around till it meets up with Paradise Rim trail, hit that over past Scout Cave to Snow Canyon. Text my brother in law to see if he wanted to join me for the last 5 miles once I got back to this point to head back. Started up the canyon, but then was told that it was $4 to walk in...I didn't have any cash on me, so rather that hitch a ride with someone through the gate, I just started heading down the road and shortly came across a trail (Turtle...something or other) than took me along behind some houses, crossing the Tuacan road and out through the desert. Once my brother in law said he was on his way, I headed back towards the Snow Canyon TH and met up with them at about 9 miles in. Took the same basic route back this time sticking closer to the rim rather than taking Beck hill. I had intended to stay on the Turtle wall trail, but ended up making a bigger loop on the Gecko and Gap trail, before meeting back up on Chuckwalla and climbing to the end. Perfect way to start the day!

Having dinner with my bro/sis in law, so I just decided to meet my wife at their house. Couple miles of road followed by several on the Layton Rail trail. Just tried to keep the pace consistent and under 8 min/miles. Actually listened to music! :)

Flag Rock backwards loop with MVH and Warlordblade. Did a little tour of Patsys mine as well. Weather wasn't too shabby.

Famington Canyon with MVH - did a little mining while we were at it. So nice to run that canyon with no snow!