Gaining more than you lose

Drove 11 hours from Spokane to Kaysville...no running, just happy to be able to walk after. 

After spending the weekend in the dreary, rainy, cloudy Spokane, I was itching to get out for a good run. That itch became even more pronounced when the morning was shaping up to be a perfectly sunny cloudless day. Jun and I finished up with some conference calls and headed out for a lunchtime run. We decided to hit up the Corner Canyon/Clark Trail in Draper, and man were we glad we did. We started the run with me in front (I think Jun wanted to make sure that I didn't get lost), though I almost did because the leaves so thickly blanketed the trail that I could barely make out where it was. We made some sarcastic remarks about what a terrible place this was to run, because the trail was jut perfect - Beautiful leaves had fallen, snow capping the peaks above, not a lot of people out, all with some sunny but cool crisp fall weather. The trail has a fair amount of ups and downs for the first two miles, but then you hit a nice three mile uphill stretch. Apparently this where Jun decided he was done pussyfooting around. I stayed with him for about the first mile, then he was feeling his oats and dropped me like a wet sack of potatoes. I kept him mostly in sight until the very end, and at those times I was sure he was going to pop out of the bushes and try and scare me or something. I made it to the top a couple of minutes behind. Took a water/pee break then we were off down the Clark Trail. Again, Jun couldn't contain himself and Jun blew down the trail, I couldn't even think about keeping pace with him, especially on this downhill. So I just kept my pace and got into a good rhythm until I met up with him at the bottom. Still had about a mile and a half to go and he lost me again. I was feeling OK, just had no gas in the tank- it'd been a while since my oatmeal breakfast, so I think there was just nothing left to go on. I still finished averaging about a 9:16 pace, and a couple of minutes faster than my last run on that trail, so I feel pretty good about it. Jun gave me something to chase (and not catch), which is just demoralizing enough to keep me motivated to keep working. MT 101s were great, especially over the rocky patches that would've eaten my track flats alive. Driving back we couldn't believe the people that we saw running on the side of the road when there are such amazing trails nearby. To each his own I guess...    

4 easy miles on the BST in Kaysville. I was planning on a few more miles, but I took my buddy with me who doesn't run trails and he was feeling the hills pretty quick so we turned around at two miles. Can't ask for better running weather. Jun has some early morning run planned for tomorrow, so maybe its good that I didn't run too far. :)  

This morning I met up with Scott and Jun where we headed up to Ogden to meet up with Bryce. I didn't really know what we were doing, Jun had just told me that we were going to do a trail run with a couple of hills. When we pulled up to the trailhead, as we sat there waiting for Bryce, this huge rock-faced peak towered above us, seeming more menacing in the dark, as the lights from Weber State appeared to illuminate its pale, rocky face. Scott commented that he thought that's where we were headed. Bryce showed up a couple of minutes later we exchanged quick greeting as he had never met any of us. He confirmed that peak as our destination, and there wouldn't be "a couple of hills", just one big one! 

We got started around 6:30, with the first little bit a gradual, rocky incline. Once we crossed the creek, the real climbing begins. I had to stop and quickly tie my shoe, and Bryce moved to the front with Jun. I caught back up to the group, and Jun and Bryce were already pulling away. Scott and I stuck together and trudged along up the hill, mostly hiking. We could occasionally see the lights of Bryce and Jun up ahead, especially on the early switchbacks. There were a couple of long stretches that you felt like you were in a tunnel, this was really my first trail run in the dark, and it was really cool. We could now see a light in front of us a ways up, which we later learned was Jun, with Bryce's headlight bobbing around in the trees above us on the hill. Bryce topped out first, with Jun following behind. Scott and I showed up a few minutes later.

We sat and chatted for a bit as we watched the sunrise - Bryce told us about the area, which peaks were what, which was cool for me because I've spent a lot of time in Ogden, but none really in the hills above it. Once the sky was light enough that we wouldn't have to use our lights, we began the run back down, and run we did! Jun was flying up front, followed by Bryce then myself, with Scott bringing up the end. We stopped about halfway down at a lookout point to check things out, then ripped back down some more. It was super fun, and while my quads certainly feel it the day after, its totally worth it! I'm sure with more downhill training they'll adapt and recover a little more quickly.

Great trail, fun run. Thanks to Bryce for showing it to us! I'm looking forward to hitting that trail up again. It's awesome to learn new trails, especially when I live pretty close!

4.4 miles, 2200 ft of gain, total time: about 1:01 (I forgot to reset my watch from the day before).