Todays run consisted of going up tons of insanely steep trail and non-trail for 5.75 Miles gaining 4150 feet. Then running straight down 5.25 miles back to the car (lost the trail part of the way down and cut out 1/2 mile of the run on accident). I definitely set a new slow PR for actual running. The first 4 miles were actually runnable and I did it in 1:12 minutes - 18 min/mile, and I was actually running the entire time. I was taking it pretty easy, but it was just plain steep. Then the trail ended or I lost it, once I reached the ridge. And at that exact same time I came upon two gargantuous bucks with huge antlers. It was impressive. They didn't like hanging around me much though, I probably stunk, so they took off down the other side of the ridge and were completely out of sight by the time I could run the 50 yards to where they were to catch another glimpse. At that point I couldn't see a trail anymore so I bushwhacked/ran up a really cool ridge line for 1.75 miles until I arrived at some unknown peak at 9800 feet (started the run at 5800). Coming down I found a trail on the ridge that I hadn't seen on the way up and that allowed me to run down most of the ridge pretty quick. Then I successfully lost that trail after a mile and found myself charging through 2-3 foot sage brush and climbing over fallen trees etc. Really slowed the progress, but I finally re-connected with my trail and headed down. Then I saw a big fat mountain goat charge across the trail and blast through the sage brush with ease, and that was cool. It is apparent that people don't go to Alpine Wyoming to hike or run because I had the entire mountain range to myself (minus the deer and goats I never saw another soul anywhere). And it was really cool standing on the peak and being surrounded for hundreds of miles of peaks on all sides of me. It was a pretty epic view, and well worth the effort of getting there. The Grand Tetons loomed to the north, daring any more people to try to climb them this week after a lightning storm on the peak blasted a whole bunch of people on Wednesday, blowing one guy off the mountain to his death. Time: 2:40 - 11 Miles - ~15:30/mile - 4150 Feet ascent and 4150 Descent. (13.67% avg grade - ouch, no wonder it was so slow. But also the 2-3 miles without trail slowed me down quite a bit.) The steep ascending and descending was sure a good workout on the quads and hips for me today. But its nice now that my quads don't get sore at all after runs like that. I like that a lot. I still roll everything out with the foam roller though, for injury prevention and because it feels really good.
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