Long run - The inversion very nearly has made me suicidal and I think Paul was worse off, so we headed up Blacksmith Fork Canyon to try and escape it. Before we left, I made it to my church basketball game. I played hard and scored 8 points so that has to be worth 2 cross-training miles, right? I drove up the canyon a bit before Paul so I could get in 4 extra miles. I started at the Hydro Park and ran down to Left Hand Fork. I headed up the snow packed road until I hit Leatham Hollow. I ran a few feet on what would the Bear 100 course just so I could say to Jon that I have run more of the course than him this year. Ha. I got back to the car just in time for Paul to show up and together we blasted up the canyon. He was pushing the pace nicely and I suffered the whole time. We were rewarded with mostly sunny sky's and no inversion. The warmth of the sun was sweet. The only drawback was that there were 10 people for every elk that were at the elk refuge at Hardware Ranch. Lots of people everywhere. The run down the canyon was nice until I bonked and hit the cold headwind filled with smog coming from the valley up the canyon. I gave it everything I had for the last 5K and arrived at the car shaking and completely frozen and exhausted. 6:36 then 6:20 for the final 2 miles just about killed me. Paul finished a good 20 seconds ahead just jogging. A very solid run with lots of hills even just barely tying the 7 min/mile guy at the end. T- 2:20:00 (20 miles) (7:00) 164 ave 176 max
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