Double Jardine Juniper plus 5 - Stage 1 of my 2 Stage test to see if I can handle 50 miles in 4 weeks at the Pocatello 50. Things didn't look good today as all my training buddies were out of town. Ok, fine. I only have one. Joe. And he was busy running out of his head at the Provo River 1/2. nice work joe! Actually, a guy named Tim almost came, but got sick instead. I drove through a rain storm (after it rained all night long) and parked at 6am sharp for my 25 mile plan. If I can handle this plus next saturday's run without re-injuring myself I think I can finish the beast of a race they put on in Pocatello. I stepped out of the car into a light misty rain and immediately another car with two guys pulled up. They looked like they were going running so I invited myself into their group and we headed up the trail. We played the who-do-you-know game and within one name we found that we had a mutual friend named Joe Furse. Go figure. The one guy missing from my group of training buddies. It was nice to have company for a bit but I quickly (in 1 mile) found myself ready to move on as the pace was not what I was looking for. I headed up to the tree slopping and slipping in the mud. Did I mention the rain we had last night? Well, it rained hard and the trail was a sticky muddy mess. Not all of it luckily, but enough sections that the pace was slow and my shoes were quite heavy! I made it to the tree (turnoff) in about an hour and headed back down the scenic route down to the turn-off to the Naomi wilderness before headed back up and to the tree (turnoff). Doing this, I would get the extra 5 miles I was looking for. 2.5 miles each trip down to the Naomi Wilderness turnoff. Confused yet? Jon and Joe are the only 2 who really know the route well enough to follow or care. After the second trip to the tree (ish) I went all the way down to the car slipping and sliding in the mud. Oh, it was also snowing this lap. Lap 1 done in 2:04 Ate a quick bite and refilled my drink and headed back up the mountain. After about 2 miles I said hi to my new friends (I forgot their names already, Patrick maybe?) as they were finishing up their first and only lap (slackers) and once again, it was just me and mountain. No moose or deer or anything today. Lap 2 was the same course as Lap 1 but by then the sun had come out and helped dry out the trail a bit. That kind of evened out my pace. I was slow because I was tired, but easier because there was less mud on my feet. I kept things pretty chill for the final descent as I was feeling my ITB tighten up and complain and man, was I tired. Luckily it was downhill so I just flopped down the mountain and called it a day. Leg feels pretty good right now, but I am sure it will be sore tomorrow.
Lap 2 done in 2:04 Yep, even split. Final time was 4:07:58. I will take it. SportTracks shows 5000' vert. Pocatello is 52.3 miles and has 12,600' vert. So I got reasonably close to half that today. Hmm, it is going to hurt, huh? I can't wait! Today's run profile 
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