Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I needed to get to school early this morning to finish writing a paper, so last night I set the alarm on my phone for 5:00 and then left the stupid phone in the kitchen. Obviously, I didn't hear the alarm go off, which made for a stressful morning. Fortunately, I pulled everything together, and as soon as class was over I decided I needed to head for the hills to decompress.

I drove up to the Y parking lot and ran the Slate Canyon-Slide Canyon loop. I felt very good (maybe because of all the extra sleep I got last night), so the effort up Slate Canyon felt easier than usual. Or maybe I was just going slow--I didn't have a watch, so it's hard to say.

The descent was beautiful, as usual. There's a lot of snow up near the top, and if I hadn't already been up there so many times I probably would have lost the trail. I guess that means I won't be able to run the route much longer, but I hope today wasn't my last chance before the winter.

AM: I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. Then I got it into my head that if I couldn't sleep, I may as well get my early run in late and sleep in in the morning. So, I grabbed my headlamp and headed out the door. On the road at 11:59 for an easy four miles.

29:17

PM: Afternoon run on the Little Baldy-Dry Canyon Loop. I felt a little light headed early on, probably because of my sleepless night, but I felt better as the run progressed. No watch today--no shirt, either--but according to the clock in my car I was out for about 94 minutes.

AM: Slow, easy run around the Towne Centre. No watch.

PM: BST out-and back. Like last week, my brother and I ran it with Catherine, but Amy couldn't make it. This week, we ran it with Amy, but Catherine couldn't make it. Maybe next week we'll have the whole crew. Like last week, we took it nice and easy. The only difference was that this week I bombed the descent back to the car.

It's sad that it gets dark so early these days.

AM: Another easy run around the Towne Centre, with a couple of pick-ups to keep things interesting.

PM: I was going to run up Rock Canyon to the campground, but I ended up running to the Squaw Peak summit instead. It's a very cool trail to a very cool summit, and I didn't even realize it was there (the trail, that is). About 3,000 feet of vertical, according to the world wide internets.

1:13:54

I'm sitting in terminal 2 at the Salt Lake Airport waiting for Catherine's flight, which is apparently going to arrive an hour early. Result!

I stopped in Orem on my way up and ran a little five-mile loopy thing up to the Altar and back. It was supposed to be an out-and-back, but yes, I got lost and wound up taking a different trail back to the car. Running in the dark can be tricky. But at least I learned a new route.

Anyways, I was pretty tired, so I took it easy on the climb. On the way back down I got ahead of my head lamp and crashed pretty hard. Nothing too serious, other than some broken skin, so I guess I got off pretty easy. I've never been so happy to have been wearing a shirt and gloves.

Jun and I ran the Grove Creek to Dry Canyon loop I ran last weekend. It was just as good the second time. In fact, it may have been better, because this time I knew where I was going and we were able to avoid getting lost in the maze of dirt roads between Battle Creek and Dry Canyon, which shaved about a quarter mile off the distance.

Anyways, I highly recommend this route. Of the 15-16 miles, about one is on a dirt road and the rest is singletrack. Elevation gain is about 4500 feet over two major climbs, every step of which is runnable. And love it or hate it, the plunge down Dry Canyon is worth trying at least once.

I forgot my Garmin this week, but because I love visual aids, I've posted the map and the elevation profile from last weekend.