Relentless

AM - 10 Wendy's. Got up early to beta run in before leaving to Scout camp. It was SO nice; the first few steps had no pain at all. it has been a long time since my right achilles or heel hasn't hurt. Not sure how much I will be able run up there. My goal will be around 60. (Kinvara Lime 144.25)

afternoon - 5 Little Thunder. Up at camp and go the boys off to their classes and stuff set up. Then went for a short jaunt down to the lake, which was about the least impressive alpine lake I've ever seen as far as coolness (which is a guy's way of saying pretty). Then up another trail that I will explore further. (VertK 133.75)

morning - 15 Brian Head. Ran up the trail to Hendrickson Lake - an amazing lake. Then worked my way up various trails all the way to the top of Brian Head. I ended up taking the trail to the top of Sydney Peak at maxed out at 11,102 feet and about 3500 feet of climbing. Had much better trail legs than yesterday, but still way off of where I was when I was training for Squaw last year (especially on the downhill). The run was awesome. The view from the top of the mountain was epic, gave me some ideas for places to run to the rest of the week. Saw a couple deer and a snake on the trail. (VertK 148.75)

morning - 18 Brian Head. Felt pretty tired from the trails yesterday, so I wanted to stay on the road and try and get a few more miles. So I ran down from camp (2.25 miles of dirt switchback) and then up the road to Brian Head. Got a lot of strange looks as I ran up the canyon. Got past town and then a little up the dirt road toward the top of the peak - wished I had about 20 more minutes to peak out, but after being a hour late getting back yesterday, I decided not to push the limit. Planned on running back down the mountain hard, but my legs would have nothing of it and I couldn't even get below 6 minute pace. Then finished with the 1000 ft climb back up to camp. 3500 ft of gain again today. (Triumph silver 887.3)

morning - 15 Yankee Meadow Res. Had seen this lake from the top of the mountain on Tuesday, and decided to try and figure out how to get to it. Ran up past Hendrickson Lake and then down the Dark Hollow Trail. Tis was the coolest place I had been all week. The trail was amazing - stream crossings, little wooden bridges, plank crossings, tree crossings, jump crossings, deer, tons of awesome stuff. Then came on a dirt road that took me to the lake. When I popped out of the forest the fisherman where like, "What the...". On the way back, I took an ice dip in the stream. It was so cold I couldn't get in for even a minute, but it was great. Tired, tired legs by the end though. The Vertical K's are the best trail shoe I have ever worn. (VertK 163.75)

AM - 12 Dry Lakes. Had to get up pretty early because we were doing a rope course thing that I wanted to do. So, decided to stay off the trails since it would be dark. Once I got down the switchbacks I continued down the mountain for a little, then up a side road to Dry Lakes. I didn't have time to make it all the way to the lakes though. Ended up with nearly 3000 ft climbing again. I have had a ton of climbing this week. (Triumph silver 899.3)

AM - 5 Switchbacks. Up early again so we could go home! Only had time to go five, so I just went down the mountain and back up. Still ends up being over 1000 ft climbing in just over 2 miles. All the climbing made me think of Corey and how his massive quads would have eaten this week up, but I am toast. (Triumph silver 904.3)

Week was so much better than I had thought it would be. Got way more mileage than I thought I could get, saw tons of amazing places on my runs, loved hitting the trails again, and had a ton of climbing all at between 8000-11,000+ ft). Even camp itself wasn't too bad - and I didn't kill any kids!

Goals for next week: back to the heat and workouts.