Maybe I'll Blog, Maybe I Won't

Well, folks, I'm BAAAACK!  

Hopefully for good.  Went on a short "easy" run today along the BST from Green Canyon to First Dam and back.  I put "easy" in quotations because 4 miles at 8:45 pace *should* feel easy.  But, I am out of shape!  I was sucking wind like I was running an all-out 10k.  I guess that's what 6 weeks of not running plus another 2-3 of almost not running will do to you, I suppose.  Hopefully I can get back to feeling normal sooner rather than later, but I will continue to take it easy for a little while.  The best news is there was no pain at all in the IT band area, and I'm writing this the next morning so that includes after the run.  I guess there are no guarantees just yet, but early indications are hopeful.  Here's hoping for a great 2012.  Happy New Year everyone!

35:18 (8:45/mi.)

Easy run today.  Felt a lot more natural and not as painful as yesterday.  Still no pain in the IT band, though there was a lot of general soreness all over.  To be expected.

21:26 (7:40/mi.)

Quick loop around campus.  Beautiful day for a run.  45 degrees and sunny.  This feels more like a Southern Utah winter than a Cache Valley one.  I can't say I'm complaining, especially after last winter's polar adventure.  

20:15 (8:06/mi.)

Didn't feel so good today.  Felt sore and out of shape so I just went out for a few minutes.

16:21 (7:44/mi.)

Fantastic run today.  Hit Green Canyon for a somewhat icy but very enjoyable run.  Today is the first day I have really felt much like myself since getting back in the saddle.  Green was surprisingly runnable, though I did take one good spill and have a nice scrape on my thigh and a sore wrist to show for it.  Totally worth it though.  Time was very slow, but the ice and me still taking it very cautiously are to blame for that.  No pain still, and I'm beginning to become a little more confident.

43:05 (10:05/mi.)

Felt good again today.  Went out with a nice soft blanket of snow.  Still a beautiful day, but it actually looked like winter is supposed to look here.  Update on my "sore wrist" from last night:  Turns out I think I sprained it or at least just jammed it really good.  I don't think it's too bad but it started killing me late last night so I wrapped it up good and rubbed it down with some icy hot. Well, I'd rather mess up my wrist than my leg.  You don't need wrists to run.  haha.  

 34:28 (7:56/mi.)

Easy run to start the week after I got out of class.  School is back in session which is a nice change.

25:32 (7:41/mi.)

Longest run since the injury!  No pain whatsoever.  Felt great!  Good sign.

38:28 (7:36/mi.)

Another easy three miler.  Still no pain at all.  Feeling better and better every day.  Hopefully the trend continues.

25:28 (7:32/mi.)

Another post-injury distance PR.  Still no pain.  I'm beginning to hope I'm out of the woods.  We'll see how it feels tomorrow.  Canyon road loop on a nice crisp January afternoon.  My pace has been getting a little faster too, not that I'm trying to push things, but I think the natural flow is coming back a little bit, although it will be awhile before I feel like I'm anywhere near race shape.

46:47 (7:29/mi.)

Didn't plan very well today, so I didn't have time for a run.  No worry though.  I'm over on my miles for the week anyway.

LRT to Third Dam with Cody.  It was good to get back out with him.  Trail was perfect.  Snowy, but smooth and soft.  Felt really good today.  Still no pain. 

Spent the rest of the morning glued to the computer following the various live feeds of the Trials Marathon.  Disappointingly, the live splits crapped out at mile 8 for some unknown reason (probably couldn't handle sub 2:10 pace), and the live blogs only talked about the leaders so I have no idea how Paul did.  Hope he did well.

1:14 (8:15/mi.)

Got some more trail miles in on the LRT.  That trail is as perfect as a trail can be in the winter.  Packed snow, with a couple of inches of soft powder on top, and zero ice.  Enjoyed my run today.

1:00:55 (8:49/mi.)

Just a loop around campus today.  Nothing too big, but I did try to run a little faster.  My Garmin battery died, so I don't know exactly how fast it was, but it felt good.  Still no pain whatsoever in the IT band.  I don't know at what point I'm going to be satisfied, but over two weeks of running with zero pain has got to be encouraging.

Canyon Road Loop in a little snowstorm.  Felt pretty good.  

52:34 (7:34/mi.)

Deer Fence.  Snow has turned to rain and there is hardly any snow on the ground and it was actually fairly warm today.  YES!!!  The trail was pretty icy in some spots, but it was quickly melting and there was always a muddy patch to run on.  Still pretty slow going, but it was a great workout anyway.

1:30:00 (9:53/mi.)

Easy run.  A little sore from yesterday, but it kinda feels good!  No watch.

Deer Fence again.  A couple of the Padawans wanted to go on a muddy trail run, and I delivered.  It was very, very muddy.  They chickened out at Providence Canyon, so we went back on the roads.  It was pretty cold and very wet though, so I can't blame them too much.  I was just as well because for some reason I wasn't feeling well.  I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me at breakfast because I tossed my cookies later that day and felt better after that.  Enjoyable run, considering the weather.  I keep forgetting to turn my Garmin off, so it quit after about 8 miles so I don't have a time.  It was slow though.

Easy run just out around town in a snowstorm.  The interesting highlight of the run was helping to prevent a big pileup on the steep hill on 12th East near campus by waving my arms at people to slow down so they didn't hit the cars that had slid off before they could see them.  There are some places you just shouldn't drive in snowstorms, and there are some idiots who insist that 40 mph is ok going down a steep hill in a snowstorm.  Oh well.  It made for an interesting bit of running at least.

59:39 (7:27/mi.)

Sick since Tuesday night.  Thought it was just the 24 hour bug, but now I've got a sore throat and cough which by all indications has decided to camp out for awhile.  Not excited about that.  I tried about 5 miles Saturday (writing Sunday) but it did more harm than good.  Will try to get back to normal.  Gosh darn this is frustrating!  Not sick enough to miss school (well, I probably should to keep everyone else healthy, but I can't afford to) or work, but sick enough that I can't run and I feel like poo, at night especially.

First test run back from being sick.  I hate being sick.  Felt good today.  Only a minimal bout of coughing after the run.  Progress!

41:29 (7:20/mi.)

Epic trail run/hike with Cody.  Started at First Dam, then ran BST to the foot of the mountain east of town with the TV reflectors.  Then "ran" (read hiked) up it.  It's a very steep, technical trail in the best of conditions, but this morning we had a howling wind and up to knee deep snow.  We're officially hardcore.  Look at Cody's blog for pictures.  At the top, we both were starting to get hypothermia, so we glissaded down as fast as we could, which was tons of fun. 

2:03 (19:00/mi.) 3000' vert.

Moderate paced run today.  It was a little chilly as I only wore a shirt and shorts, but I felt really good on the run.  Every day seems to feel better.  Still have a lingering sore throat that shows up mostly at night.  Other than that I feel great.

48:32 (7:16/mi.)

Solid run this evening.  Got hungry about halfway through, but I stuck it out despite the cold wind.  Very enjoyable.

1:02:47 (7:21/mi.)

Easy effort in a little snowstorm.  Decent run.  Still feeling rusty, but I'm getting there.  If I can just get a few weeks of consistency without getting sick or hurt...

45:55 (7:26/mi.)

Longer run today.  Finally did one of my old loops that I haven't been able to do since I was injured.  River Heights-Providence-Main.  Felt really pretty good.  No niggles or anything to speak of.

1:01:42 (7:31/mi.)

Easy run with one of the Padawans.  Enjoyable run, and very relaxing.

53:07 (8:46/mi.)

Snowshoed the Wellsvilles with Cody.  See his blog for cool pictures and stuff.  It was quite the adventure, and a hard workout at the same time.  It was only something like 6 miles, but I'm counting it for 10 because it felt like 20.  Really cool to be up there with all the snow though.  Snowshoeing was fun, especially the long glissade down.  Great morning workout.

Easy run around town after work.  Pretty routine.

53:35 (7:26/mi.)

Small Workout #1

Didn't push it too hard, as this is my first hard workout in some time, but it felt great to push the pace today.  Ran up to the Fieldhouse and after warming up I started with 4x800m at 5:30 pace.

Splits:

2:43

2:48

2:45

2:42

Not too fast, but it has been a long time so I was definitely working.  Followed that with 4.5 miles at Tinman or a little faster, and a couple of miles of cooldown.  10 miles total for the day.  Good workout

Easy run in the cold after work.  It was a really beautiful night, though.

48:38 (8:06/mi.)

LRT.  Felt pretty decent.  Still a little sore and tired from Tuesday, but not bad.

1:19:29 (7:51/mi.)

Relaxed 5 miler today.  

38:57 (7:47/mi.)

"Long" run today.  Well, the longest I've done in a long time.  It felt really really good!  It was even warm enough to take my shirt off for the last third of the run.  50 miles for the week, and who knows how long it's been since that happened.  Very positive day and week.  Now if Cody can just get healthy...

1:26:56 (7:14/mi.)

Moderate effort today to start off the week.  Felt sluggish at first, but as I warmed into the run I felt better.  No aches or pains, so that is good.

59:21 (7:13/mi.)

Small Workout #2

Same basic workout as last week, but I pushed it a lot harder and felt better doing it this week.  4x800m followed by a tempo run

2:28

2:31

2:34

2:37

Tempo run was also much faster than last week, hitting a couple of miles near MP.

Easy recovery run late at night.  It was way after hours, but the weather was actually perfect.  It was about 50 degrees with a little breeze.  Felt very relaxed and smooth after feeling sore much of the day.  Recovery time is coming down, so that is really good.

47:27 (7:53/mi.)

Easy run.  Was going to hit the LRT again, but it was a skating rink so I went back and did BST, which was a mud bog.  Pick your poison I guess.  But hey, at least the snow is melting.

1:27:40 (8:02/mi.)

Easy recovery run after work.

41:28 (8:02/mi.)

Nice late night 15 miler.  I was going to go with Cody this morning for part of my run (btw, it's super easy to plan runs when you work with your running partner), but I was reminded that I had to help with a high school VEX Robotics tournament that my college VEX team was sponsoring, so I had to bag the run/hike with Cody.  As soon as I got home from that I had to go to work until 9:30 and didn't get out on the run until almost 10.  I didn't feel too spry for the first 7 miles or so, but then things started clicking more and by mile 10 I was feeling really good.  Finished the last mile slow to cool down and made it home before midnight.

1:52:25 (7:29/mi.)

Easy run around town.  No watch.  Felt very good.  Nice night for a run too.

2:35:22 (9:38/mi.)

1:09:02 (7:29/mi.)

1:18:26 (7:41/mi.)

2:25:26 (7:13/mi.)

26:37 (8:08/mi.)

47:44 (7:22/mi.)

1:32:30 (8:15/mi.)

1:20:03 (7:15/mi.)

58:51 (7:42/mi.)

1:00:10 (7:11/mi.)

1:35:50 (7:56/mi.)

1:17:06 (7:44/mi.)

2:15:02 (8:24/mi.)

Race report coming soon.  Stay tuned. 

TRAIL RUN WITH CODY!!!

Great first run back from Sand Hollow.  Took this week completely off and it paid dividends.  Felt very little fatigue from the race, and that only at the tail end of the run today.  It was really enjoyable to be out on the trail with Cody after too long of a hiatus.  Lets hope both of us can make it stick this summer and stay healthy.  

1:09:07 (8:37/mi.)

Easy 5 miler around campus and the Cemetery.  Will take it easy this week, but get some good low key running in.

38:11 (7:38/mi.)

Another trip up Green Canyon with Cody after work.  Same run as Saturday, but went a little further.  Very enjoyable afternoon run.  Temps are warming up and it feels great!

Another easy run by the Logan Temple and Merlin Olsen Park late.

38:16 (7:43/mi.)

5 easy miles.  No watch.

3 more easy miles.  

New trail with Cody!  He showed me the "new" Providence Canyon Trail (I will probably refer to it hereafter as the "Cody Draper Memorial Trail").  It's an awesome trail.  Lots of climb, but runnable the entire way and pretty smooth.  Super nice trail that will hopefully become a frequent addition to my running.  It was great to get out with Cody too.  We went from Dry on the BST to Providence and then up the trail. 

1:44:37 (8:43/mi.)

8 quick miles after working on robots.  Felt really good!  No niggles or issues left over from SHM.

58:59 (7:10/mi.)

1.5 mile warmup, then 4x800m at CV pace with equal rest.  

2:40

2:38

2:40

2:40

6 more miles to make an even 12.  This might be the last chance for a long/hard workout this week, as I'm leaving for California tomorrow for a college robotics competition.

Loop from my hotel around Disneyland and up and down a few roads.  Not being familiar with the area, and being short on time and energy, I stayed close.  The run was needed though.  Stressful day.  

Beach run!  First time I've ever done that.  Barefoot too.  Heavenly.

Canyon Road loop.  Felt really good today.  Weather was beautiful and temps were warm with a nice breeze.  Stars were out.  Gorgeous night for a run!

57:20 (7:03/mi.)

Green Canyon with Cody.  Worked pretty hard the whole way up and back, but it felt great!  Gotta get in shape for Logan Peak so Jon doesn't clean my clock too badly.  

1:09:27 (7:48/mi.)

Another great evening for a trail run.  I am loving this whole early spring/summer thing!  Took the LRT to Bridger Cutoff and then I had planned to go up Spring Hollow but decided to go explore Mill Hollow just to the west instead.  Only went about half a mile, but the trail, while clearly less used than anything else near the River Trail, was in surprisingly good repair.  I'll have to run it again farther to see what the rest of it is like.

1:31:40 (7:36/mi.)

Medium Workout

2 mile warmup, then 8 miles of progressive tempo starting at Tinman pace and finishing at 5k pace.  Finished with 2 miles of cool down.  Quality workout today and perfect weather for a no-shirt run.

1:23:21 (6:58/mi.)

Easy run on the BST.  Feeling really good this week.  Hopefully it continues as I ramp up the mileage.

1:00:32 (7:36/mi.)

My apartment to the top of the Cody Draper Memorial Trail and back via Deer Fence. Run felt great!  It was a little chilly at first, after the stormy weather the last couple of days, but it got sunny and nice about 5 miles in.

2:37:25 (8:13/mi.)

Race report is HERE.  Also, I have finished and posted my race report for Sand Hollow HERE.

Ran in Hurricane from my parents' house to the Canal Trail then crossed State Street and connected over to the Red Cliffs Preserve and ran around the cinder knolls on the trail and back to my house.  Felt really good, although I did go slow because my calves were a tad tight after Saturday's race.  Good run.

1:18:10 (7:18/mi.)

Bench Lake/SHM course loop.  Nothing special.  No watch

Tested out the new Launch today.  They feel great!  Thanks to SGRC.  Now I just need to take the Lone Peaks out for a spin.  Almost didn't run today, because of traveling/unpacking my life, but I had to test the new kicks.  No watch because apparently when you leave a Garmin on for 2 days the battery dies.

The usual with Cody.  Felt pretty decent all told.

1:19:05 (7:55/mi.)

Easy 7 around town.  Passed some high schoolers (I think) on the way.  No shirt.  Felt good.  No watch.

Yes!  I get to post about our epic run before Cody!  Neener neener!  

 So, we have been planning this run for a long time, wanting to scout out the Pocatello 50 course, and we got our money's worth on this run. Joint RD Luke Nelson was gracious enough to join up and act as our tour guide.  We met him at about 7 AM after a brief period of being slightly lost because Cody had to pee so bad he couldn't think straight.  I guess we'll give him a pass.  We dropped Cody's car off at City Creek Trailhead (50k start) to act as an aid station at the halfway point, and Luke drove us to the 50M start at Mink Creek.  We started running around 7:30 AM.  Temperatures were a tad chilly but we warmed up quickly.  The weather was totally perfect for a run like this.  It would get warm later in the day, but not debilitatingly hot, at least for me.  We swapped stories of moose encounters with Luke and enjoyed ourselves.  Cody was enjoying having someone on the run who is more talkative than I am.  The run had a little of everything from perfect, buffed out single track, to bushwhacking climbs up the side of mountains, to rocky, rough, and crazy fast descents, to brutal climbs back up the mountain...it had it all.  I thoroughly enjoyed this run.  Cody spent most of the time trying to convince me in every way possible to switch from the 50k to the 50 miler, but we will see.  I will withhold judgement until after I don't feel like I got hit by a bus.  Actually, most of the run felt great.  The last 4 miles or so were pretty much a suffer-fest though.  I was definitely beginning to break down.  But the last couple of miles I decided that it wasn't going to hurt any more no matter how fast I ran, and if I ran faster it wouldn't last as long, so I bombed down the trail as fast as I could go.  Which probably wasn't all that fast, but I actually did start to feel better.  My fueling and hydration definitely need improvement, but in my defense I won't be rationing water on race day because there will be aid stations.  I was pretty toasted, but a nice soak in what I assume to be Mink Creek (dirty, has weird bugs) was awesome.  Luke drove us back to Cody's car (the aid station idea was really really good and totally worth the 3 extra miles) and gave us directions to a local Mexican eatery.  I was pretty deep in the post-run pain cave, and wasn't sure if I would be able to keep anything down, but a couple of tall glasses of Coke revived me to a large degree, and I was able to eat a couple of really good tacos and some beans and rice and tortilla chips.  So good.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was really good and cheap too!  Can't beat that.  The drive home was pretty comfortable and I found when I got home that I had my walking legs back.  Now to see how long it takes to recover.  A great run though.  Probably one of the most epic I have ever done, races included.  A big thanks to Luke for joining us and thanks to Cody for arranging everything and driving us out there.  Race day it will be my turn.

This was a really big week for me, but so far I feel pretty good!

5:30:00ish (~9:55/mi.)

Took the Altras out for a test spin on the Logan River Trail.  Loved them.  Incredibly comfortable, aggressive traction, surprisingly robust protection/cushioning, and they felt very light and fast.  They will take some getting used to, but I hope they last a long time.  The biggest thing I noticed right off was how quiet they are...even going downhill.  It felt like I was landing on feathers.   I did definitely notice the extra strain on my calves, especially considering that I'm still recuperating from Saturday's run, so I'll have to be careful to ease into them.  I also noticed a little tightness in the hips as well, but I'm guessing that has more to do with Saturday's run than anything.  I actually felt very good today, though.  Yesterday I was really sore, and this morning too, but the run felt surprisingly effortless this afternoon.  Just took it slow and easy.  I'm in no rush.

Easy run.  No watch.  Still tired, but felt good.

Slow slog on the roads.  Felt like poop.

Epic Trail Run #2.

Got up at the crack of 8:45 AM, and was sitting on the couch when Cody called me asking if we could move our run up 45 minutes, because he had gotten home early from Fathers and Sons camping.  Our original plan was to meet at 10:45, but I was ok with going when the weather was a little cooler, since our planned run was going to take a solid four hours.  We drove up to Third Dam and started on the Spring Hollow Trail, which is a pretty steep and gnarly-yet-runnable, straight-up-the-mountain kind of trail.  Well, most of it.  This is fast becoming one of my favorite trails.  The views are awesome, it's a challenging run, and you can get all kinds of cool places from it.  I'd never been beyond the aspen grove just above the rock slides, but today we'd be running the whole thing to connect on to North Syncline.  Once we got to the aspen grove, the trail smoothed out and was perfect.  Not too steep, buffed out, and shady with incredible views.  We continued climbing until we reached the Forest Service road (part of the Logan Peak course) just above the turnoff to North Syncline.  By this time we had already had a little bit of adventure.  We met a hiker on the switchbacks near the top who warned us that there was "lots of snow" and that he'd lost the trail and had to turn back.  It was obvious we knew where we were going more than he did, so naturally we decided that the best plan was to follow the tracks of the guy who said he lost the trail.  So, we lost the trail too and had to do a little hiking before we found the road.  We didn't get lost too badly though.  Well, by not badly I mean we eventually found the road and we were never really lost.  We knew where we were.  We just didn't know where the trail had gotten off to.  Silly trail.  There was quite a bit of snow, but not nearly enough to turn a couple of crazy mountain goats like myself and Cody back, so we kept on going and found that North Syncline was actually fairly runnable.  There were a few downed trees (one of which looked like it had exploded on impact) some big drifts, and a few spots where we would break through and sink to our knees, but overall it was surprisingly clear.  We took a few pictures for Bruce Copeland, the Logan Peak RD.  I had forgotten how awesome of a trail North Syncline is.  I'd only run it once before during Logan Peak 2010 (the 2011 shortened course did not include the best part of the race--bummer), and so I was really enjoying running it in non-race mode and taking in the scenery.  Rounding the bend to the top of Logan Dry we came across what looked to me like mountain lion tracks.  They were quite large, and looked too round to be a dog's tracks.  Super cool.  We didn't see the cat though, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing.  Although with two of us I don't think it would have been a problem.  We saw another hiker on the overlook and another runner shortly thereafter, but on the way back they had both mysteriously disappeared.  I'm saying the mountain lion ate them.  And I'm sticking to it.  We turned around after scouting out the top of Dry and the South Syncline from a distance.  At this point I should note that I made the discovery that Gatorade's version of Shot Bloks suck.  Be warned.  Terrible.  The road back was just as much fun for me as coming up.  Cody was tired, but I was feeling really good for some reason, so I just enjoyed the run.  When we got to the junction of the Forest Service road and Spring Hollow, we decided to see if we could find where the actual trail went.  We found it with no problem, but it was mostly buried in snow and so we couldn't really blame the hiker for missing it.  After all, we are expert trail runners with eyes trained to pick out the slightest hint of a trail, right?  Yeah, because a few minutes later we somehow missed what should have been an obvious turn and ended up bushwhacking for a couple of hundred yards down the mountain before the trail decided to get back in line with us.  We passed a couple of hikers halfway down the rock slide portion of Spring Hollow right as we were discussing how we hadn't seen anyone since the top (I'm telling you, that mountain lion must have been hungry!) and how only crazy people hike or run in the middle of the day.  The hikers were very confused I think.   We finally made it back to the car with just over four hours of total running time.  Probably 4.5 with all the dinking around we did, but as I told Cody, you're supposed to have fun and enjoy training runs, right?  Great run with some small adventures, beautiful weather and scenery.  Looking forward to running much of the same terrain at Logan Peak in 6 weeks--only there will be zero snow then.  Be homesick, Jon.

~4:10 (13:30/mi.) 5500' vert.

Moderate paced run, Providence-Macey's loop.

I was only going to do 12, but I was feeling good and decided to go further.  

1:40:58 (7:12/mi.)

Alright, sorry for always being late, but I have posted the race report on my blogspot.  Check it out here.

Stump Hollow + jeep roads at the top.  Awesome.  Still a little sore/tired from Poky, but definitely feeling pretty good considering.

2:01:12 (9:14/mi.)

Run around town.  No big deal.

1:11:27 (7:09/mi.)

Jardine Juniper with Cody.  2 laps at the top, but didn't go down to the tree.  Great run!

1:33 (8:27/mi.)

Felt tired to start, but felt better after a couple of miles.  Pushed harder than I intended, but felt pretty good anyway.

1:05:44 (7:03/mi.)

Epic trail run.  Right Hand Fork to Richard's Hollow and back.  Awesome trail.  Really hot.  Lots of motorcycles.  Tons of fun.  Took a spill.  Drank water from a pipe sticking out of the ground.  Didn't run out of water.  Yup, that about covers it.  

3:57 (9:29/mi.)

Ran an easy 10, then after home evening one of my padawans wanted me to go run 4 slow miles so I figured I'd take a few extra slow miles.

10 in  1:16:07 (7:27/mi.)

Kinda sore!  I need a big week this week, so hopefully I don't feel this way all week.

1:30:56 (7:34/mi.)

Super easy run on the LRT.  No Garmin.

Awesome run today.  Spring Hollow to N. Syncline for a little course training for Logan Peak.  I took it fairly easy, but this is still a tough run no matter how you slice it.  Tons of fun though.  Weather was perfect.  Took a screenshot of my route in Google Earth and posted it on Facebook.  Then I tagged me halfway down Dry canyon with Jon and Cody back at the top.  I suppose I gotta do at least a little trash talking...

 2:46:28 (10:26/mi.)

Easy road run.  No watch.

Drove down to Manti on Friday night to watch the Manti Pageant with my family, then drove to Monroe that night after the pageant and stayed at my aunt's house for our family reunion the next day.  Didn't get to bed until 1:30 or so.  Woke up just before 7.  Guess my bio-clock is set.  Got ready to go out on a run, expecting to find some hot dusty ATV trail somewhere that I'd have to stay on.  I walked out of the house and looked up and there were some big mountains to the east, but I had no idea how to get there, so I just asked my cousin if he knew of any ATV trails I could go run on.  He said I could get to some radio towers up on a hill east of town and directed me which dirt road to take.  So I went that way.  It was one heck of a tough grunt all the way up to the towers.  I probably hiked at least half of the first 5 miles.  It was hot too, even though it was only 7:30 AM.  I was about to just bag it and cut my run short at the towers, when wonder of wonders there was a trail that took off from the road!  It was called the Koosharem (Pron. Kooshrum) trail.  I happily took it and was more than adequately rewarded for the brutal hike/run up.  After a mile or so of sagebrush and spectacular views at 9000+ feet, I found myself suddenly dropping into a forest oasis.  I crossed at least 5 streams, ran through fir and aspen forest and wide green meadows, and was having the time of my life.  I could have run on that trail all day and not complained one bit about it.  Apparently it went on for quite a ways too, because there was a sign just before I turned around that identified some landmark as being another 11 miles away, with a promise of other trails forking off this one.  Wow.  I will know where to go next time I go to my aunt's house.  I'll try and post some photos and videos I took on my other blog one of these days.

3:35:14 (10:42/mi.)

Moderate paced run out on the roads in the heat.  TAPER WEEK!!!  Here I come, Logan Peak!

57:27 (7:11/mi.)

More tapering.  Whee!

34:53 (7:21/mi.)