Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 9 miles at sunrise on the bike path. I'm afraid to run on the trails here (early in the morning) by myself.

Big hike today - Paintbrush-Cascade Canyon loop (about 19 miles and close to 5K feet of climbing). It was a loop I have been wanting to do for a long time and it lived up to the hype. Spectacular scenery! Unfortunately once we got up to Paintbrush Divide, a big storm rolled in. We hiked in rain and hail for the last 9-10 miles and didn't get any good photos of Lake Solitude or Cascade Canyon, but it was still an awesome day. 

PM - 4 miles easy to shake out the legs. Solid 30+ miles on them today and feeling good!

Here's a full photo gallery from the hike. A few selected ones below... I love the Tetons... this is the only place in the world for me that is on the same level as the Sierras...

AM - 15.3 miles on the Moose-Wilson path. Felt a bit tired this morning, the dreary/rainy weather didn't help. Luckily Andrea ran the first 10 miles w/ me, or else it would have been a massive mental undertaking to make it to 2 hours! Glad to get it in, though - nothing else to do when the weather is socked in. Hopefully these clouds will break soon and we'll be able to do some fun stuff today.

PM - 7.5 miles.

The weather broke for a few hours and we had a great time rafting on the Snake River this afternoon. Saw a bald eagle!

Oh, and McD's sells dipped cones now?!?! Sorry DQ, this is gonna put you out of business!

Good luck to everyone running Des News tomorrow!!! 

AM - 10 miles. Really cool trail run w/ Andrea - we were able to link up 4 lakes (Jenny, String, Leigh, and Bearpaw), and even saw a bear! The trail was so smooth - no rocks - perfect for running. Enjoyed this one a lot!

Then we headed up to Jackson Lake and rented some kayaks for a couple hours... paddled a nice loop from Colter Bay to Halfmoon Bay and back. Perfect timing as the rain started coming down just a few minutes after we got back to the marina.

PM - 9 miles to the park entrance & back, then explored around Teton Village and the mansions on the hill. 

Seems like the blog had a lot of strong performances at Des News today - both the marathon and the 9.5K :-)  I'll have to catch up later this week. But in general - nice job everyone!!

The trail hugged the shore of Leigh Lake for several miles...

Running along Jenny Lake w/ the Grand Teton hidden from view in the clouds...

Jackson Lake...

AM - 16 miles. Last run in Wyoming... Andrea and I ran up into the park via the dirt road. Near the Granite Canyon trailhead we saw what we had been looking for the whole trip - MOOSE! A mile or so later I also came face to face with a deer - no joke, it was like 5 feet away from me. We both just stopped and looked at each other for a few seconds. Beautiful morning here - the sun is out in full force and lighting up the mountains. Can't beat this.

AM2 - Mountain bike ride (14 miles, ~1400 feet of climbing). Andrea found a great network of trails near Snow King mountain in Jackson. We rode up Cache Creek on the old jeep trail, then back down (and up and down and up and down) on some rolling singletrack. Very fun. I would highly recommend this area for both biking and trail running.

PM - 5.5 miles on the mean streets of Millcreek after driving home. Felt pretty good considering the amount of activity over the past couple days, and the long drive.

AM - 11.5 miles up to work. Back to the usual routine. 

PM - 11.5 miles home. Did the same DH pickups as last Thursday - splits this time around were 2 miles in 9:56 and 1 mile in 4:50. Quicker than a week ago, but I still feel pretty slow. Ran a few miles with Andrea, too. Altogether a pretty good (and HOT) run.

Vacation is over... :-)
 
(Sorry Andrea I couldn't resist!)

I'm thinking that I probably could use another half-marathon as a tempo run / hard workout this weekend, but it seems like the only one is up in Morgan, and I don't know if I feel like being in the car for that long after yesterday's drive. I'll have to make a decision tomorrow.  

AM - 14.5 miles, up to work. There were couple small (WEAK) rain showers... a downpour would have been nice and refreshing!

PM - 9 miles home, saw Rob M along the way and ran a few w/ him. We did a detour through his neighborhood to make sure the kids weren't killing themselves on the slip and slide. 

Make sure you order your shirt and shorts for opening ceremonies tonight. 

On a serious (but sad) note - US distance running legend Pat Porter died in a place crash last night. I'd highly recommend reading the archived SI story that Letsrun mentions here. 

AM - 25 miles. Glad I decided not to run a race today... I was able to sleep in, take some photos at Andrea's XC race, then head up to Park City and meet the guys (Rob M, Adam, and Kevin) for a Jeremy Ranch long run. We did an out & back to the east canyon road, then several more out & backs of varying lengths as guys dropped off when they hit their mileage. Adam went to 20 w/ me, by which point I was starting to feel pretty good, so adding on the extra 5 wasn't too bad. 

I did something different during the run today - took in fluids and calories! Gel and G2 at 14.5 miles, then grabbed my bottle again at 22 and carried it for the last 3 miles. 24 oz of fluid is probably the most I have even taken during a run (except Boston)... so hopefully if I keep practicing this, I can start to get a good feel of what I need to do (nutritionally) during a marathon. Or at the very least, get my stomach to tolerate it better.

There is nothing easy about this run. This hills at the end that I was running up and down (around the golf course neighborhood) are soul-crushing... 

PM - 3.5 miles easy w/ Andrea