Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - Hiked the Highland Mary Lakes loop. Unbelievable views of the Grenadier Range. Immediate addition to the all-time favorite places list. [~9 miles, 3000']

PM - 7 miles. Ran in Silverton, winding around town with the whole crew, then added on a few more miles with Allie and James. We saw a wolf! Finished at the asphalt track (yes, there is an asphalt track in a town situated at 9300' with a high school enrollment of 10 students... WHY?) with a 400 (68 secs). James did it first so Allie and I had no choice but to follow his lead. We avoided use of the concrete/gravel long jump area.

AM - 14 miles. Started at Molas Pass with the everyone and we ran west on the Colorado Trail. Majority of the run was over 11,000 feet. Of course that meant Andrea would knock out her longest run of the year (9 miles!). We turned around at 5 miles and James beat me back to the pass by about 5 minutes. I ran back to the hut via Molas Lake. Great run.

PM - 7 miles. Around Silverton for 6+ miles (saw the town wolf again) and then met Andrea and Amiee at the track (we all quickly became obsessed with this track). I wanted to see what a 5:00 mile felt like at this elevation, so I ran a 1600m in 5:10. That tells you how 5:00 pace feels up that high! Then Amiee ran a 400m time trial (PR!) and Andrea followed by running a 71 second 400m in Teva Sandals! That was way too close to my time the night before, so I ran one more 400m in 66 seconds. Our lungs hurt so much after this.

AM - Climbed Mt Sneffels (14,150') via the SW Ridge. Fun! [~7 miles, 3500']

This was the first time I've been on a 14,000+ foot peak in 3 years. In the 18 months before that, I climbed over 50 14K peaks. 

Took the day off from running, long drive back to Utah.

AM - 15 miles. 10 Mile AT Tempo in 54:25 (5:27/mile avg). Tempo loop. 3 up, 2 down. I could tell on the warmup that I was a little flat from the trip/drive so I figured slowing down ~5-10 secs/mile would be the right effort for today. Good call - got in a solid effort but avoided dipping into the well or pressing to hit a pace. Warm/humid compared to Colorado... lost 7 lbs on the run!

PM - 9 miles w/ Kramer at the Horsepark. Steady pace, and Kramer threw in 6 x 1 minute surges but I skipped that part. 

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark loop w/ Andrea.

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike).

I got some spikes, so assuming I feel decent in the morning, I guess I'm running some XC tomorrow... first time since 2003! Not really ready for an all-out race effort again yet... my plan is to run sans-watch and go out at the very back, make it a progressive effort / workout.

Made a little San Juans highlights slideshow here.

AM - 3 miles w/ Andrea + strides.
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I've made a huge mistake. New (never worn) xc spikes + hot day + no socks = bye bye skin on heels. Ughhhh... you'd think I'd know what I'm doing by now.

Anyways, this was my first XC race since 2003. Essentially a tri-meet with BYU, Weber St, and Boise St, plus some unattached runners. Plan was to start off slow and work my way up. I think I was close to last place at the 1K (Andrea said there were only 1-2 guys behind me). Stayed there for most of the next kilometer but I could feel the skin ripping off my heels. Uh oh. Thought about dropping out at 3K, but figured it couldn't be that bad so I essentially tempo-ed the rest of the way. Moved my way up to 13th but the faster I ran the more my heels hurt. Skin was ripped off both heels... gotta get this fixed up ASAP. 

Splits were pretty consistent. I was 16:05 at 5K so I'm guessing the last K was a bit long because 3:32 doesn't seem right. Pretty fun... hopefully I won't go another decade before my next xc race. I'm mad at myself for being an idiot with the no socks thing because considering everyone goes out too fast in XC, I probably could have done some damage in the second half of the race. 

Skipped the cooldown obviously. Hopefully I'll be able to run in Layton tomorrow. Maybe I'll have to wear Crocs!?

More Photos (couple of Tomy and Susannah in there). Great spectator course... lots of looping around so Andrea got some good shots.

UPDATE: The college race was just the opening act. The high school action was where it was at today. Alta XC guys ran awesome - 6th place at the Murray Invite! [Results] And in round two of what is going to be a series of epic duels this fall, Kramer outkicked Conner, 15:18 to 15:20. Its so cool to see two of the best runners in the country pushing each other so hard. Here's some photos from the high school XC meet.

Above: Coach Murphy telling everyone to eat more eggs.

OK one more, since I have nothing to do except soak my feet in epsom salt right now. I believe the picture below was from my last XC race. Yikes!!!

After yesterday's XC debacle I almost didn't even bother driving up to Layton this morning. But as it got closer to 7am I think Andrea realized I was going to be a total PITA all day so she said we should just drive up and see how my feet felt once I warmed up. I got there in time to jog the course w/ Kassi which was great because it took my mind off my heels and got me to stop being mad at myself. Thanks Andrea and Kassi for snapping me out of my funk this morning.

I'm really trying to re-train myself into racing more conservatively off the start. Jace Nye and Jason Holt were there, so I was content to let them set the tempo early. We went out a lot slower than I ran the first mile last year, and by halfway it was just Jace and I. We hit 2 miles in 10:08 and then I decided it was time to move. Ran the last 1.1 miles in 5:18 (~4:48 pace), so a nice negative split and felt like I had a lot more in the tank. Heels held up OK with a solid tape job. I will admit, I'm still pretty tired from the Colorado trip. [Results]

Fun 5 mile cooldown with Andrea, Allie, James, Kassi, Dave, Riley, etc.

Ken and Janae Richardson did a great job organizing and directing this race. I'd highly recommend it.

As usual, Andrea took some great photos. Some FRBers in here: 2013 Layton Classic

Now gotta rest up for the Peruvian Dash and BBQ bash! (ie. 3 hours in the hot tub at Alta!)

Start

2 miles

Last half mile

No further damage done!

AM - 11 miles (3 up, race, 5 down)
PM - Peruvian Dash 8K w/ Abby. Super fun!