I'm retired from racing. Really.

Just over 3 miles around first dam to warm up, then met Cody and James and drove to Jardine Juniper trail.  My favorite run, first time this year.  Finally.

We didn't push it too hard going up but it was definitely hot.  Very steady climb (1850 feet total).  We saw a mom and baby moose.  Great views and pretty scenery, including at the tree.  Fast but relaxing run down.  Cody's watch said 10 miles but utahmountainbiking.com says 11.4.  I'll go with Cody, though effort wise it is definitely closer to 12 miles.

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4.5 miles with Paul on the planet walk.  Like he said, "Hot!"  Then ran some on the Logan track and around the neighborhood by myself before going to frisbee.  Recovery miles- the next 2 days should be harder, 12-14 miles each.  I may be able to sneak in my first 2-a-day of the year, too.

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[Announcer]:  This week on The Running Channel: It's animal week!  You may remember our show two days ago when we introduced you to a mother and baby moose, as well as a couple of more domesticated animals, horses.  Today's program continues by exploring Logan Canyon with our host, Jon.

[Jon]:  Thanks for joining me today.  Let me tell you about today's run and the animals we encountered on it.  The run started at the canal trail and wound it's way to the mouth of Logan Canyon, continuing all the way to Guinavah Malibu campground.  We wanted to see plenty of wildlife so we didn't start the run until after 7:30 pm, figuring the animals would be out around dusk once the oppresive heat of the day was gone.  We started at a fairly easy pace, between 7:30-8:00 minutes per mile on the way up, and it was a good thing, too.  Had we been going any faster, we might have stepped on the rattlesnake that was stretched across the gravel trail just below Third Dam.  It was a beautiful diamondback, stretching 3 or 3 1/2 feet long and as big around as a tennis ball.  It could easily eat my water bottle whole.  After observing him and waiting for him to get off the trail, the run continued.  There were plenty of birds and small mammels, and a large number of canines, but nothing larger.  At least not yet.  Join us after this commercial break for the return trip.

[Commercial break] This show is brought to you today by New Balance shoes and shirt, Pearl Izumi shorts, and the letter N.

[Jon]:  After turning around at the 7.5 mile mark (60 min running time), we quickly ran into a very large animal in the brush just above the trail.  I didn't get a good look but am sure it was a deer.  The next animal was of the slightly smaller version- insects.  They were out in large number tonight along the trail and river, and I tried to identify specific species by swallowing them, inhaling them, and getting them stuck on my chest and in my eyes.  Alas, I was never able to conclusively determine what they are.  It was getting dark at this point, so the return trip was slightly faster, between 7:00-7:30 pace for the first 3 miles.  Once I reached the end of the singletrack, I increased the pace to around 6:30 per mile and tried to maintain that the rest of the way, hoping to cover more distance and observe more animals.  I was richly rewarded as I rounded a corner near the Nature Center and startled a deer on its way to the river.  We raced for a while before he veered into the brush.  The run exited the canyon but there was one more exotic animal to be seen on this journey.  Just before the canal trail, I passed the elusive and speedy Polpy, also known as Paul P. in some parts of the country.  This creature  relies on speed to escape predators/competition, and is indiginous to Indiana but has migrated to Utah and integrated himself quite well with the local habitat, though he did stand out with his reflective vest this evening.  Polpy escorted me back to my car, and also confirmed that my pace was sub-6:30, which was good to hear.  By this point it was 10 pm and dark, so I ended my animal trek for the evening.  Return trip was 52:45 for 7.5 miles, giving an overall average pace of 7:31 min/mile.

[Announcer]:  Join us tomorrow when Jon journeys up the new singletrack in Green Canyon in search of the rare mountain lion.  This week on The Running Channel: Animal Week!

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First did 8 miles up Green Canyon- up in 36 minutes, down in 27.  Didn't see a mountain lion, but I did see 3 deer (only 10 meters away from one) and a garter snake.  Then went straight to campus and played 1 1/2 hours of awesome ultimate frisbee- great speed work!  Then, since it was now cool (9:30 pm) and my wife is gone this week, I decided to do a few more miles in the evening rather than wake up at 4 am tomorrow for a run.  I drove to the planet walk and ran along it a few times.  Total of 14 miles, home at 10 pm again.

Report on new Green Canyon singletrack:

The new singletrack starts about 3/4 of the way up the canyon (I kept turning on small trails too early, thinking I was there, but was wrong).  It starts on the left (west) side and actually heads the wrong direction for a bit before switching back.  You get a nice climb on the west side before coming back and crossing the road.  After crossing, there is a short section of singletrack before hitting a jeep trail that dumps you back on the main road.  However, right after you hit the jeep trail, there is a path to a campground on the right (east)- GO TO THE CAMPGROUND!  The singletrack picks up again at the back of the campground and then continues almost all the way to the end of the road.  It is a nice trail and certainly changes the feel of the canyon run.  Nice to get off the road and away from ATV's.  The singletrack adds a bit of distance too the run, probably 1/4 mile or so each way.  This is perfect since the run to the end was about 3.7 miles each way, so now it is real close to 4.  One of you GPS slaves should run this and tell me if I am right.  I definitely like the addition, though.

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I had to be home from my run by 6 pm so had to back out of a run with Paul and Cody.  Given the heat, I did the old reliable shady trail- planet walk.  A few loops on it were just what I needed.  Pace was 7:15-7:30/mile.  7 miles total.

New shoes- Mizuno Wave Ascend 2, trail shoes.  Felt great, look good.  7.

Met Cody and Paul and drove up into Franklin Basin.  We ran 8 miles up Franklin Basin road at a slow pace (8:30-9:00 miles or so), but it was gravel and averaged 4% uphill (1500 feet uphill total).  We turned around and averaged under 6:30 for the way back- in fact the last three were under 6:00 pace, as fast as 5:45 or so.  It was nice to know I can run that fast at the end of a long week and pretty good run.  The weather was great- first cool run this whole week.  The temp was 50 deg or so, rather than all my other runs which have been above 85-90 deg.  No animals to note other than a bunch of cows.  Time 2:00:27.

After the run, I drove to campus and ran 2 miles on the grass.  Then I played 2 hours of awesome (yet hot) ultimate frisbee- little bit of cross training.  Finally went home for breakfast at 12:30 pm.  Good mileage for the week.

Ascend- 25- You know it's a real, real good week when you wear trail shoes 5 out of 6 days!

One item of note- 4 of my runs were on trail.  I noticed that if you add up the time I was running on those trails and assume that I were instead running at a descent pace (say 7:00-7:15 miles) for that same time, I would have ended up with about 4 more miles for the week, putting me at 81.  So trail runs are much funner and easier on my body but slightly lower my mileage.