I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- Standard Green Canyon run, for probably the last time.  I'm really going to miss this run- it's probably the trail run I've done the most other than the river trail.  8 miles to just past the yurt.  Gorgeous morning for a run.  My quads are still a bit sore, which shows how much downhill there was and how hard I ran it- it's the first time I've been sore in 2-3 months, despite thousands of trail miles.

 Someone posted some pictures from the race last Saturday showing the clouds we descended into that we so gorgeous.  Also, some pictures of running in the fog and all of the flowers.  Now you can get a taste for yourself of how beautiful it was.

AM- Joe and I drove to North Ogden to do the challenging Ben Lomond mountain via Northern Skyline trail.  It is 8 miles each way to the summit, with about 3700 ft climbing along the way.  The trail was suprisingly fabulous and very runnable- it climbed a very consistent 520-550 ft/mile for 4.5 miles, then smoothed out a bit to about 350 ft/mile for 2.5 miles, followed by the final grunt to the top, which was still only 700 ft/mile.  It would be fairly easy to run the whole way up this trail, and it would be a great race on fresh legs.  The views from the 9712 ft peak are amazing- Ogden is 4000 ft down but only 1/2 mile away horizontally.  Very steep cliffs all around.  And did I mention it was windy on top?  We took some pictures of Ogden, Ogden Valley, and even Cache Valley before turning around.  The run down is nice, though it was about 3 miles too long for my tired legs and painful foot, plus a 2-3 mile section in which the trail is covered with small to medium rocks got a bit annoying.  But again, it would be a fabulous trail to run fast on fresh legs, with a great reward at the top.

16 miles RT, 1:37 up, 1:03 down- about 20 minutes faster than I expected due to the nice grade and good trail conditions, though Joe and I were laughing at ourselves for thinking 10:10 pace is a good average.  3700 ft climbing and descend.  Very glad we did this run.  And thanks for driving, Joe.

 Joe and Ben Lomond, 2/3 of the way up.  An imposing mountain.

At the top overlooking Ogden 

North Ogden and some steep cliffs 

AM- Woke up early and drove with Joe all the way to Beaver Mountain... just to turn around and come home.  We planned to run Stump Hollow, but a major thunderstorm was raging overhead.  I'm not a fan of running on top of mountains with lightning nearby.  We drove down the canyon, hoping Jardine or even the River Trail would be clear, but no luck.  So I went home and slept for 2 more hours.  It may be the first time I actually drove 1.5 hours without running, but that's life.  A bit bummed I couldn't run the wonderful Stump one more time.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 

AM- For my final short run ever in Logan, I wanted to run my favorite- Jardine Juniper.  And I wanted to set a record, which would be challenging- 9.5 miles with 1900 ft of climbing.  Plus I had done two hard runs the past two days, and my foot was killing me.  Cody was trash-talking me last night, saying I would never be able to set the record after last night's run.

The old record was 1:16:56, with fastest final 4 mile descent of 23:51.  I knew my legs were very tired from the previous 2 days, but I had tons of desire.  I thought I could break 1:15, and always believed that the best I could ever do would be a 1:12.

I knew the difference today would be running a fast uphill, so I went hard right from the start, maxing out the whole way up.  I didn't feel great, but I reached the first ridge in 27:00, 2-3 min faster than normal.  I reached the 4 mile intersection in 37:47, 2 min faster than normal (splits up were 9:05, 10:05, 9:29, 9:15, and 7:59).  I cruised the rest of the way to the top and then really picked it up on the downhill.  

My legs weren't happy with the fast downhill, but they would get no reprive from me today.  I reached the intersection after the loop at 48:43, then pushed even harder the rest of the way down.  I was flying as fast as I could, with my eyes watering from the wind.  Splits down were 6:09, 5:53 (first sub-6 mile in months!).  At this point, I saw an old, bearded trail runner moving briskly up the trail towards me.  He told me there was a moose 2 switchbacks down on the trail.  Not wanting to run into a moose at 10 mph, I slowed down and started calling "Hey, moosie, moosie".  I also got out my camera.  Sure enough, in less than .2 mile, I saw the moose 30-40 yards off the trail.  I stopped and took the best pictures I could before he disappeared into the woods.  My slowdown cost me probably 10-15 seconds.  I resumed my run, harder than ever.  Last splits were 6:08, 5:45, and the final 1/2 mile at 5:13 pace!  5:13 pace!!!  Total descent for the last 4 miles was 23:07, 44 seconds faster than ever before despite tired legs and my crazy run last night.  Total time was 1:11:46 (7:41 avg).  I had done it- crushed the old record by over 5 minutes!!!

This is a great last run for me and I am very happy to set such a great record on this course.  Not to say that Joe or Cody won't ever be able to break it- they might.  But it will be darn tough.  And I am sure that they will NEVER break it after running Ben Lomond and the Wellsvilles the two days before.  I am proud to leave this daunting challenge to them.  Guys, I challenge you to break 1:11:46.  Good luck.

My first moose picture ever- made it worth carrying the camera the whole way 

Proof of final time

AM- Well, today was my last run in Utah.  It's been a great week, one with lots of (slow) trail running.  I ran 5 times this week for 65 miles in just under 13 hours (that much time would be 100+ road miles), which means I averaged 12 min miles.  Add in last Saturday's race, and my last 6 runs total 95 miles with just a hair under 27,000 feet climbing and 27,000 feet descending!  And it's been a fabulous month of being a full-time trail runner with over 300 miles of trails and 127,000 ft elevation change.  Heck, my last run on pavement was Jul 23!

Today's run ran from Green Canyon up the Beirdneau trail to Beirdneau Peak, then across to Mt. Elmer and Mt. Jardine, then down Green Canyon.  I had done the first 5 and last 5 miles, but the middle part was awesome.  The first 2 miles and last 5 miles were on nice trail, and the rest was a combination of rough trail, deer trails, and no trail.  Joe, Cody, and myself started well before sunrise and were greeted with almost 2000 ft climbing in the first few miles.  The sun rose as we were on the ridge headed towards Beirdneau- pretty sight.  We enjoyed the views of Logan and Green Canyon.  The ridge took us to the top of Green, where we ran towards Mt. Elmer.  The final miles towards Elmer are slow and rocky, with lots of steep cliffs and scree.  The views were fantastic from on top, though, with big valleys, steep cliffs, and nearby mountains.  We backtracked a bit, then went off-trail to try to reach Mt. Jardine.  It was slow going with some ridgetop scrambling, but this is where we saw 2 backpackers.  We finally turned around and went completely off-trail for the next mile, dropping down into upper Green Canyon with 1000 ft drop in less than a mile.  Cody was leading us from cow path to cow path, claiming each one was an official trail.  Then it was down the familiar singletrack.  The last 4 miles are very runnable, and we pushed rather hard and averaged 6:30's for that section, which was a big change after all the 12 to 20 min miles.  Lovely.  19 miles total in 4:20 with 5500 ft climbing and 5500 ft descending, just under 14 min miles average.  Beautiful views, glad we did this adventure- thanks, Joe and Cody.

Between the Wellsvilles on Thursday and today's run, we did 32 miles in about 8 hours with 11,000 ft climbing.  Slow and steep, but lots of vistas. 

                          Dawn approaches                           

Sunrise over the Bear River Mountains, looking towards Right Hand Fork 

                     Ridge running                   

Mt. Elmer forest fire- lots of burnt stuff, and the fire is still burning right by the trail

Cody and Joe seem miniscule next to some steep cliffs 

Final approach to Mt. Elmer 

Looking towards Beirdneau Peak and Mt. Logan from Elmer 

The Three Amigos.  Or is it the Three Stooges?  

Rock scrambling towards Mt. Jardine