Happy Independence Day! Even after two 20-mile-plus days, I wanted to finish this long-holiday weekend off with a third 20-mile run. Consequently, this morning, I woke up just after 4:00 am and hit the dark and already warm (i.e., 75 degrees) streets at 5:00 am on the bike. By the way, my left calf muscle was a little bit tender and sore from all the uphill running over the past two days, so I wore a nice neon green sleeve on my left leg to keep it together. After a 9.5-mile ride up will to Ruth’s Diner (two miles up Emigration Canyon), I parked my bike and began my run up the Canyon just after 6:00 am. Before climbing up the west side of Little Mountain--my good Des News Marathon friend--I passed a Fourth of July race that was just about to start. I was thinking to myself that this would have been a good Des News Marathon prep race. Anyway, carrying on up then cruising down Little Mountain I came to the winter gates that lead up to Big Mountain and East Canyon. I knew passing these gates meant 5.4 miles of climbing with the last three miles of this climb being especially brutal. Oh and it was a really tough climb. I could see the radio towers at the top of Big Mountain which looked really close, but were many vertical feet above. I finally completed all the steep switchbacks and made it the top--13.2 miles--in a time of 2:05:18 (splits: 9:38, 9:11, 8:55, 9:23, 9:17, 8:51, 8:11, 8:14, 8:52, 10:08, 11:14, 10:39, 10:41, and 2:03).
I was joined by a bunch of exhausted cyclists who could not believe that I ran all the way up. However, I could not believe they biked this beyond steep incline since I was just glad to ditch my bike at Ruth’s. Speaking of, after taking a few moments to admire the view, I started my descent to the diner. Of course, this involved a climb up Little Mountain which went really slow (mid-8:00 pace), but not bad on tired legs. I completed this 13.2 miles in a time of 1:32:10 (splits: 7:14, 6:50, 6:27, 6:35, 6:42, 7:51, 8:32, 8:00, 7:04, 6:51, 6:39, 6:21, 5:54, and 1:09). Then I coasted 9.9 miles back to home on my bike before calling it a morning.
In summary, 26.4 miles from Ruth’s Diner to the top of Big Mountain and back (following the Des News Marathon course with the exception of not doing the short out-and-back on Pinecrest Canyon Road) in a total time of 3:37:28.
Beside 19.4 miles on the bike, I was able to complete 300 sit-ups for my non-running workout.
Five-Minute Plank Challenge: 2:00
Trying-To-Go-Out-Of-My-Way-To-Eat-Healthy Challenge: blue berry smoothie and a serving of mixed fruit
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