Summit junkie!

Booty bootcamp at the gym with Kristina:

I ran sprints and ladders and my foot felt ok in the new Altra Olympus. Also worked my core.

Mt. Wire with Jennilyn and MattW:

It had been snowing earlier in the day, but when we hit the trail the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. There was fresh snow on the trail, but unlike Grandeur on Monday it was heavy and packed in really well, so it wasn't a big deal. We had a really fun time laughing and climbing all the way up. We went down the hollow and it was a total mess in there. Mud, slush and running water. Sloppy! We had fun though and laughed a lot. I slipped several times and Matt and J-lyn really enjoyed the variety of expletives flying from my mouth. This was one of those runs that makes you smile for a while.

Mt. Wire with ZacM, Craig and MattW:

Fun early morning before work. Met the fellas at the zoo and we had a really fun run/hike up to the summit. Lower on the Mt is was breezy and quite cold, but as we ascended it warmed up. Excellent sunrise. Went down the hollow. It was much better than yesterday.

At my hotel in southern Cal. Also lifted for 30 minutes.

Hotel TM in SoCal late at night.

Hotel in SoCal. I have had a sore spot on the bottom of my foot since the Buffalo 100 and it seems to have calmed down a lot. I've been wearing the Hoka's and Altra Olympus for max cushion.

Ave Twins solo:

Beautiful day on the BST up to the twins. I had my iPod shuffling through my Depeche Mode playlist. Great day.

PM: Weights at the gym for an hour, working my upper body and core.

View Benchmark with Jennilyn and Craig:

Early morning run with a great group. We made a good push to the top and I was pretty worked getting up the last 1/4 mile. Hit the very end of an impressive sunrise. Windy on top. We held a quick pace back to the cars.

BST tower run with Tara:

From the Capitol we went up City Creek Canyon to the towers. I was not feeling it and felt sluggish and slow on the way up. At the top we dropped down into the N. Salt Lake side, but didn't go all the way to the park because of time. Tara led out on the way back and pushed a much faster pace and I actually felt better going faster. Fun!

Ave Twins from I Street with Zac and MattW:

Other than the wind this was a perfect run. It was breezy from the start and WINDY on the summit, but we had a great time.

Ave Twins solo:

It was a perfect day to be out on the trails. It was slightly cold and breezy on top, but not bad.

PM: Weights at the gym with Kristina for an hour working my upper body.

Mt. Olympus with Craig, Zac and Matt:

It was pretty warm and windy at the start and with a storm moving in later in the day we would be hitting the top before the worst of it hit the peak. We had a really fun time hiking up the big steep hill, running where we could. Craig and Zac took a short detour to climb a rocky ridge leading the to the saddle while Matt and I stayed on the main trail. At the saddle it was cold and windy. We made good time through the chute and all hit the top about the same time. After a few pics we quickly made out way back down. The other guys ran fast and I had to take it easy on the steep technical sections because I was wearing the Altra Olympus. I did not want to fall or sprain an ankle.

Ave Twin Peaks with Matt and Jennilyn:

It was a really fun run up to the Twins from I Street. We had a great time chatting and laughing and really enjoyed the day. It was windy and cool on top again. I had to stop and make a few phone calls and we had to go down the short way because of time. Great day.

My IT bands and quads were sore from Oly, so I did an easy relaxing run to shake them out and they felt much better.

Ensign-Dude Peak ridge run with Jennilyn and Matt:

This run was was chock full of awesome. We started at 5:00 AM at the Ensign Peak trailhead. We made quick work of Ensign and surprised a couple on top that looked to be engaging in their own summit workout. We didn't stay long and made the traverse over to City Creek peak, going over a few knolls along the way. From there we ran the long ridge over to Dude, joking, laughing and having a great time.

The sun came up as we made our way up the last few hills to Dude. On top we took some pics and kept on going. There were two more peaks that we hit going over the ridge. There were a few scrambly sections and it was a lot of fun. At the saddle above Rudy's Flat we looked for the trail that would take us back down into City Creek. After about 10 minutes we finally settled on what looked to be a game trail and we hoped would the the 'trail' we were looking for.

After about 5 minutes that trail petered out and we ended up bushwhacking our way down a creek bed. Eventually the creek had water and it was steep tough terrain. We found a moose rack and another animal skeleton in the water. This was some rugged tough country that rarely sees humans. After what seemed like an hour of working our way down we finally found the trail. What a relief. From there it was an easy run to City Creek Canyon, where we ran the road until we could pick up the trail.

This 'run' was a total blast. We covered some incredible terrain and had some pretty sweet views along the way.

View Benchmark solo

From Vintage View. I was the only person on the trail today. I had a really good time thinking and enjoying the trail until about the 1.5 mark when the mud started. It was bad for about a mile, but above the connector trail I only hit mud on the steep ramp before the summit ridge.

The wind picked up and blew hard the last 1.4 to the top. It was so cold that by time I hit the summit and made it back down my hands and ears were numb. It was one of the coldest sumits I've been on. Part of the problem was I was in shorts and didn't have gloves. It was a pretty fun day overall though.

PM: An hour of weights at the gym with Kristina. There was a druggy in there acting weird and the fuzz had to come remove him.

View Benchmark with CraigL and Jennilyn:

We had a very enjoyable run up to the summit chatting and laughing. The weather was balmy compared to yesterday. Ran a little faster than yesterday up and down. Good day.

PM: Bootcamp at the gym with Kristina. Hiit, core and sprints.

Mount Wire with Jennilyn and Jenny:

It was a perfect day for a mountain run. Jennilyn met me at the trailhead after just putting up the womens FKT on the summit route. She was up in 34 minutes. Amazing! We took it a little slower and enjoyed the climb. Down the Hollow and back on the BST.