Summit junkie!

40 minutes on the elliptical to try and work out some of the soreness from the run on Friday. Everything feels really good and I only have some slight soreness in my legs.

Weights at the gym for an hour.  I worked my upper body and core. My regular peeps weren't there, so I worked out by myself and I was a sweaty mess at the end.

Dimple Dell gully trail with Jun and Dorsimus. The weather was a little windy, but almost perfect. We hung together all the way up the trail to the Bell Canyon TH and from there Jun loves to push the pace and my legs were not in the mood to even try and hang, so I held back while the guys pushed it to the top and I got there a few minutes after. After a quick break and a gel we headed back.

The run back to the car was fun, but I think all of us were a little sore from the 30 mile run we did 4 days ago. By time we hit the Wrangler TH my hammies were hurting. We stopped there and filled our bottles and then pushed the pace back to the finish. I got into a groove and pushed the pace, but Matt wouldn't let me go and eventually passed me with about 1/4 mile to go and I couldn't get by him at the end. My legs are worked.

Easy 3 on the TM after the kids went to bed. Saving my legs for trails and hills.

I think I got a sunburn today- What the??? Lunch break run up Mt. Wire. The weather was perfect and it was the first time this year I stripped off my shirt (wasn't pretty). It felt so nice and I actually enjoyed running without my ipod today. I tried to go fast and set a new PR of 43 min to the top. That is still very soft and I know I can do it in under 40 if I really push. I took a quick break and then had a nice run all the way down passing a few peeps on their way up. Perfect day.

2180 vert

Grandeur Peak this morning with MattV. I just wasn't feeling it today. Not much energy and I never got into a good groove. My ipod crapped out on me about 3/4 of the way up so no tunes and I basically followed Matt all the way to the top. He beat me to the summit by a couple of minutes where he waited for me while playing some air guitar. I topped out in 1:22 which is not fast. It was very cold and windy on top, so we didn't stay long. I downed (gagged) a gel quickly and we headed down.

On the way down we ran into our friend Judy and stopped to chat about some upcoming spring mountaineering climbs. The run down was slow and my legs were heavy and sore. Total time 2:05.

On a positive note we did have a helluva lot of laughs on the hill today.

3268 vert

I went to the gym to lift on Sat, but it was closed so they could take the bubble off the pool. I thought about running, but I ended up just eating abour 2X the cals I normally would. Oh well, I think I needed the break.

Did 4 easy on the TM. My legs are still a little sore from all of the elevation at the end of the week.

I got into St. George marathon, so now I have to figure out how to train and run a marathon 3 weeks after running Wasatch 100. Maybe that wasn't the best idea.

I will never complain about my gym being crowded again. Since it is closed for 6 days for maintenance (which I think it a total joke) I went to the Lehi Legacy Center to lift. When I got into the weight room it was so packed that I couldn't find a single machine or bench open and when I went to the free weights my options were anything below 10 lbs or above 70. What the?? After walking around for a minute like a confused dumbA I finally saw a bench open so I jumped on picked up a 70 lb dumbbell and started doing some skull crushers. Ha! Eventually it thinned out some, but what a mess.

Lifted for 50 minutes (arms, chest, shoulders, core).

One thing the LLC has going for it is 2-3 times more roiders than AF Fitness Center.

I have had better days. My son was up all night puking, so I didn't get much sleep and then while driving home from work I got hit by a truck while I was parked in a turn lane. The impact was hard enough to scare the pee out of me and made my neck really sore. The truck was in much worse shape than my CR-V but now I have to deal with all of the insurance company crap and get my car fixed. Lame.

I did get to try running on muscle relaxers though. It was kind of hard to get into a groove and after 4 miles I stopped because I was worried about my neck.

Lunch run with Jun on the BST in Sandy/Draper starting at Willow Park. We had a really good time. The weather was perfect, although a bit humid at first. We didn't push hard at all and just chatted most of the way. My neck was stiff, but didn't bother me too much. Total time 1:02 with 680 ft. of elevation gain.

I met Jun and MattVB east of the capitol building this morning at 5:30 am to run to the Ave Twin Peaks via the BST. It was kind of windy at first which made it cold, but after about 5 minutes I had warmed up. We ran up City Creek Canyon to access the BST. Jun was pushing a pretty good pace and once on the BST he dropped Matt and I and we ended up taking a wrong turn which took us up a gully instead of winding around on the BST. We ended up topping out onto the ridge before Jun and we couldn't see him anywhere, so we both thought maybe we went the wrong way. We came to another junction and we knew both ways would get us to the top. Matt stopped to take a break and I climbed up the hill to see if I could see Jun and I saw him coming up the trail behind us. We all met up and decided to hang together the rest of the way.

Jun really pushed a good pace all the way to the summit of the first twin and I just tried to stay with him. What a gorgeous day! The views on of the city and valley are just incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed every second up there. On the summit I downed a gel and Craig ate a clif bar and VB wanted to tag the second summit, and of course I did too, so we made the quick trip over and tagged that one as well. we commented on how far away the capitol building looked and it did.

The run back was a lot of fun. We just had a nice quick pace the whole way. Jun got ahead a few times and had to stop and wait, but once we got back to the paved road I stayed with him at a comfortable 7:20 pace to the finish.

1:36 with 2000 ft. of vert.

6.5 easy miles.

5 easy miles on the TM. I'm taking it easy because I'll be doing the Zion traverse on Wednesday and I want to keep my legs fresh. I'm pretty much shutting things down until then.

Weights at the gym for an hour. It was crowded, but not as bad as the LLC. Worked lats, chest, arms and delts. Pull ups- I am a fan.

So the weather is looking a bit nasty tomorrow in Zion, but we are going for it anyway. Worst case scenario- We get in some good miles in between storms and tag Angels Landing. Best case- We get to do the whole traverse, have a lot of laughs and only get a little wet. We'll see.

Zion traverse attempt with Jun, Dorsimus and JSH

We failed to complete the entire Zion traverse yesterday, but what we got instead might be the most incredible run I have ever done. The weather forecast looked terrible, but we were hoping to get lucky like we did on Stansbury Island last month. Worst case scenario we would run the East Rim trail, get wet and bail from there and we were all ok with that.

We set up camp just outside of the park for a very restless night of sleep. It rained most of the night and I had failed to properly secure my rain fly, so it was flapping all night long. Annoying. My hips and back did not like the hard ground either, but I felt pretty good when we broke camp and headed for the east entrance of the park. The weather looked like it might not get too bad. There were a lot of clouds and we even had a brief shower on the way to the park, but nothing serious. When we started it was cool, but it looked like the storm might hold off for a while.

The East Rim trail is amazing. The miles were flying by and the views were constantly impressive. We settled into an easy pace as we made the climb to the rim. We were all just enjoying the run, talking, laughing and taking pictures. It was almost like Christmas morning, as each bend brought a new and exciting view for us to take in. I was having a blast! We took our time to check out several canyons and the steep drops off of the trail.

About an hour in it started to snow on us, but only last a few minutes. For the most part on this section the weather was great. The last 4 miles of the East rim are the most impressive and I don't think you can find a more scenic trail anywhere. The steep canyons and sheer cliffs are spectacular and you wind around and down the walls on trails that have been carved into the side of the cliffs. Unreal. Eventually, we made our way into a very tight canyon with very high sheer walls on both sides. Stunning. Around the bend and Zion Canyon opens up to you and the trail down to Weeping Rock is magical. It was trail running heaven and we were all soaking it in, laughing, yelling and smiling.

At Weeping Rock we ran down the canyon road to the Grotto, where we met my nephews that had been waiting for us. I took some Cytomax, and we all used the restroom there. Just as we were about to leave it started to rain and the weather only got worse from there. We ran across the street and started our climb up the West Rim trail (Angels Landing Trail). It is very steep and gains a few thousand feet very fast. We only ran a small portion of this because it is just so steep. We had a good hiking pace, but after about 20 minutes Jun and I broke out the garbage bags to keep the rain off. Dorsimus was having some stomach issues and slowed a bit, but he kept pushing hard and we passed several tourists on their way up to Angels Landing.

When we got to the Scout Overlook near Angels Landing the weather had not improved, but we decided to keep pushing up. The trail was wet and we were mostly hiking the steep slopes up to the West Rim. It was gorgeous. All of the rain had caused several water falls to start spilling over the cliff faces and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

At about mile 17 we had to climb a really steep slope and we were just getting pounded with snow. It was cold and whenever we would stop for a few seconds we would get chilled. We stopped at a spring so Matt could get some water and it was snowing hard. We were all quite cold and my fingers were numb. At that point it things got ugly. The trail turned into a mud bog, the weather showed no signs of improving, we were going slow and we still had 30 more miles. Jun thought it might be a good idea to turn around and after talking and thinking about it we all came to the same conclusion. It would have taken us considerably longer to finish the traverse, we were already wet and cold and we were one broken ankle or accident away from someone getting hypothermia. Not to mention it was just nasty. It was an easy decision.

There was some initial disappointment when we turned around, but after a few minutes we were running again and my numb hands and toes started to warm back up. Our spirits picked up and we were having fun again. We took a break to drink some fresh rain water spilling off of one of the cliffs and then we had a really fun (although wet) run back down to Angels Landing. We had planned on climbing it, but the weather actually got worse and it was raining hard and the wind had picked up as well, so we took a break in some rocks that had a nice roof shelter and we decided it was just too nasty. I am a peak bagger and rarely miss an opportunity to grab a summit and we were very close to tagging Angels Landing, but I had no interest in going up that thing in those conditions.

After the break we ran all the way back down to the Grotto. The trail was really wet and full of tourists. I got a little behind the other three as I just tried to take it easy. Jun was setting a pretty face past all the way down. There was so much water coming off of the cliffs that we actually had to run right through a waterfall. It was pretty cool.

Back at the Grotto we decided to run back down the canyon to the visitors center to get in a few more miles. My legs did not like the pavement as much as the trails, but the views were stunning. We were all in good spirits and even though we didn't complete the traverse we had an amazing time. I would say that there is no trail anywhere that can top these views. I was in awe the entire day and I can't wait to go back and finish it off.

Here are some pics from our trip:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.1968051328502.114980.1459523495

I got up early and hit the gym this morning to lift. My legs are only slightly sore from our run on Wed, so I am very happy about that. The first song that popped into my ipod playlist shuffle was "It's the end of the world as we know it" by R.E.M. It made me laugh. Rapture!!!

I had a really good session working my chest, shoulders and lats.

I got out for a sweet evening run. The weather was almost perfect. I haven't run on the road in a while and sometimes it is fun. I ran down the Highland Hwy down to AF Main St. The first 3 were in 23:00 and I was feeling really good. I ran down to Olive Garden and then back home.The last 2 I slowed a bit as I went back up the hills, but it was a lot of fun. My legs feel great.

Just some easy TM miles.

Weights at the gym for an hour. I think I might need to pick a new night for lifting at the AF fitness center. I have been lifting every Monday night for about 4 years now (although you wouldn't know it by the size of my guns). It was so crowded and annoying. Usually the New Years folks are all gone by now and it is relatively quiet, but not this year.

Lunch run with Jun and Dorsimus on the BST in Draper/Sandy. I showed up at the trailhead and thought Karl Meltzer would be joining us, as he was chatting with the boys, but he took off a little before we did.

Jun set a really good pace and it wasn't long before Karl came into view, but I think he pushed his pace a bit and we never did quite catch up to him before he turned off on another trail at mile 3. It was very humid out there today and the weather was just fickle. It would be hot for a few minutes and then windy and cold with some mist and light showers mixed in, and then back to hot.

Once we got up to Corner Canyon we started getting into more mud and when we turned off on the Clark's trail it was mostly muddy all the way down, but we still managed to run a pretty fast pace. At the bottom we took a trail back up to the BST and then had a nice easy run back to the cars, although the wind picked up and was a little annoying. When we stopped to take a quick break at the top of the largest hill we saw a golden eagle flying just below us. It was really impressive to watch it glide around with ease.

1500 ft of gain.

4 easy on the TM

Mt. Wire/BST run with MattV

I went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 3:00 and had a tough time falling back asleep. I finally did and then the alarm woke me up at 4:30. The wind was fierce outside and I was hoping it was a lot calmer in SLC. Met Matt at 5:30 and we were off by 5:40.

We ran where we could and hiked the hills up to the ridge. We were not pushing hard today. We just had a nice pace and a lot of laughs. It was only slightly windy on the trail on the way up, but it was a lot colder than we thought it would be. The higher we went the more wind we had and by time we reached the towers it was really blowing, so we ran hard the rest of the way to the top, reaching the summit in 48:00. We only stayed for a few seconds and then quickly made our way back down to the saddle.

The run down was not fast. We talked all the way down about future plans and some mountaineering stuff and then when we got back to the BST we ran north all the way to Red Butte Canyon and back to the cars, picking up an extra couple of miles.

Lake Mountain with MattV

 I met Matt at 7:00 am for a run up Lake Mountain. I love this run. It was a lot warmer than both of us thought it would be and we both lost a shirt after the first mile. We ran as much as we could today, only hiking the steepest sections. We tried to run several of the big hills and it was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs. About a mile from the top there was a truck that had gone off the road into a gully in one of the steepest sections. We stopped and checked it out and found a Brooks and Dunn CD (Surprise!!), a pair of rustler jeans and a few old shirts. No treasure!

We made it to the top in 1:15 and we took a few peak jumping photos and then a couple showed up on the summit. They had come up on a ridge and had a bit of a bushwhack. We told them the easy way to get down and then we took off. I love running down this mountain. After the first steep rocky section I ran the next 3 miles fast at 6:33, 6:44 and 6:46. It was a lot of fun. I cruised all the way back to the car and then went back up to meet Matt to get in a little more mileage. I will definitely be back several times this year.

Total time: 1:48

Vert 3100 ft. and about 7k for the week.

5 very easy miles on the mill.

Rain blows.

I went to the gym and lifted for an hour working my upper body and core. I'll probably consume 5K cals today. I can't wait.

Last year I climbed 58 peaks, which is the most I have ever done in a year. I was really happy with that total, but this year I knew I could do more, so I set the mark at 65 and today I climbed my 33rd peak of the year, so I am half way to my goal with 7 months left in the year.

I ran up Lake Mountain with Jun and MattVB. We had an awesome run. Jun set the pace and typically we stop running and start hiking about 1.5 miles in when the trail gets steep, but not today. Jun kept running up the steep hills, so Matt and I did too. It was a lot of fun. I ran up the hills without stopping until 3.3 miles in. It was really steep and I could have kept running, but I realized my hiking pace would actually be a little faster going straight up, so I hiked the steeper sections near the top, but I think we ran at least 90% of the 4.2 miles up and it showed with a PR of 1:02:50. My previous PR was last Sat at 1:15. It was cold and windy at the top, so after I gagged down a gel we went down.

Jun took off like a rabbit and after about a half mile I couldn't see him anymore. After the steep rocky section I kept it under 7:00 most of the way back to the car and finished in 1:33. I love running down that mountain. I wonder if playing air guitar while blasting Janes Addiction slows your pace? My previous best time was 1:48, so it was a good day for sure.