Summit junkie!

View Benchmark solo:

Shambles! I got home late last night because I was out late entertaining my boss who is in town and I had no way to get in a run yesterday, so I got up early this morning to run. Unfortunately my alarm didn't go off so I was 30 minutes behind where I needed to be. I got to the trailhead and felt like shite squared. Too much rich heavy food. Ick. It was the first time this year that I actually thought about walking some of the switchbacks, but I kept up a running pace to the connector trail where I ran into a girl doing repeats on the steep hill. Awesome. We chatted for a minute and then I passed her. Up to the summit in a SLOW 49 minutes. I didn't stay long.

It was tough getting into a fast pace on the way down, but with about 1.5 to go I finally started feeling ok and I was able to run it in strong. Nalgene bottle dirtbag shower at the car and into work.

View Benchmark solo:

After work I hit Ann's trail and ran to the summit of VB. I felt great the first few miles, but it was so hot out that I was really dragging up to the summit. On top in 49 min. Slow. On the way down I felt ok until the last 1.5 and with the heat and a lack of energy it was a slog. 

View Benchmark solo:

If you haven't already noticed I love this run via Ann's trail in Draper and it is the perfect training run for me. I felt really strong today and it was nice to have some steam back in my legs after my finish the day before. I pushed the pace all the way to the top, only hiking on the steepest hill for about 30 seconds. To the summit in 45 min and I only stayed for a few seconds because I was in a hurry. I pushed it hard all the way back to the car and finished in 1:15 total time. 

View Benchmark and Ann's trail with Rob:

I met my friend Rob smornin' at Ann's in Draper and we had a really fun run to the summit of VB. We pushed a nice pace all the way to the top of the connector trail where we stopped to fill some water. Ran most of the way to the summit of VB, but hiked a bit so Rob could take a gel. On top in 49 min and took in the view and decided to do some extra miles on the way back, so when we hit Ann's trail we went right instead of left and ran to the tunnel where we took a quick break so I could take a gel. 

The run down was a pretty good cruise and my legs actually felt pretty fresh. I think that makes 5 runs to the top of View Benchmark this week for me.

View Benchmark peak with Jun:

"Didn't you know, VB is the only place I run anymore". Morning run with Jun to the top of VB via Ann's. It was hot out there today, but I felt great the whole way and we had fun just chatting away from start to finish. We stopped a few times to tinkle and fill my water and hit the summit in a decent time considering. Jun hit the top about a minute before I did and we checked out the views including the fire burning at Camp Williams.

The run down was just a fun cruise. I enjoyed it.

PM update: Up in Park City for work. Lifted at the gym for an hour.

View Benchmark via Coyote Hollow with Jun:

I took a few days off from running while I was up in Park City for work, so our run today was just what I needed. Jun and I started at Coyote Hollow and ran up to View Benchmark via Ann's trail. It was a good effort and we just enjoyed the pace chatting the whole way up. It was a bit smokey out there, but not as bad as yesterday. Luckily we had cloud cover for most of the run, so it never got too hot. The run down was a good pace the whole way and we did an extra short out and back near the parking lot to get in exactly 9.

Draper BST with Jun from Willow park:

Easy run to shake out the legs before our run in the Uintas tomorrow.

Utah Triple Crown (Highest 3 peaks in Utah):

I attempted the TC for the first time back in 2003 when a reporter for the Deseret News that I knew from the Highpointers website invited me to go and attempt to climb the highest 3 peaks in Utah in one day and I invited Jun to join us as well. We made the attempt from an advanced base camp at Dollar Lake. After hiking in to Dollar and making camp we woke up early the next morning to make the attempt. We made decent time up to the summit of Kings, but I was hit with a pretty severe case of altitude sickness that required me to barf several times just off the trail. The last time I was on all fours extricating the last remnants of stomach acid into the bush while the D-news reporter looked on in horror. Needless to say I didn't complete the route. Jun and a photographer from the D-News continued on and finished it off and the D-News did a two page spread on the hike that they coined the "Triple Crown". It was pretty cool even though I didn't make it and I knew I wanted to go back again to make an attempt at some point.

Back in July of this year I went back to the Uintas with Jun and Jsh to try the Triple Crown again. Davy Crockett upped the TC ante back in 2008 when he did the whole thing from the trailhead and back in one day which doubles the miles and Jun was going after the speed record that he had set back in 2010 which had been broken by some local elite ultra runners in 2011. Jun was a little faster than we were and after summiting Gilbert we were thwarted by a storm that was moving in just as we were getting to Gunsight Pass, while Jun was at the base of Kings and was able to continue on to bag South Kings as well and get down before the storm rolled through. He went on to set a new speed record of 8:29 which is an incredible time for that route.

After our debacle in July Jsh and I swore we would never go back to attempt the TC again because neither one of us wanted to climb Gilbert Peak. While Gilbert is the 3rd highest mountain in Utah and has a pretty decent view everything else about it pretty much sucks, but after a few weeks of licking our wounds we both wanted to get back up there and finish it off, so we decided to add Gilbert and South Kings on when we did the Quest for Kings marathon.

We drove to the Henry's Fork trailhead with Jun and Dorsimus and as always had a really great time laughing, eating greasy food and this time buying a cowboy hat in Mountain View, Wyoming. Jun offered to wear it on the entire trip if someone bought it. Dors obliged and Jun good to his word wore the sexy thang all the way to the top of Kings Peak and back. Gotta love it.

We arrived at the trailhead and met some other guys that would be running the race in the morning and after setting up our tent we all hung out by the fire cracking jokes, laughing and participating in various other forms of tomfoolery. I slept ok in the tent nestled in between Jsh and Jun for the first 3-4 hours even though our tent smelled like the Great Salt Lake on a windy day, but at around 2:00 am a few dudes woke me up while they were getting ready to start their hike of Kings- LOUD! After that it rained and I just couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about the weather and hoping it would clear up. I really didn't want to run in the rain. At 4:00 the alarm went off and Jsh and I got dressed and went to the van to eat breakfast and get our gear ready. It literally rained until we opened the door of the van to start our run and then it stopped. It was cold, but not too bad with the cloud cover.

At the gate we started our watches and settled into a nice trot up the trail. It was muddy and wet and there were a lot of puddles to deal with and in the dark it was tough to get into a fast pace on that trail. It is a rocky nightmare. We got into a good groove though and slowly busted out the first 5 miles to Elk Horn crossing where we stopped to take a quick break to stash our headlamps and take a gel. Now that it was getting light we were able to move well and we got into a good pace that we were able to keep up all the way through the Henry's Fork basin. It was a beautiful morning and we just chatted away and enjoyed the run. Just past Dollar Lake we ran into 3 bull moose... or would that me meese?? They were right on the trail getting a drink from a spring that was flowing pretty well and they were startled by us. We stopped and just let them move on making sure not to look threatening in any way. Awesome.

We skipped the switchbacks up to Gunsight Pass and instead went straight up through the rocks while we both took another gel. At the pass we saw a family of hikers and said hello and then kept moving to the Gunsight plateau where we passed another group of hikers that were going up too high on the flank of Gunsight Peak. They saw us and eventually started working their way down. Over the plateau and then we started making our way over the tundra to the trail where we found a nice flowing spring and we stopped and had a great drink and Jsh filled up his bottles. We ran/hiked to Anderson Pass and both of us were feeling good so we knocked out the 900 feet up to the summit pretty quickly topping out in 3:56. Not bad considering we were about 20 minutes slower to Elk Horn than we were back in July. This was my 10th time on top of Kings Peak.

 We took a few pictures and didn't stay long as we continued to traverse the ridge and began to drop down to the saddle between Kings and South Kings. Almost immediately it became apparent that the rocks were much less stable the further away we were from the well-traveled Kings Peak. Just about every other rock was wobbly or would slide and our progress slowed a lot. Saying it was quite tedious would be an understatement. It sucked. Once we went over the saddle and started going back up our speed picked up some and we were able to slog our way over the false summit (curse you false summit) and finally up to the summit of South Kings Peak, the second highest peak in Utah. It was pretty cool being up there and we took a few more pics and then headed back down. More wobble, slide, roll, jump... awwww shite! Rocks!!!

Back at the saddle between the two Kings peaks I was telling Jsh a story of some sort and trying to get him to laugh (which was successful) but at the climax of the story I wasn't quite paying attention to my footing and I slipped on some loose rocks and went down hard. I landed on the same hip that I fell on during our night run a few weeks back and I also really banged up my leg. It hurt a lot, but no serious damage so I just needed to get up and keep moving. We made good time back up to the summit of Kings and we started running into some of the guys we had met from the night before. A couple of the dudes offered us food and they were really cool. Just below the summit we ran into Cowboy Jun and Dors. It was good seeing them and we had hoped that we would be able to run part of the route with them and we all met up back at Anderson Pass where the 'crew' was once again reunited. I downed a bean n cheese burrito at the pass and after joking and laughing with some hikers we ran back down on the trail to the spring where we had filled up earlier and all of us took a few minutes to replenish our water.

It was fun running/slogging back over the plateau with the fellas and we were all feeling really good and we made good time. Back at Gunsight Pass Jun and Dors stopped to talk to some other runners and Jsh and I kept going down, but after a few minutes they easily caught back up just as we got back onto the trail. We all got into a solid running pace and it was fun because I felt great and my legs were feeling strong. We quickly came up to the chute that would take Jsh and I up to Gilbert, so we parted with the other guys and started our traverse over to the chute. Jsh stopped for a quick break at the base of the chute and I continued up at a slow pace so that he could catch me and after a few minutes he caught me and then put a good distance between us as well. Our overall time was around 7:45 at this point and we still had a shot to put up a respectable number. I was still feeling pretty good, but obviously Jsh was feeling stronger.

There is a spring that flows through the chute and it was gushing. When we had come through back in July it was a mere trickle, so we were surprised that it was flowing so well, but we took advantage and filled up our bottles and I took 4-5 big gulps right off the rock of the cold fresh water. It was pretty awesome. At the top of the chute we got blasted by the wind and it never let up again while we were on the mountain and as we made our way up the Gilbert plateau it seemed to suck the energy right out of me. I hate this mountain! I knew we had the Triple Crown in the bag because the weather was holding and I knew getting to the top wouldn't be a problem, but as we climbed higher and higher I lost my juice. The wind was so annoying and I cursed the mountain several times. Not only was it annoying but it was cold. Jsh got ahead of me and a few times he stopped to wait, but there was no reprieve from the wind, so he had to keep moving and he beat me to the summit by at least 10 minutes. As I crested the final apex I just had about 40 yards of boulders to hop across and I was happy for the first time on Gilbert. On the summit Jsh and I congratulated each other and there was an older couple up there as well, which seemed odd because it is just such a desolate place. Completing the triple felt pretty awesome, but now we needed to get back to the car which was about 10 miles away.

Getting off of the mountain was horrible. Gilbert Peak is a massive pile of boulders that move and wobble. There really isn't anything redeeming about the place except for the fact that it is the 3rd highest peak in Utah and since I am a peak bagger at heart I am able to glean something positive out of it. I was getting low on energy and I probably should have eaten something on the summit but I just wanted to get down. What I was really hoping is that we could find some kind of a wind break to stop for a minute to get out of the wind, but there isn't much of anything coming down, so eventually I just told Jsh I needed to take a minute to eat a Snickers. I felt my energy coming back some, but the wind just kept decking me in the face. I felt puch drunk. That mountain is a psychological mind screw, especially after the long day that we had put in.

We took the ridge above Dollar Lake down and then just went straight down the steep mountainside that dropped us just above the lake. It was so nice to be out of the wind, but the thought of running out wasn't a good one. I was pretty darn wrecked. We made our way on a game trail and eventually picked up a trail that took us back to the main trail where we were finally able to get back into a running pace. We ran well back to Elk Horn, but we were super slow. We stopped to pick up our gear and I took another gel and some salt.

The last 5.4 miles from Elk Horn to the trailhead are always the worst. I told Jsh that if hell exists for me it will be running this 5.4 mile stretch for eternity. The 5 miles ended up being ok other than the fact that I was wrecked. I think running at high altitude takes more out of me than almost anything. I just lose my steam. We did put a few good stretches of running in and even ran some big hills, but we were slow. I'm sure Jsh would have finished this 2-3 hours faster if he didn't have to wait for me, but he was awesome and never complained that I was slow. We finally rounded the last bend and could see the gate at the trailhead. Heaven. Now we actually had completed the Triple Crown. 9 years after my first attempt and it felt great to finally finish it. That terrain is just plain harsh. With the altitude and massive endless piles of unstable rocks it is very difficult to move quickly through this terrain. The time Jun did last month is incredible and I don't think anyone will beat it for a long time. One thing is certain for me: I will never do this route again. If Gilbert wasn't involved there would be a sliver of a chance, but since it is there is no way. I'm done. Another cool thing to note: This trip helped me to complete two goals for the year. First, the Triple Crown and second, these three summits were #73, 74 and 75 for the year so I hit my goal of 75 peaks for the year.

Check out the pictures

Weights at the gym for 40 minutes. I got to the gym late but I busted my butt for 40 minutes and I was pretty worked.

Recovery run/hike up Mt. Wire solo:

I just wanted to shake out my legs and see how they felt after my big run on Sat, but I didn't want to do anything big, so Wire was the perfect choice. My calf and hip are both sore on my left leg from the fall I took below King's Peak, but they didn't bother me too much. I hate rattle snakes and today I kept thinking I was going to see one for some reason, so I was really jumpy and it slowed me down a bit. Up to the summit in ... SLOW. Not sure of the time because I didn't have my watch. I did however push it pretty hard from the saddle to the top to get my heart rate up. Nothing else exciting out there today. It was just me, my water bottle and my short shorts.

View Benchmark with Jun:

I met Jun early before work to run VB via Ann's trail in Draper. It was cool at the start, but once we got going the temps felt great the whole run. There was a slight nip in the air though this morning, so Fall is just around the corner. The moon was just a sliver and had an orange color. Awesome. We were both feeling sluggish, so we didn't push it much at all and we had several stops on the way up so we were slow, but we didn't care. Neither one of us had a watch, so I'm not sure what our time up was.

The run down was fun. We saw an incredible sunrise between Lone and Box Elder peaks. The sun was orange/red from all of the haze in the air and it was pretty cool to see it. Nothing exciting on the way down. We just put in in cruise control and chatted the whole way down.

No time to workout at all today, but I coach my daughters U13 competitive soccer team and at practice we were short a girl, so I played in a 50 minute scrimmage. It was a blast, but those girls kicked my butt! I was a sweaty foo at the end.

View Benchmark and sub peak solo:

I got to Ann's trailhead at 5:45 and was running up by 5:50 am. It was still dark outside and I opted not to use my headlamp because I knew it would get light pretty quick. The temps were perfect for the entire run. It was cool but not cold and a slight breeze most of the morning. My legs felt strong and I was ready to roll, but my tummy protested and I had issues with it for most of the run. CRAPPY!!! I was the only person on the entire trail all morning which was awesome and I saw a lot of wildlife out there. I made decent time up, but not fast. I ran everything except for the big rocky hill on the connector trail.

I hit the summit in 49 minutes and didn't stay long because I wanted to hit the sub peak as well, so I ran over there and tagged it too. Up on top I raised my arms in the air Rocky Balboa style and let out a primal yell. Runners high!

I just didn't have it on the run down and my stomach was still sour. Sucky! Oh well, I still saw an incredible sunrise and enjoyed another sweet run on Ann's.  

View Benchmark double-up solo:

I needed some miles, so I hit VB via Ann's for a double. It was pretty hot, but I was feeling good when I started. After about a mile I got a stitch in my side that lasted until mile two and that slowed me some. I carried one handheld bottle, so I had to stop for water at the connector trailhead every time I passed. There is now a fence barrier that is in place at the Connector trailhead to keep people from taking the short cut to the VB trailhead. I jumped over it. I felt decent on the first summit and hit the top in 47 minutes. I only saw one dude on a bike and nobody else the rest of the way. I felt really good all the way down, but it was getting pretty hot. Back at the car I drank some Powerade, took some salt and had a gel and wiped all of the salt off of my face. It was a nice break. The first RT was 7.87 miles.

Summit #2

I felt pretty good all the way up again, but the heat was getting to me, so I slowed some. I also had to stop on my way up the connector trail to stretch out my left hammy that was getting tight, but overall I was feeling good. Up to the summit in 52 minutes. Slow, but I did take a few breaks on the way up, so not terrible.

On the way down I stopped to fill water and there were 4 bikers there that were surprised that I was able to get water out. This is the second time in the last week I have had to show people how to get water out of that fountain. It requires you to push the button for about 10 seconds before anything comes out. I took another gel and chatted with them for a few minutes and then ran it into the finish. My legs got heavy the last mile and I was glad I was done because it was really getting hot. Overall it was a fun day out there and I only saw a few people in 3 hours on the trail.

Today is going to be really busy, so I woke up at 5:00 am to hit the gym to lift. I put in a good 45 minutes and I was pretty worked. I think more old people go to the gym early and I have observed that they love to prance around the locker room completely naked. One dude even combed his hair at the mirror totally nude. All I wanted to do was wash my hands and now that horrific picture is seared into my brain. Sick!

View Benchmark solo:

I got up early to hit VB via Ann's because today I'm going to be slammed and it was the only time I could get out for a run. I arrived at the trailhead and there was a dude in a car already there (This is very rare. I never see other runners at this TH). I was wondering if it was Jsh, but it wasn't his car. I got ready to go and the dude got out of his car and started stretching. When I got out he started to run up the trail. I was about 100 yards behind him and I started off with a nice easy run to wake up. We wound in and around the first canyon and then I could still see him ahead of me when we went around the bend and started going into the second canyon. I never did see him turn the corner and head up the other side, so I started wondering where he was and I figured he was either going to the bathroom or waiting to strangle me. I never saw him again.

My pace was decent on the way up, but I was still too tired to be pushing anything hard. I hit the summit in 46 minutes and didn't even stop, I just turned around and ran back down. I stopped to fill my water at the Connector trailhead and then had a nice cruise back to the car. I didn't see anyone else up there today. Bring on the caffeine.

View Benchmark solo:

Life is crazy right now, so I have been forced to get up early in order to get in my training runs and since I have been getting to bed late I'm exhausted, so I shouldn't be surprised that my run today was horrible.

I started at Ann's trail and never could get into a groove the entire run. I won't get into specific details, but basically nothing seemed to go right and I slogged to the summit in a slow 51 minutes. The run down wasn't much better. I caught a slight groove the last few miles, but even that wasn't great.

Nalgene bottle shower at the car with a lady on the trail stopping to watch. Haha.

View Benchmark solo:

Yesterday my run up VB was horrible, but today was a totally different story. I got up early to run before work and hit the trail while it was still dark. It was a bit breezy, but the temps were perfect. I felt fantastic right from the start and my pace was much better than yesterday and I could tell it was going to be a good day. My legs felt fresh and I enjoyed every minute out there. I have noticed some changes just in the last few weeks up there and the Fall colors are definitely coming out, which seems a little early, but the yellows and reds are both coming in and it is a reminder that it is going to be cold in the mornings really soon.

I got up to the summit in 44:50 wich was 6 minutes faster than yesterday. I saw a couple of big bucks just below the summit (nice racks) and one of them stopped to stare at me for about 10 seconds. The air is finally nice again and the views were outstanding. I enjoyed the sunrise and took in the views that have been so hazy and smoky lately, but not today.

The run down was just as good and I actually ran it in strong all the way to the car. I felt so good at the finish and I was thinking that I wanted to keep running, but I just didn't have the time.

Draper trails- View Benchmark and sub peak solo:

I ran to the summit of VB via Ann's trail. I felt pretty good all the way up and enjoyed the run. I hit the summit in 46 minutes. I took a few minutes to stretch and check out the views and then I ran over and hit the sub peak as well. I ran back down to the connector trail where I stopped to fill up my water and then I decided to keep running, so I took the right fork on Ann's and kept running all the way to the tunnel. I took a quick break there to stretch and dump some rocks out of my shoes and then I had a nice cruise back to the car.

I felt really good all day out there and kept a pretty quick pace for most of the run.

View Benchmark with Jun:

Jun hasn't been feeling well the last week+ but he seems to be getting better, so we hit Ann's trail to run up VB. I let Jun lead out and set the pace and we just chatted all the way up. Jun looked good and even pushed the hills, but he said his lungs were burning a bit. It was pretty hot out there and we hit the top in 46 min.

We had a fairly easy cruise on the way down and just talked almost the entire way back, never pushing it too hard. Good day.

40 minutes of weights at the gym. With Wasatch 100 only 10 days away I took it a bit easier at the gym. I don't want to strain or tweak anything. I'm starting to get pretty psyched for Wasatch.

View Benchmark with Jun:

Up at 4:45 am to run VB with Jun via Ann's before work. Other than being tired it was almost a perfect day out there. The temps were great, the sky was pretty much awesome and we had a nice chat all the way up to the summit. We never pushed it very hard, but still kept a decent enough pace. On top we took in the views which were incredible because of the pre-dawn sky. I love mornings like this.

We picked up the pace a little on the way down and just enjoyed the run. We stopped at the connector trail to fill our water bottles and then had a nice cruise back to the cars without seeing another soul on the trail.