Summit junkie!

My quads are a bit sore from the elevation last week, but I wanted to get in a few miles anyway, so I did 3 on the TM while watching the NFL playoffs. I may try and do more later. AP 8:40 nice and easy.

Lifting at the gym for an hour. I had a really good session working upper body and core. After I ran a mile on the TM just to stretch my legs. Look at me work my way up that mileage board. Yeah!!

I met MatthewVH and Jun at the Wire trailhead this morning at 5:50. It was a balmy 6 outside. I had to take care of some bathroom bidness while waiting for Matt and I have to say that was the coldest bathroom break of my life. It was nice of Jun to flash and keep his headlights on me though.

When we finally hit the trail there was a slight wind that picked up as we made our way up the mountain and it was just plain cold. I usually heat up within a few minutes, but today it took much longer. My hands and face were numb. Jun and I quickly pulled away from Matt and we wouldn't see him again until the summit. We only ran a little and mostly hiked up the steep slope.

Jun and I had a great time talking and we didn't push too hard, but just had an enjoyable hike up. The views of the city were much different than a few days ago with the disgusting air and it just felt so good to be out and on the trails early in the morning. There was a nice path in the snow until we reached the upper portion of the mountain, and from there we were breaking new trail, although it wasn't that deep, so it wasn't too bad.

Jun and I reached the top in 56:18 and after a few pics we decided to wait for Matt. Surprisingly there wasn't much wind, and that was a good thing because it would not have been bearable if there had been any. After about 10 minutes Matt showed up and then we quickly headed down.

The best part of the day was a herd of Elk that ran just below us as we left the summit. They are big and powerful animals and it was fun watching them move so fast. Awesome! The run down was fun, but I stopped to mess with my ipod and my hands were instantly cold again. When I got back to the cars Jun was already gone and I waited a few minutes for Matt. Once again a really fun morning on Wire. 2300 vert. Total time 1:24

I took my running gear to work today hoping I could fit in a run during lunch, but I was too busy, and I ended up staying late to get a few things done. Later in the evening I did manage 3 on the TM before my stomach protested and I had to quit sooner than I wanted. Doing Wire aka Big Beacon in the am so I wasn't too worried about it.

I stayed up late last night watching Dexter, so I only got 4 hours of sleep. I met Jun and Twinkies at the Wire trailhead at 5:50 am. It was in the low twenties, but it actually felt warm compared to Tuesday.

We kept a fairly decent pace up the whole way except when I stopped to mess with my headlamp for a few minutes. I was dressed almost the exact same as Tuesday, but I was sweating a lot more today. I was hot.

We made it up in 53:something and had to take the obligatory peak jumping photos (see Jun's blog). After a few minutes of messing around we ran all the way down and actually made pretty good time. Jun finished in 1:14 and Twinkies and I in 1:17, which was 7 minutes faster than Tues.

So fun! Total elevation gain 2200 ft.

I met MatthewVH to do Grandeur Peak this morning at 6:30 am via the West Ridge route. It wasn't as cold as it has been the last few weeks, so I didn't bring a jacket. The route was entirely covered in snow and it was actually a bit slick, so after a few minutes on the trail Matt ran back to my car to borrow an extra set of trekking poles that I have.

We had a really fun time making our way up the ridge. We joked and laughed and it actually slowed us down a lot, but we didn't care. The trail was slippery and some micro-spikes would have really helped. about half way up it started to snow on us, but it didn't last long.

Up on the summit ridge the snow was really deep, and Matt got stuck a few times. We made it to the top in a slow 1:55 where we hung out for about 20 minutes talking and enjoying the views. 3 guys came up from the other side of the mountain and we chatted with them for a few minutes. One of the guys is an ultra runner with several 100 milers under his belt.

We went a lot faster on the way down and the poles really helped. When we were about .5 from the trailhead we ran into some friends from the Wasatch Mountain club that we both knew, so we chatted for a few minutes and then ran back to the car. What a fun morning. I'll post up some pics a bit later (Peak jumping picture fail). We gave up after Matt missed me 7 times.

Total elevation gain 3,000+