Summit junkie!

American Fork Canyon with Je10 and CraigL:

This might have been the best run of the winter so far. I was supposed to lie and say how bad it sucked so we can keep the masses off of that incredible track, but I can't lie, it was phenomenal. The only negative at all was the weather and it was negative. I think it was around 0 degrees when we started and it only got colder as we climbed up the trail. The road we ran on has been groomed by snowmobiles and it was very smooth to run on. This is almost a perfect run because there is a lot of elevation gain, but you can run just about all of it. We ended up very high in the mountains on the other side of Alta/Snowbird ski resorts and the views were SAWEEET! We had to do a tricky stream crossing and up near our turnaround spot the temps were sooooo cold and when the wind gusts came through it was bone chilling, but we were all still smiling and laughing the whole time.

The run down was at times fast, but I really enjoyed pushing it a little and it seemed like we were back down to the cars quicker than I expected. Please do not (all 3 of you that read my blog) spray about how incredible this track is. If the word gets out it will start looking like the City Creek BST.

Weights at the gym for an hour with Kristina. She kicked my butt. I wussed out and wanted to stop after 45 minutes, but she shamed me into continuing, but finally I had enough and went upstairs to watch the TV in the cardio room.

Ave Twin Peaks with Je10, CraigL, MattW and Tara:

Fun group! It seemed balmy this morning compared to our run on Sunday. Je10 and Craig motored ahead most of the morning while Tara, Matt and I kept a more rational pace and enjoyed some good conversation all the way up. We never pushed it very hard, but on the way back we picked it up a bit. I took a nice digger after slipping on the ice and Matt couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't very graceful. It was a really good time with great friends. I guess I better get some new goals for 2014.

Insanity class at the gym. It was me and 10 ladies. It was insaaaaaaaaane!

View Benchmark with CraigL:

I met Craig at the trailhead on Vintage View at 5:45 AM. It was warmer than it has been the last few days, but very windy for the first mile. There was fresh snow on the trail, but a bike with one of those fat tires had been through and put in a small track that we used up to the Connector trail. From there we put in our own tracks and then when we hit the VB trail there was a decent track up to the ridge and then from there we were breaking trail up to the summit.

There was a thick fog in Utah County that stopped at the point of the mountain and it was really cool to see that thick soup covering the valley with the lights showing through. It was kind of surreal and looked like something you would see on a movie and then if you looked north the Salt Lake Valley was all lit up and clear. We were pretty slow out there because of the conditions, but it was a great workout and a fun morning.