Summit junkie!

My legs were a little sore from my run yesterday, so I just wanted to stretch them out and loosen up the muscles. I took the new Cascadia's out for a spin on the TM for 4 miles. They are incredible and I can't wait to get them out on a trail.

I am going to the Jazz game tonight, so I had to get up early to get in my lifting session. I was really tired and it took me about 15 minutes to get into a groove. 50 minutes of upper body/core work.

I ran the gully trail today with Jun and Dorsimus from the park just east of Jordan High school, all the way to the Bell Canyon trailhead. The weather was perfect. The trail was a bit muddy and wet in places, and on the way up Jun kept us entertained with his story from the weekend. When we reached the Bell Canyon trail (mile 6) we stopped for a break and I had a gel which seemed to give me a boost.

The run back down was really messy, as the snow was melting and the trail became a lot of slush and mud. The other guys started pulling away after a few miles, although I kept them in my sights all the way to 13th east, but after that I didn't see them again until the finish.

The last few miles my energy was really low and I debated on taking another gel, but I decided to push through, and by the finish I was so hungry. It was a perfect day to be outside, and I got some sun on my face. Maybe too much. Someone at work just asked where I went at lunch to get my tan.

Mt. Wire this morning with MattV. Today wasn't my day. My legs were heavy and my energy was low. Matt was pushing me up the hill all morning. It was cold and windy and I forgot my hat, so that became annoying as well.

On the ridge we watched a herd of elk moving up the mountain, and when we reached the saddle we stopped for a few minutes to watch them cross to the other side. Very cool. The summit ridge was very cold and the wind was biting. When we finally made it to the top (About 1:05) I was too cold to stay up there, so we turned around and headed down. It was tough running down because the snow had a hard crust, but we kept sinking, and it was hard to run fast, and then there was a lot of ice to deal with as well. I slipped twice and luckily caught myself before a bad fall.

Our total time was a lot slower than normal, but I still had a fun time and I'm glad I went.

PM: Played an hour of basketball with my work peeps.

50 minutes of weights at the gym. Arms, shoulders, chest, lats.

I had an incredible run on Grandeur peak this morning with Seth Wold, MattV, Bill Hiatt and Bill's two friends Zak and Trevor. Zak and Trevor had no idea what we were doing, as Bill told them we were going on a trail run and that the first two miles were just a little steep. I was leading the way from the start and when I turned up the West Ridge Zak said "What are we going straight up that mountain?" :) :) :)

The wind was blowing, which made it a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't bad. Bill and Trevor took off in the lead and the put a little distance on us. I was content to push a nice quick pace all the way to the top. The wind picked up near the summit and about 3/4 of the ay up Seth said he was going to try and catch the other guys, and he did beat them to the summit and then ran back to meet us on the summit ridge. The other two guys hit the top after Seth and then I was behind them with Matt and Zack right behind me.

We didn't stay long on top and the run off of the summit straight down the east side was the most fun we had all day. The snow was deep and we all went fast. The run down to Church Fork was a lot of fun and it was a nice snow packed trail the whole way. When we got to the bottom we turned down the Pipeline and ran that all the way to Rattlesnake Gulch in perfect weather. Awesome!

We all met at Rattlesnake and took a break. I took a gel and we waited a few minutes for the other guys to show up. The best comment of the day was hearing Zak say "Those were the hardesrt 6 miles of my life," while he was bent over with his hands on his thighs. That made me smile. He has been running for several years. We all ran fast down Rattlesnake and the conditions were great. Not as icy as the last time. Once at the bottom we ran down the canyon road at a nice 6:45 - 7:00 pace that we held until we got to the guard shack. At that point Matt's knee was bothering him a bit, so Seth and I stayed with him and the other three guys pulled ahead. We made it back to the cars for a total time of around 3 hours (including all breaks.) 3k+ elevation gain.

It was a perfect morning, until I got a speeding ticket on the way home.