Summit junkie!

After the kids were in bed I hit the gym to lift (upper body/core). I lifted for 45 minutes and then had some time so I ran two on the TM at 8:30 pace. This will be my Monday routine for the rest of the year, although I may add a few more miles if I have time.

I had a very busy night. My wife was doing homework, and my kids were wild and crazy, so I had to settle for the TM after I finally got them to bed. 9:05 pace. Nothing exciting.

Something that is kind of interesting to report. If any of you saw this story on KSL about the cougars, this is very close to where Jun Twinkies and I have been hiking/running the last few weeks and we will probably be there again on Saturday. No worries though, there were plenty of deer for them to munch on.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=9952438

Watch the video

4 on the TM after I got the kids to bed.

I got up early this morning and did 3 miles before work. I had a very busy day, and after the kids went to bed I headed over to the gym to lift for an hour (upper body/core). This has not been a good week so far for miles and I need to make up for that in the next few days.

Lunch break with Jun for a fun run. We met at the Little Cottonwood Canyon park-n-ride and after a brief look at the Pipeline trail we decided to run up to the lower Bell Canyon reservoir. We ran down LCC road to the trailhead, and then all the way to the lake without stopping to hike. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. The trail was a little muddy, but not too bad. We decided to run around the lake, and then we went all the way back down and to the cars. It was a great time.

Jun wanted to do some climbing so I decided to stay and cool off before heading back to work. I climbed a few bouldering problems and then I had to get back to work, while Jun stayed to do more climbing. The weather was perfect and it was a fun break during the middle of the work day.

Total time for the run: 44:17

What a fantastic day! I met Jun and Twinkies at the trailhead for Mt. Wire (Big Beacon) at 6:00 am this morning. It wasn't very cold, but we did have to deal with some wind for the first hour. Twinkies and Jun were total mountain goats today, and I spent the whole time trying to catch them. Mt. Wire is pretty steep, so we ran/hiked our way up, and enjoyed the best sunrise of the year so far about 3/4 of the way up. The sun was coming up over the Wasatch Mountains, and it was very impressive. I stopped for a minute to check out the sun, look at the SL Valley and once again I was reminded why I do this. You just can't beat those views.

We were all talking about cougars, and Jun kept calling "Here kitty kitty". On one of the saddles I noticed a few cougar tracks in the snow, and it kind of made me think for a few minutes about my situation. I was in last place and I seem to recall that cougars will usually go after the lame or slower animals, and since it was breakfast time, I had to keep looking back to make sure I wasn't being followed. I made it to the summit of Wire in about 53 minutes, give or take a minute. We were going pretty fast, especially Jun and Twinkies. After our obligatory summit jumps we headed over to the summit of Red Butte. I was trying to find a good song on the ipod, and I stopped for only a minute and I was waaaay behind.

I had a minor wardrobe malfunction coming down from Red Butte, and the boys were kind enough to wait for me. Once we got down to a saddle, Twinkies lead us down a pretty technical trail and I could not keep up with them. Wow, they were flying.

We headed over to do the Red Butte loop and there were more hills to climb. I was pretty tired by now, and I wasn't enjoying the hills at all. I mean I usually like hills, but these guys like to run fast up them. Feel the BURN! I finally stopped trying to keep up with Jun and Twinkies the last 1.5 miles. My legs were tired and they were still bounding along like they just started.

Finished in about 2:35 (Estimate). It was an amazing morning, and I can't wait to do it again. Thanks for pushing me this morning guys. I loved every minute of it.

Total elevation gain: 3,575. For pictures check out Jun's blog here:

http://jun.fastrunningblog.com/