Summit junkie!

I had the busiest day of the year so far. My wife was working on her school project all day, and I had to take care of the kids and house. After lunch I gave the kids several options for the rest of the day, and they all wanted to climb a mountain, so I got everyone ready and we headed out to climb View Benchmark. We also decided to take the dog.

The hike was a lot of fun. My son, Alec (5 year old) held my hand most of the time, and I was holding the dog on her leash with the other hand. At times it was diffucult because my dog wanted to pull and bound away, and I had to balance Alec as well. He was so funny and asked me questions the entire time. About every minute he wanted to know how long until we were at the top. There were a few sections that were really muddy, and one near the top that was rather steep, so that provided some challenge with the dog and Alec both latched onto me. It was fun though.

Once the summit was in view the 3 girls got a burst of energy and all took off running to the top. The best part of the day was hearing them all scream WOOHOO, from up there. Alec and I were about 5 minutes behind them and he was also excited to reach the summit, and once up there he wanted me to show him where our house was and also grandmas and several others.

The hike down was a lot faster, and when we were almost back to the car we ran into two other hikers with dogs. My dog was overly excited and I think she scared the other dog owners a bit. She is strong, and looks a little like a pit bull and I think she makes people nervous. She is just playing and excited, but it can appear that she is looking for a fight. I assured them that she was just excited.

We got back to the car with only a few scratches and a lot of mud on the shoes, but otherwise everyone was feeling good. It took us a little over two hours round trip.

The kids were all tired, so we went home and grilled up some steaks and cleaned the house. It was a busy day/weekend, but we had a great time.

I went to the gym after the kids were in bed to lift. I ended up working out with a group of friends and we had a really good session for almost an hour. Worked chest, triceps, shoulders and did several pull ups and push ups. I think I will start working out with this guys every Monday.

I went to the gym last night and then stayed up and watched the Jazz game and I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 with the alarm set for 5:00. I woke up at 4:59 just in time to turn off my alarm. I was tired. The plan was to meet Jun at 6:00 at the Pipeline trailhead up Millcreek. I left my house a little later than planned, and when I arrived at the first Pipeline trailhead I parked and waited for 5 minutes, but figured they must be higher up. By time I got to the second Pipeline TH I saw a white car there (not Jun's) and I thought it could be them, but nobody was there. I waited for 5 minutes and then decided that the car was probably belonged to Jun's friend, so I headed up. (I only missed them by a minute or two).

After a short run up the trail it forks. I had never been on this portion of the trail before and left said to Grandeur Pk trailhead and the right went to Elbow Fork. I guessed that they had gone up, so I turned right and started heading up the canyon (They went the other way).

The temps were perfect and I had some great music on my iPod and I just enjoyed the morning. It was a fun run with only a few snow patches to cross and a lot of nice elevation gain. When I reached Elbow Fork (2.2 miles) I thought that I would run into Jun and his friend soon, but I wasn't sure if they had continued up the Pipeline, which goes up to Mt Aire or if they had gone up the canyon. I stopped and ate a Powerbar Tangerine gel, had some water and then continued up the Pipeline for about 5 more minutes. I thought that the guys had probably gone the other way, so I decided to just go back down.

The run back to the car was really fun. I had some Bob Marley in the iPod and I kept thinking that Jun was going to come running up behind me, so I looked back several times, but never saw them. The last mile my ITB got a little tight, so I stopped and stretched and it felt a little better. The total time was 1:30 and it was an incredible morning. I will definitely be back again to run more of the Pipeline.

I had to work off the Banbury Cross donuts I ate, so there was no way I was missing a workout today. 4 on the TM. 8:30 pace.

I just signed up for the Sapper Joe 30K on May 29th. I can't wait.

20 minutes stretching and rolling out my ITB.

50 minutes of ab work. I'm not sure if this was (as Burt would say) an 'ab ripper', but it sure did hurt. Feel the burn.

I just got the weirdest email from some guy wanting me to join his P90X yoga group. He sent me a few pictures of what I can expect if I join. I am very intrigued, but I just don't think this is my thing.

I hit the gym this morning before work and had a really good workout (upper body) for 40 minutes. I have been doing a lot more free weights and less machines lately and have really noticed a difference. Did 75 pull ups. I was worked.

I met Twinkies at the Centerville Peak trailhead at 6:00 AM this morning. Our goal was to climb Centerville Peak, although neither of us had ever been to the top. I finally got my Garmin, and it was fun playing with it all day. The first mile on the watch was an 18:00 mile, but considering the steep grade I am definitely ok with it.

Twinkies was fast and I was constantly trying to keep up with him. We were able to run a lot of the trail, but I had to power hike up the steeper sections. We never could figure out which peak was Centerville (Twinkies I think it was the first knob we passed to the left of the trail). Just after the 3rd mile we were in snow the rest of the way, although it has a hard crust, so we didn't sink at all. I was feeling kind of nauseated and a few times I felt like I was going to lose my breakfast, so I did slow down some for about a mile.

We decided to go all the way up to an un-named peak just under 9,000 feet. The last 500 feet were steep and windy and of course Twinkies beat me to the top. Once on the summit we took some summit jump shots and then Twinkies told me he was going to "bomb it" down and he did. We both ran all the way down and the steep run in the snow off of the summit was the best part of the day for me. I was feeling really good too.

It took me two hours to get to the summit and exactly one hour back to the car. Twinkies met me with about a half mile to go (he had run back up) and it was fun running back the rest of the way. We had an amazing time and it was the perfect way to start my Saturday.

A few pics: Twinkies climbing up the snow slope

Twinkies summit jump-

Me on the summit-