Summit junkie!

I hit the gym early this morning to lift and I had an excellent session working my upper body. I worked out really hard since I didn't get in a great session last week and I think I may have worked too hard because I was very nauseated after I finished. It was also a sweat-fest.

After the kids went to bed I hit the gym for some TM miles. I did the first two at a 9:00 pace and wasn't feeling great. The next two were at an 8:00 pace and then I wanted to push a little harder just to see how my knee would feel, so I did the last mile at a 6:50 pace. My legs felt great, but the rest of my body didn't like it much.

Did the Wasatch Crest trail this morning with Jun, Matt and Jason. We had an amazing time. The first mile gets pretty steep and I was feeling pretty good until just before the top of the first hill where my ITB started to get a little stiff. I took a short detour to the top of a minor summit and then met the guys back at the saddle. When we started back up I got a stitch in my side that wasn't fun. but luckily it went away after about a mile. It was a beautiful morning and we were really having a great time. It was so green up there.

At mile 4 I started to fill the blister on my toe that I had from bryce Canyon. It was huge after Bryce and had healed, but the skin just so thin there and I could tell it was getting bad, so I stopped and luckily had some band-aids in my water bottle pocket. I put them on and it helped a lot. It still bothered me the rest of the way, but wasn't too bad.

We took another detour to climb Desolation Peak and that was fun, and we saw a huge healthy buck just below the summit.We took some peak jumping pics and then headed down to the lake, and just past it we saw another 4 deer running through the meadow. It was just unreal how pretty it was in there.

I started to get into a great groove and was doing a 7:40 mile and then we had to stop because a mama moose and two calves were blocking the trail and Jun was getting pretty close with his camera. After a few pics they took off and after that I didn't get into a really good groove the rest of the way.

With about a mile left I tripped on a root and crashed into some rocks, but luckily my water bottle took the brunt of the fall. The last mile was really hard for me because my blister hurt and I actually got another one on the same toe (other foot). I haven't had blisters in years and it is sooo annoying. My ITB did get a little tight at times, and was sore at the end, but I really focused on my form and posture today and I think it helped. Thanks for the tips Aaron and Jun.

We had a great time though and it was a perfect way to start the day. Jun has some cool pics on his blog. check them out.

**Update**

Worked my abs/core at midnight for 30 minutes on my ball. I hung out with some friends from high school that I hadn't seen in a while, so we got home late and I barely had time to squeeze in a work out.

I will be working out later after work, but I wanted to welcome my friend Matt to the blog. I know he won't toot his own horn, so I'll toot it a bit for him.

I have known Matt for 3+ years now and he has been one of my best hiking/climbing partners. We have shared many trails and peaks together, and mostly we have shared a lot of laughs. Going out with Matt is always a fun time.

He is a very modest guy, but don't let that fool you. He has been on the summit of nearly all of the peaks around here, and done some incredibly tough multi-peak ridge runs. He has summitted some of the toughest peaks in winter, and loves difficult spring mountaineering days in the Wasatch.

He is new to running, but I think he will do just fine. He did the Wasatch Crest trail with us yesterday and did awesome. Please welcome him to the blog.

About the only thing that is a little suspect about the guy is that he loves wearing edible underpants on summits. Please tease him about this.

http://matthewvh.fastrunningblog.com/

Hit the gym this morning to lift and I had a really good session. I worked my upper body. Afterward I stretched and ran a slow mile on the TM because my hammy has been tight for a few days. It seemed to really help a lot.

After we took our kids to the pool for the afternoon and washed our cars, so we definitely got some sun today. Finished it off at the AF Steel Days festivities and fireworks. Sleepy.