Summit junkie!

I wasn't able to work out until 11:00 pm and I was tired (sleepy). According to my body it was midnight. I hit the elliptical for 40 minutes while watching some bad TV. Nothing exciting, but I did get in some good sweat.

I went to the gym after the kids went to bed for some lifting. I wasn't feeling it for the first half, but found my groove and had a decent session. 50 minutes working everything above the waist. My core was still quite sore from Sat.

After the kids were in bed I went to the gym and played with the TM for 4 miles. 8:40, 7:40, 7:10 and 6:35. The last mile was tough and my left hammy got a bit tight.

After the gym I went to the church to play basketball with the fellas. Played for 1:30 and had a really good time. It was the first time I have played in 6 months and my basketball shoes felt like cement bricks. How did Air Jordan dunk in these things? I guess I'm getting too used to my running shoes.

Mt. Wire is quickly becoming my mountain of choice for getting in a fast steep workout. It is only 15 minutes away from work, has some nice elevation gain and incredible views. I decided that I would go bag it on my lunch break today instead of getting up early. When I started the sun was out and it was actually quite warm. After about 5 minutes I shed my long sleeve shirt and I was getting hot. I could see a dark cloud building from the west, but it didn't look bad at all.

I ran the first mile of the trail. It is steep, but once you get to the ridge it gets a lot steeper and I slowed to a quick hike. I pushed it all the way up to the top. I was feeling really good today, so I just tried to get up fast. I made it to the summit in 47:00, which is about 6 minutes faster than my previous best time. I didn't stay long on top because it was getting much colder. The wind had picked up and the sun was now covered with the dark cloud and a tiny bit of snow started to fall. It is amazing the difference 45 minutes can make. The descent was windy and cold and I ran fast to get down.

Once I got off of the steep stuff I ran between an 8:30-7:30 pace back to the car, finishing in 1:14, which is my fastest time up and back. I only passed one lady about 1/4 of a mile from the trailhead, but other than that I had the place to myself. So fun!

***PM Update***

I hit the gym tonight for 45 minutes of lifting. Worked biceps, lats, and delts and did several sets of pull ups.

Birthday party for my 9 year old daughter tonight. Craaaaaazy!! 8 wild girls running wild. We finally got the house cleaned and I made it on the elliptical for 40 minutes. I'll be running Mount Wire again tomorrow morning.

I woke up early to run Mt. Wire again with MatthewVH. While driving to the trailhead it was snowing, and clouds were enveloping the Wasatch Front. I was thinking that maybe we would have some bad weather to deal with, but I wasn't too worried. Matt was waiting for me at the trailhead and it was just getting light when we started. It was cold, but not windy, so it actually felt pretty good.

We started out with a fast hike and I told Matt to just set the pace and go with what felt comfortable for him. He started running after a few minutes and we kept a nice easy pace up to the ridge. After a few minutes we stopped for a bathroom break and what a view we had of the whole valley. We saw some deer on the saddle and then we saw some coming through the gully to the North and there was a really big one moving through and within a minute we saw two bow hunters stalking it. We watched them for a few minutes and both kind of hoped the deer would get away, which it did. Matt said he wasn't in the mood to watch a kill that early in the AM.

The hike up the ridge to the summit was fun. We just talked about future plans and peaks we wanted to climb and what we wanted to get done next year. We made it to the top in 56:00, which was 9 min slower than my solo climb two days ago. It was pretty cold on top, but no wind and clouds were slowly starting to cover the summit. After a few summit shots we bolted back down, running the entire way to the bottom. It was a nice easy pace that allowed us to talk and we had a great time.

Best part of the day was running into Matt's friend Brian near the bottom. Brian has always admired Matt and it was fun to see him light up like a Christmas tree when he saw him. It made me smile. It was a fun morning.

Matt and I are tentatively planning on climbing Wire 5+ times the day after Thanksgiving if any of you might want to join let me know. It will be 20+ miles with some good elevation gain.