Summit junkie!

Lake Mountain with Jacob:

This is one of my favorite winter runs. It is usually tracked out most of the winter, so you can get up there without breaking trail and it is always a great workout. It was cold when we started, but when we hit the canyon I was pretty warm the rest of the way up. We were a little slower than normal, but I really enjoyed the morning. 2700 feet of vertical smile and a great way to start the week.

Weights at the gym for 50 minutes working my upper body/core.

Dude Peak with CraigL and MattW:

DUDE!!! That run rocked. Craig and I tried to do this run a year ago, but we ran out of time. We started at the City Creek trailhead and went west (left) up to the towers. From there you run east on the ridge for about 4 miles up to Dude. The weather was unreal. It was sunny and in the fifties and we got above the gunky air. We had an absolute blast. The ridge rolls up and down and it is pretty rocky, but the views in every direction are sweet and I enjoyed it a lot, but it seemed like we were never getting any closer to Dude.

Dude is a pretty remote peak and rarely sees anyone and it was really cool to finally get up there. The views were 360 degrees of awesome! The run back was also fun, but we did take one wrong turn that cost us about a half mile and we had to climb an extra rocky hill because of that, but no worries.

That run was a blast and I'll definitely be putting Dude in my running rotation.

Check out some pics here:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/craig.lloyd.33/posts/10202291068133634?notif_t=tagged_with_story

4 at the gym while the kiddos played soccer and racquetball.

View Benchmark solo:

This run was just what I needed to burn off some turkey goo and get some mental therapy in the process. I ran up VB solo from Ann's on Vintage View. I didn't see another soul on the trail. It was just me and my 80s tunes. Awesome.

Ave Twins with CraigL and MattW:

Met the fellas for an early morning cruise up to the Ave Twins. It was cool at the start, but warmed up and I felt great in shorts and one long sleeve shirt. We were pretty slow going up, but made up for it with some good conversation and a lot of laughs. We tagged the peaks and then had a pretty fast run back down. Matt led the way and really picked up the pace. The last mile we were blasting down the trail. Sweet run and a great way to cap off a fun week with 4 peaks and some sweet vertical smile.

I have been taking it pretty easy the last few months since Wasatch to rest up my legs, but it is time to get back into it. I'll be putting in for Wasatch 100 again and the Buffalo Run 100 in March.