Summit junkie!

Sweat-fest on the TM. I did speed work and was dripping when I finished. I need to get on some trails.

Draper BST with Jun:

I needed some trails today and the Draper BST was in great shape and the weather was almost perfect. I wore my Altra Lone Peaks and this would be my longest run in them. Jun let me lead and we just ran a nice casual pace and chatted the whole way. We ran to the corner canyon road (3 miles) and then a mile up the road where we stopped and I took a gel. My energy was really low today.

We cruised down the hill (7:39 pace for mile 5) and then had a very comfortable pace all the way back to the car talking most of the way. The Lone Peaks were great. I really loved them on the downhills and they seem pretty solid, although I can tell I am not used to the zero drop yet. I'll continue to ease into them over the next several weeks.

AP 9:33. 1050 ft. of vert.

Ann's trail to View Benchmark peak with Jun:

I think I found my new favorite trail. Jun and I met early before work to run Ann's trail in Draper to the summit of View Benchmark. It is just under 4 miles one way with a gradual climb on a nice single track trail and the whole thing is runnable. It was cold enough at the start to freeze a snot rocket in 1.5 seconds, but the higher we climbed the warmer it was. The trail switches back through a really cool canyon and then heads east switching back the steep hill that puts you on top at Deer Ridge Drive right by the standard trailhead for View Benchmark. There was some ice to deal with near the top and that slowed us down a bit.

We ran most of the way to the peak (I hiked some of the steeper sections) and reached the summit just as the sun was starting to rise behind Timp. What a view! This whole run has really solid views and the trail is in great shape. We lingered on top for at least 10 minutes taking in the views. We could see Ben Lomond Peak to the north of Ogden and Mt. Nebo near Nephi to the south and every peak in between. Awesome!

The run down was really fun except the part where I took a wrong turn and ended up a bit lost and confused. Jun got me back on track and it was a nice cruise back to the cars. This was one of the best runs of the year. I'll definitely be back to do it again.

Mt Wire with MattVH:

Matt and I had an excellent hike/run up Mt. Wire before work this morning. The weather was nice (a little cold but not bad), we had some great conversation, laughs and once again another amazing sunrise. Matt even got busted peeing just off the trail by our good friend Judy. Yeah, I think she saw it all. The frivolity completely crumbled however upon returning to the cars to find that some douchebags had broken into our cars. They stole a bag in my backseat that contained some clothes and left the laptop that was slightly concealed a few feet away. Sometimes people suck.

Weights at the gym for an hour. Worked biceps, triceps, delts, lats, chest. I spent a good amount of time on the pull up bar as well.

View Benchmark Peak with Jun and Dorsimus:

We had another amazing run on Ann's trail in Draper up to View Benchmark Peak. It was a really nice day for a run. The first 1/4 of a mile I was chewing/trying not to choke on a frozen Powerbar that I pulled out of the mess in my trunk. I was in need of energy so I choked the whole thing down. I'm not quite sure how.  At about 2 miles Jun kicked it into a gear that Dors and I didn't have and he powered up all of the hills all the way to the top. I just tried to stay with Dors which wasn't easy because he was running most of the steep hills as well. There were some icy sections to deal with and Jun beat us to the top by 3 minutes.

We stayed on the summit for a few minutes and Dors gave me some nasty tasting chalk crap that stuck to my teeth for about 10 minutes. It wasn't worth the 30 calorie boost. We blasted down the hills below the summit on some technical terrain and then had a nice run back to the switchbacks that take you back to Ann's trail. There was a lot more ice to deal with and I think we all slipped a few times. At the trail junction Jun and Matt took a different route and I hd to get back to go meet with a customer. The last few miles were a lot of fun. It was almost a perfect run and another summit in the bag.