Running on Twinkies

Happy New Year!!!

I went to Draper this morning and ran with Mary Ann, Craig, and Soren on the Porter Rockwell trail. The trail had some snow on it but was mostly clear. We ran the course of the New Years Day 5k, but I didn't stick around for the race. It was a great way to start the year.

This afternoon we took the kids bowling. They did great and I bowled a 70. Typical for me.

Since it's a new year, it's time for some new goals. My number one goal for this year is to keep my pain level low enough that I can get out of bed and run. This year I also want to qualify for Boston. I plan to do that at the Mesa Falls Marathon in August. I also want to run to the top of Bountiful Peak. This was on my list of things to do last year, but I never made it. Other than that, I just want to discover some new trails and make some more running friends. I will probably go on some wild adventures this year, but I haven't set specific goals for that.

2011 is going to be one exciting year. 

Oct 9: Layton Marathon 6:12:04  

6:30 a.m. 14.2°F

 I ran on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in North Salt Lake. I had to cut it short because my right knee was acting up a bit.  

Poor air quality. Sometimes you have to rise above it. That's what I did today. I went to the trailhead of the Wild Rose Canyon Trail. I was going to run in snowshoes today, but it hasn't snowed for over a week and the trail looked well packed. I decided to run with my inov8's. 

A 1/2 mile into the run I got above 5500 ft and came into clean air. The sky was clear and I could see the whole valley with this ugly grey blanket over it. It was awesome up there. At 3/4 of mile I took a little known detour. The main trail goes down a steep hill and then up a longer steep hill. I refer to this as the 'monster hill'. The route I take is a gradually up hill that is slightly longer but avoids the 'monster hill'.

 At 2 miles I decided to turn around. I had planned to go farther, but the trail was less packed and the snow was getting deeper. The snowshoes would have been great at that point, but I didn't carry them up. I was also getting deeper into cat country and since I was alone, it was probably a good idea to turn around. 

It was a super fun Saturday run. 

I met Jun and Wire (Scott) at Sunnyside trailhead at 5:45 this morning. We headed up towards Mt Wire. The boys were faster than I was and dropped me after about half a mile. The temperature was perfect and the mountain was awesome at that time in the morning. After about a mile and a half I caught up with them again. The must halve slowed down, because didn't pick up my pace. Just before we reached the top, I issued the challenge "First one to the top wins!!" and we and went into a sprint. Jun took the lead and I was close behind, but then I stubbled and Wire snuck past me. So Jun was the winner, followed by Wire, with me right behind. We made it up in 53:34. We rested at the top and took a few pictures. 

We went down the same way we had come up. I had never ran down the North side before. It is steeper than the route I usually and and my right knee complained a bit. Jun flew down and and beat Wire and I by three minutes. The complete run time was 1:17:10.

All this way done before the Sun came up. 

I met up with some friends in Provo today and ran the Provo River Trail.