The alarm went off at 4 a.m. I got up and made the necessary preparations for the day. I was out the door and started running at 4:32 a.m. Today's run was a challenge run. I turned 33 years old this week and decided to run 33 miles as a Birthday Challenge. I ran up to Bountiful Blvd and headed to the Bonneville Shoreline trail. When I got to the trail, I also got to the snow. Earlier in the week, when I planned this run, the trails were dry. Then Thursday night it snowed 6 inches. Some of the snow had melted, so there was a thin crust of snow over most of the trail. I headed up the the radio towers, then down into City Creek. I was coming down the trail where it meets the road. It was still dark out and there was a thin sheet of ice across the road. When my feet hit hit the ice they were swept out from under me. I scraped my elbow and got a bruise on my backside, but it was nothing serious. I headed up to the capitol building. I got there at 6:02 which was two minutes late because I was meeting Craig and Scott there. The three of us ran back up City Creek and back onto the Bonneville shoreline trail heading south. The trail was very choppy. There were several sections that had been heated up the day before and were now frozen. We took the trail all of the way to the bottom of Dry Creek. At this point I had gone 16.5 miles which was half way so we turned around. Coming up out of Dry Creek was difficult and slow for me. Towards the top of Dry Creek I passed a fly. The level parts of the trail were runable, but I was walking the uphill at this point. By the time I got to the bottom of City Creek I was out of water. I had to borrow some from Scott. Thanks Scott. When ran back to the capitol and the vehicles. Scott had brought some food, so I refueled. After resting for a few minutes, I said goodbye to my running partners and headed off on my own for the last nine miles. The hill coming out of City Creek was a challenge. I ran when I could but walked most of the way up. I was very excited at the top of the hill. I only had five miles left and it was easy running. I made it back to the paved roads, which were quite boring. The last three miles were on the road. I crossed the 50k mark at 7:01, which is an hour faster than the 50k I ran a month ago. I made it all the way to mile 33. It took me 7:25:34. Conclusion: I ran 33 miles up and down hills big and small, through snow, ice, slush, and mud, and finished with a smile on my face. A big smile. | 