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Category: Pretty Places

Avenue Twins in the Morning

Avenue Twins in the Morning

I would like to do this once a week or so – waking up around 5:00 and getting in a good trail run before work. This morning I drove down to City Creek, parked at the Morris Reservoir, and ran the Avenue Twins.  I ran part of the BST up to the back ridge that overlooks City Creek to the north, and then followed that ridge around, East, and up to both of the Avenue Twin Peaks. It was a…

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Working on my Trail Tan

Working on my Trail Tan

It appears that summer temps have arrived.  I ran up the Farmington Creek Trail to the Sunset Campground today and wow, it was hot! I hadn’t taken that trail all the way up yet, and it was a great one – a perfect short run. A little vert, but mostly nice rolling trails – and a fun fast descent on the way back to the car!  Ankle feeling great – ZERO pain – IT bands still acting up around mile…

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Flag Rock with a Friend

Flag Rock with a Friend

On the 24th of July last year, I took a friend and co-worker on my 2nd ever trail “run,” and we hiking up Baer Canyon. It killed us, neither of us was in good enough shape to do it, and probably not coincidentally, he hasn’t joined me on another outing since.  Until tonight!  I took him up to Flag Rock in Farmington which is a short,  but steep hike.  It was a lot of fun – hopefully I can get…

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Successful Dirt Test for my Stress Fracture

Successful Dirt Test for my Stress Fracture

With an official diagnosis of ankle problems, a fibula stress fracture, and a strong suspicion that running on pavement severely aggravates it, I decided to hit the dirt today and test out my theory. I started at the Farmington Pond, ran north on the BST to Shepherd Canyon, up to the Upper Terrace, and took that back to the car. Its a great loop. My left IT band hurt towards the end, but my ankle did not. Often the pain…

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Inaugural Bushwhack and Bloodletting

Inaugural Bushwhack and Bloodletting

I got home from work and it was just too nice to not go out. My knee was a bit sore, and I knew I would regret it (I don’t) but I went anyways. I was planning on parking at Famrington Pond and running the BST/Farmington Upper Terrace loop, but when I arrived at the canyon I saw that the gates were open. Yeah! Up the canyon I went.I parked at the end of the pavement and ran up the…

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First Early Morning Run of the Season

First Early Morning Run of the Season

One of the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers organized a group run up city creek for early in the morning – something I tried out two times back in November before the winter (and injuries) really set in. I really enjoyed it then – getting an early run in, showering at work, feeling more awake at work than I usually do in the AM – it was great. My ankle was feeling ok so I decided to give it a shot. I trailed…

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Return to Pretty Valley

Return to Pretty Valley

I was planning to rest my legs for a planned group run up City Creek Canyon Friday morning before work, but I just couldn’t resist tonight. It was in the low 70s, and beautiful. Moreover, I knew that I had a long night ahead of me cranking out some pages on a book manuscript that I owe to my editor by May 1st. I short little run seemed like a good way to clear my head before diving into a…

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Exploring Francis Peak Trail

Exploring Francis Peak Trail

 5.6 miles in 1:31:29 @ 16:23 min/mile pace with 2,270 ft. elevation I had to work from home today (long story) and around 3:00 saw that the forecast for tomorrow was rain. Boo. I was planning on running tomorrow. So, I decided to swap out my last hour of work for an hour later tonight (or tomorrow) and squeeze my run in this afternoon. I parked at the Shepherd Creek trailhead and decided to climb up the first mile or…

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Nighttime Cougar-Bait Snow Jaunt Up Shepherd Creek Canyon Area

Nighttime Cougar-Bait Snow Jaunt Up Shepherd Creek Canyon Area

The kids were in bed, the sun was on its way down, my ankle felt “ok” and there was a fresh 1 inch of snow on the trails above town, with a little rain/snow still spitting – what a perfect time to go for a run. I strapped on my Montrail Badrock, which I had intended to be my snow/wet mud shoes but have hardly used and drove up to uber-rich neighborhoods above Fruit Heights/Farmington where there are a few…

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Back on the Trails! BST-Upper Terrace

Back on the Trails! BST-Upper Terrace

    Over the past couple weeks I have been reading about active release massage and how it might be able to solve my ankle trouble. I have begun to suspect that the lasting pain on my peroneal tendon is from scar tissue that built up.  Apparently, you can break up the scar tissue by massage it and so forth.  So, along with rolling and stretching out the muscles that the tendons attach to, I have been doing it for…

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