A week from right now I will be somewhere in the middle of my first ultra marathon – the Bryce 50k. Hopefully, I will be well hydrated, feeling strong, and loving the experience. Today, I should be putting in a few easy miles, but I’m not. Old stress fractures in both of my lower legs / ankles, and a possibly bruised foot are flaring up and I desperately want them to be pain free when I race next week. So…
I am running my first ultramarathon in a couple weeks – the Bryce 50k (~31 miles). I have *almost run that far once, and it was slow. I have done a number of runs in the 20-25 mile range, but none have been races. Aside from 2 Ragnar relays, the longest race I have done was a 5 mile Turkey Trot back when I still lived in Nebraska. In any case, I have not trained very well and figured I…
2 easy run around the Orem foothills. The Orem Police gun range trailhead is just 2 miles from my new house, so this will likely be my primary set of trails. And, thankfully, there are a million of them. On top of the primary Bonneville Shorelines trail system, Mtn. Bikers have built a network of connecting trails. In any case, very close, very fun.
This last week my family moved from our beloved Davis County down to Utah County. I have really come to love the Davis County trails. Exploring them. Trying to promote them as many are sadly under-used. Apparently that will not be a problem down here in Utah County. Everything appears blazed out and well marked…….and spectacularly gorgeous! Here’s my last in Davis and first in Utah County. For my last run in Davis, I hit Mueller Park. I had never…
2 runs, only 3 days apart. The first, up the Farmington Canyon singletrack to Sunset Campground and then down the road on Monday. A recovery run of sorts and it felt great. I PRd on the loop and a 5k PR on the way down! It was only in the 70s but it felt so hot. I was SWEATING! 3 days later, on Thursday, I headed up the Fruit Heights upper terrace from Shepherd Creek to Baer Canyon and back…
After running the Good Water Rim Trail at the Wedge area of the San Rafael Swell on President’s Day I immediately resolved to do a follow-up run at the canyon bottom. Today a few other Wasatch Mtn. Wranglers joined me on the adventure. Overall it was a fairly “flat” route. 22+ miles, but only about 1,850 ft. elevation gain. That didn’t mean it was easy though. Those 1,800+ ft. were concentrated in a medium, small, and BIG traverse over ridges…
As it turns out, the last few weeks have been more mileage than usual. It felt good to hit the trails more regularly. Also a few hikes with the kiddos. Here’s the highlights:
I recently took a new job about 50 miles from home. This means long train commutes. Until my family moves, I am working Tuesdays and Thursdays at home. This means that if I put in extra hours on MWF, which I inevitably do while working 1.5 hours each way on the train, I have a little time to run during the days on T/Th. Today, I decided to combine work + play. I took a large pile of papers that…
My wife’s brother’s wife, Rachael, has been getting into trail running and asked if I would take her out on some trails while she is up visiting Utah this week. As you can imagine, she didn’t have to twist my arm. I decided on Antelope Island and she was excited to try out the Buffalo 25k course – which would be a distance and elevation gain PR for her. She crushed it. We hit the trail around 7 and…
I came home early from work tonight, with an upset stomach. After a while, I felt better and was feeling quite restless so I decided to go hit the trails for a quick run before dinner. My plan was to climb the south switchbacks that lead to the Farmington Upper Terrace. It is about 1,000 ft. elevation gain in about 1 mile of trail. At the top, a local trail building colossus, Ryan, had recently cut and flagged a new…