Just A Few Days Left to Fifty Miles!!

I'm definitely a bit impatient to get to Friday already!



As that exciting video shows, I checked another peak off my list this weekend! (I'll finish a video from all my clips taken... but it'll be a while!)

Thurston Peak, UT - 9,706 Feet - The highest point in Davis County and Morgan County.

Boy I wouldn't want to haul that slab of Granite up there!

There are gorgeous views of the Northern Wasatch Range and the Salt Lake and Morgan Valleys from atop Thurston!

We started from the Fernwood Trailhead, parking outside because the parking lot is apparently Federally funded and it costs too much to leave a gate open...

Yeah... that's fun. It wasn't too hard to walk around the gate, and we headed on up the trail.

The fall colors are gorgeous right now - so while we were going fairly slow, it was beautiful to look down into the valley below.

We finally made it up to Chinscraper and the snowier sections in the tops of the mountains. It was VERY windy but so refreshing to be up in the tops of the mountains. We followed the trail until the Thurston Peak trail cuts North off the Great Western Trail ( which is also the Wasatch 100 course). The icy winds had created REALLY cool looking ice formations on the trees and plants

The Trail to the peak was a bit difficult to see so we headed up towards the peak as we could. We found on the way down, it was probably more on the very windy West side than we liked! We 'summited' only to see that the REAL summit was a little bit farther.

One of the main reasons we could tell was the large Granite block sitting at the actual summit! (seen above)

We took some pictures and of course I did my customary Mayurasana/Peacock pose on the summit!

 

Our Friends the Orange Trail Monkeys have been here!

When we got back to where we took the icy grass pictures above, some hunters had arrived on horses.  They looked at us two guys in light jackets and short shorts and gave us strange looks, probably thinking we were crazy!

Not that I disagree...

We took off towards Francis Peak, and a couple miles later, right before the section the trail monkey video above was shot, ran into some older hikers who asked us "Hey which one of these is Thurston Peak!"

We pointed them the two 'peaks' down the line to Thurston and one of them said "Somebody lied to the fat guy!"

They had ridden their ATV's to the end of a road and then started the hike. About one mile after we left them, we reached their ATVs... and then had a nice conversation about relativity. About a year ago I ran the first 2 miles (and then back, so 4 total) of the same course we'd been following, and it was TORTURE when I did it... but now a mile or two is nothing!

Awesome to see progress! And funny how things change too...

Shortly after the ATV's, we were about a mile to a mile and a half from Francis, but we were short on time so we headed straight down the super-steep Bair Canyon.

Francis Peak! Let's head down!

Getting down into the canyon brought an EXPLOSION of color that was crazy and mind-boggling to look at.

This picture is gorgeous, but doesn't even do it justice!

When we'd finished at Bair Canyon we had gone just under 15 miles with a whole bunch of climbing up and down!

Another PEAK checked off the list of my summits! Woohoo!


When I arrived home my wife was antsy and NEEDING to get out of the house and up into the mountains. Nobody else was available to run with her, so I figured I'd go ahead and go!

Starting at the East Mountain Wilderness Park, we headed up the BST towards the popular Adam's Canyon. That canyon is gorgeous and a good hike - worthy of visiting.

But that's also it's biggest problem! It's busy! Too many people!

Ran 5.5 miles with a decent climb up to the waterfall, and my legs were definitely telling me they were tired by the end.

Google auto-creates gifs in uploaded photos sometimes!

It was a fantastically beautiful day in the Wasatch Mountains with fantastic people!

I'm thankful that I have a brother and an amazing wife that can do this stuff with me!

Hopefully good preparation for my race on Friday. I will probably run 5-10 fairly flat miles in the next day or two... and then REST and stretch out my legs in preparation for FIFTY MILES on Friday!

Holy moly! I can't believe I'm doing this!

What Is It We're Looking For? Summits of MY Life

This trailer and accompanying script is amazing.


Summits of My Life Trailer from Summits of My Life on Vimeo.

"No-one told us who we were.
No-one told us we should this.
No-one told us it would be easy.
Someone said we are our dreams, that if we don't dream, we are no longer alive.
Our steps follow our instinct and take us into the unknown.
We no longer see the obstacles behind us, but look forward the ones ahead.
It's not about being the fastest, the strongest or the biggest...It's about being ourselves.
We are not just runners, mountaineers or skiers...or even athletes...we are people.
We don't know if we'll find it, but we're going in search of happiness.
What is it we're looking for? To be alive?"

I still need to see this.

Recently I discovered that I had too much vacation time.

Wow! What a HORRIBLE problem to have!

Basically I have to use 4 weeks worth of vacation time by the end of the year or I'll lose it! Ouch!

So I looked at the calendar, talked to my boss, and decided I would take Fridays off for the rest of the year, along with the full weeks of the Christmas and Thanksgiving Holidays!

With this unforeseen bit of AWESOME I looked at my Strava Heatmap (yes I still love it) and decided I needed to hit more peaks. Fridays off for the rest of the year? It's PEAK BAGGING TIME!!!

In a way this is the beginning of a "Summits of My Life" journey of my own... although it is currently FAR from the amazing pursuits of Kilian and others. But it is a beginning.

I'm excited!

Friday I decided would be my first peak, and I'd be sticking close to home:
Bountiful Peak, Davis County Utah

There has been some discussion about which trails go up the face of the Davis Wasatch and make it all the way to the top. According to the Farmington Trails Map, there are a few options for going all the way up. The main options are the Steed Creek, Davis Creek, and Bountiful Peak Trails.

I decided on the Bountiful Peak trail even though I had heard of some rough bush whacking from friends, I figured I could make it work.

One thing I didn't really think about that much, was the changing seasons. And suddenly this past week, winter hit and overtook fall for a bit. Snow trip!

The five miles up to the peak were slow, isolated, and crazy beautiful.

That first five miles took me 3 hours. The bushwhack was SO bad, that I didn't want to go back down the 1.5 miles of hardness... so instead I ran down the road to the Canyon, and then down the Farmington Creek trail from the Sunset Campground to the mouth of the canyon.

For some reason my phone had shut down, even though there was still 36% of battery left... I think it just got cold... so I didn't get any pictures of the trip down. I did take some videos but the light in the snowy fog wasn't great, so I am not too happy with the quality. We'll see, maybe I'll put something together.

While my phone had worked I had mentioned to my wife that I might want to be picked up at the bottom of the canyon...

But with my phone dead, there was nobody there at the bottom of the trail. So I continued down to the Firebreak road BST, and slowly made my way across to the trailhead where I parked my car.

Total Mileage 17.9 miles. Just under 6 hours. Wow!

So what's up next? Well I WISH it were the Kalalau Trail in Hawaii like a friend of mine recently ran... But that might have to wait until next year. One reason I bring that up is it totally fits in with the point of this point. What are we looking for? Some people do that Kalalau trail, and other trails of similar distances, in a multi-day camping hike. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and could be ridiculously amazing. BUT , most of the people who do that can't even imagine that you could do the same trail, in MUCH less time. Awesome.

Really though, next week I have a brother-in-law getting married. I might be able to sneak away and hit the Gold Ridge up behind Bountiful Peak as it's a pretty easy one to check of the list. The week after that will NOT be a peak, but it will be my first 50-miler at the Pony Express Trail Run!

Other peaks on the list: Grandview, Thurston, Frary, Mt. Ogden, Ben Lomond, Willard, Kessler, Lone Peak, Timpanogos (again) and surrounding North, Bomber, and South Timp, and many many more!

I'd be fine with snow adventures much like last years Olympus trip... Especially if I can get some people to come along with me!

I'm excited about what the future holds. My life is amazing. My family is MORE than amazing, especially my beautiful and supportive wife.

Life is wonderful and I am grateful to be alive!

Here's another beautiful trail running video from another Salomon Athlete, Ryan Sandes!
Amazing story. Beautiful film. Wonderful message.

"Human beings don’t always make rational decisions. But making irrational decisions is precisely what makes us human. These decisions, based on an impulse or a feeling, often lead us to those perfect moments when it feels great to be alive."

I love it.

BE ALIVE!

Dugway Isolation Trail Run 50k

LAST Saturday I ran another official 50k.

A bit over one week before the race our friends who are related to the race director put out a call for more people, so we took a look and realized that it was a great deal, $30 for any of the races, 50k, 30k, and 20k. I knew it would be a good training run, and a reason to push it a bit, so I signed up for the 50k. Kakes was thinking about the 20k, then jumped right in and signed up for the 30k!

Yeah baby!

The race was the Dugway Isolation Trail Run 50k/30k/20k out at the Dugway Proving Ground, a very large Military installation in Utah's West Desert.


We woke up early and drove out to the Base gave them our drivers licenses and pulled off to the side where we waited and talked to some friends who were also waiting - for our background checks!

Once those were done, we headed down the road to the starting line, where we picked up our numbers and our schwag bags - which were great! Frisbees, squishy balls, 2 or 3 water bottles, a bunch of bars and snacks, and other stuff. No lame coupons or 'sign up' invites to be found!

All three races started at the same time.  Because this is the first year for the race, there were probably only about 20 people for all the races!

Getting ready between the Howitzers!

Altra Lone Peak 1.5's - REPRESENT!

The RD fired a gun (hey this is a Military base!) and off we went!

And they're off!

I got off to a good start and stayed in the lead for 25 miles. I think being chased the whole time can be a bit tough.

Everybody is chasing me!

See! They're all right here!

 The 20k split off after a while and the 30k and 50k continue down to Little Davis Mountain.

There the 50k people have to do two extra loops on the mountain! I caught up to Matt and Kakes on my first extra loop.

After that bit - I kept moving and felt really good - but this race really did become an Isolation Run for sure!

As I headed up the road after the start for the second time - I kept looking back thinking I'd see somebody charging up to catch me - but it didn't happen.


At the next climb up Little Davis on a hill I hated, the competition gained some ground, but then kind of faded away. My competition at this time was a first time 50k'er who had probably started a bit too fast. I know there were plenty of people on the course who could beat me, but I was only worried about two of them.

I did not like this hill.

And one of those was 'taking it easy' and running with his brother, so I thought I had a shot at winning the whole thing!

And for 25 miles of it, I did a pretty good job!

At about mile 20, again on the first climb up the first mountain, I looked back and saw an orange hat just like mine, and a lady runner.

DANG!!! The two people I was worried about were now chasing me up the hill - and they are both much stronger on the uphill than I am. I kept moving and was still feeling pretty good - and made great time down the other side of the mountain until a section called "Quicksand Hill" or something, when Craig finally caught up to me. (Here is his report)

"What happened to your brother?" "Oh he dropped to the 30k so I decided to try to catch up to you and we could run for a while then race to the finish."

HA! I was still feeling pretty good, and we stayed together for a couple of miles, but I knew as soon as we hit my nemesis the hill up Little Davis, I'd be done for as far as competing with him went!

As we ran ahead - right before the climb, a wild mustang came riding by - Wow!

Craig totally stole the spirit of that horse and took off up the hill... I didn't see him again after that until the finish!

I kept moving and kept looking behind me knowing that Jen would catch up to me at any time. It wasn't until my last time at that windy aid station, where they were out of Mt. Dew that I stayed ahead of her. I left first, and then she caught me again at 'the Burn,' the final climb of the loop. We ran together and talked and enjoyed the pain together, with me in front, until a geological bunker spot with a water cooler, and that's when she went on ahead and I just couldn't keep up with her. I was basically bonking pretty hard by then!

I kept on moving and finally came down to the last stretch along a dirt jeep-track where my brother was waiting for me.

Somehow I still had something left and I was able to pick up the pace and run at about a 7 minute pace to the finish!

That pace took it out of me though and I puked for the first time in over twenty years! No more "Vomit Free Since '93" for me!


I took some video throughout the event (but not enough) and put together a video.

Like usual I'm still working on getting the editing better so it's shorter.



31 miles in 6:26

I ended up taking 3rd place overall and first in my age group!

Top 3 - with the two I just knew would beat me - they are awesome!

This race had very cool trophies. Dugway area is also known for it's geodes, so they put a geode and an UXO (Unexploded Ordinance - thankfully FORMERLY unexploded!):
Turned out pretty cool!

Kakes got first in her age group for the 30k as well! I have an amazing wife! I also have an amazing brother who ran with her the entire 30k! Thanks, Matt!

I hope this race keeps growing - it was great to see such beauty in a barren desert - and it was really well organized and fun!