I have always heard great things about the trail to the summit of Mount Timpanogos in Utah County of this great state of Utah.
But in all my 30+ years in this place... I'd never been up there! I still haven't been to Timpanogos Cave, but Saturday morning I finally made it up to the top.
Why now finally?
We had a friend who was doing something crazy. She was attempting to run up to the summit and back down SIX times in one go.
That's about 82-86 miles just because.
That attempt also happened to be on my lovely wife's birthday so we thought we would try to find a way to go support her on that when we were invited to sleep over in Heber with family and go with THEM up Timpanogos on Saturday morning with my niece babysitting!
Babysitting being the biggest obstacle to our adventures... we jumped on that opportunity and headed up to Heber.
5 AM we were up and getting on the road to the trailhead. I got a bit carsick because my brother-in-law Steve is a bit of a maniac driver!
Still we made it and were on the trail at about 6:30 AM
and really
I think I'll just let the video show you:
Completely happy that we were able to make it to the top of Timp. Total time was just under 6 hours - 15 miles total! That moving time of 4 hours was not bad. I think I could cut up to an hour off that too! We'll have to give it a try sometime!
I am really excited about doing some more peak runs now...
Now to figure out babysitting!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Anniversary Fun and Ragnar Trail Snow Basin
First off a little physique comp news - it ain't happening.
Basically the costs (membership, show, fake tans, polygraph) and the pain (ingrown hairs OUCH!) along with the other guy dropping out as well have made it so there really isn't a point for me at this moment. Also I don't think anybody else really cares... so... yeah.
As part of the preparation for that, I have been taking protein after workouts or at night, and I think that has made a big difference, along with actual weights workouts beyond my normal trail runs, BJJ, and Yoga.
I think the workouts and the protein have helped in running, recovery, and BJJ, so I want to try to continue that!
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| Some Results |
We spent a couple of days at the Sundial Lodge at the Canyons Resort in Park City. Beautiful place, and some really nice trails as well. The above picture was from one of the two trail runs we had while we were there. Our first run was a great 7.6 mile run on Friday, then the next morning before check out we had a nice 4.3 mile run.
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Here's our video from our trail runs on our Anniversary! (Hi-Def is better!)
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We also went swimming for a little bit before the storms chased us away - but I haven't finished that video yet! I wish I had a pool and hot tub after EVERY run - it felt so amazing!
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I enjoyed my assignment - I got to help people stretch out, work out, and even led a couple of '10 minute' (they turned into 40!!) yoga classes. But it still made for some crazy foot leg and hip soreness!
I was runner number 3, which meant I would be running my first leg on the 'hard' leg, the Red loop. 4.8 miles with a 1200 foot climb in the first 2 miles, then a bombing downhill to the exchange.
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| Off I go! I love my shorty shorts! |
Basically a pretty normal run for me, but just a little bit shorter! Watch tracked me at 4.9 miles in 50:25. Not bad! After that run I felt pretty good, except for some lingering soreness that was the same soreness I had before I ran!
So I tried some tennis ball therapy:
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I don't know that it helped too much. My second run was the Yellow loop - 6.3 beautiful night miles that I very much enjoyed. Yellow was my favorite because it was on actual trails more than the dirt access roads. I had a bit of a boost because halfway through somebody caught me. Keeping this guy from catching me sped me up a lot, but he inevitably passed me, and I pushed it to try to catch him, so I had a fast time of 1:02:51. THEN I continued on a second attempt at the red loop when I continued through running with my wife on her late night leg. Total for the night, 11.3 miles in 2 hours and 6 minutes!
Finally the morning came and I ran the Green Loop - the easy leg at Sunrise! My legs were tired and my wife said "So you think you can do this in 30 minutes?" and I said "No way - more like closer to 40!" But once I got moving I decided to push it and see how I could do. 3.6 miles in 32:43... not bad after convention and over 15 miles the night before!
I put together a long video of the relay exchanges - it was a good learning video! Lots of ways to improve.
But here it is
Next up - Experiencing some of the Wasatch 100 course, and my first ascent of Utah's Mount Timpanogos!! (with video)
Monday, August 5, 2013
Millcreek 50k, Speedy Goats, Waterfalls and Outdoor Retailer!
Wow the end of July and beginning of August have been CRAZY.
August isn't going to slow down either!
On July 19th, there was a Bandit Race - the Millcreek 50k - that I decided I was going to run, since I don't have any other long races planned until the Pony Express in October, and it had been a while since I ran a longer race!
So I bought a new headlamp (because we needed a good one of those finally anyway!) and met up with some friends who were running it as well.
The race started at 9 PM at an Elementary school about a half mile from the Grandeur Peak trailhead, and we took off at a good clip - I was definitely in the top ten for this first half mile - but dang some of those guys were FAST!
Then we hit the hike up Grandeur.
UGH. That's a mean hike! You start at about 4950 feet, and end up at 8250 feet in about 2 miles! 3,300 feet! THEN it's a gorgeous run down Church Fork Trail into Millcreek Canyon. I probably went a bit too fast, passing a bunch of people and then I was ALONE for the next five or so miles to the first aid station. I'm not a very big fan of being completely alone in the dark middle of the night on a trail, not because it's scary, it's actually fairly peaceful. But it got a bit boring after a while.
So I slowed a bunch until one of my friends caught up and we stuck together for the next 12 slow brutal miles... climbing... walking... hiking... UP up UPUPPPPPP.
We took the out at Dog Lake, 22 miles in, running 2 more miles for a total of 24 miles in a time of 7:51. That was 3rd place for the Dog Lake Out! Yeah! :p 8k-12k total vertical gain over those 24 miles... depending on which sites elevation tracking.
We thought we'd have to wait a while for Zac to come in, but we were only there for 10 minutes before he crossed the finish line! He's speedy!
It was great to spend almost 8 hours on a training run. Even though it was almost 10 miles shorter than my longest run... that was definitely the hardest run I've EVER done.
Last week we had the opportunity to see the finish of the Speedgoat 50k. Sage Canaday and Anton Krupicka were AMAZING. My brother also had a hard week of NOT training and being at sea level for 2 weeks, so his race was TOUGH. He finished the hardest 50k there is in under 10 hours!
So cool to see that level of competition!
In my own running and workouts I've had some great runs, and I've started some weights and protein to go along with it so I can look GOOD for the Physique contest.
Warning: WAY Too many shirtless pictures coming up. You've been warned!
I also had the chance to see the Outdoor Retailer trade show. WOW amazing products and people walking around there. Some of the best climbers, runners, etc, and it was like nobody cared. So weird. I even saw Anton Krupicka and talked to him for a couple of minutes. Great guy!
Friday Morning I took the day off and had an awesome run with my wife. Yoga poses on a big rock, a fantastic run up a gorgeous canyon - and a really cool WATERFALL! My wife is amazing.
It has been a fantastic couple of weeks - but BUSY!
This coming week is my TWELFTH anniversary - and we will get some runs and fun in up in Park City, and then we will be doing the Ragnar Trail Snow Basin Relay! Should be fun!
August isn't going to slow down either!
On July 19th, there was a Bandit Race - the Millcreek 50k - that I decided I was going to run, since I don't have any other long races planned until the Pony Express in October, and it had been a while since I ran a longer race!
So I bought a new headlamp (because we needed a good one of those finally anyway!) and met up with some friends who were running it as well.
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| Me before the race - waiting to shuttle a car to the finish |
The race started at 9 PM at an Elementary school about a half mile from the Grandeur Peak trailhead, and we took off at a good clip - I was definitely in the top ten for this first half mile - but dang some of those guys were FAST!
Then we hit the hike up Grandeur.
UGH. That's a mean hike! You start at about 4950 feet, and end up at 8250 feet in about 2 miles! 3,300 feet! THEN it's a gorgeous run down Church Fork Trail into Millcreek Canyon. I probably went a bit too fast, passing a bunch of people and then I was ALONE for the next five or so miles to the first aid station. I'm not a very big fan of being completely alone in the dark middle of the night on a trail, not because it's scary, it's actually fairly peaceful. But it got a bit boring after a while.
So I slowed a bunch until one of my friends caught up and we stuck together for the next 12 slow brutal miles... climbing... walking... hiking... UP up UPUPPPPPP.
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| The Moon was really cool when we could see it! |
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| SO TIRED!! |
We took the out at Dog Lake, 22 miles in, running 2 more miles for a total of 24 miles in a time of 7:51. That was 3rd place for the Dog Lake Out! Yeah! :p 8k-12k total vertical gain over those 24 miles... depending on which sites elevation tracking.
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| Leslie, Kreuzer and Me happy to be done! |
We thought we'd have to wait a while for Zac to come in, but we were only there for 10 minutes before he crossed the finish line! He's speedy!
It was great to spend almost 8 hours on a training run. Even though it was almost 10 miles shorter than my longest run... that was definitely the hardest run I've EVER done.
Last week we had the opportunity to see the finish of the Speedgoat 50k. Sage Canaday and Anton Krupicka were AMAZING. My brother also had a hard week of NOT training and being at sea level for 2 weeks, so his race was TOUGH. He finished the hardest 50k there is in under 10 hours!
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| Top 3, and I am still trying to find out who this yellow shirt guy was... |
So cool to see that level of competition!
In my own running and workouts I've had some great runs, and I've started some weights and protein to go along with it so I can look GOOD for the Physique contest.
Warning: WAY Too many shirtless pictures coming up. You've been warned!
I also had the chance to see the Outdoor Retailer trade show. WOW amazing products and people walking around there. Some of the best climbers, runners, etc, and it was like nobody cared. So weird. I even saw Anton Krupicka and talked to him for a couple of minutes. Great guy!
Friday Morning I took the day off and had an awesome run with my wife. Yoga poses on a big rock, a fantastic run up a gorgeous canyon - and a really cool WATERFALL! My wife is amazing.
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| Oh yeah - I got some shorty short running shorts! |
This coming week is my TWELFTH anniversary - and we will get some runs and fun in up in Park City, and then we will be doing the Ragnar Trail Snow Basin Relay! Should be fun!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Running Fun!
Quite a bit of happenings since the Spartan Race.
One cool thing is I got a Sony Action Cam!
That's right, soon you will be inundated with badly-or-not-at-all-edited running videos!
YES!
But first some pictures from running with the Tuesday Morning group and updates from the Family Campout with the In-Laws!
Over the 4th of July Weekend we went up to the Little Deer Creek Campground, just West over the mountain from Deer Creek Reservoir and Soldier Hollow. Nice cozy campground with beautiful dirt roads and trails... the only downside being the majority of users of this area are ATV and RZR side-by-sides. Noisy noisy!
Went on a 3.2ish mile run with the guys in the heat of the day after Independence day.
Then the next morning before breakfast and camp cleanup, we went on a run with everybody that wanted to! (most of the siblings and some spouses... like me!) I went 5 miles with Steve, I think the majority of the rest of 'em went 3.5. My amazing Kakes went 4, but she's awesome.
Along with the pictures - I got a few videos on the morning run... Lets see if it lets me share them from Google + photo albums:
NOPE! I'll see if I can figure it out.
I definitely need to find a good economical editor so I can make these into cool events!
A week ago Monday Matt and I decided to go to a local fun run - thinking it was just a fun group run.
Much to our surprise it was an 'official' fun-run-RACE - The Butler Bolt!
Starting at the Butler Fork Trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon (which is a gorgeous area, if you've never been up there - what are you doing?! Get up there!) you run up to Dog Lake and back down to the Mill D trailhead - about 5 miles.
There was even a finisher medal! Great run - well organized and a lot of fun!
Matt beat me by TWO SECONDS! Cut in front of me at the very last second!
I got my revenge at the 2013 Farmington Festival Days Flag Rock Run though!!
Last year I was 11th place overall at the Flag Rock Run, right behind Matt. This year I was 12th place, but I improved my time by 3 minutes AND I beat Matt by one minute - so I'm okay with that.
I think that had we started with some of our friends who finished a bit faster - we probably would have been part of that pull. As it was we started a bit slower so we were behind them the whole time. Great race! A bit over 7 miles total.
This morning I made it up with the Davis County Crew. We ran along the BST up in Kaysville up to Adam's Canyon where we took this fabulous picture
Then we continued along the BST to Fernwood, then turned around and came back for almost 9.5 miles. I was tired!!
This Friday night I might be doing the Millcreek 50k... which is a semi-organized 'fun run' all over up in Millcreek Canyon. THIS is the map of last years run - this year it is basically the same, but backwards - so we start going up Grandeur (although not from Church Fork like the map says) and finish at Big Water.
Quite a few of those trails I've never done before... and this would definitely be the hardest over 30 miles I've ever done... So I'm a bit nervous - we'll see if I even do it!
One cool thing is I got a Sony Action Cam!
That's right, soon you will be inundated with badly-or-not-at-all-edited running videos!
YES!
But first some pictures from running with the Tuesday Morning group and updates from the Family Campout with the In-Laws!
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| Up Holbrook Canyon |
Went on a 3.2ish mile run with the guys in the heat of the day after Independence day.
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| Running in the HEAT |
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| Cooler Morning Runs |
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| Running Beauties! |
NOPE! I'll see if I can figure it out.
I definitely need to find a good economical editor so I can make these into cool events!
A week ago Monday Matt and I decided to go to a local fun run - thinking it was just a fun group run.
Much to our surprise it was an 'official' fun-run-RACE - The Butler Bolt!
Starting at the Butler Fork Trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon (which is a gorgeous area, if you've never been up there - what are you doing?! Get up there!) you run up to Dog Lake and back down to the Mill D trailhead - about 5 miles.
There was even a finisher medal! Great run - well organized and a lot of fun!
Matt beat me by TWO SECONDS! Cut in front of me at the very last second!
I got my revenge at the 2013 Farmington Festival Days Flag Rock Run though!!
Last year I was 11th place overall at the Flag Rock Run, right behind Matt. This year I was 12th place, but I improved my time by 3 minutes AND I beat Matt by one minute - so I'm okay with that.
I think that had we started with some of our friends who finished a bit faster - we probably would have been part of that pull. As it was we started a bit slower so we were behind them the whole time. Great race! A bit over 7 miles total.
This morning I made it up with the Davis County Crew. We ran along the BST up in Kaysville up to Adam's Canyon where we took this fabulous picture
This Friday night I might be doing the Millcreek 50k... which is a semi-organized 'fun run' all over up in Millcreek Canyon. THIS is the map of last years run - this year it is basically the same, but backwards - so we start going up Grandeur (although not from Church Fork like the map says) and finish at Big Water.
Quite a few of those trails I've never done before... and this would definitely be the hardest over 30 miles I've ever done... So I'm a bit nervous - we'll see if I even do it!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Utah Spartan Beast 2013
Last Fall I conquered and became a Tough Mudder.
Saturday June 29th I became a Spartan Beast.
I'm not going to do a comparison on the two right now... The thoughts about that are still somewhat percolating around in my brain...
'Percolating' is a weird word... and quite possibly isn't appropriate in this situation.
Utah's 2013 Spartan Beast was held up at Soldier Hollow where we've done the majority of Mud Races we've taken part in. My beautiful wife and I had formed an elite team of PIRATE NINJAS to take on this Beast of a challenge.
This was definitely the most coverage we've seen of that area! We went all over that place to fit our twelve miles in!
Anyway - enough text. PICTURES!
I definitely had a blast.
Eventually I'll write a post about my thoughts on Tough Mudder vs Spartan Beast... but for now this is good. I'm already behind!
Saturday June 29th I became a Spartan Beast.
I'm not going to do a comparison on the two right now... The thoughts about that are still somewhat percolating around in my brain...
'Percolating' is a weird word... and quite possibly isn't appropriate in this situation.
Utah's 2013 Spartan Beast was held up at Soldier Hollow where we've done the majority of Mud Races we've taken part in. My beautiful wife and I had formed an elite team of PIRATE NINJAS to take on this Beast of a challenge.
This was definitely the most coverage we've seen of that area! We went all over that place to fit our twelve miles in!
Anyway - enough text. PICTURES!
I definitely had a blast.
Eventually I'll write a post about my thoughts on Tough Mudder vs Spartan Beast... but for now this is good. I'm already behind!
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