Final Squaw tune-up

Today was my final tune-up before Squaw Peak. I had my wife drop me off at the top of the North Ogden Pass (don't want to park my car and get it stolen again).
The trail was extremely muddy from the days of hard rain. I took my time not wanting to chance an injury. Even though it was very muddy, the overall terrain was beautiful.
About half way down the trail a group of 4-5 Hispanic guys starting throwing rocks at me from the road above and yelling and whistling at me. I looked twice to see how close they were coming and just kept going. I figured this was just par for the week. By the way, they never did hit me.
I got to the bottom of the trail and hit the road for 1.6 miles back to my house.
On the way back I stopped at a park and did 6 x100 pseudo sprints. Not sure if they were exactly 100 but close enough. I got home and had my a nice bowl of bow tie pasta.
Overall, I didn't feel great on the run but it was nice to clear my head after the last few days of getting my life back. Oh yeah, they found my car. Yippee!

Playing Catch up

Monday- Off
Tuesday- Easy 6
Wednesday- Indian Trail 11.5
Thursday- Indian Trail 11.5
Friday - Off
Saturday- Indian Trail 11.5
Sunday - BST and part Indian 13
Monday-off
Well, I am a slacker and haven't posted in awhile so nothing great to report. Decent runs in midweek but Saturday and Sunday were brutal. Legs and body just wasn't in it. I finished my runs but never felt a spring and everything felt forced. Not what I was hoping for leading to Squaw.
On a side note, the run Sunday never felt good but it was great compared to getting done with the run, turning the corner and seeing a pile of glass in the spot you parked your car. Some son of a bitch(es) stole my Trailblazer! Nice job humanity! Never felt better about the human race as I did today. Sure, it wasn't everyone but to steal someones car (child seat in back), just ridiculous. My wallet, cell phone, Salomon running shoes, card from my daughter, etc were in there. I know its possessions and the car can be replaced but I feel totally violated. My house key was in my car with my driver license so they know exactly where to go next. ran down to Home Depot to BUY all new locks for my house. Cancelled my credit card, bank account and everything.
Anyway, bottom line, trust is on the decline. I am sour and maybe bitter about it but hey, its my right. Now I get to sit and wait to see if my car pops up. If not, after 30 damn days, I get my insurance to pick it up. Even if everything can be replaced, I was still violated and who knows how long that lasts.
Basically I am going into Squaw with a not so good mind set and no words will probably be able to change that. At this point, I just hope for a finish......

16 miles

Last night Phil called and invited to run with a group of people from the area. Some of them were Phil, Cory Johnson, Tom Remkes, Ron Remkes, Tony (Peak Performance), Casey, her brother Billy and a few others. There were about 11-12 people total. We met at Rainbow Gardens at 7 am and Tony drove us all to the top of North Ogden pass. We got out and had a great run down North Ogden pass and joined up with BST. We took BST all the way back to Rainbow gardens. That was about 9.5 miles. Phil, Ron, Cory, Casey, Billy and myself all decided to go further and we started up Indian Trail. Due to the fact my sister is in town from Colorado Springs, I had to get back a little earlier so I told them I would run Indian Trail to the hut on top. Once there, we all turned around and BURNED back to Rainbow. All said and done, I did about 16 miles. I will count his as doing Indian for the 2nd time -4 to go before SP50.
Overall another great run with good mileage and good climbing. Surprisingly, this was the best I have felt doing vertical and that was after about 10 miles so I guess the training is paying off.
It was also great to run with a group of pretty neat people. I look forward to more.

Indian Trail +

What a beautiful morning. Met Scott Mendoza at 7am for a out and back on Indian Trail. I am trying to do this about 6 times before Squaw Peak and today was #1. We start at Rainbow gardens and make the trek to "Smokey Bear". At the other end of Indian Trail there is a big Smokey the Bear sign that gives you an update on fire danger so you will read about "Rainbow to Smokey Bear." On the way out to Smokey Bear we didn't see a sole. It was our trail and the sun was coming up from the east which is the general direction we head so it was awesome. I just got a new Go Pro Camera. It is a video and still shot camera that mounts to helmets. It has different adapters and I wore it like a headlamp. Since it was the first run for it, there were a few learning points. It definitely jiggles a bit but I think I can secure it tighter to get a better picture. I actually got some good footage and might put it on the blog. Once we got near the end of Indian, we headed back. On the way back we started to see quite a few people but the great thing about this trail is NO MOUNTAIN BIKES. makes it kinda nice not having to worry about dodging on coming traffic. After we got back to Rainbow which is about 11.5 miles, Scott and I decided to run up to the waterfall and back. Added just over a mile so for the day, I got about 13 miles. Lots of climbing which is my focus right now.
Overall, good day, good run with a good friend.

Finding my legs, 10 miles

After a couple days off for weather and most importantly, my legs, I decided to get back on the trails. I got out on a nice walk Monday night to help loosen the legs and to my surprise I wasn't as sore as I thought. I was actually sore in my lower legs. Did a decent run. The trail was slick though. All this hard pack dirt and rocks with a nice coat of rain and WHEEEEE.....
I will probably get back out tomorrow for a tempo run and hit the Indian Trail Saturday and Sunday. I really want to finish Squaw under 12. Not a great time but it would cut off 2 1/2 hours from last year. I feel pretty good and the past weekend was huge. i am so much farther ahead of last year and mentally I feel pretty good. Squaw starts a busy summer and I want to do well. I am working on my splits card along with quotes for the other side so if anyone has any inspirational quotes to help me out, please leave them.
On a side note, Team Pearl Izumi-Smith is in the final stages of completion for the year. We have some great athletes and sponsors. Our website will hopefully be active in a week so stay tuned.

Temperature check

After a tough run yesterday, it was time to follow up with another long run. My initial plan was to get at least 10 miles knowing Granduer Peak throttled me. I met Scott Mendoza, Phil Mendoza and Scott Jaime at Rainbow Gardens for a day on the trail. We left the parking lot and did the Indian Trail. I have never done the whole trail in one swoop. After yesterday I didn't want to see any vertical but that's how we started. I could really feel the climbing in my legs and once again I was bringing up the rear. I was keeping it into perspective and just wanted to enjoy it with my friends. The descent from Indian was awesome. It's too bad Mr. Jaime lives in Colorado, this group is fun. We hit the bottom of the Indian trail and went down the canyon back to rainbow to refuel. On the way to the car, Phil must have felt the effect of a great marathon the day before (4:02, way proud of you man!), he started chasing quail around the parking lot. Once we left the parking lot we headed south on the BST. The effects of the day before were really beginning to take its toll on my legs. There were mush. We headed out a few miles and Phil was feeling discomfort in his leg so he turned around. Who could blame him, he did the Ogden Marathon the day before and played a rather intense game of DUCK-DUCK-GOOSE.
About a half mile later, Scott Mendoza turned back and got in a solid 15 miles.
Being somewhat brain dead and suffering from the intense heat, I decided to keep going. We made it over to Bues pond and turned back. I ran with Eddy for a bit and then he took off. I tried to run as much as I could and I think I did better than I thought I would. All in all I did 20 miles.
For the back to back over the weekend I felt great...considering. Lots of miles, lots of vertical and the best friends a guy could have.
Thanks my friends!

Grandeur Peak

OUCH! What a day.
I picked Eddy up at 6 am and we traveled down to SLC to join a organized run put on by Erik Storheim. When we pulled up, there were close to 20 people. We (Eddy and I) have never run this course before so we really didn't know what to expect. The first 3 miles we did about 3500 feet of vertical. I was so excited because vertical is my specialty....YA RIGHT! The mountain hammered me. Once we hit the top, there were amazing views all around. We started down *(after we got off course a bit) and it was an amazing single track. It was so nice to be able to run with Edward. He wasn't pushing it but we did a decent pace by my book.
The course itself was unbelievable. I put in about 16 miles and 8000 vertical feet. For me that was torture. This is something I need more than anything and I really tried to push myself but my body was spent. Overall, the day was a success. There was mileage, heat, vertical climbs, bush whacking, road, single track, bike trails, rocks and of course other people. It was the full meal deal. I was hoping to do 20 but no dice. The Fast One got 20 in though.
As great as the course was, it was tough. I survived and Sunday will be another day on the trail.
I completely recommend this course to ANYONE.