Browsed by
Month: July 2014

Flag Rock for Breakfast

Flag Rock for Breakfast

With grey clouds in the sky, trails fresh and damp from overnight rains (no dust!) I started the day out with a quick climb up to Flag Rock. The south ascent is about 1,500 ft of climbing over 1.5 miles of trail. I was low on energy, but happy to be up there. When I got home to shower and head to work torrential downpours hit, so I got it in just in time! 3.7 miles in 1:00:47 @ 16:20…

Read More Read More

Pioneer Day Fun with 20+ miles, almost 6k elevation, 2 peaks, 2 Rattlesnakes, and Blisters Blisters Blisters

Pioneer Day Fun with 20+ miles, almost 6k elevation, 2 peaks, 2 Rattlesnakes, and Blisters Blisters Blisters

 Last year on Pioneer Day, a friend and I tackled Baer Canyon. It was only my 2nd trail run, and we were unprepared and it was rough. I thought I would continue that and make an annual tradition of pushing myself to do unwise things on Pioneer Day. On the top of my trailrun to-do list has been to bag Thurston and Francis Peaks. I have been to both, but only after driving up to Francis and then running the…

Read More Read More

Sklyine 50 Volunteer Sweep Accidentally Becomes my Longest Run Ever

Sklyine 50 Volunteer Sweep Accidentally Becomes my Longest Run Ever

 Altra was sponsoring an aid station at the inaugural Skyline 50 mile Mountain Marathon, and since my family was out of town, I decided to volunteer.  We were stationed at the Public Grove Hollow trail head (FR 620) on Avon Pass Rd. above Eden, UT.  It was a gorgeous day and it was fun seeing the runners come through.  We were at about mile 12 of the race.  After everyone went through, I had also volunteered to sweep the course…

Read More Read More

Smith Creek Lakes for Farmington 50 Trailwork

Smith Creek Lakes for Farmington 50 Trailwork

On the Farmington 50 mile Challenge (and associated North Marathon challenge) that I put together there is one section of the route that I was concerned might not be as much of a trail as the satellite image suggested. It is a short traverse from the northernmost (NE of Francis Peak, down the Morgan County side) Smith Creek Lake, west and over the main ridgeline between Morgan and Davis Counties – merging on the other side with the Great Western…

Read More Read More

Altra Olympus – Gear Review

Altra Olympus – Gear Review

Back in late-April the Mrs. allowed me a 3-months early birthday present – a pair of Altra Olympus trail shoes. I was about to run the Zion Trail Ragnar (read about how much “fun” that was) and hoped that the much raved about max cushioning would help ameliorate impact on some of my over-use injuries. I have now put ~100 miles in them over varied terrain and thought it would be worth a review. Altra Olympus Stack Height – 36…

Read More Read More

Assessing the Damage from Running Ragnar

Assessing the Damage from Running Ragnar

I am now about a week removed from Ragnar and am starting to assess how the race affected my injury-plagued lower-half.  In short, some prior injuries seem fine, some seem bad. IT Bands: Miraculously they didn’t hurt during the race so I am optimistic that all of my daily work on the foam roller is doing the trick.  Fingers crossed. Stress Fracture on left Fibula: This didn’t hurt during the race or the day after. But, in the following week…

Read More Read More