I wanted to get one last run in before this weekend’s Wasatch Back Ragnar race and tonight was my best chance. I drove up to the Farmington Canyon trail, planning to hike it up to the Sunset Campground and then run down the road for a loop. It went better than anticipated.

Amongst the other local trail runners, I’m just about the slowest. On Strava segments, I am usually at the bottom of the leader-board and the only times that I get a medal is when it is an obscure trail that so few have clocked on strava that I’m in the top 5 by default. BUT, not today. I didn’t plan on trying to go my fastest but did on all stretches of the trail. With my new trekking poles, I found my self either running or fast power hiking the entire way up. I really think the poles allowed me to keep a faster steady pace. On a number of the climb segments I placed 4th or 5th – even ahead of some elite locals I really look up to! On the descent down the road, I clocked PRs for my 5k (23:26), 1 mile (7:32), 1k (4:31), and 1/2 mile (3:35).

I was exhausted when I got back to my car, but it was well worth the effort!

5.6 Miles in 1:01:01 @ 10:48 min/mile and 1,270 ft elevation