Celebrating Sam on Olympus

By Steve.

Mount Olympus map and stats.

Somewhat by necessity, and somewhat by choice, we have lately been doing more late night runs than early morning runs.  It has been a stark change for me, having always been more of a morning person.  And despite the tired eyes I get towards the end of each run, I have immensely enjoyed these runs that go as late as midnight or 1:00am.   Combining these new late night runs with a birthday tradition that Sam and I started several years ago resulted in the perfect storm of fun trail runs this week.

The tradition is that on or around our birthdays, we always try to summit Mount Olympus.  About 3 years ago on my own birthday, after having done several prior runs up Olympus, I brought my trail head to summit P.R. down to 93 minutes.  For whatever reason, despite three or four attempts per year since then, I have been unable to beat that.

We met at the trail head at 8:30, with just enough light to get us up the bulk of the runnable trail, but cool enough to not exhaust us.  Jeff, Matt, myself, and some beardless guy who claimed to be DJ showed up to celebrate with Sam.  The only OTM who couldn't make it was Jake.  We then began the quad burning, 90 minute redlining, exercise in insanity we call Mt. Olympus.



Matt and his ghosts of Trails past

Pushing as best as I could, we hit the first creek bed a minute fifty ahead of my PR.  At that point, I kept churning up the usually sun-exposed section.  Jeff, who is perhaps the best uphill climber of the group, left the rest of us behind.  He was going so fast he decided the normal trail was just too easy, and walked right past a switchback.  After another quarter mile he crawled out of the bush onto the trail behind Matt and myself.  Shaking the squirrel off his head, and with a look of determination in his eye,  he set out again to reach the summit in less than 90 minutes.

Trudging up the Stairway of the Gods, I found myself still a minute ahead of my PR.  Matt then pushed me up the final 600' scramble to the summit, finally breaking my PR to the peak by a full minute.  In fact, he pushed me so hard that he started coughing... then puking.  Ha!  Jeff finished the summit climb about 15 seconds ahead of Matt and Me.



Descending the scramble in the dark

Once Sam reached the summit, Jeff broke out a piece of cake and some candles.  We climbed down between some of the boulders and lit up the candles and sang the most tear-jerking rendition of Happy Birthday ever sung in the history of that mountain.  I believe in music theory the technical term for our style is called "Sucked with Vibrato."  With tears rolling down the cheeks of Sam and vomit rolling down the chin of Matt, we enjoyed a nice moment of OTM camaraderie while eating a few bites of cake by the light of our headlamps.

 

 




A Midnight Dude.

Dude peak map and stats.

by Sam

Dude Peak can only be found in the night if you're a Dude. That's why Kenzie was so excited to run with five other dudes. Dude! It was that or get a life altering operation, she opted for the night run with a handful of Dudes to Dude Peak. I know, right, Dude! Although, I must mention we'd all be lost dudes without THE Dude, Matt Ricks, to guide us along this trail in the dark. Dude can be accessed from several different trailheads, depending on how much mileage or how much vertical you want. We started at the Wild Rose trailhead in NSL, which comes out just under 10 miles roundtrip. This was my second summit of Dude in the dark. I've actually never ran it in the light. It would be awesome to run during the day since it's a ridgeline that allows you to see into both Davis and Salt Lake Counties.

From the Green Monkey (Steve) clockwise: Sam, Kenzie, Matt R., Jeff, Tommy.

The view would definitely be sweeping during the daylight, however the city lights are a beauty all their own. Dude, if you haven't gotten up to Dude Peak, do it! Dude!

Dudes, Jeff and Steve climbing one of the steep rolling hills.

The Salt Lake Valley from Dude.

Dudes: Happy Stevie-poo, Stargazer Jeff, Trail Captain Matt, Friendly Tommy (it's ok, they're married, I think), Kenzie.

Almost, maybe, sorta, kinda, woulda run 100 miles this week. AKA "The big training week!"

So last week I attempted my first ever 100 mile training week. It was really interesting to say the least. I've run one 100 mile race (putting that week at a total of 105 miles) but I've never tried to have 7 consecutive days of training runs that added up to 100 miles. Oh, and not only did I attempt 100 miles horizontally, I had the lofty goal of 30,000 feet of elevation gain. Cause nothing says, "I'm a masochist" quite like stupid amounts of vertical, am I right?

So sparing everyone the boring details (I could honestly write a book about my week, and it would be a New York Times worst seller) I'll give ya the nitty gritty of my "almost" 100 mile week.

Day 1: Monday May 12th, 2014.

13.3 Miles - 1:59:23 - 8:57/mile pace - ~1000' vert - Altra Olympus #1s

I decided I'd do a quick run up the street to kick off the week. Road is my least favorite, but it was a good start and my legs were still sore from my cross training and 20 mile run on Saturday so this hit the spot.

Day 2:

11.6 miles - 2:31:19 - 13:04/mile pace - ~3,800' vert - Altra Lone Peak #2s

Yay trails! Here comes the climbing! I ran from Rattlesnake Gulch to Grandeur Peak via Church Fork, this would be one of many visits to the top of Grandeur the week.

Day 3:

Run 1: 15.3 miles - 4:40:30 - 16:16/mile pace - ~7,800' vertical - Altra Olympus #2s

11:00 AM (yeah, I know, I'm lazy) I hit the west face of Grandeur, made my way over the top, down the other side, headed east at Church Fork for a couple miles then back whence I came. Holy freaking crap. Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day. And this was my first run of the day. I was pretty tired from the last two days so my start was pretty slow.

Run 2: 8.5 miles - 1:27:14 - 10:12/mile pace - ~2,200' vert - Lone Peak #1s

Run on Trails race in Corner Canyon (what? not Millcreek you say?) I try and make these every Wednesday night and so should you. Can you say raffle and fun? Raffle! I won a water bottle!

Day 3 totals: 23.8 miles - 6:07:44 - ~13:14/mile pace - ~10,000' vertical

Day 4:

11.2 miles - 2:21:58 - 12:38/mi pace - ~4,400' vert - Lone Peak #1s

Another Rattlesnake Gulch to Grandeur Peak via Church! But this time Joe Dean joined me. This was by far one of my better efforts this week, not too fast but no slackin!

Also I took some time to ride my bike at the skatepark and I actually made it to Bikram yoga. If I haven't had a chance to lecture you on the importance of holding incredibly awkward and difficult postures in an insanely hot room while dehydrated, let me tell you. You are missing out on some retardation like you've never experienced. It's amazing and I highly recommend it.

Day 5:

6.2 miles - 3:02:45 - 19:37/mi pace - ~2900' vert - Altra Olympus #2s

Butler Fork to Mt. Raymond with Sam and Steve. This was an ice climbing expedition, I remembered my traction devices but forgot my eye sacks....ice axe..... Admittedly I was deliriously tired. I went to bed at 11:30pm and got up at 3:00 am to make the trail head in time. I have done a lot of training runs where I've had almost no sleep and I seem to keep on being tired anyway. I'm hoping to one day to not rest and just change out some nuclear fuel cells to power my runs, until then I'll keep being tired. Or maybe try and have a bed time.

Day 6: (the long run)

21.6 miles - 4:44:14 - 13:10/mile pace - ~ 7,800' vert - Altra Olympus #1s

Ok, back to Millcreek Canyon. Starting at Rattlesnake Gulch, up on Pipeline, back all the way to Elbow Fork then up to Mt. Aire, back to Elbow, down to Church, part way up to Grandeur (running out of water or else I'd tried to summit) back to Church down to Rattler, on to the overlook on Pipeline, back to Rattler and down to the truck.....sheesh!

Day 7:

7.8 miles - 2:37:35 - 20:23/mi pace - ~ 2,600' vert - Altra Lone Peak #1s

Hiked up Little Black Mountain with Stephanie and Babe. I decided that if I'm gonna count my attempt at Mt. Raymond as mileage then this works too. It was a nice little hike with some good vert. I had to call it once I got back to the truck as my shins and calves were pretty much shot from all the climbing this week.

Weekly totals: 8 runs/hikes 95.6 miles, ~32,500' vertical (25,700' on Strava?), 13:29/mile pace, 23:24:58

While not quite hitting 100 miles (which in hindsight I should of just gone running last night after my hike) I feel pretty good about all my climbing. I feel even better about the amount of time I spent on my feet over the week. That, in my humble opinion, is gonna be what helps me out in Bryce.

Is 100 miles in a week for me? Sure, why not? I really enjoyed all my time outside during the week. I'm pretty sure I'll do one or two more of these this year before Wasatch. I'm hoping to get a whole training week (or at least part of one) up in the High Uintas this summer.

Thanks for reading! Happy Trails :-)

Farmington Marathon Trail Fail

By Steve

Farmington Trail Marathon Map and Stats

I'll admit it.  It's been a pretty crappy month.  I've had a real hard time getting my legs back under me since the Zion 100k, and more than physically, mentally it's been a challenge to go out and get excited about a run.  Most of that can be attributed to the fact that my car broke down, and all my race money for the rest of the year was diverted to the "I need a way to get to work." fund, leaving me frustrated at my now defunct running plan for the rest of the year. 

A couple weeks ago I had heard that some of the  Davis County Trail Runners  were going to go run a marathon-ish distance, but hadn't really put much thought into going.  I knew that if I was going to break this bad streak, I would have to go out and do a big run.  Friday night, I was trying to figure out what I could that that would shake the cobwebs, and realized that the marathon was the next morning.  So fighting against myself, I forced myself to show up. 

The group at the East Mountain Wilderness Park trailhead.  Starting out.

About 20 runners were there at the starting line, and I knew almost none of them.  I probably should have, but other than this blog, I tend to be somewhat of a social media hermit, and don't bother to get to know people unless I run side by side with them for a while.  So I brought my headphones, thinking I'd spend the day lost in my music and well... just generally getting lost.

The course started at the East Mountain Wilderness Park and headed south along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. For the most part, the group stayed together, and was awesome enough to wait at some of the junctions so that everyone would be able to know where to go.  I fell back towards the back of the pack, and when I came up into Farmington Canyon, I couldn't see anyone, so I headed up to the firebreak road instead of heading down to the parking lot for the first aid station.  At this point, I didn't see anyone for a while and just put on my headphones and figured I was now just running on my own. 

I've run all the Firebreak road/BST from Farmington Canyon to the Bountiful B many times, so I was familiar with where I was, but now that I felt I was running on my own,  I decided on a whim to take a random trail that headed up the mountain that I hadn't done before.  I knew Flag rock was around here somewhere, and maybe this was it.  Slowly trudging up the mountain, I had the following text message conversation with Sam:

Me:  "Ugh.. I suck"
Me:  "So now I'm just going to go up... Let's see where this trail goes."
Me:  "You know the idea of praying till you feel like praying?  Today I'm going to run till I feel like running."
Me:  "Dude... I found a cave!"

Patsy's Mine

Me:  "This is indeed a strange day."

Chubby Steve on Flag Rock

All of a sudden, as I'm examining what turns out to be Patsy's Mine around mile 8, the front runners of the marathon come churning up the trail past me.  So I start running with them again.   I wasn't sure how I got that far ahead, but as best I can figure it, the rest of the group must have stopped for a few minutes at the Farmington canyon trailhead and then took a wider route up to flag rock.  The group continued up to flag rock, where we took some group photos.

Group on Flag Rock

On the way back, I ran and chatted with Aaron Williams, which really helped me pull my head out of my backside.  The final section of the route back to the East Mountain Wilderness Park took a game trail approach up towards the Ed's Peak trail, and then ran down through some fresh mud.  At this point, I called it quits and jumped in my car at about 16 miles.  The rest of the group continued to finish the marathon distance by running 10 miles out and back on the Wasatch 100 course down to the Great Western Trail post.

Honestly, I'm very glad I forced myself to run.  It hurt the whole day, and the generally wet, muddy environment fit my mood quite well.  Here's to shaking off the running blues!

Millcreek Canyon...what a day.

I started my day with some well deserved sleeping in. Headed to an arts fair in Draper where I bought some really awesome pottery and some even awesomer art thanks to the talented hand of Scott Tuckfield (google him/facebook him, he's incredible!)

Anyway, after taking my sweet time getting ready I decided to head up Millcreek Canyon. I spend a lot of time running Pipeline so I came up with a cool route that not only would get me some sweet miles, but good climbing and awesome views.

Hitting the trail around 3:30 PM to decent weather I headed up Rattlesnake Gulch and onto Pipeline. Besides my dog not getting along with one other dog on the climb ( of the 12 or 13 other dogs we encountered before Church Fork) it was pretty uneventful. A nice easy climb to a nice and mellow pace for a few miles.

I pushed a bit on the climb out of Church Fork up to Grandeur Peak but I held off on any real hard work knowing I had a ways to go yet.

Once on the peak I took a bit of a break to enjoy the view and drink a brew. I figured huffing 24oz of beer to the summit earned me a reward.


I'm actually pretty happy right here, ignore the scowl. This caveman is still baffled my my phone's camera.



Here's Babe, she's a total trail boss and makes running all these miles a lot of fun.


Here's the view

Once I was back on the trail I was feeling pretty good and made decent time back to Church Fork. I was debating on heading back to the truck and heading home early or heading back to Elbow Fork...

I decided on Elbow. Having not put down too many miles early in the week and feeling pretty good all day so far I figured hitting 18 or 20 miles was on in order. I made the right choice.

I made it to Elbow Fork in pretty much no time at all. I pushed on the climb really hard and kept a decent pace. Once I made it to the trailhead I was forced to make a decision. Mt. Aire, Lambs Canyon or turn back. I decided I'd try my luck and push a little further. I headed up towards Lambs but within a quarter mile I was hitting snow patches on the trail. There isn't a whole lot of snow left up there but I wasn't moving very quickly across it and decided that if the weather wanted to get really nasty I might be getting back to my truck in the dark. I had my headlamp if I needed it but I wasn't really wanting to be in the canyon after dark.

I think Millcreek Canyon is about the coldest place on the planet after sunset. Even in the middle of summer I've done night hikes and runs and been completely caught off guard by how cold the canyon floor is only to find it pleasantly warm up on a ridge. No need to push my luck today.

Within about 15 minutes of turning back I was glad I did. Right around the time I hit Church Fork after my decent off Grandeur it had started raining, lightly, but rain none the less. It was infrequent and pretty nice all the way to Elbow Fork but now it was a down pour. At times visibility was dropping to 50 feet. It would let up a bit and I could see across the canyon again but the rain was relentless. Until it turned to snow for a minute, then hail (crazy hard hail) then rain again. Both Babe and I were soaked but we were still having a good run and since Pipeline is relatively flat I didn't have any issues making my way to Rattlesnake Gulch.

Once I rounded the last corner on Pipeline above the parking lot I could see that I was the only car left in the lot. Sure enough, after making a pretty cautious journey down Rattlesnake Rapids, I mean Gulch (it was a pretty decent little river coming down the trail), I was the only car left. Ha! I'll never let a little weather run me off a mountain! Unless its lightening, then I hid under the bed.

Although the weather was pretty interesting; rain, snow, hail, sun, wind..... I had a pretty awesome day.

Here's my stats:

Distance: 20.39 mi
Time: 4:05:32
Avg Pace: 12:02 min/mi
Elevation Gain: 7,014 ft
Calories: 2,592 C
Avg Temperature: 58.9 °F
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 7,014 ft
Elevation Loss: 6,657 ft
Min Elevation: 5,345 ft
Max Elevation: 8,276 ft
Temperature
Avg Temperature: 58.9 °F
Min Temperature: 48.2 °F
Max Temperature: 78.8 °F

My Gear:

Shoes: Altra Olympus (Grey/Green)
Socks: Injinji Trail 2.0 (Green)
Pack: Ultraspire Omega w/ 2L Bladder
Beer: Miller Lite 25oz, the champagne of beers
Compression: Layer8 shorts
Rain gear: Sherpa Rain Shell and a Salomon Trucker hat
Music: Yurbuds in ears, iPod Shuffle (my yurbuds recently went thru the washing machine and were totally fine, I do not recommend doing that but they seem pretty impervious to water)

I used TrailToes on my feet and Aquaphor on my nether region. I fueled with EFS Liquid Shot, Miller Lite, Stinger Chews, Stinger Gel, Sun Belt Granola Bars and Salt Stick.

Post run recovery:

20 minute ice bath (20lb bag of ice), a few beers and a medium pizza.

Cheers!

Zion Traverse

Since this is my first post I'd like to thank Sam and Steve for inviting me to blog about my adventures and share some of my crazy ideas. You guys rule!

Secondly, I'd like to thank John Brown for making room for me in the van. I had so much fun running with John, Tyler Hall, Drew Erickson, Bryan Brady and Tyler Johnson. I'm always amazed at how cool the ultra running community is and these guys were awesome to hang out with.

A special thanks to John's friend Matt (sorry I didn't catch your last name). He was our driver for the trip and without him this wouldn't have been as easy or as fun. Thanks!

My adventure begins by over stressing (like I always do) about packing Thursday evening. I hope to someday figure how to relax and just get my stuff together quickly, but thus far I'm super paranoid about getting ready for races and long runs. So after spending too much time over thinking, triple checking and failing to realize what time it was I went to bed at about 1 AM Friday. 3 hours later I'm up and headed to work to make sure all my work is done by 11 AM. Not a great way to start but I'm at least packed and all my work is done.

I hit John's house in Bluffdale about 2 PM Friday and managed to not forget anything so far. Load up and head out. The ride down was good. Getting to know everyone in the van is always a neat experience. We hit Zion around 6 PM and made our way to our two water drops; West Rim Trailhead and Hop Valley Trailhead (miles 26ish and 36ish, respectively). After dropping our supplies we got some dinner and headed to Tyler Hall's parents house in Washington.

Right before bed on Thursday I was thinking, "you know what? It's not a big deal that I'm going to bed late tonight. We're headed to Zion early enough I'll get to hit the hay early down there. Plus, I can sleep in the car". Ha! I'm so foolish sometimes.

I resignedly set my alarm clock for 3:30AM Saturday morning at around 11PM Friday evening. As I get in bed I think, "I've done this long run with hardly any sleep stuff before, I'll be fine". Fooled again. I couldn't hardly sleep and I was dying the next day, but in my defense, I handled running the Zion 100 pretty well on so-so sleep the week before then 3 hours the night before sooooooo.....I'm still stupid. Note to self: practice sleeping.

5:30 AM we are headed out of the east entrance of Zion at a decent pace and I'm, well, not feeling awesome. In fact I've enjoyed having the flu a bit more than the sensations I'm getting in the first few miles of this run. The run is getting more and more beautiful as the sun comes up but all I'm thinking is, "wow! I have to poop!" Four miles in on a climb I admit defeat and run into the bushes to take care of business. Much better. I'm still about to die but at least I'm feeling a bit better.

Side note: I don't quit, I don't do half way. Sure, I'll bitch to the high heavens and make every excuse in the book about why I suck, but I don't stop. It's a character flaw I guess, but Saturday May 3rd was the first time I ever considered not starting. I almost just went hiking with Matt all day and driving around as crew. I also thought a few times about just sitting in the shade at West Rim and waiting until everyone came back to get the garbage.

Obviously I didn't quit, but oh man, did I want to. Not to say I wasn't enjoying this run, I was to a degree but I was sooooooooooooooooooo tired (count them o's that's tired to the 19th power!). I did not feel like a runner at all in the first 25 miles, I felt like I was way in over my head.

I made it to The Grotto only falling once and pushing thru a lot of pain and fatigue. The water break was nice but short lived and I struggled to get up to Angels Landing keeping pace with everyone.

Oh, other side note. This was my first time in Zion, so through a dense fog of pain and sleep deprivation I still thought it was beautiful and breath taking. Pretty dang awesome.

Here's my tiredness on top of Angel's Landing


After climbing out of the Grotto and up towards the West Rim thru Potato Hollow I managed to keep my complaining to a minimum and enjoy the views. About 3 miles from the West Rim trailhead I ran out of water. Oh boy, thirsty too. Oh well. I had resigned myself to just making the best of it and living in the moment. Our group started to split up a bit on the climb. The Tylers and Drew making up the fast group and Bryan, John and I holding up the rear.

I have never in my life been so grateful for cold water. The water at West Rim had been frozen before we left (thanks John!) and was spectacular. After getting rehydrated, eating some tuna fish, a fruit cup (peaches) and a Clif Bar, I was feeling better. Brian shared some of his Coke and gave me a caffeine pill (I had been abstaining from caffeine all morning so I knew it would help on the last half).

What a difference! I was actually feeling pretty awesome! The sun was bright (and hot ~88 degrees was the high), the breeze was nice and I was really enjoying myself. I ended up running pretty much the whole way from West Rim to Hop Valley (~9 miles) holding a pretty decent pace. Bryan, John and I all ran together for the most part on this section. I mostly run solo with my dog so running with a group is a luxury I only have on race day. This made my already better mood even better.

Hop Valley ended up being a quick stop for me, but not such a quick stop for Bryan and John who were starting to feel the distance and the heat. By the time we got to Hop Valley my watch was reading 88 degrees in the shade. I was loving the warm weather but it was making this run a bit harder than expected.

From Hop Valley we had ~13 miles of sand and climbing. The first 8 miles of this section went well for me, I was tired and getting cooked but I'd really come back to life and was milking every last bit of energy I had to come back and finish this run strong. It was about mile 29 that I really felt like I was a runner. I had categorized my pain and fatigue, I was eating at decent intervals again and I was watching my pace and making predictions. I felt awesome.

Once into La Verkin Creek you follow the canyon for quite a ways north.


I was greeted by some ducklings at around mile 44.


I did great until about the last 5 miles. I hit a big wall. BIG. Like "can't pick up my feet or hold my balance". Kinda big. I made it to Lee's Pass though, slow and steady.

All in all I had a great day. I made some new friends and again found why I love running so much. I especially love long distances because no matter how I feel, I can guarantee it'll change eventually.

This was one of the hardest runs I've done. Fatigue aside, this run would have kicked my but anyway. I highly recommend it. In fact I'm already thinking about running it again this fall, and hopefully an hour (or two!) faster.

Some stats:

~51 miles with about 10,300 feet of gain/loss. Took me about 13 hours start to finish going east to west (East entrance to Lee's Pass)


Here's my gear!

Shoes: Altra Lone Peaks (Red)
Socks: Injinji Trail 2.0
Gaitors: Dirty Girls (Black and grey Cosmos)
Compression: Calf: Zensa Shorts: Asics
Pack: Ultraspire Omega w/ 2L bladder
GPS: Garmin Fenix 2
Glasses: Tifosi
Water filter: MSR ( used this once in La Verkin Creek ~ mile 42 , I couldn't do the tailwind in my hand held anymore so I dumped it and filtered water into my bottle, worked really well and really fast)

I fueled with pretty much everything except road kill (almost needed roadkill, didn't though). EFS Liquid Shot, Salt Stick, Sun Belt Granola Bars, Tailwind, Clif Blocks, chips, jerky, tuna fish (dolphin safe), peach cup, coke, clif bars, stinger waffles, Justin's Almond Butter, stinger gel, clif gels.

Night Wire

by Sam

In case you didn't know, I am a musician. I play trombone with the Salt Lake Symphonic Winds. We rehearse on Tuesday nights at Highland High. I've been playing with them about five years now. The past month it occurred to me that Highland is only about seven minutes away from some major trailheads. So, the past three weeks in a row I have climbed Mt. Wire after rehearsal, alone, with friends, in the snow, hail and rain and of course, the dark.

Map and Stats of Mt. Wire.

The most common starting point for Wire is right across from Hogle Zoo. The climb is extreme, going straight up the mountain, gaining about 1,000' per mile. It's just under two miles to summit. I've only ever done it in the dark. Last weekend when I was up on TED, a few ridges north, I saw that the ridgeline behind Wire's summit was runnable. So last night Jeff, DJ, Cosmo (apparently, we have a mascot now) and I climbed to the summit and took the ridgeline another mile before turning around. We would have gone another mile on the ridgeline if DJ didn't all-of-a-sudden say, "I gotta order a pizza." DJ has a late dinner, what more can I say?

Cosmo, Jeff, me.

Jeff, DJ.

Wire (on the left) from the ridgeline, SL Valley behind it.

The ridgeline has decent single track that probably doesn't see a whole lot of use, something I'd like to change. I'm sure there's at least another three miles to traverse before the ridge ends. I'll be back.

New OTM's

I'm sure you're tired of reading the same dribble that Steve and I write, and since Jake only makes an appearance once every six months or so, we convinced some other people to join our cause (whatever that might be), with hopefully better writing skills or at least better looks. I can't guarantee the smell.

Introducing the newest almost-official Trail Monkeys (it'll be official once we have our induction ceremony at the top of some lofty mountain peak around 4:00 a.m. which involves ripping off one of their shoes and attaching a monkey to the laces):

Jeff likes to wear yellow and has great running form while photos are snapped. He often fantasizes about running with the BYU mascot and is a true friend to anyone who finds him on a trail (not that he ever gets lost).

He'll be happy to pace you on any race, supply you with pepto bismol tabs, and recite randomly obscure poetry. He's also the best damn groundwater modeler you'll ever know and a self proclaimed humble EQ President (which is kind of not really humble at all). Although he owns several pairs of running shoes he only has three pairs of Altras, which you'll find him switching out every third mile.

Matt enjoys running all five seasons of the year. He has a keen eye for badger tracks and can identify three different types of rain. His favorite book is Where the Red Fern Grows because it reminds him of his time in Egypt. The worst moment of his life was when Hostess went bankrupt and he was forced to incorporate Little Debbie snacks in his diet. He is known in local circles as being an expert of all Davis county trails. He's a regular 4:00 a.m.er.

DJ is the washed out lead singer to The Boise Boys, a boy band he created back in the '90s. He grew tired of telling people it was pronounced BoySEE. Now he likes to correct other runners' grammar, dip Vienna sausage in cookie dough, and play in the sandbox. His running form includes: moving his arms and legs, looking down, and buying new shoes. His new favorite drink box is called the fenix. Someday he hopes to be as tall as Jeff. When not running he likes to grow his beard. He can hold an honest conversation with anyone about almost any topic and is certainly not dull in any way.

Zion 100k - Frozen Banana

By Steve

Zion 100K Map and Stats

Sweet piggy, I finally did it.  I've been wanting and trying to run an official ultra-marathon for over almost 2 years now.  Since then, I've run several trail marathons, as well as several bandit 50ks, but this was the first official ultra-marathon I was able to run.  Last year, I had to drop out of the Buffalo 50 miler due to some family emergencies and injuries.  So it was a personal victory just to finally run the race.

Sam at the first aid station

DJ Loertscher, who I had actually never met prior to this weekend, was running the 100 miler.  He hitched a ride down with Sam and I, and I'm sure glad he did.  That dude is a riot to be around. He, Nate Younger, Sam, and I were planning on camping up Kolob Canyon at the very free Black Wash camp site, but Nate apparently decided a few days before that paying to sleep on a mattress would somehow improve his performance.  To that I say "pffff...."  The night before a race you can not sleep in a bed just as easily as you can not sleep on a pad on the ground.  At any rate, we caught up with Nate for a bit at the IMAX theater in Springdale where we checked in for the race and ate some pizza, then headed up the canyon to camp and watch Rocky Balboa stand toe to toe with Apollo Creed on the ipad.

Rocky:  "I can't do it."
Adriane:  "huh?"
Rocky:  "I can't beat him."
Adrianne:  "Apolo?"

Pretty good running form, right?

After a surprisingly good night's sleep for me, and a terrible night's sleep for DJ, we woke up and drove down to the start line.  DJ disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and we didn't see him till much later in the day at the Grafton aid station.

Sam and I decided that we would spend the day running together.  Since it was the furthest race either of us have run, we concluded that we would enjoy the day a lot more if we just ran it the same way we do most of our other runs.  There will be plenty of races in the future where we can push our boundaries to reach our best times, but this day was not going to be for that.  And when I look back and think about it, there were very few moments in the day where I felt like I would rather be doing anything else other than running and hanging out with good friends.

Sam running south along the desert wash

We started out at an easy pace and began chatting away.  It was almost too easy of a pace, and by the time we reached the climb to Smith Mesa at mile 3, we were somewhere near the back third of all the racers.  Many times the line of people would have to stop while we waited for people to climb up the more technical parts.  We came across a girl from California who was absolutely terrified to be up on the side of the mesa.  As I passed her, I came to a large rock that someone had attached a rope to in order to help people up.  I realized that the girl would not be able to make it up that without help, and in my mind came the famous words of Eek the Cat, "It never hurts to help!"  So, Sam and I stopped to help her up that rock.  We left her behind after that, and I'm pretty sure she dropped out at the first or second aid station.

Once Sam and I hit the flat on the top of the mesa, we finally let it roll.  From there to the aid station, we blew past a bunch of people, and then stopped at the aid station to take a couple photos.  After that, we again picked up the pace as we ran down a dirt road and then finally down a few miles of a poor-conditioned paved road, passing a couple dozen more people between the aid stations.  With about a mile left, I was feeling a hot spot on my right big toe.  This was way too early in the race for me to start getting blisters, so we had to stop at the aid station for me to tape it up.  It was a quick job, and not nearly good enough.  This would plague me for the rest of the day.

Doing his trail king pose with Zion National Park in the background

Sam starting the Goosebump climb

The run across the desert floor by the virgin river and then approaching the Gooseberry mesa climb were full of Sam and I taking some staged photos and cracking jokes.  We made several friends along the way who wanted to be involved for a while.  It can get pretty lonely out there.  Finally, we reached the climb at around mile 24.  At it's worst it gained 1,000' over a mile's distance.  Reaching the Goosebump aid station at the top was a big victory, since we were now near the half way point, with the two big climbs out of the way.  We stopped for a good while at that station while I ripped all the tape off my feet and started from scratch.  This time I got it right and my blisters on my feet would not cause me any more real trouble for the rest of the day.

Me, churning up the Goosebump climb

Leaving the aid station, we got to run over the most fun part of the course for the next 11 miles.  The trail went over slickrock out to the gooseberry point overlook and back.  Given the awesome views and rolling rock trail, I had a blast. Sam, however, started feeling his first low points here.  Back at Goosebump, we ate up and then started out on the 6 mile dirt road out to the Grafton aid station.  Going from the slickrock, to this piece of crap, hard, dirt road was mentally draining, and Sam hit another low point.  We walked for a
while and started singing as we pushed each other to get to Grafton.


The five mile Grafton mesa loop became the high point of my day and the low point of Sams.  Back in the trees and single track dirt trails, everything started feeling really good for me, and I just took off.  At around 50 miles for the day, my legs felt really strong, and the blisters were not hurting any more.  The climbs felt easy, and the down hills felt fast.  Finding myself back at the aid station, I decided to wait for Sam again, and after a little while, we headed out on the 6 mile trek on the dirt road back to Goosebump for the last time.

Sam running along the rim on gooseberry

... It's funny how fast you can go from high to low.  Along the dirt road, it was starting to get cold, and the sun was getting low in the sky.  My spirits dropped and for the first time in the day, I started getting the thoughts that I didn't want to do this any more and it was no longer fun.  I corrected my negative thinking pretty quick, but now it was a mental battle to get to the aid station.  The road felt like it went on forever, and even though I didn't want to, I ran the last half of it without stopping to walk.

DJ missed this sign and went right, adding 3 miles
to his total journey, but I swear it says to go left.

Finally reaching the aid station, I waited one more time to see Sam.  He handed me his car key and I was off down the mesa.  My spirits started running high again.  I passed several people on the way down, and then when I hit the downward sloped back towards Virgin, I just let it roll.  As the sun was setting, I ran one of my fastest miles of the day.  Nothing hurt, and I felt like a million bucks.  Dusk turned to darkness as I began the last 2 miles of the race.  The last mile turned into bone-jarring pavement, and soon I found myself running across the park to the finish line.  It turns out Sam had some of his best miles of the day as well and came in 5 minutes behind me.  We both felt really good after the race and hung around the finish line for a bit, chatting and laughing with Nate before we headed back to the campsite.

Selfie on the Grafton Mesa loop high point with Zion
National Park in the background.

Overall, this was easily one of the greatest running day's of my life.  My spirits were high nearly the entire day and my body was behaving itself (for the most part).  I have no doubt that I could have shaved off another 45 minutes to an hour had I decided to push the tempo a little.  I also have no doubt that I could finish a 100 miler.  Now it's just an issue of trying to find $200+ in spare change in the couch cushions in order to pay for one.

On a final note, it was fun to come back to the finish line in the morning and see DJ finish his first 100 mile race.  He was exhausted, and looked somewhat like Rocky after finally beating Apollo Creed.  Yo Adrianne, he did it!  Whether he liked it or not, he was an Orange Trail Monkey for the weekend.

DJ's 100 Miler finish with Jeff helping him get the last 50.

Stopping to enjoy the view from the Gooseberry overlook point

Mount Si

Mount Si.

by Sam

It's Spring Break! Which means vacation time with the family. This year we visited some of my wife's friends in Seattle, WA. Luckily, when everyone was asleep in the hotel, I was able to sneak away to climb a mountain. Mount Si is located on the western edge of the Cascade Mountain Range about 35 min. east of Seattle. It is the remnant of an oceanic plate volcano and towers above the valley floor. It is extremely popular so I was lucky to hit it on an early Monday morning and only saw a handful of people. It also requires a Discover Pass to park. A fact I didn't know until I parked my car at 6:00 a.m. Many signs around the parking lot showed instructions on how to buy one online so I could print it off and display it on my dashboard. Um...ok, yeah, let me just print that off in my printer that I stow in my car... I decided that my chances of getting caught without a pass on a Monday morning were slim. Also, I knew I'd be down before 9:00 a.m. so, I doubted anyone would be checkin' before I left. And I got lucky, no ticket for me.

The trail is absolutely gorgeous, covered in ferns, evergreens, and lots of other cool green stuff, particularly moss, which we don't get much of in Utah. The trail has a nice gradual ascent with many switchbacks, making it for the majority of the time, highly runnable. Most of my Seattle trip was wet and cold. I expected more mud, but didn't get much. The temperature was a nice 38 degrees when I started, perfect for running uphill. I only needed my headlamp for about 20 mins. then the sunrise started filtering in through the thick forest canopy. There were almost no spots on the trail that allowed a view of the landscape beyond the immediate trees. It wasn't until I arrived at the base of the Haystack, the rock peak at the top, that the trees parted to allow a view. And it didn't disappoint.

The behemoth Mount Rainier in the background.

The Haystack.

Right there towering above the tiny mountains that surround it stood Mount Rainier beckoning me to gaze at it's loftiness in wonder and awe. The wind picked up on the exposed mountain top and I was glad to have brought my jacket. Snow and ice covered the trail. I didn't think I would need extra traction since these mountains only scrape 4,000'. After all, I live at that elevation in Utah and currently traction isn't required until about 7,000'. However, the climate is apparently quite different. As I rounded the Haystack to start the scramble it quickly became obvious that I wasn't going to summit without traction or an ice axe. I pushed on nonetheless, hoping to have some well carved out steps in the snow by previous climbers. 

Almost summit monkey.

There were, for a short time, then it became extremely slick and precarious. The scramble was very similar to the Mount Olympus scramble. I had made it about 1/3 of the way up and at this point I stopped to collect my thoughts and make a decision. I could push on and bag the peak then risk a slip on the way down and plummet to my doom, or I could turn around now and still risk plummeting to my doom and maybe make it home to my wife and kids. I love bagging peaks and sometimes it's a fever that I can't shake, but I also love my wife and kids and after a minute or two of freezing wind and cold hands grasping at snow and rock, I decided to turn around. Chances are I'll never be back and won't summit the Haystack, but that's ok, there are plenty of other mountains around.

The way down was quick and enjoyable. I stopped to take too many pictures. When I came out at the bottom lo and behold there were three LDS missionaries just starting out. What are the chances or running in to Mormons? They saw me running and asked what time I had started. As most people react they did too, amazed at the quick time. We chatted about trail-running and such for a moment. I asked them where they were from and then smiled and told them I was from the Salt Lake Valley. Another Elder came out of the restroom complaining about there not being hand sanitizer. I smiled and almost laughed out loud at him, wondering why he would expect hand sanitizer in an outhouse. Consider yourself lucky to have a toilet at all, I thought.

Map and Stats of the Mount Si trail.

As a side note I was also able to do some road-running near the hotel. I set some high strava records and caught a beautiful sunrise on Juanita Bay.