Summer Trail Series 2.1.5: Youth Conference at the Manti Pageant

View of the Manti Ridge-line above the Manti Temple from where we camped.

This week my ward had Youth Conference at the Manti Pageant. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from getting on the trails. All week I looked for information on possible trails in the mountains just east of Manti, but to no avail. Apparently, people don't access the mountains as much down there. Upon arrival in Manti I immediately eyed the ridge line as my goal. Google earth showed that there was a possible trail which we could access from several spots. Originally, I planned to start at the local trail that goes up to the Manti M on the mountain, but changed my mind to start at the base of the canyon and get on the ridge-line right at its beginning. Thus, exchanging a very long steep ascent for a short steep ascent.

A view up Manti canyon from the rim-ridge trail.

Several of the young men, in my ward run X-Country and it didn't take much to convince them to come along. Not even with the early start time. Some of the leaders decided to come too. We went to the Manti Pageant Thursday evening and got back to camp about 11:30 p.m. For the next hour and a half I tried to go to sleep. If only I had ear plugs. Several of the boys were rambunctious and some of the young women leaders as well. Finally, around 1:00 a.m. they settled down and I was able to fall asleep. I usually don't sleep well while camping, but I slept unusually well for the full four hours I got. We woke up at 5:00 a.m. and drove to the mouth of the canyon.

Reed, Gabe & John on the way back on the rim-ridge trail.

The ascent was super steep and the trail was loose shale with dusty almost sand-like dirt. The climb was not easy, but it was short. Quickly, we made it to the ridge and were able to alternate running and power hiking, depending on the grade of ascent. Some of it was like rim-running The Wedge, a sheer cliff on one side of a precarious trail. The boys were able to keep up without any problem.

Reed, John & Gabe on the second peak.

Summit Monkey on the first peak.

After about 2.5 miles the trail disappeared and we had to bushwhack the rest of the way to the highest peak on the front ridge line. My original goal was to reach this peak. After summitting the peak I noticed another peak not much farther and we set out to bag that one as well. It wasn't long before we came across a four wheeler trail and followed that the rest of the way to the second peak.

John, Reed & Gabe on one of the few grassy flat parts.

Me above Manti Canyon.

Gabe, Reed & John, the newest OTM's, with Manti below.

I originally planned about two hours but with the extra peak bagged we added about a half hour to our time. The boys did a great job on the way down, being a little extra cautious on the steeper parts. I cannot remember if I was that cautious when I first started running down trails. We had a fun time on the trail despite only hitting two sub peaks. Afterwards, I found out that we were only 3/4 of a mile away from Manti Mountain Peak. 

Bishop, doing his best Jake pose.

Map of the Manti Ridge-line trail.

Summer Trail Series 2.1 - Mount Ogden and Allen Peaks

Mount Ogden via Beus Canyon - Allen Peak via Beus Canyon

Fern Valley.  You often can't even see your feet let
alone the rock you just tripped over.

 



Did a solo run up Beus Canyon to Mount Ogden summit today.  I then traversed the saddle over to Allen Peak to the north. 

Is is mandatory to use the word "awesome" whenever you describe a trail run? 
"Awesome run up Timpanogus today." 
"Awesome climb up Lone Peak." 
"Awesome trip up to the wire today." 
"Awesome trip breaking my leg and hitting my head on a rock..." 
"Awesome run out to my mailbox today." 

It's kind of losing it's meaning...   In short, this trip wasn't awesome.  Fair at best.  The Beus Canyon trail is not in the best shape.  It's hikable, but can be frustrating when trying to run it due to "fern valley" and then the shrub walk of death.  Oh... and I was draggin @$$ today, so I'll just let the pictures and video tell the story.

Although... lest I become known as the angry trail runner, I need to clarify that I would still have taken this trip over sleeping in any day.

 

 



Summit monkey on Mount Ogden Summit

Summit monkey on Allen Peak







Me not being grumpy, see!

Summer Trail Series I: Ben Lomond & Willard Peaks

It was the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, and National No-headlamp Day (according to Steve). What a way to celebrate than a 20.5 mile run? Today was the first official summer trail run together for the OTM's (minus Jake, he has Spartan next week, or he would have maybe tried to be on this outing...maybe). We have done Ben Lomond before, together and alone. A few times we have thought that 16 miles just isn't satisfying enough :)...that we need to hit Willard Peak as well as Ben Lomond. Well, today we accomplished that goal.

Steve & Sam on Willard Peak, Ben Lomond in the background.

Monkey on Lomond.

I am in tons better shape this year than ever before. Previously when we did this trail I always had to walk a bit of the first two mile climb up the switchbacks. This year I was able to keep running. In fact, we didn't stop running until the switchbacks just below Ben Lomond, about mile seven. We both felt really good and were excited to hit Willard peak. A quick side note about trails in Ogden. They are widely less used compared to Salt Lake. Shh. It's a secret. Don't tell anyone!

Steve, on his way over to Willard Peak.

The mountains are breathtakingly gorgeous this time of year. The flowers are out in many varieties and the hillsides are as green as they'll ever be in Utah. On our way over to Willard I looked off the trail for a moment and noticed some goat hair caught in some bushes. As I was pointing this out to Steve I noticed a group of about 20-30 goats along the rocky cliffs of Willard. We passed several groups of mountain goats, probably seeing at least 40 or more. Having no knowledge of the trail to the summit and not wanting to extend our mileage more than necessary we left the trail and bushwhacked the rest of the way to the top of the peak.

Sam, from a monkey's view on Willard Peak.

Willard Peak, summitted by a monkey and a wild Huff.

After a few moments of taking in the sweeping view of the entire Wasatch Range we high tailed it off the mountain as fast as we could, which was much faster than ever before. All thanks to Steve, who pushed the limits the whole way down. After running 10 miles and summitting two peaks (almost three, the trail to Willard forks a mere ~20 feet below Lomond)  I was feeling the effects of so much vertical climbing (almost 5000'). I wanted to take it easy the rest of the way down, but I followed Steve as best I could and we finished strong. In fact, of the last seven miles all but one were under nine minutes. 

Sam, running down from Willard.

Map and Stats of Ben Lomond and Willard Peak from the North Ogden Divide.

Mt. Raymond Parrished at Lake Blanche.

Mt. Raymond.

It's Tuesday and the OTM's have been hitting it hard already. Today I did my first solo run on an unfamiliar trail. Mt. Raymond is most easily accessed via Butler Fork. Sometimes I wonder who these trails and peaks are named after. Were Butler and Raymond friends? Did they set out together? Was Raymond the first to summit the peak? Anyway, Butler's Fork was a tasty trail with gorgeous scenery that I enjoyed all to myself. I never saw a soul--one of the benefits to a 5:30 a.m. start (I did see about 14 deer). However, I was still pressed for time and came close enough to the summit to have a serious debate with myself about actually doing it.

"Dude, you're so close. Don't stop now."
"But we'll be late for marching band practice."
"But you can push it, there's still time."

"Maybe..."

"If you had to you could just go straight to marching band practice after."

"That'll save us about a half hour, let's do it...but those Jr. High kids won't like the smell of us."

"They smell bad enough as it is."

"We better not chance it."

You get the idea. Truthfully, I only needed a half hour more. Next time!

Steve, sporting the Princess Leia headphones
 on Sub Steve Peak.

Steve was able to summit something today. He took the Parrish Creek Trail up a little more than five miles. His goal was to see how close he could get to Bountiful Peak and he made it close to the Skyline Road but upon finding a sub peak he summitted that instead. Since he was the first person we know to summit the peak we'll call it: Sub Steve Peak.

Monkey on Sub Steve Peak.

Map of the Parrish Creek trail and Skyline Drives.

Yesterday I was able to take Jens up to Lake Blanche, which is just a hop skip and two jumps away from good old Butler. We saw three moose or is it meese? goose - geese, moose - meese :). I came around the corner of the rock slide just nearing the last sprint to the top and there he was, a great big Bullwinkle on the trail. Luckily, he trotted ahead after a moment and only looked back a few times before moving off the trail. 

Jens at Lake Blanche. She's a beauty, not Jens, the lake, unless Blanche was a he.

Map of Lake Blanche and Mt. Raymond trails in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Race Review - Fountainhead Off-Road Half Marathon June 2013

One thing I love about traveling is that it allows me the opportunity to run in places I otherwise would never have visited.  I look for events in places I will be traveling on the off chance that I may get to run a race in a new (new to me, anyway) land.  This last week I was in Virginia for a tradeshow, and it just so happened that the Fountainhead Off-Road Half Marathon was being held, and I likes me a good trail run.  So sign me up!

I was nursing a foot injury...a leftover gift from the Salt Lake City Marathon that I ran in about 6 weeks ago,  a distance I was far from prepared to run.  I have some recurring tarsal tunnel syndrome from this race (which is like carpal tunnel, only in your ankles/feet) and so my runs have been limited and painful.  I know that to properly heal this thing I need to rest, go about 6-8 weeks without running at all, but right now it is too nice outside to stop running...it's prime running season!  The other Trail Monkeys are running quite a bit and making me feel like a sled, so it may be hard to get any real rest in.  So until I am practically unable to run I plan on getting out and feeling good for the first three or four miles, then feeling horrible about my pace and upset that my body isn't keeping up.  Plus, I've already registered for a few upcoming trail runs, so I'll keep giving it a go to see how my tarsal tunnels hold up.  If I have to walk a bit, no one I know would see me walking or moseying along, right?  Not in Virginia, anyway.  My dirty little secret.

After an incredibly late dinner the night before the race (at the Dog Street Pub in Colonial Williamsburg.  The Salmon Burger is phenomenal, if you are ever there) I made it to bed about 1:30 AM, and had to wake up at 4:30 AM to drive 2 hours north to get to the race venue in time.  That's 4:30 AM Eastern time, which means on my internal clock the wakeup bell rang at 2:30 AM.  Awesome.

My Selfie at the starting line was photo-bombed by some high school kid.
This 16 year old in the hamburger and fries shirt took 4th in his age group (29 and under)

A few notes about the race:  The website describes this course as "Fountainhead Regional Park is situated along the banks of the Occoquan Reservoir in Western Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The 10K and half marathon race courses are beautiful and consist mostly of hiking trails (including the Bull Run Occoquan Trail), horse trails, and old dirt roads. Competitors will run over rocks and roots, through several streams, and up some hills." 

The Occoquan Trail.  Rocks, roots, streams, hills...and even
a chainsaw obstacle at one log jump.

The trail was soft, muddy, and nice, very different than the harder and drier trails that I'm used to seeing in the Wasatch Mountains.  There were only a few hundred runners, so you never felt crowded.  The photographers from Swim Bike Run take some of the best race photos I've ever seen (check out their work here).  It felt more like a big group of friends getting together to run rather than a stuffy and/or nerve racking race event (in other words, it was fun rather than competitive).  The trail was never flat, you were always either going up or down, but never level.

I learned a few things during this race as well:

Sleep the night before the night before race day is just as if not more important than sleep the night before the race.  Nerves or travel or kids sometimes keep you from getting much sleep on the night before a race, so make sure you get good sleep the night before the night before the race.

Humidity kills - I hydrate quite a bit before a race, but in this type of climate, coming from an arid desert, you should really overkill the hydration.  I felt like my sweat had sweat.  By mile 6 or 7 it looked like I had just gotten out of a pool.  The forest cover kept out the sun, but trapped the humidity under the canopy, and I was drenched. Humidity is more challenging for me than elevation. Pictures to prove it:

HUGE head shot.  sweaty.
Taken at one of the many old graveyards along the trail

Trail Runs are so much more fun/engaging/challenging than road runs.  I hadn't run a trail in a while, and this was just what my psyche needed, and my knees, and my foot.  It engages you differently than road running.  You can get into a groove and sort of check out while running on the roads, zone into a trance and not really think at all.  Trail running is a different kind of zen, in which you must be one with the trail, bouncing over rocks/logs/stumps/roots and changing every step to reflect your trail.  Pay attention or pay with a sprained ankle.

IT Band issues suck.  I was content to run mile after mile thinking that increased mileage increased my strength enough, but as I was compensating for my foot pain and ended up with my first ever IT Band issues.  I did some of the strength exercises from Strength Runner (Video link here, these exercises are GREAT when it comes to overcoming IT Band issues) and built up some strength that kept the IT Band pain from becoming a long term problem.  The IT band pain wouldn't have just gone away with more running, but I am certain the Tarsal Tunnel Pain will.  Or at least I hope it will.  No?  whatevs.

Running in new places where you don't know anyone just reminds you that we're all friends on the trails.

Can't wait for the next trail run, or the next road trip, or possibly both.  Hopefully there will also be a Salmon Burger in your future, wherever you are.

Utah Valley Marathon



Reading a long blog post about somebody running 26 miles usually doesn't qualify as interesting reading.  But since you visited this site, I'm going to assume you want to know my extended, way too detailed thoughts on the marathon.  If that's the case, I can assure you that I'm not nearly as interested in your blog as you are in mine.

With that in mind...



In one scene from the original Rocky movie, Rocky can't sleep the night before the fight.  So he takes a walk down to the arena and steps into the empty boxing ring.  He looks up at a large poster of Apolo Creed on one side, and then another giant poster of himself on the other side.  As he is queitly standing there the promoter walks into the arena and looks up at Rocky and the following conversation takes place:

Mr. Jergens:  "Rocky.  What brings you here tonight?"
Rocky:  "Mr Jergens, the postor's wrong."
Jergens:  "What do you mean?"
Rocky:  "Well, I'm wearing white pants with a red stripe."  (it had him wearing red pants with a white stripe)
Mr. Jergens thinks a minute, takes a long drag on his cigar and replys, "It doesn't really matter, does it.  I'm sure you're going to give us a great show."



Well needed and well used

This was my theme for this race.  With all the poor training due to  injuries, sickness, and my son's autism, I just kept saying to myself, "It doesn't really matter if I get a PR.  It doesn't really matter if I can't walk the next day.  'Cause all I want to do is go the distance."



Sam running around mile 4

With that in mind, Sam and I went into this a lot more relaxed than we have for any other race.  In fact, I actually overslept and had to hustle to get out the door.  After driving and the bus ride, we got to the start line almost 2 hours before the race started.  A few notes about the start line: 

1-   Three trips to the honey buckets and once in the bushes worked out really well.  I highly recommend it.
2-   Never in our lives have we heard someone talk about themselves more than the 3:40:00 pacer.  That lady was about as ego-centric and self agrandizing as anyone I've ever heard in my life.   Sam's PR was based mostly off of staying ahead of her annoying voice.

Steve Running towards the backside of Mount Timpanogos

3-   The one time in my life I don't really feel like talking about running is the two hours of standing around before the race when 3,000 people are all trying to offer their running advice to anyone else who will listen.

4-  Perfect weather and a beautiful sunrise.

Sam and I had agreed that we would try to settle in early at a 7:45 to 8:15 minute mile pace for the first several miles to avoid starting out too fast.  But then we ran that first mile at 7:02, and to be honest, I don't regret it for a second.  We both felt so good that we kept it up.  In fact, we didn't slow down into that 7:45 - 8:15 range till almost the halfway mark.   I don't know if I've ever felt as good running as I did that first 10 miles.

During a long race, you tend to see the same people over and over again as you pass them and they then pass you.  Sam and I have developed a game of giving these people nicknames.  It helps pass the time.  I mean, 4 hours is a long time, right?  But anyway, you can't just give people the obvious nicknames you might think of like "pony tail," or "pink bra strap," or "Bald Guy."  So you have to go through a couple iterations till you get "Wierd Al," "Mr. T," "AfterShave," and "Noodles."  At one point I said to Sam... "We'll pull back a little as we go up this hill, then we will let it roll on the downhill to blow past 'Crossing Guard' and catch 'Run-In-Place.'"



Profile by campfile light



The thing I've really been working on this year has been my cadence and heel strike (or lack thereof).  This all but eliminates overstriding and vertical movement.  However, I haven't really done any long runs this year at that high 178 steps per minute cadence, so I ran into an unexpected problem at mile 14ish.  The inside upper thigh muscles (ok... fine... my groin) decided to let me know that 178 strides per minute was too fast.  At that point, Sam pulled ahead and never looked back.  He kept up a solid 8:15-8:30 minute mile pace the rest of the race.  I on the other hand, slowed considerably with each passing mile.  Finally, during the 25th mile, I had to walk.  It was short walk, but not the final one.  I finished the last two miles alternating between the walk and slow jog, and then finally crossed the finish line in a lot of pain, but with a surprising amount of energy.  In fact, my quads and energy level were so good that I could have gone a lot further if I wasn't walking bowlegged.  I may as well have ridden a horse for 26 miles.  The resulting pain would be the same.

Anyway... what did I learn from this race?  I need to do more long runs in preparation.  I need to condition my "upper inner thigh" muscles to run at that higher cadence for longer periods of time... I'm sure you all have great advice for me on how to do that.

Sam's final time:  3:37:27 
Placed 37/107 in our division

Steve's final time:  3:53:55 

Placed 59/107 in our division

Utah Valley Marathon Map and Statistics



Here's to another finishes medal.





Avenue Twins with Annie and a Rant

Annie has made her debut trail run.  Annie is the sister of my wife who is married to Jesse who went beardless on our Beard Campout earlier this year and who recently also made his debut trail run with Sam on Mueller Park a couple weeks ago  (get all that?). She became our 4th trail running rookie this month that we took out.


Avenue Twin Peaks Map and Statistics



Sam already reported on the trail a couple times, so I'll just add my 2 cents.  The group was Sam, Annie, and me.  It is an extremely beautiful trail that had a wide range of wildflowers.  I went very slow since I am coming off yet another nasty cold, which fortunately for me hit fast and hard, and then left in a hurry.  And on that note... allow me to rant a little bit...

 2013 has been a terribly awful year for me running wise.  Actually, it's been just about the hardest year of my life period, but I'm only going to focus on the running here.  The first 2 months of the year were spent trying to nurse a torn soleus calf muscle.  I was trying my best to get ready to run the buffalo 50 miler, and then 2 weeks before the race, i got a stress fracture in my right heal (I know... too much heal strike), and had to drop out.  Then one week before the race my severly autistic son started having rage fits that we still haven't been able to manage.  They are so bad that he has turned our drywall into swiss cheese with his head!  He constantly has to wear a helmet to avoid hurting himself.  Getting all this under control has made getting in  regular runs an impossible goal, and we've still got a very long road ahead of us. But make no mistake about it, I would gladly give up running for the rest of my life for my family.  But that being said, I've been barely able to get in 4 runs a week if I'm lucky.  While being sidelined with all of this I spent a significant amount of time learning about how to run properly, and I've certainly seen a lot of benefits of this now that I'm ramping up again.  The calf pain is gone and my running form is so much better than before. 



Summit Photo

 Fast forward to last week.  Two and a half weeks before the Utah Valley Marathon, I come down with a nasty cold.  Because of my excercise-induced asthma, when I get a cold, it settles down into my lungs and I end up coughing very hard for about two and a half weeks.  Sometimes the cough is so bad that I can't even walk a quarter mile without throwing up.  Last year I lost over a months worth of running due to these coughs.  So, needless to say, this really ticked me off.  I was not not only missing my final days of prep and taper, but I was also afraid I might have to drop out of the race entirely due to this cough.  But due to some prayer, a gallon of orange juice, mucinex DM, Afrin, Vitamin C, sleeping upright in a recliner, and using my Qvair inhaler, the cough went away enough so that I could run again.  

Uphill past wildflowers



With the year almost halfway over, I was expecting to have put in about twice as many miles as I have.  But I can accept it.  That's life.  While I would have loved to run a 50 or 100 miler this year, I just don't think it's going to happen any time soon.  I'll come back from this cough, run the marathon, do my best, and then try to train for the next race again.  Will my son's severe dissability allow me to do it?  Maybe not.  Will I get a nasty cold again and be sidelined for a while?  Probably.  Will I get injured along the way?  Hopefully not.  But after every setback, I'll start back up again and keep trying as long as these legs are still strong enough to carry me. 

Mueller Park

Jesse and Josh on the way up.

Mueller Park is one of the best trails for beginners. It is located just south-east of the Bountiful Temple. This morning I found myself leading two new trail runners. Jesse is not new to the OTM world, having been on our annual beard campout (somehow not growing a beard I might add) twice. However, this was his first time running any trails. Why has it taken so long? Also accompanying us was Josh. I met him last week at a work party, where he mentioned something about having viewed my blogpost on the Buffalo Run 50 Miler. We talked running for a short time. He mentioned a few of the races he'd competed in, so I asked him when we were going to run together. I was already planning on doing the Mueller Park loop, a possible 13ish miles.

Tiny Me on Elephant Rock

Josh was hesitant to agree to a 1/2 marathon trail run, just for fun, but seemed interested. However, his wife, my co-worker, quickly chimed in "that's a great idea." So, like it or not Josh was committed. And he should be grateful to have such a supportive wife of such crazy endeavors. We decided to meet at the bottom of the Mueller Park trail head and shuttle around to North Canyon (why is it not the south?) to start. On the way over, Josh and Jesse both talked about how they had biked the trail several times and were a little worried about how steep the initial assent might be. After running about a mile I was beginning to wonder when the trail got steep. Of course, when the word steep is used I compare everything to Mt. Olympus. In this regard, Mueller Park is never steep. Jesse and Josh did great.

Jesse and Josh crusin' down.

After about 2.5 miles we hit Rudy's Flats and were basically done with our assent. We picked up the pace and cruised over to Elephant Rock, taking a short break. We passed several other trail runners and a lot of bikers. It wasn't that much of a hassle, but we were definitely not alone. At one point I blinked and then suddenly one of the trail runners we had passed on his way up was flying on his way down. He smoked us. 

We had a fun morning and I think I got them hooked. Once you leave the road for the trail you'll never go back. Maybe next time we'll do the full loop. When I was shuttling Jesse back to his car at our starting point in North Canyon I noticed a lot of people running along the road. I don't know why any of them would run along the road when they have virtually instant access to trails. I'd give almost anything to live that close to the mountains--to be able to walk out my front door and run a trail every day. They don't know what they're missing. But that's ok, less people on the trail is ok with me.

Map of the Mueller Park loop.

Lewis Peak with First-Time Phil

This week I ran Lewis peak with Fast, Frolicking, Fartlekin, First-Time Phil.  He's never done a trail run with any kind of significant vertical, but he's a pretty tough guy, and just ran his first half marathon 4 days prior, so I figured he'd do well.  He didn't dissapoint.   Dude kept up the entire time and even pushed me to run faster a few times.

To get there from the North Ogden Divide , you pass over (or slightly around) Eyrie Peak.  Eyrie Peak is actually a little taller than Lewis, but  Lewis just has a more prominent view of the Ogden Valley.  So this means that after the initial 2.5 miles to Eyrie, the trail turns into a quarter mile running down, then quarter mile running up, then quarter mile running down... for the next 3 miles.  The total is about a net gain of 2,000' vertical, but almost 3,000' gross vertical

We started right at dawn (5:40ish) so we wouldn't need headlamps.  On that note... This is the best time of the year to run.  Early sunrise.  Cool morning air.   Everything is still green.  Wildflowers are everywhere.  We had to powerhike up most of the initial 2.5 miles, but after Eyric peak, it was nearly unbroken running to the summit and down.  We made pretty good time too.  For the last mile coming down, I let off the brake and just let my legs roll.  I'm usually not too fast running down hill.  I've been working on that while I've been doing my weekly run of  Adams Canyon, and it has helped a lot with my downhill speed.  I ran that last mile sub 7 minutes and felt great. 

The final words of the run came out of Phil's mouth as he got back to the trailhead.  "That was the hardest 10 miles I've ever run."   But one day later he says he's ready to go do it again... and faster.

On a final note:  The trail conditions were perfect.  We passed a few patches of snow, but none of it was on the trail.  Nice and dry the whole way.

Lewis Peak map and statistics from North Ogden Divide Trailhead





Phil running the last quarter mile.





Phil playing Summit Rock Band