Summit junkie!

I took 2 days off in a row for the first time in a looong time to rest my legs and they felt great today. Ran the gully trail with Dorsimus, Jun and Steve. It was definitely hot and muggy out there, but I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't eat much breakfast today, so I took a gel at just over 2 miles and another one at the turnaround. I have not sweat this much on a run in a long time. I kept up with Jun most of the way, but the last 1.5 he dropped me. He looked incredible out there today, especially after running 50 tough miles yesterday.

Total time 1:30. Vert: 781

I'll be doing a short run and lifting session later in the day. I have been taking it easy this week in order to rest my legs for a long run in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming this Friday. MattVD and I are planning on running to the summit of Gannett Peak (highest peak in Wyoming). Gannett is usually a 4-5 day backpack covering about 45 miles with over 10K in elevation gain. The summit is guarded by 7 glaciers and the scenery is unmatched in the lower 48 IMO. Matt has been dealing with some foot issues, so hopefully that won't be a problem. The challenge for this peak will be running with climbing gear. We will have to carry backpacks, so that will be a slight pain, but we are going as light as possible.

I should be sleeping in the back of my car right now about to run/climb Gannett Peak, but that isn't going to happen. MattVH hurt his foot last week on our W100 course run and he is out. There is no way I am doing it solo, so no Gannett for me. This just hasn't been my year for mountaineering adventures.

I ran 6 miles AP 8:31. My legs felt really solid.

Wasatch 100 course from Big Mountain to Lambs with Jun and jsh. BUSHWHACK!

I wanted to do this section of the course during the heat of the day because most people that have run Wasatch say it is the hottest section and many runners DNF after doing it. It was definitely hot out there.

The trail was very overgrown in several places which slowed us down some. Jun and jsh were strong all day and I spent most of the run trying to catch them. I really enjoyed the run until we hit the Alexander flat aid station area. From there it was brutally hot and the last half mile we got into one of the most heinous bushwhacks I have ever done.

This section is pretty tough, but I really enjoyed everything but the overgrowth. My legs are scratched and raw.

My legs were a touch sore from the run yesterday, so I went out for an easy cruise to stretch them out. I also wanted to do some more heat training, so I went out around noon. It was hot, bit it didn't bother me at all. My legs were stiff and it took about two miles before I started feeling good. Alpine hwy 2.5 and back.

Another day in the heat. 4th running day in a row running in the heat of the day. I ran from my house down the Alpine hwy to Kohlers in Alpine and back. The heat didn't bother me at all. everything felt really good, but I was dripping in sweat when I finished.

Total time: 56:00

I forgot to mention. I got two cat-calls. One from the ladies and one from the guys. I'll take it.

Weights at the gym for an hour. I worked my upper body/core. I was pretty worked.

Wasatch Crest with MattVD and Jun:

Days like today are why I love running. This is one of the best runs in the Wasatch and also part of the Wasatch 100 course. We met at 4:50 am at the BCC park n ride. It was cold at the start and I had my very dim headlamp that I got out of a Happy Meal while Jun was sporting his lamp that would light up half a football field. Luckily for Van Bail as he forgot his.

Jun was very strong and ran all of the hills. I ran most of the first steep climb, but hiked the steeper sections and VanB was somewhere in the middle. We decided to summit Scott Hill and Desolation peaks to add some flavor and the sunrise on top of Scott Hill did not disappoint. We added in a few dirty jokes for the heck-of-it as we made our way back to the Crest trail. At that point I lead out and Jun was right behind me. We both ran all of the rolling hills and the steeper climb up to the lookout just before Desolation peak where we stopped to take a gel and wait for VB.

I love Desolation peak. The views are incredible up there. We lingered a while just chatting and enjoying the morning. From there we scrambled back down the slope to the Crest trail again and then had a sweet run by the lake and then out the Mill D trail. Jun got ahead and I stopped for a quick break and then had a nice fast run back to the car. The pace was in the 6's and 7's for the next three miles and then in the lower 8's to the finish. I absolutely loved it. I was feeling strong and with the scenery and good music in my ipod I was in heaven. Today was a fantastic run. Great company, amazing views, incredible trail, a lot of laughs and a few peaks. It doesn't get much better than this.

4 easy (AP 8:11) just to keep my legs fresh for our big run in the Uintas Friday night/Sat. Weather looks perfect.

Kings Peak summit #9 with MattVB and jsh. Quest for Kings marathon.

We intended to attempt a double of Kings Peak, but there were a lot of issues that slowed our progress and in the end did us in. Our first mistake was starting without any sleep around 10:45 Friday night. We all felt really good and it seemed like a good plan, but this would come back to bite us a few hours later. The other problem we had was running at night slowed us down a lot. The first 5 miles on the trail were almost 30 minutes slower than I had done them last year. This trail is very technical with a lot of rocks that have to be avoided and it is just plain hard to run in the dark on it.

Crockett was also going for a double and had started a little over 5 hours before us, so we wondered what time we would run into him and we finally did in the meadow by the big mud bog. He gave us a warning about some solid ice just below Gunsight Pass and told us it was warmer up higher, which we were happy to hear because the meadow was freezing. We didn't feel it until we would stop and then you would instantly be cold. The temps were in the 30's and none of us are used to that right now.

We ran most of the way to Gunsight Pass and from there it was hiking up the switchbacks. We were all feeling the altitude at this point. I had run most of this section last year, but just wasn't feeling it. The cool thing was with the full moon we all turned off our headlamps and hiked by the light of the moon. It was pretty awesome. After Gunsight we took the shortcut up to the plateau, making sure to avoid the icy snow Crockett had warned us about. Somehow I stayed on a rough trail all the way up, which has never happened before. Usually I get into the boulders and have to scramble through this section. Once on top I could see the other guys ahead and they were going higher up on the plateau, but it is only a little more elevation to gain.

I wore my Hoka Bondis and this proved to be a mistake, as the stability of these shoes on rocky terrain is horrible. Well, the Kings trail is littered with rocks and there are several loose boulders that have to be navigated through. This slowed me down so much and was very frustrating. Everytime we would get into the boulders my pace would slow like a snail as the other guys would get ahead and would have to wait for me to catch up. I think I tweaked my ankle at least 10 times and had a few really close calls where I almost completely turned it. Every time this would happen I would yell HOKAS! and jsh would giggle.

We got to Anderson Pass a full hour behind my time from last year. I was frustrated about that and this is about where the altitude started to hit all of us. Matt had a headache, jsh was feeling a bit dizzy and I started to get nauseated. This might have been my slowest trip from Anderson to the summit. Navigating the boulders in the dark in my Hokas while not feeling well just didn't make it speedy. If you haven't been there before, Anderson Pass to the summit is just a large pile of loose boulders. Jsh stayed with me and we slowly made our way up. Matt pushed on ahead. This was an experience that I will always remember. We were the only people on the mountain in the dark and it was very impressive. You could see the lights from distant cities at least 50 miles away and all of the surrounding peaks were lit up by the moon. The moon was so bright that I could even see a lot of our route through Henry's Fork and I was able to point out to Josh where we had started.

The higher we went the worse I felt. I have had this feeling many times. In my 9 trips to Kings I have had altitude sickness almost every time. In recent years I have been able to mitigate this by taking Diamox, which is a medication that helps your body make red blood cells at a faster rate and helps eliminate the symptoms of AMS (Accute mountain sickness). I have taken this drug many times and it has always helped. This trip I made a few mistakes. First, I only took one dose before we started and usually I would take 2-3. Second, I noticed that the medication had expired and I could tell that it wasn't as potent as it has been in years past.

I had no energy and was feeling nauseated, but I just kept plugging away. I'm sure I was dreadfully slow, but I just wanted to get to the top and get back down. Matt passed us a few minutes from the top coming down. He was cold and still had a headache. Jsh went on ahead and reached the summit a few minutes before me. As always it is a great feeling getting to the highest peak in Utah. This was a different experience because it was in the middle of the night. I'm sure not many people have done it this way. We snapped a few shots and I wanted to get down. I wanted to throw up, but I kept trying to hold it in. About 20 yards below the summit I couldn't hold it in any longer. I just started throwing up. I got down on a rock and spent about a minute heaving everything out of my stomach. Now I started to really get worried because I just lost all of the energy and water that I would need. If I couldn't replace it I would be screwed because I still had to get off the mountain.

The trip down was slow. We finally got back to Anderson Pass and I was feeling a little better, but I was shaky. I knew I needed calories, but the thought of eating made me sick. Finally we stopped and I took a gel and an S-Cap. They stayed down. We made our way across the Anderson basin to the plateau where we finaly met back up with Matt. On our way up the plateau I started feeling really sick again. When we got to the top I felt like I was going to puke again, so I layed down right on the side of the mountain. I closed my eyes and started to drift in and out of sleep. I thought I was having a conversation with Matt, but I was really in a dream like state. finally the guys got cold and as the sun started to rise they told me to get moving. I got up and felt a little better, but still didn't have much energy. I just kept moving.

Just before Gunsight Pass it started to get light and I could see Davy coming over the pass to us. I just about had a serious fall just below the icy snow field after I slipped on some solid black ice that I couldn't see. I almost took a serious tumble down the steep slope. I was able to grab a small bush and stop my fall. I greeted Davy and he looked tired, but I am sure I looked worse. I told him he was going to be the first to do a double and it seemed to perk him up. We wished each other well and I actually ran a few steps back to Gunsight Pass. I was feeling a touch better.

Below Gunsight we stopped at the spring to fill our water. I was out. I had started with 70 ounces (probably about 40 went out with my puke below the summit). I also took some shot blocks, but almost puked after two, so I didn't push my luck. I did however feel a lot better and I actually started running again. I was surprised how good I felt. After about a mile we ran into the first group of hikers heading to the summit and they were surprised to see us. They were also surprised we had already been to the top.

The run out went surprisingly well. My legs felt fresh and as I re-gained my energy I could run faster. I was still slow, but I kept a good pace most of the way back to Elk Horn crossing. I was able to get a few gels in me and it seemed to help. From Elk Horn to the finish I still felt pretty good, but I did get a stomach cramp that nagged me most of the way. We kept looking for the Quest for Kings runners because we knew that they would be passing us. We had already passed 3 early starters. With about two miles left Aaron K. and Faceless Ghost came cruising up the trail with another runner I didn't recognize. They were moving fast.

The last few miles were hard, but I actually felt pretty good. My legs were not sore. More than anything I was tired. We stopped and talked to Kim who was also doing Q4K for a few minutes and Matt ran ahead finishing about 5 minutes before us. We finished in 10:27 which was a full two hours slower than my time from last year. All of us felt like we could do another lap, but we knew it would be brutal and slow. We would have had to do it very fast because of time commitments, so we decided it wasn't going to happen. I took a brief nap in the front seat of my car and then we decided to go home.

Even though we didn't get the double I had a great time. We had a lot of laughs and got to do something very few people will ever do. If we ever try a double again we will get some sleep and start early in the a.m. which will allow us to do both summits during the daylight hours. Doing the technical portion in the dark was just really tedious and slow. I learned a lot on this run. I was happy that I was able to rebound and run out the last 10 miles. Jsh and Matt were both very strong and it was good to be out there with them. Now I want to go back and try it again.

Also congrats to Aaron Kennard for winning the Q4K marathon with an incredible 4:47 time and congrats to Crockett who finished the first ever double of Kings.

Solo lunch run on my favorite TM (Mt. Wire).

I wanted to get out and get some elevation today and couldn't pass up this weather, so I took my lunch break and ran/hiked Mt Wire. I felt great the whole way and didn't have any soreness from my run up Kings Peak on Saturday. It was pretty hot, but it didn't bother me at all.

The last time I did Wire I saw a rattle snake, so today I had snakes on my mind. I was watching the trail closer than normal and kept waiting to see one sunning on the trail. At one point the trail was overgrown and I was intently looking for snakes and a grouse jumped out inches from my foot scaring the crap out of me and causing a few choice words out of my mouth. That really put me on edge.

I pushed pretty hard at times and ran where I could reaching the summit in 45 minutes. I didn't stay long. I ran pretty fast all the way down only stopping to water the bushes and check some work email. Total time including all breaks: 1:11.

PM update- I went to the gym and lifted (upper body/core) for an hour.

Solo run on the Dimple Dell gully trail.

I took my lunch break and ran the whole gully trail from the park near the Trax station in Sandy all the way to the top and back. It was very hot, so I took my shirt off and enjoyed the sun. The first mile was a little sluggish, but after that I felt great. I filled my handheld at the bathroom/drinking fountain just past 13th east on the way up and down. I took a gel at the top and then had a quick pace until about a mile left where I bonked a bit and slowed down. I didn't eat much for breakfast and it was catching up to me. It seems like most of my runs lately have been in the afternoon during the heat of the day and I can tell I am getting used to it. The heat didn't bother me at all.

Total time: 1:33

I did my old two mile neighborbood loop that I used to run when I first started running a few years ago. The first mile is downhill and the other half back up.

Horrible run. Sluggish, lethargic, no energy, no legs. Pathetic.

I did another solo lunch run up Mt. Wire today. It was really hot, but the heat isn't bothering me at all. I pushed on everything that wasn't too steep. 44 min up and 1:09 total time.

Up early to lift at the gym. It was dead in there. 50 minutes of core/upper body work. I will fight the urge to climb Wire today.

I met Adam and Julie at 5:00 am and they drove me to the bus pick up where we ran into Lily and their friend Monica. We were dropped off a full hour before the race started. It was cold, but not too bad. After the POP lines got too big I used the woods and was shocked with what I saw. Haha!

I don't have much experience with racing this distance and I have done zero speed work this year, so I wasn't really sure how I would do or what my strategy would be. I decided to just run as fast as I could without getting my heart rate up too high. Just find a comfy quick pace and see what happens. That pace happened to be between 7:20 and 7:40 most of the race. I did go into the 6's on the down hills, but never pushed. Another goal I had was to never let my pace go into the 8's and I was very successful with that one even on the hills. I really had a great time running this race. I never felt fatigued and I just enjoyed watching and chatting with other runners along the way.

At about mile 11 there are a few hills and I loved powering up them and passing quite a few runners. The last two miles I passed 25-30 people and I think the only person that passed me was Julie's husband Adam. He was moving well. The last mile I picked it up running in the 6's and even sub 6 at the end. I definitely had much more in the tank when I finished and I think I could have gone faster, but I did not want to bonk and flame out with a few miles left, so I think I did the right think by not pushing too hard.

Weights at the gym for an hour. I had a great workout (core/upper body) lifting at the gym. I mixed it up a bit tonight and my arms are so sore and tired. There has been a core group of guys the last few years that lift on Monday nights and I think I am the last one left. One guy that has been lifting with me for the last 3+ years has dropped off in the last month. He usually has 2-3 guys with him, but they have all dropped off as well. I'm sure it will pick back up in a few months.

Wasatch 100 course (Lambs aid to Brighton) with Jun and Adam H.

We met at 4:15 am at the BCC PNR and after dropping off cars at Brighton we had an incident with some longboarders that had crashed coming down the canyon. Two young guys that were both bloody and dazed. One of them looked much worse than the other and kept complaining that he was going to die. We drove them to the 7-11 at the mouth of the canyon where they called some friends to come take them to the hospital. They were not wearing any protective gear and didn't have headlamps. Dumb! They are lucky to be alive.

We started at the Lambs Canyon aid area for the Wasatch 100. None of us had run this section of the course and it was really fun. After 1.6 miles up Lambs we took the trail on the right that would take us up and over the pass to Millcreek canyon. The sun came up about half way up the climb and it was beautiful in there. It was a touch overgrown, but not too bad. At the pass we had a good solid run down to the canyon road at Elbow Fork and then we all grabbed a quick snack while we headed up the canyon to Upper Big Water. We ran most of the canyon road and only hiked the steepest sections.

The trail from Upper Big Water to Dog Lake is very pretty and in great shape. We hiked most of the steeper sections and ran where we could. After Dog Lake we knew we had to get some water, so we hit the spring just below the trail junction to Desolation Lake. We all filled up our water and I got into some stinging nettle, which bothered me for about the next hour. The trail up to Desolation is steep and tough. We were all feeling it at this point. We were not moving fast.

We reached the crest and decided to bag Desolation Peak. Why not? On the summit we took a few peak jumping photos and then headed back to the trail. From there we ran most of the way back to the base of Scott Hill. Jun got ahead and was waiting for us. We stopped there and took a break and Adam and I decided we were going to climb Scott Hill and Jun had to get back, so he took off while we took a few minutes to eat some real food (granola bar, Powerbar, Fritos).

From this point on it seemed like Adam and I were climbing up. We went up Scott Hill and then after dropping down and losing some elevation we had to climb back up to the ridge to Guardsman Pass. From here we were off the W100 course and decided to climb as many peaks as we could on the Brighton ridge run. Adam was out of water, so we would have to bum some off of hikers if we wanted to do anything serious because it was very hot. We did find a few nice hikers that let us have some water, but the steep climb up to peak 10,420 and Clayton Peak was taking a lot out of us. The sun was beating down most of the time and it was a tough climb with 20+ miles and several thousand feet of elevation already on our legs. We really slowed down a lot. When we reached the summit of Clayton I ran out of water and Adam had about 16 ounces left, so we knew that we were done. That would barely get both of us back to the car and if we didn't see anyone with water we would be screwed if we tried to go further, so we decided to call it a day. We made our way back to the saddle and then ran the road back to the car that was parked in the Brighton parking lot.

We finished with 4 peaks, 8311 feet of elevation gain and just under 24 miles. I also got to run about 20 more miles of the W100 course. I really can't imagine a race course being any tougher than this one. It's coming quick.

I ran the Temple Quarry (Little Cottonwood) trail today. It was pretty hot and muggy and the skies looked a little dark. By time I got up to the top I heard some thunder and lightning in the distance and when I got back to my car it was getting close. My legs felt better than I thought they would afer all of the elevation yesterday.

Dimple Dell Gully trail- Solo lunch break run.

I was meeting my dad for lunch a few minutes from the gully trail, so I figured I would go get in some miles since I would be right there. I left the ipod in the car and just had an enjoyable run. There was a cloud blocking the sun for the first mile and the weather was great, but as soon as the cloud moved on it became very hot, but it didn't bother me much. I ran 3.5 miles up and then turned around. I stopped at the bathroom to fill up my bottle and pee and then cruised in the last few miles.

I wanted to do a little more heat training, so I went out just before 4:00 pm and the temp was 98 degrees. The first mile was a little sluggish, but I got into a good groove and ran the Alpine hwy 3 miles out and then back. The last two I felt really good and pushed the pace.

Every mile this week had hills, heat or both. Now I'll kind of taper things off until Wasatch.

Weights at the gym for an hour. I worked my upper body/core. I spent a good amount of time on the pull up bar and I was pretty worked when I finished.

Pfeifferhorn summit run with Jun.

This is one of my favorite peaks in the Wasatch and I have never run to the summit before and I was excited to see how fast I could get up there. Jun and I hung together for about the first mile. He told me that he was going to stay with me to the top and then blast the downhill. That didn't last long. At the Red Pine fork he pulled away. I could see him up ahead for the next mile, but after that I was by myself. I ran as much of the trail as I could, but there are some steeper sections that I hiked.

The trail was still wet on occasion and there were a few places that had running water on them. It is normally completely dry by now, but it wasn't serious. I reached Red Pine Lake in 52 minutes, but I didn't see Jun and thought maybe he was flying because I didn't see him going up the headwall either. I made good time moving up the headwall, but I was amazed at how fast MattVS had done it last week as I was using his split as a reference to where I wanted to be. When I was almost to the ridge I saw Jun coming up from below me. He had gone off route and it cost him about 10 minutes of time.

The ridge to the summit has a few spicy sections. It is class 3 with some good exposure. Jun went ahead while I took some pics and then when I crossed I got into some tricky scrambling and actually had to make a lower 4th class move with some exposure. This ridge should never be climbing and if it ever feels like it you're off route. It slowed me a bit and soon I was grinding my way up the face to the summit. Jun shouted some encouragement "Hey, get your old nuggets up here, there is a dark cloud moving in", so I pushed it up pretty good and made it to the summit in 1:58. Not as fast as I wanted to go, but I think a pretty good time. We didn't stay long.

Jun was moving very fast down the face and then over to the ridge and I lost sight of him pretty quickly. I made it back over the ridge and it was much easier this time as I avoided the section I had been in on the way up. Back at the saddle I took a faint trail back down, then crossed over a snow slope and then slowly made my way down to the lake. I kept thinking about turning an ankle or twisting my knee, so I just took it much slower to be safe. I actually fell twice going down the slope, once right into some stinging nettle and another time into a thorn bush. Back at the lake I took a break to dump the rocks out of my shoes and take a gel.

The run down was tough. My knees were sore and I didn't want to go too fast. The trail is pretty technical and I just don't want to risk getting injured. Even though I wasn't running fast I still slipped on a rock and took a hard fall. Luckily I fell into some soft bushes and it wasn't that bad.

With a mile to go I could finally pick up the pace and I ran pretty solid back to the car. Jun met me a few minutes from the trailhead and we ran in together. He had beaten me down by almost an hour. Wow! He was really cruising. I had an incredible time on one of my favorite mountains. I'm really impressed with the times that Matt and Jun had. This trail is very difficult and steep with a lot of technical sections. Props to both of them. Here are a few pics. Jun also added some good ones:

There is still snow up there. Upper Red Pine Lake.

Jun running on the ridge.

Approaching the 3rd class scramble with the Pfeifferhorn looming.

Jun scrambling across the ridge.

Jun on the summit.