Summit junkie!

4 TM miles while watching Dexter. My legs were a touch sore, so I didn't want to push anything at all, and they actually felt a lot better after my run.

Monday is always my day to lift weights, but it was so nice outside today that I couldn't pass up a run. I went to the gym and lifted for almost an hour and I was a sweaty mess. On the way home I actually had my window open and the air felt so good, so I decided to go run.

I took my dog Shyla with me for the first few miles and it was the worst! She shot me out like a cannon and I spent the first mile (6:48) trying to slow her down. She is a very strong dog and running with her is really a chore. Usually she settles down after a few miles, but I wasn't in the mood today, so after two miles I finally took her home. I think I deserve extra miles for the effort. We did the second mile in 8:03, but we also went up a really big hill.

After I dropped off the dog I went east to the Highland Hwy and then headed North for two miles where I turned around and went back. I was feeling so good out there and I was hovering between a 7:40-8:10 pace. I still felt really good when I got home, so I decided to do the 2 mile loop again. I really ran hard up the hill and felt stronfg the whole way. I still felt like another mile, so I ran back down the hill and back up again for another mile to finish at 9. My average pace was 8:40 which I was happy with because of the 3 hills. I ran the whole thing in a sleeveless shirt and it felt great. I won't complain about the weather anymore.

Lake Mt. tomorrow.

I climbed/ran Lake Mountain with Jun and my friend Nate this morning. We were expecting warmer temps and a muddy trail, so when we got there and there was hard icy snow covering the trail right from the start we were surprised. This was both good and bad. The conditions on the lower trail were not great. There were a lot of hard icy ruts to navigate and it was slick, but the upper half of the mountain could not have been better, with nice firm snow that made for really good running conditions. My hammies protested (4 peaks in the last 8 days) on the last mile, which slowed me down a bit.

We didn't run as much as normal because of all of the icy ruts, but we did have a really fast hiking pace on the steeper sections and we made pretty good time to the top, where we witnessed one of the best sunrises of the year (see Jun's blog for a pic). It was really cold up there and after a few peak jumping pics I choked down a gel and then we headed down. Nate started out a little before Jun and I, and Jun quickly caught and passed him and then blazed down the trail. I stayed behind Nate for about two miles until I slipped on some ice and took a dive. Luckily it didn't hurt too much, but I was a lot more tentative going down and then about a mile later I slipped again and banged my knee on some ice. It wasn't serious, but did slow me down. Other than the falls it was a perfect morning.

Here are some pics from my Grandeur Peak climb on Saturday:

Matt making his way up near the summit ridge:

Me on the summit:

Matt (looking like an old woman) on top:

After 7 attempts, this was the best peak jumping photo:

Matt on the way back down. Check out that dirty air in the valley:

My hamstrings and ITB on my right side are still a little sore, so the only goal I had today was to do a small run to work them out a bit. I rolled my ITB and stretched the hammies and then ran 3.2 on the TM. I felt really good, but I didn't want to push anything. Average pace: Not fast.

On a more serious note, I was just looking on Amazon for some new running shorts and I found some I LOVE. I need some opinions. Thanks.

Awesome shorts!

Ok all you fast running peeps that want to do Mt. Wire. MattV and I are heading up tomorrow at 5:45. Let me know if you're interested.

Weights at the gym. I worked lats, shoulders and biceps for 50 minutes. I spent a lot of time on the pull up bar and I was worked.

I met MattV at the Wire trailhead at 5:45 this morning. I looked for allie (stalker) on the Sunnyside up route, but I only saw a dude in a yellow vest. Matt was waiting for me and he actually left a few minutes before I did. The trail was frozen mud and it was colder than I expected, but after a few minutes I was quite warm.

I didn't have my ipod because the battery died at the gym last night, and now I was being punished with Santa Claus is coming to town, which somehow ended up in my head and was now playing over and over. Ahhhh! I needed to catch Matt so we could chat. I finally caught him on the start of the ridge, as he was taking his one mile break (at .85). I stopped to wait for him and had a drink while I checked out the city lights below.

The rest of the way up went fast, but we went slow, as we were talking the entire time and not really focusing on speed. When we hit the towers Matt took off running for the summit and I followed and we topped out at 1:03, which is pretty slow. Matt wore a cute black cowboy hat with a blinking star, and we both took turns taking pictures, although it was dark and they were with my Blackberry, so they aren't great, but I'll post them because it was a fun rodeo.

We ran all the way down, and once we got off of the ridge I somehow ended up in a sage bush, and it was stinky! Some of the bush did get on my water bottle and made it taste like sage tea, so that was a bonus. Back to the cars in 1:32. Here are a few summit shots:

Me playing rodeo. Look at those eyes!

Cowboy Matt:

2200 ft of vert.

I really wanted to get outside for a long run today, but I had to settle for the TM. I watched Sara Palin's Alaska... ha! I am not a big Sara fan, however having Kate from John and Kate+8 on there made Sara look like a dream. Kate is a whiny, annoying human being. Good times!