Pokey Thoughts and Procrastination

Sooooo, I'm in the middle of packing for this weekend's adventure, the Pocatello 50 Mile, and am in need of some procrastination.  Per the website, the Pokey boasts 12,600 ft of vertical climbing, and is actually closer to 53 miles.  Cute.  I like to put things in perspective so as to lessen any 'fear' I may have surrounding something.  In last year's Bear 100 race the first 47ish miles packed in 14,000 ft of vertical climbing leaving a measly 8,000 for the last 53ish miles.  And I freakin' ate that stuff up.  I'm totally down for this challenge.  Also, there is some alleged glissading involved coming down off of Scout Mountain (the high point of the race) so this will indeed be a delicious adventure.  I feel ready, and I feel excited.  May the trail be with us.

Oh, yea, packing.  Isn't it funny how difficult something can be when you've been away from it for a time?  Like this time last year, we were setting off on the most AMAZING ADVENTURE OF OUR LIVES TO DATE.  You know, that whole quit-our-jobs-move-across-the-country-then-spend-the-summer-on-the-road-running-up-mountains-and-generally-galevanting-about thing.  We became very well acquainted with our truck and camping inside said truck on our fancy shmancy sleeping platform that Uncle Jim built for us in the back.  Now I have no idea where to start.  I know we need things like a bottle opener, cups, cooler, and coffee (hello priorities).  Oh, yea, and sleeping pads, a blanket and pillows.  Oh, a headlamp for middle-of-the-night bathroom runs.  LOL, 'runs'.  I'm pumped.  Camping.  Been almost a year since we've done that.  I'd like to become reacquainted with camping again.  That was such a blast last summer :)

Last weekend we adventured over to Park City for a final long run in the mountains with some fun peeps.  Meghan put together a great loop run and Jen Benna, her husband JB and pup Luna joined us for the jaunt.  Vince H. jumped in at Big Mountain Pass the second time and ran with us to the end.  We started at Jeremy Ranch and ran some incredibly beautiful single track on the Mormon Pioneer Trail, up to Big Mountain Pass, out to tag Big Mountain (as seen here)...

The Ladies

With Jen and Meghan (Geof shot this one on Meghan's phone)

Then we headed back to the Pass to meet up with Vince before continuing on the Great Western Trail (and a portion of the Wasatch 100 course) and then finishing back in Jeremy Ranch.  Beautiful day, but boy did I feel like ass!  I started out fine, but the general malaise that had plagued me the last week or so settled back in and my head and body felt really off most of the run.  My legs felt awesome, but everything else was just...off.  Needless to say, I got it handed to me on that run, but it was good to have such strong runners along with us as it pulled us along and we finished far faster than we would have on our own on that day...as in, I probably would have suggested pulling the plug if it had just been Geof and I, so thank you for the extra motivation Jen, Meghan, and Vince!  Cold beer didn't even sound good when we got done, if that's any indication of what my condition was ;)  The next day, I never would have guessed we ran 24.5 miles in the mountains as my body felt fresh as a daisy and my legs showed no signs of a long run, so I took that as a good sign and we hopped on our bikes for a 20 mile road ride that afternoon after getting back from Park City.  Booya.

I keep forgetting we have a 100 mile bike ride at the end of June...

But first things first, Pocatello!

Oh, did I mention Geof and I celebrated year numero dos on May 21st?  We did, and we celebrated in style...

Garlic burgers, Coors Light on tap, and an outdoor patio

The traditional second wedding anniversary gift is cotton, so instead of acquiring more 'stuff' I wanted to get a little creative.  We enjoyed our nosh and beer at the Cotton Bottom Inn at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  What's not to love about that?!  It was delicious!  Good food, great memories.

Well I suppose I should get back to packing, and finishing up our laundry.  Pretty nice little day I've got here.  Tonight we venture over to Red Butte Garden for an outdoor concert with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.  Saaaaa-weet!

P.S. If you haven't read THIS yet, please do.  It is pure hilarity.  Dax is one of my favorite bloggers.  He makes me hoot n' holler.

To the mountains!

Paige, out.

Running Around in Our Backyard

Ahhhhhhh, now I can breathe :)  It is now exactly two weeks since classes ended, one week since I  turned in my application for the Physical Therapist Assistant program (THE goal that has led my life the last four years, more or less), and one week since I finally began to relax.  Like, truly relax.  Even though the Summer of GnP last summer was supreme relaxation and awesome, I still had school and my application burning in the back of my mind.  Those things still hung in the future.  

And now, I wait.  Wait for the future to unfold, wait for my academic fate to reveal itself.  Wait.  Like waiting for your runner to come into the aid station where you are supposed to start pacing.  You've had no contact with them other than a cryptic pre-race text giving an approximate arrival time, plus or minus 4 hours, and quick run-down of expectations, and you've never actually met them in person for that matter.  There are no HAM radio operators to give you an idea of where they are on the course and thus you don't want to escape to the warm confines of your vehicle out of fear of missing them.  So you wait, outside, in the cold, rainy night.  It's sorta like that.  Except a little more fun because I can totally go hang out in the warmth :)  But you know what I mean.  

And I run.  Today is my first day off running in 13 days, two of those were doubles, a couple long runs, one of which was in Moab, and a whole bunch of climbing, and some mud/snow/rain/sun.  I forgot to take a day off last week, and the week before.  Oops.  There is just so much great running to be had here.  It's insane.  And it'll only get better as the season settles in.  

Back in April, Geof and I partook in our first running of the official unofficial BoSho Trail Marathon, unofficially 'hosted' but not really by the MRC.  It's a bit of an 'underground' race.  It is also pure ridiculousness.  Twenty-six point four miles, and a whopping 6,579 ft of climbing packed into that short distance. An equivalent 100 mile elevation chart would reveal ~25,000 ft (so Wasatch 100, pretty much).  The weather was perfect for the day (warm-ish, overcast, and windy on the peaks).  Geof and I ran together the whole time, shared in the grunting climb up Uncle F****r Hill, that one big climb on the norther section of the big loop, all those other climbs up unknown peaks, across windy ridge lines that produced sweeping views of the valley below and the mountains beside us, through the canyons, along smooth single-track trail, rocky washes, one large bog, up and down and up and down and up up UP.  It was an incredible route which introduced us to new (to us) sections of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, gave our legs a good beating, and made us hungry for more.  We sailed into the "finish" line (don't forget, it's not a race, just a group run ;)) in a hair over 5h:50m and we couldn't imagine having run it any faster.  That is one tough course.  This was the first year (I believe) that a woman broke 5 hours on the course, and there were a couple.  So next year, my goal will be to hit about 5 hours.  It's definitely possible, especially now that we know the route and can run it...often :)

Other than that, we have just been doing a lot of fun running, and prepping (sort of) for Pocatello 50 on June 1.  That's supposed to be a doozy of a race, with the winning times near 9 hours, so that means a long day for the average person.  Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, even if there is bushwhacking involved.

What's that?  Oh, you want some pictures?  Okay.  Sure, why not.  

Antelope Island in April...  

Moab in May...

Dodo birds headed to Gemini Bridges...

On the Great Escape trail

He's just got this glow about him...

Dead Horse Point State Park in May...

Channeling my high school pom-pom days

After four plus hours in the car driving home from Moab, I really needed some alpine and dirt so we pulled into Millcreek Canyon and played roulette with the trailhead signs.  We landed on the Burch Hollow/Pipeline Trail and all I did was swap out my shirt before we headed out for a quick four miles.  I ran in my casual shorts.  I needed that run, bad.  And it was goooood.

Red-rock-country-to-dirt-n-rock-country

Pipeline-Elbow Fork-Lamb's Canyon-Mt. Aire-Terraces/Elbow Fork-Pipeline run yesterday...

Socked in near 9,000 ft

The aspens are blooming!

After kicking steps into the snow on an uncomfortably steep face heading up to Lamb's Canyon Pass, we decided to turn it around and instead run up Mt. Aire.  I was running in front and was making my way across the snow when I decided it was probably a bad idea to continue as it was probably only going to continue that way.  I froze.  The first thought to cross my mind?  Please don't let the last thought I ever have be 'Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!'  Geof reminded me to relax, and I very sloooooooowwwwwly turned around and made my way back to the muddy trail.  It was a single line of melting tracks I was following, and I had to kick new ones in order to stay upright.  I probably won't do that again :) 

So I was VERY excited to run once we got back on the snow-free part of the trail!

Oh, Wasatch National Forest, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

Yesterday's exploration run landed us a mere 13+ miles, but packed with a punch to the tune of 4,600 ft of climbing.  Geof's calculations revealed an equivalent ~35,000 ft. of climb over 100 miles.  That's our litmus test...how much would a course's climbing translate into over 100 miles?  If it passes the sniff test, then we're cool with it ;)  Now we have another great route to use when we're hungry for ascent.

I love running in our backyard :)

Paige, out.