Runnin' Adventures of the WLB

Davis Creek trail to Hell Hole, Prayer Rock, Pretty Valley and back

Reminded myself why I don't like to 'just run' on streets/pavement.

BLISTERS!

Felt pretty crappy from mile 3 to mile 4 - was running on a Parkway paved trail that had an inch of crunchy ice covered by a couple inches of wet snow... slippery and didn't help the new blisters!

Awesome wintry run along the BST and up Adam's canyon with my brother dorsimus and brother-in-law.

2nd time using cheap "Snow Trax" from Costco. Nowhere near as good as microspikes, but for 7 bucks (package of 2 pair for 14 bucks) they are worth it. Eventually I might have to get something better!

Here's dorsimus running up!

And here we are in a little ice cave near the top of Adam's Canyon:

Ran up Farmington Canyon with Matt (dorsimus), Matt (MattVH), Matt (Twinkies), Steve, Ryan and another guy whose name I can't remember.

 COLD sub 10° F but that wasn't a problem until after!

Went up 4.75 - I was the slow one so a few others went up a full 5 - 2 people peeled off earlier (Twinkies and the other guy I couldn't remember) - back down was a lot more pleasant!

Matt(dorsimus) and Steve Newman 9ish miles in:

Steve, MattVH (you can see his head), dorsimus, and Ryan:

Overall I felt really good - but I am slow to wake up going UP. Keepin' on working on it!

Too lazy to get up at 4 am and go 20 miles with the Wranglers, and also too lazy to get up at 5:30 for 10 miles in Farmington Canyon with Steve's group...

 So instead I got up at 6:30 and went 3.35 miles up the little switchbacks from Freedom Hills park on the Farmington/Centerville border, and South on the Firebreak Road/BST.

The trail was used, but not packed or anything, so it was much slower going than I wanted, and I wasn't feeling it. Went about a mile and a half to just before Ricks Creek canyon, turned around and headed back.

Saw about 6-10 deer, a couple of jackrabbits, and one really slow dude in a ninja suit.

At least I didn't have to worry about snakes today!

I was going to run around the little trail at Freedom Hills to get a little bit more distance, but I only made it once (the extra .35 ha!)

Didn't feel that great in the midst of it - but I feel good having done it.

I definitely prefer going with a group. Even if I'm slow, I at least have something to strive for - catching up!

Started the morning with an hour of Ashtanga Yoga followed by a half hour of indoor climbing.

 I love Fridays!

 In the afternoon did Crossfit - pretty mean workout. I went a bit light and used a 35 lb kettlebell and 2 45 lb plates for the sled pushes.

Warmup: 4 laps around gym (about 400m), (10 jump squats, 5 burpees)x2, (10 wall runs, 10 walking lunges)x2, (5 pullups, 7 pushups)x2, KB Rack walk around gym

Workout: 10 Turkish getups, 2 sled pushes, 20 pull ups, 2 sled pushes, 30 squat press, 2 sled push, 40 walking lunges, 2 sled push, 30 squat press, 2 sled push, 20 pull ups, 2 sled push, 10 turkish getups - Finished in 30:12.

Now to decide where I'm running tomorrow!

It was a beautiful day - once you get up past 6000 feet!!

This inversion is NASTY!

Went 5 miles up Farmington Canyon with dorsimus and our brother-in-law Ben. Some fog rolled in on the way up as well, so it was an interesting change in view throughout the run.

Here's Dorsimus trying to outrun the fog bank (it keep creeping in!)

 About 8 miles in we ran around a bend and stopped to look back to make sure all our group was there - and Ben wasn't coming around the bend. We waited, and waited, and waited a bit more - then I ran down to dorsimus to wait there:

SNOW NINJA!!! (coming back into the mucky muck!)

Still no sign of Ben - so we ran back up the road a ways (beyond the far right back part you can see in the ninja picture) and he wasn't there.

Turns out he had decided to go straight down the mountain to meet us on a lower part of the road... but didn't tell us that! We found where he went down and headed back down the road, verifying with a snowmobiler that he was down lower, and finished the run with an extra mile because of the backtrack!

Not a bad end to the week!

Dorsimus enjoying being above the disgustingness

5 miles up the canyon again with MattVH, Dorsimus, Steve, Ryan and Casey.

I got to the parking lot 8 minutes late AND realized that I had forgotten my headlamp again. D'OH!

Headed up the road by myself and saw a couple of headlamps coming down the BST connector, then they headed up so I slowed down to see who it was - some guys from my High School a year and 2 years ahead of me who we actually saw running on Saturday in the canyon! Kind of funny since I've randomly run into these guys at Ragnar and such. It looked like they were doing loops of the Canyon road and the BST connector...

The only reason I know Ryan and Casey were there is I 'caught up' to them as they were turning around at mile 3! Also around this time I could finally start to breathe normally again. Blech!

Casey and Ryan said that MattVH, Matt and Steve were not that far ahead and I might be able to catch them - so off I went. I had tantalizing hints of the headlamps again and again but those canyon roads are tricky to judge distance in the dark. Finally about 4 miles in at one of the horseshoe canyons you run in and out of, I Tarzan yelled across the chasm to the headlamps and they decided to stop and wait for me, which was very nice or I probably wouldn't have caught them at all!

Finished running up past Sunset Campground and turned around for a MUCH faster decent, up and over the crazy bumpy moguls from the snowmobiles. Interesting how you don't notice those as much going up!

Temp started at about 5° but I wasn't as cold this morning as I was last week when it was 10-11°. Interesting.

MattVH, Dorsimus, and Steve talking after the run.

This week started off good with a great 10 miler with the Davis Trail Running group on Tuesday - then WHAM! Wednesday afternoon I crashed with a cough and a fever. DANG! I was so hoping to get over 20 this week, if not closer to 30 for the week, but Wednesday and Thursday were out of the question and Friday wasn't a lot better, even though I could somewhat function.

So this morning I decided to make myself get out and try to make it above the crappy crap for a little while, my sister wasn't feeling like running so my brother-in-law and I took my wife up Farmington Canyon for her first winter run up there. In the inversion it was warmer than it has been, but still cold, and the ground had a quarter inch thick crust of ICE that was pretty slick.

I was actually trying to do a ninja move there...

My wife had a pair of Altra Eve's and had forgotten the Snow Trax which would have been very useful on those minimal-tread shoes!

We also had to be careful because there were signs of Snow Ninjas on the road:

Can't just ignore a sign like that! Also there were some OTHER interesting signs of a more natural type:

Luckily we didn't see any live Mountain Lions!!

The slush after we got out of the inversion was rough, and we went pretty slow up AND back down in that craziness.

But it was still nice to get out of it for a couple of hours! (Total time 3.5 hours!)

Brother-in-law Ben running down STILL above the nasty!

Treadmills are not fun. Seriously that 2 miles felt like 10. I'd rather run 10!

I came in to work for an early morning BJJ class, but the weather made everybody late so we didn't hold that. I ran the treadmill for a bit over 15 minutes and that was all I could handle :p

Did some parallel grip pull ups, preacher curls, windshield wipers and showered off.

I need to get outside!

Got up this morning to do Olympus with the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers - 6.7ish miles of ridiculous Shenanigans. jun's entry is a great rundown with more pictures.

But I have some too!

 My wife wanted to go a bit farther than her running partner, so we did 1.5 with dorsimus and his wife, and then went to Adam's canyon and back on the BST for a total of 4.8 miles.

It was so warm I took my shirt off for a while! Boy it's nice to feel the sun again!

And relax on the white sandy beaches of Kaysville with Dorsimus and the wives...

 11.5 for the day! Not too bad!

Another trip up the Farmington Canyon with the Davis County crew.

I felt super slow (and it doesn't help to be watching everybody else's headlights bobbing along ahead of you!) but really I kept mostly below a 15 minute/mile pace the whole way up, which isn't bad for that route.

Dorsimus passed me on his way down (he had to turn around at an hour) like usual I was the last one getting up to the campground.

After we turned around I felt much better, I always feel much better going downhill - and booked it down to the parking lot (with a little extra runaround to get to 10 miles!)

Gotta figure out how to improve my uphill legs!

 Weighed myself after taking a shower and HOLY MOLY I'm down to almost High School weight! That's not good, I was skinny. I'm definitely more muscular now, but I don't want to be as skinny as I've gotten. Time to eat more!

Finally got out running again - I've been really tired this week or I would have done the canyon again on Thursday morning.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday had an hour of BJJ each day, and my spine is a bit angry at me because of all of that!

 So anyway met Jun and Dorsimus at the Farmington Pond Parking lot and we headed up the canyon.

The road conditions were very nice, but the snow was a bit sting-y on the eyes as we came down.

I've done it a bunch now, but that is still a nice 10 mile training run!

Sleep was horrendous last night. Snoring dog, crying kids, constant wakings... Ugh.

Didn't feel too horrible when I dragged myself out of bed, but definitely not great.

Met up with the Davis County Crew at the Davis Creek Trailhead parking area - NINE people showed up! Dorsimus was going to come but wasn't feeling great so it could have been ten! MattVH, SteveN, RyanL, CaseyH, Layne, Abe, Stephen(?), Phil Lowry and myself.

A couple of guys turned back at the Parrish Lane bridge, and a couple more a half mile after that.

MattVH, Steve, Phil, Ryan and Me went 5 miles and turned around. I think I would prefer the Canyon as a training run to this - this took us about 20 minutes longer for the same distance with less vert too. I definitely prefer that route in the spring and summer. My legs are sore from twisting and flexing in abnormal ways. So I guess in that way it will be beneficial!

They're going for SPEED!

It'sa Me!

MattVH, Phil, Steve, and Ryan.

Still I'm happy I was able to get 10 miles in this morning. Somehow I feel more awake than previous Tuesdays even though I got crappy sleep!

27.3 miles for me on the Little Grand Canyon - I'll update this with more info and pictures when I'm back in my house with a working Heater!

4 Mile run up Baer Canyon in a blizzard with dorsimus and me wifey.

Snow was quite powdery so it wasn't too much of a burden, and it was fun!

Lowest mileage week I've had all year! Probably not horrible to rest. I've been hurting more this week, but I still made it to yoga and BJJ and Crossfit when I could!

Farmington Canyon Treadmill with Steve, Phil and dorsimus.

Twinkies was going down when we were at about halfway in, he had started earlier.

 Not the fastest we've done this trail, but not the slowest either. My feet were having issues with the hard/soft/hard/whoknowswhatthe snow conditions... Hopefully that doesn't continue! 3.5 weeks to Buffalo!

Training run out at Antelope Island with a BUNCH of people.

It ended up being an extremely slow pace because of the snowy slippery trails - there were a few sections that didn't look like the picture above, but the deep snow was tiring!

Dorsimus did a good job blazing the trail for the rest of us! 

Still a good training run - I got some nice leg-pit sunburns which EVERYBODY loves!

I'm looking forward to the race!

Mentally slow, physically slow, and having some weird foot pain on my foot below my big toe, so I went up 3 and down 3 this morning with the Davis County Crew. Casey did about the same as me (although faster). Phil, Steve, Ryan, and Layne were also present - I'm pretty sure they did the whole 10.

Didn't make it out in the morning, but decided to run along a similar path - up the switchbacks of Freedom Hills park to the Firebreak road, but then I decided to go random - along to Ricks Creek and up to the waterfall, climbed up and over and ran along the upper trail/roads back around to the switchbacks and down.

 Still having some foot pain... along with some popped out ribs and a dislocated  clavicle... just trying to keep life interesting I guess!

 Hopefully I can figure out this foot pain before the Buffalo Run!

Up to flag rock with Dorsimus. I am TIRED today. This time change hasn't fit in for my body yet.  Still the time up to Patsy's Mine and then Flag Rock really wasn't too bad.

Then we hit the North Facing canyon and had this:

Parts of the snow were really deeper than my knee- that leg in the snow is straight!

Slow going, but my feet didn't hurt quite as bad as they have lately... hopefully that continues in that direction for another week - Buffalo Run next weekend!

Nice run on the BST from East Kaysville up past Adams Canyon and back with dorsimus and my wife. Beautiful weather - so nice to see dirt and the sun with only a few small patches of snow!

Only one week until the Buffalo Run!

Buffalo Run 50k! My first ultra.

I don't know that I'd ever watched the weather as much as I did on Friday. I was slightly encouraged by looking at the Satellite pictures and seeing that the snow was mostly sticking to the shores of the lake - and hoped that would stay that way.

Thankfully it did!

Drove out to the island with my dad and brother-in-law who were coming out to support and cheer and help out as much as they could, which for me was seeing me off at the start and finish, but they were able to follow dorsimus around his 50!

The initial idea was to run with Brent (jun's bro) for a lot of the race, but literally 1 minute before the start, he ran back to his car to get some compression sleeves, so I started running without him

The Start! (I'm 3221 grey jacket)
 

Then at the first little turn past the gate I waited for him and we ran together for the big curve there until it started going uphill and I continued to pull away from him. I felt really good and relaxed and didn't feel like I was pushing it too fast and made good time up that looooong hill to mile 2. Just enjoyed the next 3 miles to the Elephant Aid Station, passing people on the downhills and being passed by them on any inclines, although the spots in my feet that have been bugging me were starting to flare up and I was a bit worried with it being so early. Walked a bit up lone tree hill for the first time, but kept moving well.

Grabbed some Mt. Dew at the Elephant Aid station but could only drink a swallow or two, so I put it down by one of the water barrels holding up the tent, knowing I'd see it again soon! Headed down into Split Rock Bay where there was a small herd of buffalo and some noisy coyotes, then walked again but ran a decent measured pace up the switchbacks through miles 8 and 9, before getting into probably my favorite section of the race, all the rocks and technical boulders - awesome trail. It helps that there isn't 2 feet of snow on top of it like there was three weeks ago!

Felt decent for the next 6 miles until the turnaround, except I was starting to chafe something fierce! At the turnaround drop I took a swig from my soda I had there, but really the only thing I needed was that Body Glide! Slathered that on my inner thighs and took off  having completed the first loop in about 2:40:00 - which was a bit faster than I thought I would.

Headed back up and finally saw Brent again as he was just coming down the hill towards the turnaround - Go Brent!

Started walking on that long uphill to eat some shockblocks and drink some water and while I wasn't in a bad mental space - I wasn't in a good one either. Not much motivation. I was going to get it done, but I wasn't in a hurry. This is a RACE! Come on!

Luckily about that time an awesome lady was coming up on me and we started talking and pacing each other, and we stuck together for the next 10-12 miles. Thanks to Sue Lee from SLC Utah for getting me into a better place mentally and helping me continue pretty regularly for most of the 2nd half. On the 3rd mile of the 2nd loop I almost tripped and hit the rock pretty hard, but didn't realize until the switchbacks that I had done something to my pinky toe. Turns out I had made a pretty gnarly blood blister on my pinky toe! Still my feet were doing surprisingly well (I did take some ibuprofen because I didn't want to deal with pain! It must have worked!) Having somebody to talk to and pace with really was awesome for that second loop. Awesome lady! Thanks Sue!

With about 4 miles left I took off my jacket, and took off trying to push it a bit more for the remaining distance. I probably could have pushed it a little bit more - but I'm still happy with my performance.

Came down around the last curve (MAN that's a long looping section!!) still feeling pretty good and crossed the line at 5:47.

Beautiful day - beautiful race! Fantastic group of people running the race in every sense of that word. Thanks to all the volunteers, and race organizers - But of course even more thanks go out to all the people who got me to actually do this - Dorsimus, jun, MatthewVH, Scott Wesemann, my amazing wife, Ben, and everybody else! We had some awesome adventures and memories getting ready for this!

My major goal was to be able to move the next day after the race - and other than my pinky toe blood blister and some achillies tenderness - I'm feeling great!

Here is the info from my Garmin: http://runkeeper.com/user/warlordblade/activity/159850318

Ran from an Easter Egg Hunt party in Bountiful North on the BST up to Parrish Lane - then up the switchbacks. Nice trail - but I was super slow going up.

 Kind of funny to be disappointed that I ONLY ran 6.6 miles and ONLY had an hour to run... That would have been a TON of running a year ago!

Finished off with slacklining at my sisters house, then set up my other slackline at the 2nd easter egg hunt we went to in Sandy and had fun on that. Finally made some real slackline progress!

 Also - discovered Lone Peaks are a bit big and clunky for slacklines!!

Woke up early to run with the Davis County Crew/Crazies. Nine people showed up this morning so it was a good group. Twinkies, Steve, Ryan, Casey, Lane, Jeff, Sam, Scott (I think) and me!

We did a nice figure 8 run from the Farmington Pond along the lower terrace trail (Twinkies and I were just behind Casey and Lane in front so we missed the turn to the trail and ended up on the firebreak road for a while until we saw them above us and trekked up to meet the rest of 'em!) then down Shepard and up to the BST in Fruit Heights to Bair Canyon. Doing that section from the pond to Shephard completes my coverage of the Wasatch front in Davis County up until Bair - just have that little section between Bair to the East Kaysville park we run with dorsimus a lot.

At Bair we took the lower section - trespassing for a little bit until we made it back to Shephard where we went UP UP UP to the upper terrace trail.

My feet were bugging me again... I'm still not sure what it is as my Chiropractor in-laws don't seem to think it's a problem...

Continued along the awesome upper terrace in a cool fog, then headed back down to the pond.

It was a bit wet overall - but the trails were beautiful and it didn't really rain on us much!

Definitely nice to get out in the morning again!

First run in ten days!

First run in a new pair of vivobarefoot Breathos!

Started from Freedom Hills and ran around the park and then up the switchbacks when my arms and legs started itching like MAD. This has happened to me a few times before, but it hasn't happened in a while, so I figured my allergies were acting up, especially since the sage brush is really blooming and fragrant right now. Super uncomfortable.

Having dealt with it before, I knew if I kept going, it would eventually go away once my body started sweating more. Not a fun way to start a run though.

 The shoes did really good up the switchbacks. The traction on the bottom of those Breathos is great, but I think I got a European size too big on these...

I ran along the Firebreak/BST until above the neighborhoods I grew up in then headed up towards the trail to Sheep Rock instead of taking the firebreak to Rick's canyon - but then headed over above the waterfall and climbed down into it.

Then I followed the trail out to below the Haddad's house and back onto the Firebreak BST until Parrish Creek - where I saw the windstorm had blown down both the nice trail sign they have off the firebreak road:

AND a big tree had fallen and smashed part of the great bridge over the stream.

I went up the canyon a tiny bit to a little waterfall, then went over the fallen tree and up the other side until the bottom of the switchbacks I ran a week and a half ago, then turned around and headed back.

After about 5 miles I noticed something about the shoes. I'm not entirely sure if it is because they aren't the right size, or if I'm just not used to this minimal of a shoe while running, or if the mix of hard heavy traction and minimalism was something my legs didn't like, but for the next 2 miles including coming DOWN the Freedom Hills switchbacks I normally blaze down, I was in pain. And a lot slower than I wanted to be.

So we'll see how it goes next time I try those shoes out. I don't want to judge them quite yet...

Felt like I needed to hit the pavement today so I ran from my house over the freeway and onto the paved Legacy Parkway trail.

Ran 2.62 miles out and back... so 1/5th a marathon in honor of Boston. Kind of silly, but I felt like doing that.

Ridiculous. Words can't even describe my thoughts about that horror.

Ran in my older shoes that are probably in need of retirement, but I sold the Breatho's to my younger brother because they just aren't the right size. I might try them again in the future - but hopefully I'll get to try some Altra Superiors first.

Ran to Flag Rock with MVH and dorsimus. We did most of the Flag Rock Run but backwards. I think it's faster the regular way! I really struggle going up the North Side, although this time I felt a little better than I have before, which is especially sad because I felt ridiculously slow and tired.

It was COLD because of a nice wind that kept a blowin. That wasn't fun, but the rest was nice.

We stopped by Patsy's mine because MVH hadn't been there. Dorsimus and I went all the way to the back.

It was good to get out - I've been in a bit of a grumpy funk lately. Still trying to get out of it. I think I'll go get some ice cream.

That'll help!

Started at Freedom Hills - up the switchbacks waiting at the top to take some pictures of my kids who were hiking. My 8 year old was not very far behind me! Impressive little guy.

Then I headed South along the Firebreak road and up to the top of the Ricks Creek Waterfall, where I turned around and headed back North - but up along the trail below Sheep Rock instead of the Firebreak. Headed up along the flats and then headed up the road to Little Valley, back down by El Capitan (I think that might be the first time I've been on that part of the Davis Creek trail this year!) up to the waterfall to take a pic of the petroglyphs for my kids, and back down to the Davis Creek Trailhead, then back along the Firebreak road to the top of the Freedom Hills switchbacks.

 Looked down at the park and saw my van still there, but I didn't see the family - so I thought they might still be on the firebreak road (I figured they'd hiked up to the Ricks Creek Waterfall and they might not have made it back yet) so I continued back along to where it meets the road, turned back and took the lower road back up to the switchbacks, then ran down them to meet the family at the park.

Fun afternoon!

Ran up the Centerville Switchbacks from the Parrish Lane Trailhead. 2 miles up, almost 2000 vert up (or 1600, depending on what you go off!), 2 miles back down.

Slow up - just below 20 minute/mile average. Made it down in less than 15 minutes, my quads are killing me today.

http://runkeeper.com/user/warlordblade/activity/171205740?

Nice birthday run.

Wow it's been over a month since I've done more than10 miles!

Fantastic day (finally 75°) for a great run up to Little Black and around those trails with dorsimus, Mark, Josh, Zac, and Andy.

Definitely a good outing - and nice to see the top of Little Black, even though it was rough slow going!

Tuesday morning run with the Davis County Crew. Steve, Ryan, Jeff, Sam, and Twinkies.

Headed on the lower terrace trail over to Shepherd Creek then up from there up the Francis Peak Trail for a couple miles and then back down. Sam went back a bit earlier, Jeff and Steve continued on to Bair Canyon, and Twinkies went ahead on the way back so I'm not sure where he went, but his car was gone when I got back.

Ryan and I took the upper terrace back. Beautiful morning run!

Third run in a row with some major vert and major quad-busting downhills. That is a lot more tiring! I gotta work on those downhills though I'm not as fast as I was last year.

Spring 5k at my work - ran it in 22:29 - got first place.

But it was a bit disappointing because the competition just wasn't there.

They did a raffle for prizes and the top finishers didn't get anything - not that I wanted anything and I'm okay with my time... it's just I didn't have anybody pushing me even though one guy that normally beats me significantly didn't try because he's running a half tomorrow.

Oh well. It was a good run!

Little Black again - started from the Capitol this time, and took some different trails so it ended up being slightly shorter, but almost an hour faster too!

Nice TAUR run!

Definitely felt better this week.

Ran with the Davis County Crew (Steve, Ryan, Lane, Sam and Twinkies) from the Pond up to some newer trails and then down and up to Flag Rock - then over to Hornet Creek on a part we'd been LOST on last fall.

 It's quite a bit better now.

Ran down the Hornet Creek trail connecting to Steed Creek then back to the pond on the firebreak.

Beautiful morning!

Until Friday - I had no plans for a 'LONG' run in the near future.

 Starting at Birch Creek up Millcreek - from there to the end of the trail above the valley and back is about 9.5ish miles.

"It's just a 9.5 mile loop!"

And 9.5 isn't that long for me anymore.

That's just crazy!

First 2 laps I felt pretty good, with a bit of leg issues popping up near the end of the 2nd. Zac joined us as we got out to the turnaround the first time.

The 3rd was quite disappointing. I didn't even make it all the way out to the turnaround (was just under a quarter mile, but I was ready to turn around) and dorsimus and craig still smoked me back to the start.

That last half of the 3rd was pretty miserable. And frustrating because energy-wise I felt great. But my hips, calves, glutes and feet were just miserable and aching.

I even used sunscreen so I'm not completely fried after being in the sun for over 5 hours!

Also I think we saw almost 2 times as many dogs out there as people. Almost everybody hiking had MULTIPLE dogs. Because it was an odd day the majority of them were off-leash too. Thankfully they were mostly nice doggies.

Sick for over a week - really stinks.

Just had some congestion left today so I figured I'd get out and see if a run would force it out. My son is old enough to watch the kids for a while, but he worries quickly, so I told him I'd only be gone a half hour - so I started a loop from my house with only one small trail part.

 I don't like running on roads much - unless it's a race.

Still glad I got out moving and we'll see if it helps tomorrow!

Beautiful Morning Run up the difficult Davis Creek trail to Pretty Valley, then down the backside onto the flats and back to the trailhead.

I enjoy spending a nice morning with my beautiful wife!

Run with Steve, Ryan (Crazy guy is doing Bryce100 in 2 days!), Jeff, Lane, and ... I can't remember the very tall doctor guy's name! 

Great crew, ran from the Farmington Pond up along the lower terrace to Shepard creek, then up to the Fruit Heights BST over to Bair Canyon, then back along a lower trail (sneaking through some yards yay!) and then UP (I hate that part) shepard again to the UPPER terrace trail and back to the pond.

Beautiful morning run especially after yesterday's rain!

Decided I hadn't done Mueller Park in too long.

Ran up to "Elephant Rock" (the bench) and scrambled down to then climbed up onto Elephant Rock itself for the first time.

Then, also for the first time, I ran up beyond Elephant Rock for a mile and a half because I wanted about 10 miles.

On the way up there was a group of four MOTORCYCLES coming down the trail, and I guess they went all the way down. Kind of frustrating to me because while I appreciate motorcycles and the fun of off-roading on them... Trails meant for horses, bikes and pedestrians are NOT the place for motorcycles. Grr.

Anyway - it was a beautiful day and a beautiful run.

Helped move a dresser and then my sister-in-law watched my kids.

Dinner before moving the dresser was zucchini-noodle spaghetti.

I'm slightly allergic to squash - but zucchini on it's own doesn't normally give me problems

Mixed with trees and weeds and grasses in the mountains that I'm somewhat allergic to is NOT fun.

Anyway ran from my brothers backyard around a little trail and up to the shephard creek trail - then ran South along the Lower Terrace Trail (Farmington) and back and up North on the Upper Terrace trail. Nice to see that from a different direction, even though I was having stomach issues and itchiness from my stupid allergies.

I also wonder if donating blood two days before is still affecting something - my average heart-rate was well over 170 for this run.