Monday, December 8, 2008

A Perfect Trailrunning Weekend


So I had the 2nd training run for the Buffalo Run last Saturday. Perfect weather, around 35 at the start, warmed up to the 40's, no breeze. Very nice.
About 20 people showed up, both of the training runs have been well attended this year. Usually 6-8 people will show. We'll see what happens when the snow flies.
Most of us ran the White Rock loop trail then sauntered over to the Lakside trail and ran that. We all kind of scattered to run our own pace but come together at the end to compare adventures. I got a total of around 13.8 miles out of that run. A few people ran more and a few less, but everyone had a good time.
For those that don't know what Antelope Island is, it's the largest island (28,000 acres) in the Great Salt Lake and the entire island is a state park. There's a herd of 500-600 buffalo that roam free along with herds of mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, as well as coyotes, bobcats, jackrabbits, porcupine, snakes, and lizards. There are around 35 miles of trails accessible to the public, but most of the island is off limits to people to help maintain a pristine nature. As a member of the volunteer trail patrol out there, I've had the opportunity to see most of the island thru my running. Many times I'll be out on the trails when very few people are out and it's easy to imagine 150 years ago when you can't see or hear any signs of civilization.
Sunday I had big plans to go do some hill repeats but weenied out and decided to do a tempo run along one of my favorite trails from the 22nd street trailhead in Ogden south to above Weber Stae University. From the car it was a 6.8 mile out and back jaunt. There's one hill along this route where I do my hill repeats that's about .6 miles and gains about 300'. Total gain to the turnaround is about 800'. Anyway, I had this idea that maybe I could do this route in under an hour so I pushed as hard as I ever have. I didn't make the sub hour run, but had a great time nonetheless. Another perfect trail running weekend in the books.

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