Week of June 17 and Corbin's review

Sunday - Finally made my first trip up Ben Lomond for the year.  A little cool and breezy to start, but warmed up nicely by the time I got back.  I pretty much had the trail to myself until the last couple of switchbacks.  Here I caught about half a dozen people also making the trek up.  I wasn't trying for any sort of speed record, but my time wasn't too bad, 2:15 up and 3:55 round trip.  Miles - 15.6

Monday - Had big plans to go out at lunch.  Went out and after about .1 miles decided it was just too warm.  Then I went to the gym to run on the track.  Well, it was closed because they're refinishing the basketball court.  So no lunch time run.  After work it was about 95 degrees, so I waited until around 8pm, then went on a short run with Karen. We ended up going a little over four starting at 22nd street.  Not a bad evening for a run.  Miles - 4.26

Tuesday - Went out at lunch for a little over 5 miles.  The temp was a lot cooler and the run felt great.  Imanaged to go sub 8:30 for the entire run.  That hasn't happened in awhile.  I ended u leaving work late and didn't get much of a run in before Pilates.  Since I didn't have a whole lot of time, I decided to just do a little bushwacking/climbing above the trail north of Rainbow.  It was kind of fun but I was worried about rattlesnakes the entire time.  Prime habitat for them.  Didn't see one at all.  Pilates was good.  Now that I've been going for a few weeks I do notice that it is helping my core and upper body strength.  Whethere this will translate into faster running times remains to be seen, but I do feel stronger, and that's a good thing.  Miles - 7.56

Wednesday - Went with Ryan and Harrison down to White Pine trailhead up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  The plan was to make the hike up to Pfeifferhorn, bag it, then get back down, all before dark.  Well, that didn't happen.  When we got to the knife edge to the base of the last pitch up Pfeifferhorn, Jim said "Jim's a weenie and he's not going up that".  Yep, the last 300' or so is an exposed rock scramble with a snow patch near the top that needed to be avoided.  Part of the reason was a lack of daylight, part of it was I was getting cold.  I think the temp was down around 40 up there with the wind blowing.  Part of it was I was afraid of the climb back down.  That looked kind of dicey.  The knife edge didn't bother me, I could have done that no problem.  Still, it was a great hike/run to an area I had never been.  The views from 11,000' are incredible.  Pictures don't do it justice.  We did manage to get back down right at dark.  Time wise, it took us 2 hours to make the 4.5 mile trek up from 7700' to 11,000', and another 1.5 back down.  So pretty slow going, but when you figure we were gaining almost 1000'/mile, maybe it wasn't so bad.  Here's a few pics I took.  Miles - 9.0, vert 3400' gain

Looking at SLC down Little Cottonwood Canyon

Looking across LIttle Cottonwood Canyon

Ryan and Harrison motoring up the trail

Red Pine Lake, our route took us to the left of that peak in the center

White Baldy Peak?

Looking at American Fork and Utah Lake from 11,000'

White Baldy Peak

Looking down from 11,000'

Thursday - Ran at lunch.  Did a little bit different route.  Was going to run after work, but it was way too hot.  Miles - 5.6

Friday - Ran at lunch again.  Wasn't going to get a chance after work.  Ran up to Target to get my lovely bride an Anniversary card.  Yep, we've been married 32 years now.  Wow!  That's a long time these days.  Miles - 5.7

Saturday - Didn't do squat running wise.  Spent most of the day in my shop playing with wood.

Total miles for the week - 47.72

Corbin's Restaurant - So Karen and I went to Corbin's for our anniversary dinner.  It's a pretty nice place in Layton that we've been to a few times.  They have really good steaks.  I had the 7 oz. filet, medium, and it was cooked to perfection.  One of the best steaks I've had in awhile.  You could really taste the wood smoke on the outside as they grill the steaks over an open fire.  We had the fried brie for an appetizer and it was pretty good, we ate the entire thing.  Karen had the salmon and steak and really enjoyed that as well.  For desert we shared an apple tart with ice cream. It was a little skimpy on the ice cream, but other than that very good.  Service was excellent.  Unobtrusive yet attentive.  All in all, if you want a pretty nice place to go, this is it.  Prices aren't too bad either.