Week of July 8

Sunday - Well, I didn't do squat running wise, but Karen and I went for a horsey ride around the Sardine loop.  That was an interesting ride to say the least.  Going along the face of Sardine peak on the trail, we stopped to let some mountain bikes go by.  As we were stopped, the edge of the trail suddenly gave way under my horse's back feet.  We immediately started going down the mountainside.  It's pretty steep, rocky and brushy here and the potential to get hurt really bad was there.  Somehow, Dustin managed to stay on his feet, and somehow I managed to stay on his back.  After sliding about 20 feet down, we came to a stop.  At that point I hopped off and managed to get him turned around and we scrambled back up the trail.  Neither one of us had a scratch.  Needless to say, things could have been a lot worse.  If he had lost his footing, gone down and over on top of me, that would have hurt.  It was a scary few seconds.

Monday - I managed to get up and go out early for a little road run thru the nieghborhood.  Ugh!  Not a fan of that, but it beat going out at lunch in the scorching heat.  After work I went up to Wheeler, met Alicia and we got in a bunch of miles running up to Green Pond.  We met Karen at the end of that run and went out again with her for another few miles.  All told, it was a pretty big mileage day for something other than the weekend.  Miles - 19.1

Tuesday - I finally met the breakfast club at 22nd street to go up Malan's.  There were eight of us that showed.  We had a good time chatting and climbing.  It was pretty breezy but the air was close to 80 already and it didn't cool off at the top of Malan's.  Lots of people out that early trying to beat the heat.  After work I went up to Snowbasin and ran the Sardine loop.  I wanted to get a look at where Dustin and I went off the trail.  Miles - 13.4

Wednesday - Holy crap it was hot today.  My car's thermometer flashed 106 on the way home.  Went for a run at lunch because I knew I wouldn't get a chance after work.  Wasn't quite that hot then.  I didn't think it was too bad at all.  I had a meeting after work to figure out who's going to be on the HUMR Ultra Team.  Not me, I'm already on a team, but the decision's been made and I'll let someone else make the announcement.  I think it'll be a pretty cool team.  Not the fastest ultrarunners, but some pretty neat people that will support the sport big time.  Miles - 5.8

Thursday - Well, I finally got my trailwork for Wasatch done.  Went out with Alicia and Christy to a trail in the Ogden Valley.  It was pretty overgrown in places and our job was to clear it.  Job done.  I was a mess when we got done.  Some sort of vegetation really gave me hives on my arms.  I was all sorts of broken out, swollen and itchy.  Not good.  Anyway, I went home after that, took a shower to wash off what ever was bothering me then drove back up to Snowbasin for a run.  Ended up running the Needles trail up to the lodge, then taking the service road back down.  Saw quite a few marmots and heard all sorts of hummingbirds flying around.  Not a bad run at all.  Miles - 11.6

Friday - Went out for the usual lunchtime run.  I really didn't want to, but got out anyway.  Ended up not being too bad.  I usually try to push the pace on these runs since they're flat.  After work I managed to get a few in on the trail north of Rainbow.  It wasn't too hot and actually cooled down a little on the way back as a storm was rolling in.  Miles - 11.9

Saturday - Went out for some easy miles with Karen.  She had 10 on her schedule so that's what we did.  Started at 22nd street, ran to Beus Canyon and back.  Little warm and humid.  Glad there were some clouds to keep the sun at bay, otherwise it would have been very warm.  Miles - 10.0

Total miles for the week - 71.8  It's been a tiring week.  This is my 6th week in a row above 55 miles. The legs are feeling kind of heavy at times.  On the other hand, I do feel stronger on the uphills.  I've been trying to maintain 10,000' of vert a week just to prep for Speedgoat and Wasatch.  We'll see how next week goes as we'll be on vacation back in Illinois.

Restaurant review - Karen and I tried a sushi restaurant that we've been wanting to try.  Ohana Sushi is in a strip mall area so we thought it would be of similar quality.  Well, this place was pretty nice actually.  Very tiny inside, maybe a dozen tables total.  The menu had all sorts of different dishes, but we wanted sushi.  For being in a so-so location, their prices are kind of high.  We ended up with no drinks, and ordered four sushi rolls and a vegetable tempura appetizer.  The sushi was very good.  The presentation was nice and where a lot of places will pile on the rice and skimp on the innards, this place cuts back on the rice and gives you more of what's inside.  Good stuff, but we like sushi.  Service was average.  Not sure we would go there again as we like to hit the all you can eat sushi place in Layton.