Week of September 16

Sunday - Went for a run up Middle Fork.  Karen and I rode up there on Saturday and I've been wanting to run up there and find a trail that, on a map, goes in a loop.  Well, I found it and it was pretty cool.  I thought that maybe the trail would take me up to the plateau above Pineview but it didn't go that high.  Instead, it topped out at about 7500' and had me go over several saddles.  I had awesome views of the Ogden Valley.  While I was up there, I saw some other trails that I think need some exploring.  Maybe I'll go back up this weekend.  The cool thing about the run was that I saw one other person and that was within about a half mile of the trailhead.  No horses, no bikes, no hikers, just me.  I love that sense of adventure when I get out someplace new by myself.  Makes me feel more alive.  Miles - 12.4

Monday - Well, I started up with the lunchtime runs again.  Went out for awhile, made a visit to the bank while I was out. After work I headed for Rainbow and ran north to the canal road.  I was by myself so I decided to push it some.  Felt pretty good.  Not sure if today was my fastest time for this route but it was up there.  The legs are getting that feeling of being tired.  You know, when you're constantly training and constantly tired.  Love it.  Means I'm working.  Hey, milestone time.  AS of today, I hit 2000+ miles of running for the year.  The earliest I have ever hit 2000 miles in a year was in 2009 when I hit that mark Nov. 14th.  I'm on track for 2600 this year!  Miles - 12.5

Here's a little rant.  One of the HUMR's posted a note about a stage race called the Mountain Ultra (www.beyondtheultimate.co).  5 days, 220km (136 miles), $3400 entry, in Colorado.  $3400?  Seriously?  What do they provide?  Let's see, water, boiling water so you can prepare your own food.  Shared tents, medical support, a meal post race each day, an experienced race director, a limited edition training shirt, transfers to and from Gunnison airport, oh, and they'll handle your luggage. Oh, and only one day do you actually run an ultra and it's only 48 miles.  All of the other days are 40km or less.  Holy crap!  If they are actually suckering people into signing up for this I'm in the wrong line of work.  For that much money ($680/day) I'd better get 5 star accomodations without sharing with other sweaty smelly runners, somebody had better be cooking my meals for me, I'd better get a shirt every day and some other really cool schwag.  If people are actually signing up for this then they have more money than common sense and obviously need to separated from said money as quickly as possible.  Maybe I should organize something like that around here and have the base camp at a hotel in downtown Ogden.  It would be a whole lot cheaper for the runners.  Good grief, I put on a 100 mile event that is one of the cheapest in the country and I'll give you a nifty shirt, a belt buckle if you finish, some buffalo stew, home brew if there's any left.  Wow, just wow!

So let me know, would you pay this much to do something like this?

Tuesday - Started out from Rainbow with hopes of going around six miles.  Decided instead to have a little fun and bushwack up the mountainside.  Had enough time to gain about 1000'.  Kind of fun.  Need to do that more often.  Went to Pilates in the evening.  Kristie for some reason thought I was about 42 years old (I think she was being nice).  Miles - 2.8

Wednesday - The lunchtime run was a speed session of sorts.  Went out on the bike path and did four repeats of around 0.6 miles.  I was a little tired, didn't sleep well last night.  Was going to go out after work, but didn't feel like it.  I think I'm coming down with a cold.  I hate colds.  Miles - 5.1

Thursday - Went for my lunchtime run.  Nothing special.  I did try to keep the pace up a bit.  After work I ran to my Pilates class.  Hadn't done that before.  I was going to run home, but Aric gave me a ride since it was getting dark.  Guess I need to take a headlamp if I'm going to do that.  Miles - 10.1

Friday - Had big plans to go out after work.  Well, I did go out after work, it was just to dinner with Karen.  Miles - 0

Saturday - Went with some HUMR's to Middle Fork and ran the trail I ran last week.  The fall colors were even more spectacular than the week before.  It was a bit on the chilly side, 38 degrees when we started, but it warmed up nicely into the 70's by the time we were done.  Too bad it was so smokey and hazy, the views would have been even better than they were.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  I did manage to pull a hamstring a bit though.  I tripped over a rock and was doing the recovery dance down the trail trying to avoid falling and pulled it.  Kind of bothered me for the rest of the day, but not enough to not run.  Miles - 12.4















Total for the week - 55.3  Not as much as I would like, but better than nothing I guess.  Hopefully next week I can get a few more in.

Restaurant review - I think I've reviewed the restaurant we went to Friday night before.  We went to our favorite Indian reastaurant, Sitara.  We go there quite a bit.  The food is very good and the prices aren't too bad.  The service can be hit or miss at times, but most of the time it's adequate.