Slowly Getting Faster

Last week was supposed to be a big week for me.  I planned on starting strong with that 13 mile run through Farmington Flats but by monday morning I was pretty sick and it got worse until thursday. I ended up bagging the whole week and worrying about speedgoat the whole time.  Hopefuly this week will be what last week wasn't.  10 miles this evening from the junction gate in farmington canyon up to fracis peak. I'm hoping that if I can keep running above 7,000 feet I will become accustomed to the elevation and it wont be such a big deal at speedgoat. 

An awesome week of running, with family, at the grand canyon. This was a slower jont along the rim trail from mather campground over to Maricopa Point. 

My two running brothers and I took the rim trail in a different direction on this day.  We went from Mather to Kaibab Trail head and then back on the road and greenway trail. My little brother said he wanted a maximum of 6 miles.  I guess we kind of screwed him on that. 

I was itching to get into the canyon from the first moment I saw it.  Today I got my chance. We took Greenway and the road over to Kaibab and then down to Cedar Ridge.  I would have loved to go to the river but we just didn't have enough time with the whole family waiting for us to get back. Still, the trail is pretty steep even over a short distance.  We went 1.5 miles down and in that short distance managed to drop 2,000 feet. The first 1/2 mile coming back up was more of a power walk until I found my low gear and managed to jog the rest of the way out. What an awesome morning!

After looking at a map of the trails in the park my brother and I decided we wanted to see the entire rim (at least that portion that had a trail on it) by foot. So we left bright angel trail and headed to Hermits rest, the last stop on the rim trail. It's a distance of 8 miles one way but what a beautiful run. My sister in law and little brother came too and each managed to cover some respectible distance for their experience level. the nice thing about this run is that a shuttle bus covers this whole route as well so if you get tired or run out of time you can just jump on the shuttle and ride back to the start. After reaching hermits rest and waiting for the others to get there we were pretty low on time.  My older brother and I ran back to Mohave point before needing to catch the bus back to the start. This was yet another amazing run at the canyon. 

The night before this run I thought maybe we should try and run down Bright Angel to Indian Springs (a traditional winter home of the hopi before the NFS took the canyon over). When we woke up we both (my brother and I) realized that we were tired out from a week of running and, although we could managed the distance and elevation change, we wouldn't have enough time to do so. We opted instead to run a loop over the visitors center and back to the campgound so we could plot a R2R2R run in the next year.  There is something very captivating about this canyon and I will have to come back, multiple times. 

Unfortunately, we had to get up and out of the canyon this morning because it is a long drive home. Sad to leave but hopefully I will be back. When we got home I ran one mile with my step daughter who is trying to run 1 mile every day until the summer is over. She turned off at the 3/4 mark and I sped up to get one more faster mile in before the day was over. She did good, 15 minute mile with minimal walking, no puking, and no complaining. I had a bug hit me in the eye on my way back which slowed me down but I still managed to get a 7:39 mile. 

nice little fathers day morning run from francis peak to thurston peak and back.  I wanted to get a look at that route before attempting to run from the farmington canyon junction gate all the way to thurston and back.  Now I know. That is going to be a good, hard run. 

I started this run on the new farmington creek trail that is supposed to run from the pond to the campground.  I don't advise anyone try to run on this trail for the time being, it is pretty rough.  In fact, I don't advise anyone hike on this trail if they are not prepared for some bushwhacking. After a mile of power hiking up the trail I cut back to the paved canyon road and ran back to my car.  From there, I decided to drive up the Farmington Flat to finish my run.  At the bottom of the canyon the temperature was 65, at the Flats it was 42.  Beautiful mountain air to start my day. I got in another 4.5 miles up there to make a total of 7.65. 

After two small claims trials and 8 hours in court today I didn't think I would have much in the tank for a run tonight. I thought about finding a trail but it was going to be dark soon and I didn't want to run in the dark. I also didn't want to run on the road. I opted instead for the treadmill, found a groove, and managed to get 7.1 miles in 63 minutes.

Farmington flat to over to the wasatch 100 trail that cuts up to bountiful, around the front and over bountiful peak and back.  Great run. 

I found a mountain bike trail that drops into the valleys on the east side of Francis peak and followed it for a little over 5 miles.  I think it may loop up and connect with smith lake, or at least I hope it does.  I didn't have time to find out today, but I will definitely be back.  If you live in davis county and you haven't taken this trail before, I highly recommend it. 

I wanted to do more but I had court this morning so I couldn't run until later tonight. That cuts into my family time and I'm also a bit more tired. Plus, I think the ~29 miles I've done in the past 3 days is taking a little toll. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Flag Rock and sunset trail.  I wanted to get to the campground but ran out of time.  I only made it to the second stream crossing. 

from my house up to flag rock from the south, down the north side and up the canyon, via sunset trail, to the campground, then down the road and back. 

Too hot to run by mid day so I hit the TM for 10

I thought I would get up this morning and run some mountain trails but my daughter spent the night at grandmas and my wife had to go to work early and the allure of a quiet house and no chance of interruption kept me in bed until 10 am. By the time I woke up it was too hot to hit the road or trail so I hit the TM again for a relaxing 6 miles.