Driven

AM :Five on the bike path from home.

At 5:30 PM 15 miles to Bountiful and back.

 FACT: Men run slower in hot weather.

94 degree heat kicked my ass.

Ten on old rail trail bike path to Kaysville.

Twelve on Gad Valley trails at Snowbird.

Ten to Kaysville & back.

 Light and fast; No water, no gels, no watch. 

Wipes mandatory, but did not use them.

Concentrated on form, relaxing my feet and allowing them to feel the surface.

I've been shuffling up huge hills lately; Felt good to open the throttle and go fast on flat ground.

Trail Work at Alta

Today I was up at Alta doing trail work to satisfy the W100 work requirement to run. Very little sleep the night before so I was fatigued from the moment I got up and dressed. I prepared everything I would need to run up at Alta and Snowbird when I would finish the work assignment in the afternoon. However, as the hours dragged it became apparent I would not have the energy to do any kind of run after. Early in the day I bonked.  So I took a gel. The torrential rain & thunder storm that ended our work day made it certain I would not be heading up to Mt. Baldy in the afternoon.

The group I was with built a new short section of trail did re-vegetation work on either side. It was funny to see all the runners show up in their trail running shoes. I was wearing mine. There was a woman there who is the female version of Karl Meltzer. The backward hat, sunglasses, Hokas. She looks like him too. Speedgoatress.

Farmington Flag Rock race is this Saturday. 'Smorning I ran a two-mile poo shake out to the school where the race will start. This was a trial run to simulate the race as much as possible. The rumor is the course record for this 7 mile trail and street run is 1:05, set last year by some speedy dude. There are a couple of significant hills to climb, then a steep descent through jerky switchbacks on the back side. It ends with a mile of road through town. To date my fastest time has been somewhere around 1:20 or more.

'Smoring I ran it in 1:06, including a couple minutes of walking. The last mile I was really down on energy but tried to keep the pace up. I think the key for me is to run steady uphill, go wildman animal on the trail downhill, then get into a nice fast groove on the outro road mile. And run all the hills. On race day there will be no walking. Debating whether to run without water on race day. Hoping that with a few more training runs I will shave off some minutes.

Completed the morning jogging two miles home. Joggin, not running cuz I was whipped.

Wish Jared The Mr K could be running but he has to deal with a bum ankle. MGW Dorsimus will be running so it will be nice to have a familiar face in the group.

EDIT: I found the results for the Flag Rock 2011 race. Course record is 1:11:24 not 1:05.

That's encouraging.

Night run with Jun and his bro from Utah capitol building to Aves Twins and back. Anton-style with minimal clothing.

This one was not even close. There was one guy, the winner, and then there was the rest of us.

I ran 2 miles from home to the race staging area of Farmington's annual Festival Days celebration. For some reason the races never interested me...until I heard of the Flag Rock trail run. Seven miles of fast trail, some road, with 1800 feet of climb. That's my style. So I trained through the late winter with Mr. The K (The Mr. K) Jared, who is also Farmington resident. We had climbed up to Flag Rock several times over past 6 months, figuring out the course, trying to get strong on the uphills. This course is all about uphill. This is the second year of the Flag Rock race, and the the best time for the inaugural race was 1:11. Going into this I knew I could go under that time by 4 or five minutes.

The race logistics dictated the 10K and Flag Rock races start at the same time and on the same line. Not wanting to get in behind a crush of 400 runners I staked a place up front. At go time I went out swiftly but not too fast. The first hill is a killer and comes up quickly. A block up, then a hard right turn, two blocks more then I watched 4 runners peel off to the left of the crowded line and turn toward the hill. The 10K runners continued straight. OK, so I knew I had 4 guys in front of me to pick off. There was a kid, then last year's winner, then guy in red (Josh) then ahead of them all and expanding his gap with every stride was Kyle, a cross-country runner for local college.

I stayed steady up the hill, waiting for those two GUs to kick in. I passed last year's winner, then pulled up and ran next to the kid. He stayed with me to the top of the hill, where we both caught Josh in red. At the turn onto the trail portion of the course I got out front of both but they stayed close behind. After the first climb I already felt hammered. Just tried to maintain a steady forward pace. Crossed the creek (the water gate up higher was closed so we crossed it dry), then began the middle uphill segment. Finally I began to drop the kid and guy in red. Another killer uphill climb over a trail with large embedded stones and occasional loose gravel. I ran virtually all of it.

Finally a break from climbing comes with a short relatively flat and slightly downhill segment of trail. This was my time to rest up for the last big climb up the switchbacks to Flag Rock. Then I looked up and saw him. Kyle, cross-country demi-god, was already halfway up the switchbacks. When I reached the base, he was close to the top and had this race in the bag. Not only in the bag, but he destroyed any previous record. I pushed up the switchbacks, took a few steps walking but mostly stayed consistently running. I looked down and saw Josh with red shirt coming up strong. Also, a lady was closing fast.

Finally at the top (my fastest ever time to the top at 36:20) I took a few steps walking, necessary to balance myself because now I was wobbly. Stepped over the rocks at the flag pole, then began the traverse over to the descent portion. After a few more slight uphill pushes it all goes downhill. The trail jerks back and forth down short, narrow switchbacks. Use the trees to swing me around the hairpins. I didn't see Josh red shit behind me but I knew he was there. Down to the firebreak road I tossed my bag of wipes to some lady offering me water. I did not accept because I was carrying my bottle. Up to my right I saw red shirt descending quickly. I knew then he would pass me at some point along the next 2 miles.

Down to the pond, on asphalt now, I tried to stay consistent. It's almost over. Down the last hill to the road. Red shirt passed me in the tunnel that goes under the road. He rounded the u-turn back to the street and quickly pulled away. I made a desperate attempt to close on him in the last long, straight mile, and had a little success, but by that time my tank was nearly empty. At the traffic signal saw Jared watching. Good to see a familiar face. Run it in one last turn then the finish line. Josh red shirt 1hr 6m30s, mine was 1hr 7m. Kyle the demi-god? He had come in at 55m16s, had gone home to shower, eat breakfast and come back to watch 2nd and 3rd come in. Probably.

It was a fun effort. I ran probably the hardest I can remember. Matt Twinkies came in just under 1:17, followed closely by Matt Williams and his bro. Matt took a wrong turn late in the race and probably ran an extra quarter mile. Smooth up in ya!

At the awards I met the first and second place winners and we congratulated on another. I love this sport.

I will be back next year. There is a serious course record to challenge.

I didn't stop my watch for about 30 seconds after I came in.

Parish Creek Trail to Skyline, 11 miles 4,017 verty

If my pace seems hella slow, it was. Felt like poo the entire way. 

OK so I had a rough start on the day. I got home, ate, got some rest, did some yard work and then planned to change the situation. At 5PM I drove up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and ran up to the Pfeifferhorn. Summit in 1:25:30, my best time. Nobody complimented my sweaty upper body nudity. 4316 verty

When I finished the Pfeifferhorn run I drove straight to JUNs house in Draper and met him, Scott and Kreuzer. We then went and did a ten mile night run on some nice Draper trails. By that time I was back to being hella slow so that rounded out the day to where I had started. 1880 verty

Total vert for the day: 10,213

With Coach John Shmitts I ran Anne's Trail to View Benchmark. No big woop.

So I am running Speedgoat next Saturday. 'Smorning I ran the course through Gad Valley to Hidden Peak, then jogged over to Baldy and back down to the tunnel. Through the tunnel then a quarter of the way down Peruvian Gulch, then up to the ridge trail back to Hidden Peak, then followed the course down to the finish. Total milage was just under 17, with 6221 feet of climbing. That brings my weekly total to around 18,000 feet of vertical smile.

I got the first 3rd of this course memorized now. It begins immediately with some mild switchbacks, then traverses East toward Snowbird Center and then goes up some steep switchbacks. It was at the base of these switchbacks that I looked up and saw Speedgoat hiking down toward me. Speedgoat in his natural habitat. He was out marking the course with orange ribbons. Tending his baby. I jogged uphill on the right and puffed out "How ya doing Karl". A quick reply of "Hey, good", and we both continued on. The trails at Snowbird are steep. I mean steep. At the top of the switchbacks and after some exaustingly steep section I rounded the corner to Chip's Run to make the traverse back toward Gad Valley. I ran past some dudes shooting arrows at a lifelike deer buck. Bam! A nice shot to the upper torso. I ran the entire next uphill segment up to Mid-Gad where the first aid station (water only) will be. Then the course winds through forest for a few miles to the top of Gad 2 Chair, and back down again to pick up the main road up Gad Valley. From there to the rocky switchbacks are some of the most frighteningly steep trail I have ever been on. I would never ever never want to ride up this thing in a vehicle. Fortunately the course goes off road before the big hill (but I missed it and went up the hill) and makes a nice wide switchback to join the road again higher up. Then the trail goes through rocky talus all the way up to the top of Little Cloud bowl and the final stretch to Hidden Peak. The fastest runners will get to Hidden peak in 1hr30m, I know it. It took me 2:15 but that was me taking an easy pace and stopping a few times for potty breaks.

Lots of tourists on Hidden Peak, Baldy, and between. The trail up Baldy was strewn with tulip petals. Some ladies were descending wearing crowns made of wildflowers. OK. At the summit I saw musicians packing up and I guessed there must have been a wedding there recently. Cool. I would love to marry a babe on a mountain top. As I ascended Baldy I saw my friend Dave The Immortal Ridge King Armitage hiking down. He told me he had begun that morning hiking the South Ridge of Superior, then hiked down to Alta and now on his way to Hidden Peak to ride the tram down. Dave must be pushing 70. I know he has hiked every ridge and peak in the Wasatch, multiple times.

I descended Baldy and then ran down to the tunnel. A sign outside said Peruvian Gulch was closed because there was an archery thing happening in the area. That explains the dudes with bows shooting at fake animals. I went through. Out the other side to the top of Peruvian I saw a rope indicating the area closed to all traffic. I went under and jogged down to where the trail ascends the ridge back up to Hidden Peak. Tough climb. Hell no I didn't run all of it. I was pooped at this point. Imagine having 26 miles on my legs at that point. I will find out next week what that feels like.

I refilled water at Hidden Peak then started the descent back down Gad Valley. The final descent of the course is more direct than the ascent. It began to rain. Nice and cool. Another runner caught up to me and we chatted all the way down to the parking area. He was doing repeats up to Hidden Peak, had done two and was going up for a third. Not me, I was done.

I estimate that if I am feeling good for the race I can get up to Hidden Peak in 2 hours, do the Mineral basin loop in 2:30, then do the rest in 2 hours and I can finish in 6:30. That would be sweet.

Eleben from home on the rail trail. Hot. Shirtless. Sweaty. Sexy. Ooh la la.

Speedgoat 50K

My first 50K race. More accurately, I didn't race. The fast guys and gals up front raced. I merely survived to finish. I started a few feet behind some of the best mountain runners in the world and enjoyed being in a world-class ultra running event.

A few thoughts:

I ran with Josh (JSH) for the first mile or so then caught up with him near Hidden Peak. He must have jammed right through the Peak aid station and flew downhill because I did not see him again until near Pacific Mine. He may not think so but he turned out an impressively decent time considering how little he had been able to train the last several months.

Got stuck behind a long line of walkers on Chip's Switchbacks when I would have rather been running up those things. I hate that feeling of not being able to pass.

I had a goal of getting to the peak after the first climb in 2 hours. I got to the peak in exactly two hours. However, long before the peak it became apparent that my downhill skills were lacking. I passed more people on the uphills than I did on the downhills.

The course was marked very well and there was an attentive marshal at every tricky turn. It would be almost impossible to get off course in Speedgoat 2012, and it can be a very tricky course.

I had a goal of finishing under 7 hours. Once I was deep into Mary Ellen Gulch and on the way up I had to accept that I would not be going for a relatively fast time. Rather, I focused my energy on getting to the finishing arch. The climb up to Mt. Baldy was heartbreaking. Meltzer said there was a twist going up Baldy: The hike up from Larry's Hole aid in Mineral basin was brutal, and when we finally reached the ridge between Baldy and Sugarloaf, we got sent back down several hundred feet on a service road before we had to make a very steep goat hike up 1,000 feet to Baldy ridge. There was no freakin' trail, only orange pin flags marking a route up the rocky mountainside. It was at the base of this climb I had my first and only thoughts of DNF.

Pacific Mine aid station was a party zone. Goat Lady, legendary Roch Horton hosting, ice cold wet towels, someone sprayed mist on me. Popcicles. Everyone leaves with a smile.

My family met me on Hidden Peak after the last climb. I got emotional and had to run to them uphill. I hiked close to two guys up the Peruvian Ridge trail then somehow out-hiked them, getting to the summit several minutes ahead. I firmly believed they would catch me on the last 4 miles down but I was surprised to have held them off. Another runner, a lady got very close on the descent from Baldy. She was just a few switchbacks away at the top of Little Cloud. I somehow stayed ahead of her all the way down. I said I wasn't racing but I also did not want to get my place degraded if I could help it.

Finishing was awesome. Every runner gets a terrific welcome and a Speedgoat medal. Ultragen recovery drink hit the spot. I immediately sat down under a shelter with some other runners, Kilian just a few chairs away. A runner immediately to to my left congratulated me. Thanking him I asked who had come in first. He replied, "Kilian, Ricky second, and Max King third." I nodded my head, "Awesome." At the awards I saw that the guy that I had that short conversation with was in fact Max King.

Anna Frost is a babe.

My time was 8h11m, about 800th place. 

My Garmin measured 32 miles total; 11,252 feet of vertical smile.

I think next year I would like to volunteer then run Speedgoat in 2014. I think I would have a good time out there on the course watching the runners and helping them to the finish.

Look at this tough course: