Sunday, October 27, 2013

My walk of shame

The plan: run down from the top of Emigration Canyon, hop on the trail by the zoo and head north on Shorline Trail to City Creek Canyon. Seven miles down the canyon and then ten across. A great fun way to up my mileage, right!?!
Tehra and I concocted this plan a while back. It was one of those, "you know you're a runner when..." moments when we both got SO excited about the possobility of this run!
We have our first TRAIL half next weekend so we figured what a great last training run before "taper week." (Taper, shmaper!)
What actually happened: I'm a lover of downhill, so when by mile 4 of the canyon I just still wasn't feeling it, I knew something was off. Running down Emigration Canyon is one of my favorite runs. I usually do it on cruise control, but this morning it just wasn't clicking. 
By the time we got to the trailhead I was about to tell Tehra I was calling it. But decided to buck up and keep going. There's a bit of a climb up to the trail, and my legs felt like they'd already done 7 miles incline instead of decline. I knew that after this initial hike up, I'd still have another good two miles up after we got to Dry Creek Canyon. My will was disappearing, but I pushed on. 
Then I noticed my hands... So swollen my ring was actually hurting a bit. And that's when I called it. I still had a good, hearty ten miles left and my brain just couldn't wrap itself around how it was going to make my body do it. 
I'm not sure what if anything is going on with my body... Probably nothing, but  I'm glad I have a running buddy who's totally cool with me screwing our amazing run. 
We hiked back down to the trail head and then down to Tehra's house. Now that I'm home I still just feel off. Slightly dizzy and more fatigued than when I ran my half. As much as I wanted to tuff it out, I guess my body had other plans. Lesson learned or did I just start a bad habit?


At the top of Emigration with the sun just peaking over the mountain. 
I know it's probably pollution, but the pretty pinks and blues make me happy. 
At the turn around. Aka. The start of the walk of shame. 
I can usually slide my ring off and on VERY easily. Here it looks like a fat lady in a corset.  
At least the scenery down was good. 
Mileage: 9.97 (that .03 will haunt me forever!)
Time: 2:49
Pace: 16'57"

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Conjure One kind of run

I didn't have much time today, but it's the only time I have to run a trail this week. So a quick jaunt up Dry Creek Canyon it was. I was craving some trail time and, really, it was my soul that needed a good run through the forest more than my legs. 
Ran two miles up, sat on a rock on top of a hill for a bit, then practiced my "flying" down the hill. Really though, just one little tip from Lindsay (lean forward) has changed my relationship with downhills forever. They are seriously amazingly fun now! 

My good ol' trail
I love being so close to mountains. Lucky girl!
A blurry pic of my hitch hiker ladybug friend. He was orange and black. A Halloween ladybug!
My rock!  Thanks for the seat, bud!
Mileage: 3.84
Time: 56.53
Pace: 14'48"

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Is this the trail?

It's pathetic really. This coming month marks the anniversary of my first trail run. I've definitely found my place in the trails and the majority of my run are in the hills. Yet, with as much time as a spend up there I'd never been to the "living room." A very common and well know hike in Salt Lake. And it wasn't for lack of trying. There's been countless times I've headed out in the area, thinking I'd for sure stumble upon it and never have. 
So on Tuesday, Tehra and were determined. We headed up from the museum. Tehra had been there once, YEARS ago, so I followed her lead. But really, we had no idea where we were going. 
We found a trail we were certain headed up to...wherever we were going. "Is this the trail?" We happened to pass a hiker and decided we'd make sure we were on the right path. Nope!  We needed to back track and head straight up the side of the mountain. 
And Holy Hell!  What a hike!!  It's a steep up hill hike with no ebb and flow... Just up. It even made my mountain goat of a hiking partner complain a bit!
But we made it, sat for a bit, took some pics and then discussed our plan for the way down. We knew there was more than one way up to the living room. Why not explore another way down. 
We'd gotten to the living room from the back, so we left out the front. As we left a woman and her dog came running past. Props to her for running such a technical incline. Clearly, if she was running up, hiking down would be a breeze. 
We walked straight out on the trail... until there literally was no trail. Just a cliff an slab of rock, "is this the trail?" Back tracked again, and headed down a narrow grassy trail. 
It may have been the bushy, low lying scrub oak that scratched up my calves or the very, VERY lose sand that we ended up tracking through, but something kept making us ask, "is this the trail?" 
Eventually, we joined up to the skyline trail and back to our car. I'd love to go back to the living room one day... I just can't say for sure I won't be asking, "is this the trail?" 

Pretty fall leaves
Part of the hill. At least these trees were cool to look at!
The view when we finally found the living room!

Ok, the view totally makes it worth the hunt. 


Did I mention there was LOTS of moss?  Did I mention I have a freakish obsession with moss?

Friday, October 11, 2013

Sick of it!

This was my view a lot of this week. 
(My legs up on the couch under a blanket!)

I woke up Monday morning with that painful lump in the back of my throat. I'd already planned to run that morning and the voices saying, "it's above the neck, run through it!" kept playing in my head. 

I decided to give my throat a bit of a break and just did a quick 3 on the treadmill since it was cold outside and I had to co-op at my girly's school that afternoon. 

Ran 3, no problem... But by the end of the night I was feeling the problem. I'm all for running through pain when it's smart, but I think what my body was crying for was REST and when I didn't give it that, it flipped the freak out... (Don't mind the momma cuss words!)

So after attempting to "slow down" on Tuesday.... Failed... I officially took two sick days. (It helped that my little guy had a fever and was all about snuggling!) 

And now I'm aching for a run... 

Did I mention these were delivered Tuesday... Just in time to taunt me!


Thursday, October 3, 2013

It's about time!

Well, it only took us a year or so but we finally did it!  
Back in the day Lindsay and I were pretty much inseperable. But give us two grown up lives with grown up responsibilities and we're lucky to see each other once a month now a days. 
Lindsay was a BIG part in why I started running. I wanted to be able to explore and enjoy the beautiful trails like she did. So after running for a year, we finally made it up to a trail together!  And it was such a good time. 
Tehra and I met up with her at a trail head she picked called East Mountain Wilderness Park. It's one of Lindsay's old stand by's but it was a new one for me. It was GORGEOUS!  (Shhh... Don't tell Dry Creek, but it migh be my new favorite!) 
We were actually on Bonneville Shorline Trail for a bit but it's a different feeling part. It's much further away from the city line and felt, oh so peaceful.
I was AMAZED the first time I watched Lindsay fly, literally FLY down a hill!  She told me to make sure I was leaning forward. Holy Hell!! What a difference!  I may not be flying like her yet, but I've definitely found my wings now. What a blast!
We had a random little snow flurry that was fun and there were tons of cacti! Which I never remembered to snap a pic of!!! Ugh!
Oh well, next time!


No mile tracking today. I was too excited to finally run with Lindsay Lou to remember to start my counter... But here's a good guess...

Miles: 3
Time: an hour maybe?
Pace: about that fast...