Renew

Winding up Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning I could feel that it was going to be a good day.  It was bitter cold, like 2 degrees, and my breath was cold smoke inside the durango, but I was all smiles.  When its cold like that it kinda makes you feel alive because you are in this primal struggle to stay alive.   Putting my ski boots on is misery, fingers responding to the arctic chill and toes resigned to a day of freeze and thaw.  As soon as I feel my binding grab my boot my skis become an appendage and the snow starts to churn under my weight.  Skirting across the Cirque traverse the cold and wind coerce to compel me downward and I realize my existence on this ridge is temporary; hang around here long enough and the very life in me would be frozen and dead.  But there is beauty here. The nerve endings in my fingers tell me this is absurd, and it tells me this in the language of pain.  But I'm still all smiles.  Its a give-and-take world we live in.  The joy is in direct proportion to the misery.  I drop in my line and fall past the trees, gravity always works.  I notice that I'm grunting and my lungs feel the cold burn, I'm caught in the middle of this struggle to stay vertical.  I ride it out and find safety in the glades below, still all smiles.  I know why I do this. Because it reminds me that I want to live.  Happy New Year.

Opening Day!!

Well, tomorrow is opening day for Snowbird.  They have gotten ideal weather for this past week or two and have decided to open a week ahead of schedule.  Needless to say I am WAY excited.  I can remember in years past the anticipation for the start of the season, even those days when I was living in Ohio, working at Cornett and looking at weather.com every 15 minutes to check out the Utah weather scene.  Finally I just put down roots out here and have found that the mountains offer boundless opportunities year round.  Today I definitely have a feeling of nostalgia.  It is funny how sometimes our passions direct our lives.  On a training note, I ran two 4 mile tempo runs this week (about an 8:50 pace) and I was gonna do my long run tomorrow, but seeing how I will be skiing tomorrow, I've decided to do that today.  I'm hoping to do 10-14 miles at an easy pace.  Love to all!!!

Weather rolling in

So I meant to post over the weekend but it just somehow passed on by.  Only thing I really did was run an easy 11 miler and rested the rest of the time.  Matt come over last night for about an hour and we talked at length about tempo, interval and endurance training.  Currently there is stormy weather rolling in and Snowbird is picking up some of the white stuff as we speak.  It looks like it is gonna be this way off and on all week, which is good for the targeted opening day of Nov. 20.

Long time

Its been a little while since I've posted, but there really isn't that much to talk about.  Snowbird announced their anticipated opening day as Nov. 20...that is close my friends!!  I'm taking a rest day tomorrow and doing a long run on Friday.  The weather has been fantastic in the valley this week with sunny skies and highs in the 60's.  TGR is premiering their new ski-flick on campus Friday night.  I love those guys.  I was in Jackson Hole for the 96-97 ski season when they made their first film.  Should be a ton of fun and a good way to get super-psyched for the season.  Jake and I are planning on going to the stadium friday morning for the taping of gameday, now that should be cool.  So it should be a great weekend.  Hope the best for anybody who reads this....which I think is about 3 people.

Friday rest-day

Ok, so I went off a bit yesterday, sorry.  I'm just so excited about cooler weather and the anticipation for an epic winter.  That is why I love Utah, you know its gonna snow 500+ inches of fluff in the canyons.  I'm in full-on rest mode today though.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate rest, it is crucial in training.  That is the mistake I made a few years ago and it resulted in a broken hip.  Also, I committed today to run the 50k (31mile) race on Antelope Island.  Paid the entrance fee.  I feel good about that decision, its motivation to stay in shape, and keep me running through the winter.  The date is march 26th I believe, so that is pretty much towards the end of ski season, which works out perfectly, I will be used to breathing heavy at higher altittudes.  That is pretty much it for now.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm meeting up with a really good friend of mine tomorrow who is also in recovery.  I love that guy, he is such a good buddy of mine.  Maybe I'll post pics.  later!!

Post-Moab

So, I've given myself a couple of days to get over things and the last two days I've been at the gym, lifting and running some easy miles on the treadmill.  I'm really surprised at how good I feel, I feel as though my fitness level is at an all-time high; i had a hard time getting my heart-rate up on the treadmill.  the only time I got winded is when I was maxing out on leg presses.  This makes me feel good about ski season.  let me tell you....I CAN'T F-ING WAIT!!!!. My skis are chattering in the closet!!!  As a southern Ohio boy, I never figured things would play out this way, but I'm SOOOO satisfied with being a lone-wolf, dirtbag, take-it-as-it-comes, agnostic, cynical, single, free-spirit mountain-man that I am.  Family life would just not afford that.  I cannot emphasize enough what adventures lay in wait......stay tuned!!!!

Redemption

The Moab Other Half was yesterday and it went really well for all of us.  Jake finished at 1hr 45min, Spencer finished around 1hr 49min, and I finished at 1hr 51min, so we were all within a couple minutes of each other.  My goal was to post a sub-two hour time so I'm happy with what I did.  I don't know how many more road races I'm going to do though because it beats me down, I much more prefer to run in the mountains.  The Antelope Island 50k in March will be perfect for that, its 0% road, but 50k is 31 miles so strategy and training will be much different.  Until then its going to be play time in the mountains, climbing and hiking until winter sets in and then ski like its my job.  I'm hoping to get in about 70 ski days this year.  Okay, so why did I call this post redemption?  Here's the story:  3 years ago I had signed up to do this race with Jake when I developed a stress fracture in my hip from over-training.  Things were not good all the way around.  I was just getting over the break-up with my fiance, was putting in a lot of stressful hours in surgery, and my drinking was getting worse.  When I was diagnosed with the hip fracture, they had to lay me off at work because I could obviously not stand for long hours at work, so I was at home on the couch or in bed with nothing to do but be depressed (and drink, heavily).  I won't go into all of the gory details, but lets just say that its been a long, hard road back, and yesterday at the finish line I felt like I finally could close this chapter of my life.  So now it is on to bigger and better things.  I have many endurance and mountaineering goals, all of which will be interesting indeed.  This half-marathon is something that was personal.  It was nothing compared to what I have planned.  So strap in and hold on, I'm just a pup in this world and I've only began to explore.

Two days til Moab

Well, its upon me and I'm starting to get a little anxious and nervous.  I'm gonna run an easy 2-3 miles today and call it good til Sunday.  I was sick last weekend and I haven't run much this week because I want to make sure I'm fully rested, even if it means taking away a bit from my base, better safe than sorry.  My friend Matt Mackey who has been very helpful in helping me with training and nutrition tips, as well as pacing me on a 10 mile run, finished the St. George marathon two weeks ago with a time of 2hrs 51min, AMAZING!!!  He finished 60th out of over 5000 entrants, not bad, congrats Matt.  I feel lucky for him to have to taken the time with a lowly athlete such as I.  So we're headed down to Moab tomorrow morning so I'll try my best to post results and pics on Sunday night, but maybe it'll have to wait til Monday, we'll see. Also, I've added a list of cool websites to the site.

Monday morning yucks

Man I hate monday mornings.  Did my usual monday morning 7 miler, but man it was tough.  I haven't felt my best for the last couple of days and getting motivated to run this morning was a task.  I'm really starting to dislike running on pavement.  I'd rather be in the mountains any day even though it is much tougher  Now I have a headache that I can't seem to get rid of.  I was researching running events for next year and I came across some good stuff.  There are some good 50k and 50 mile races in the spring and early summer.  I have already decided to do the Buffalo run 50k on Antelope Island in March and I would like to do another ultra before I head back to good ole Lucasville for a visit in June.  There is the Squaw Peak 50 miler in May, but man, I've heard that thing is especially brutal, like a total of 20,000+ feet of total elevation gain over the course of the race.  I don't know if I could be ready for something like that.  Anyway we've set the date for our Lone Peak climb for the 23rd of this month.  That's a week after the Moab other half, so conditioning should be no problemo, its just the jitters that you get near the top, it is WAY exposed up there, like 800ft. dropoffs on either side of that last knife-edge ridge.  It will be my 3rd time going up there, and the previous two times I remember being kinda nervous near the top.  I usually have to wait about a year in between for that trip to allow myself to forget how bad it can suck.  Its like childbirth, women forget how bad it is and decide to do it again. HAHA

solitude and suffering

Jake and I just got back from a 12 mile mountain run....2 hours flat.  Running in the mountains on trails at altittude is a whole different sport than road running.  I hit a wall at about mile 10 and the last 2 miles were pure misery for me, it was all that I could do to stay moving.  If I didn't have Jake there pushing me I don't think I would have kept going.  This was probably the most I have suffered to date.  The whole time we were up there we only passed 1 other person running, although there were 2 or 3 people on mountain bikes and one dude on a horse.  That is why I called this post solitude and suffering.  I love the solitude and in a perverse way I sort of enjoy the suffering too.  This is not the sport to be in if you want fame and glory.  The only rewards manifest themselves deep within your own soul.  Anyway, today made me feel really good about the Moab 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) because the conditions down there (road) will be much easier than what we did today.  I feel like I have a legitamate shot at posting a sub-2 hour time.

From the U

So I guess Jake and I are gonna run tomorrow instead of saturday.  We're gonna start out up behind the Draper Temple on the trails and work our way over onto the Bonneville shoreline trail and head north until we its we decide to turn around.  Its alot of up and down on uneven trail so it should be a good workout.  I'll post on it tomorrow afternoon sometime.  On an unrelated subject, as a part of my New Testament literature class we went over to the Marriot library to their rare books collection.  I got to hold a Qu'ran that was a thousand years old and an Ethiopian text that was from the 9th century that was written in ga'ez and coptic.  Both were way cool, an amazing experience.

from the U library

Today was kind of a cross-training day.  I lifted chest and shoulders at the fieldhouse and ran on the treadmill for 40 minutes.  Will probably do about the same thing tomorrow, rest friday, then do a long run on saturday.  That will bring me up to two weeks left before Moab.  Other than that, there's nothing new.  Its still as hot as Georgia asphalt in Salt Lake and I'm sick of it.  I can't wait until winter!!  My skis are already chattering in the closet.

Monday morning post

Just got back from an easy 7 mile run this morning.  Felt pretty good, but its weird for me, I don't really even feel like running until I'm about 3 or 4 miles in.  Its just painful until then.  My blisters on my feet are finally toughening up a little.  So, I'm gonna head up to the U today to finish up a paper and practice my Chinese all day.  Other than that, everything is good, as always I need to eat better (no pizza and fries) but I just CRAVE junk food all day, man!  Thanks for the comment Heather!  Say hi to everyone in the O.R. for me, I miss you guys like its my job.

Sunday Morning

Insomnia was pretty bad last night and I almost ran at 4:30, but luckily found some sleep.  So here is what Jake and I talked about last night: we start at Mom's house next saturday morning and run to the Bell Canyon trailhead (about 10 miles) then hump it up to the 1st waterfall and back down to Jake's (another 5 or so).  I think its fairly ambitious and will require some planning on fueling (probably Hammer gel and some EFS).  I think we will put off the Lone Peak climb until after the Moab 1/2 marathon because I wouldn't want to risk an injury that would put one of us out of the race, so we will probably do that the weekend after the race.  I can't wait to post pictures of the race.  I think Spencer is going to run it, too.  It must be nice to be 19!  I think he will do well, especially if he trains.  I anticipate Jake putting up a pretty good time, like in the 1:30-1:45 range.  I, on the other hand am blessed with that Keller speed, haha, and will feel good about coming in under 2 hours.  I promise to post times and pictures.

The first blog

Well, here goes. Ran 11 miles this morning mostly in the dark and the stars and the moon were the only light on the draper trail.  Kinda spooky running past big bushes and trees, feels like somebody could just jump out and.....I don't know, say boo i guess.  I feel that I have a pretty good base for endurance.  Now its just kind of a mental thing, ya know.  The art of suffering.  The Moab Half Marathon is three weeks out and I feel good about it.  I got my eye on the Antelope Island 50K next spring.  That is the goal anyway.  I want to do more running events this coming year, but winter is coming and I am STOKED to ski!!!  I'm buying a season pass at Snowbird, so the winter will be epic.  I should be able to maintain, or even improve upon my endurance slogging through the mountains.  It will be hard to fit in running in the winter, but I will.