At the last minute I decided to run a road race, the River Rail Relay which runs the paved trails from Roy to West Jordan. I ran the entire distance solo. I truly made it a solo run. Friday evening, I parked my car at the finish, and then took Trax (light rail) and Front Runner (train) to Roy (the start) and then ran 2.5 miles to a motel. Riding the train all that way certainly put in my mind just how far I would be running.
After finishing a solid race last weekend, North Coast 24 (107.7 miles) I went into the week wondering if I would recover in time to run a local race, Salt Flats 100. I was signed up, but not really committed. If I tried, It would be only five days recovery time between races. With a couple days to go, I didn’t have anything major left to recover from, so I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I still had doubts and decided to just treat it as a training run and see how it goes.
North Coast 24-hour is one of the premier 24-hour events in the country. It is held at a park in Cleveland, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, on a 100% paved trail. The winner of a fixed-time race is the person who runs the furthest. I had intended to run this race a year ago, but my busted leg caused me to defer my entry until this year. The RD was kind enough to move it. This race normally attracts some of the best fixed-time runners in country and is usually the National Championship, but this year it wasn’t, so competition was a little down but the toughness was up.
This morning I accomplished a run I’ve wanted to do for some time, to run the spine of Lake Mountain north to south. I started at about 3 a.m. in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain. I parked my car in front of the house and was off, climbing up to the ridge. The first several miles are pretty easy, a nice ridge road on top, but above Reformation Canyon, the road ends and it turns into a bushwhack. The best and fasted route is to just stick with the ridge tops, going up and down. To the summit, the main ridge is on the Eagle mountain side. There is a lower ridge on the Utah Lake side but well out of the way.
It was great fun going up and down the ridges. Because of the fire, the ridge tops now are very runnable, no more thick scrub and spider webs. You can make good time, but I took it easy, enjoying the night and doing plenty of sight-seeing.
Once I reached the true summit about about 7,750, going further, somehow I took a wrong turn. I was puzzled that somehow I missed noticing the main road….well that is because I started running on the wrong ridge, that would have got me to the right place, but no road and much steeper down. I figured things out, came down to the main road, ran up and found the right series of roads. With all the towers up there it is pretty confusing which is the right road, but now I know. I finally connected to the ridge road to take me all the way to Soldier’s pass, about 18 miles.
Dawn arrived and the light reflecting off of Utah Lake was pretty amazing. Eventually the road descends into a short canyon on the south end. There was a shooter there that made me nervous with his handgun, but he noticed me and I ran by.
Once I hit Redwood Road, about the 20-mile mark, I turned and started running home on the pavement. I went about 8 more miles, and with just six more miles to go, I called home so I wouldn’t be late for the birthday activities. It was a wonder fun. Here is the video and photos:
It has been a long 15 months of injury recovery from a terrible tibia stress fracture and other associated side-effects. Finally, after all that time, I feel injury-free, able to again go on long solo adventure runs, my favorite part of running. Two weeks ago I finished the Antelope Island 100 in 23:11, taking it easy because of a lingering hamstring problem. But finally, I can run up and down hills pain free.
At times, my adventure runs are the “spur of the moment” type things. If the weather looks good, and I have the time, I’ll quickly make plans, get the OK from my wife, and take off on my own to go run in some remote place. This time, I decided to return to one of my favorite places to run — the remote back country of Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. This is a unique park, no entrance fee, and very few people in the back country. I’ve been there five times before and was ready for a nice long run. I stayed the night in Torrey and hit the trail at dawn. This video tells the story.
I was privileged to be asked to be part of this week’s Ultrarunner Podcast. I had no idea what they would ask me. It was fun. My son was a little puzzled that apparently we moved to Colorado without telling him, and he lives at home with us.
Utah Lake is a shallow fresh-water lake in Utah Valley. It is about 20 miles long and is about 6-10 miles wide. It covers about 25% of the massive Utah Valley located about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. During most of the winters, it will freeze solid for several weeks. For decades people have ventured out on the ice to fish, hunt ducks, ice skate, ski skate, and explore. A few years ago I ventured out to ran across it which I have done many times. I’ve run its length, run a 50-miler on it, and have even run all the way around it. Hot springs exist in and around the lake. Most are on the northern end, in Saratoga Springs, and toward the south near Lincoln Beach. Great care must be taken by anyone who ventures out on the ice. Do NOT go out there alone.
This year the lake froze very quickly from a series of days with temperatures near zero. After a couple weeks below freezing, the ice away from shore was about six inches thick. I decided it was time to run the lake again. My story is told in this video.
The return trip turned out to be very tough. Almost immediately a stiff headwind kicked up bringing windchill way down. Despite gloves, hand warmers, and pockets, my fingers kept freezing up, toes too. Interesting little snow drifts appeared everywhere as the wind blew snow toward me. It was pretty easy keeping a straight line, because I just ran into the wind.
As I approached closer to home, for the last two miles the wind had almost completely swept the ice of all the snow. The ice was very slick and I had to be extra careful. I could more clearly look down in the clear ice and see how deep the cracks went, about six inches of thickness. The wind continued. It felt like I was in an arctic desert. Finally the shore came and the wind was less fierce. I returned home a frozen runner, but I had a great time.
To close out 2012, I again ran in Across the Years (ATY), a fixed-time race held in Glendale, Arizona. For a fixed-time race, the objective is to run as many miles as you can within a given period of time. The clock is always ticking. You can take rests along the way, but the clock never stops. At ATY, there are three different races, running concurrently, 24-hours, 48-hours, and 72-hours. This year I again decided to enter the 48-hour race. Two years ago I won the race, and last year came in second.
I accomplished my 4th 100K+ training run in the past 22 days, for a big mileage month of 441 miles. I started at 2:00 a.m. in the little town of Cedar Fort, ran clockwise around the southern portion of the Ochirrhs. Dawn came around mile 23 on the west side of the mountains. This video tells the whole story.
I felt fine at the finish. With each of these very long runs, I can feel my mileage base being restored since my downtime from injury. This was a great run. I loved being up in the mountains and also doing fast miles on the flats.
On Black Friday I usually avoid the stores and go for a very long run. This year I chose to run around the San Pitch mountain range in Central Utah. These low mountains run for 40 miles and divide massive Juab Valley to the west and Sanpete Valley on the east. I started my run at 1:00 a.m. in the small town of Levan. My goal was to reach Gunnison, 30 miles to the south by dawn. It was 25 degrees when I started and I ran through bitter cold air near Yuba Lake. It was very tough mentally to continue. I debated turning around or hitching a ride from an occasional vehicle. But I toughed it out. As the road climbed toward Gunnison, the temperature rose back into the mid-20s and I felt much better. I stopped for a quick breakfast at the gas station, and then headed east toward the rising sun. I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story:
Will I try again? Maybe. A more runnable route through Sanpete Valley would be on dirt roads running closer to the mountains. However, that bypasses all the towns with their “aid stations.” Perhaps I may someday run the length of the valley. It is a beautiful, unique place.
I started running about 2 a.m. and ran counter-clockwise all the way around massive Utah Lake, an 82-mile adventure run. About 3/4th was rural country. Many cyclists do this every year, but I’m the first to do it on foot in a day. Here is my video report.
The Jordan River in Utah meanders for more than 50 miles between Utah’s largest natural fresh-water lake (Utah Lake) and the famed Great Salt Lake. For many years a paved recreational trail has been constructed along the river. It is named: Jordan River Parkway Trail. As far as I can tell, no one has before attempted to run the trail end-to-end in one day. That was my quest for this urban adventure run.
