21 Miles

So, I did my last long run building up to the Ogden Marathon May 15. I get to taper down for the next 3 weeks. I had the bright idea to trail run the Bar M Loop twice, and then run down the old highway to the Colorado River. The loop is rolling, rocky, hilly trail, and it beat me up pretty good going through it twice. So, when I finally dropped down the old highway at Mile 16.5, I was butt tired. Nice 60 degree weather, though. The e-Gels seem to be working pretty good, and getting my electrolytes from those instead of sugary Gatorade seems to be working out well. I don't run a lot of miles each week (some marathoners run 50-100 miles a week in training), but I added up recent months of running, and I've run over 300 miles in training. Cool. Legs feel strong. Abs good. And I've fallen in love with ice buckets.

19 Mile Run with Dave

My brother Dave and I did a 19 mile run this past Saturday. We ran the Bar M Loop and then down the old highway past arches and down into Moab. We were beat! Last week it was about 45-50 degrees for my 17 miler. This week it was about 75-80 degrees in town. We've been using e-Gels for about 2 weeks now. They are an electrolyte gel with about 50 more calories per pack than a Gu. The plus side is I can just drink water instead of sugary Gatorade. I broke out the new shorts on this run. My first "track short" with high split sides. I LOVED them! I'm never looking back.

Led Astray

Brandi and I parked at Bar M and ran down the dirt track 1.5 miles. There were a few runners on the road and we passed a little aid station and mile markers. The runners had racing number bibs. It turns out there is a "Moab Marathon" and it was this last Saturday. Only 50 runners, and hardly anyone knows about it. We reached the fork where you turn east to continue the 8 mile Bar M Loop or continue south on the old highway trail down past Arches and back into Moab. Well, we turned east to run the loop, and there were some runners about a quarter mile behind us. I kept my eye on them as we ran because I was afraid they would follow us. They did. I had to run back and tell them to go back and take the other road. Easily led astray.

Dave and Erin are coming down this weekend. Dave and I are doing a 19 mile run if anyone wants to join us.

Running

So, I talked Brandi into running with me last fall. She did the Moab Winter Sun 10K in December, and then we ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon with my old high school buddy Jared Rogers and local friend Gery Wakefield in March. Brandi ran a 2:17, and I ran a 2:08. Slow and steady. We're training for the Ogden Marathon May 15. My bro Dave is going to join us. This will be my 4th consecutive Ogden Marathon.

Since the Half in March, my longest run has been 15 miles. Brandi dropped me off at Bar-M, and I ran the Bar-M Loop (8 miles) and then down the old highway, past Arches, and across the footbridge over the Colorado (another 7 miles). Last weekend I ran 10 miles in the farmland outside Moroni, Utah while my dad rode his bike along with me. Saturday, I've got a 17 miler planned. I love the weekly long runs. I usually do them on Saturday, and while they're tiring, it feels good to get home and eat a chocolate recovery shake and take a hot shower. I'm always tired the rest of the day, but a good feeling kind of tired. Like after hauling an elk out of the mountains or a long day hiking in the Grand Canyon.

I started doing ab work this week. Probably should have started sooner. To start, two sets of 50 sit ups for 100 total each night. Did 3 nights this week, and will probably add a fourth Saturday after the long run....maybe. After reading the book Born to Run recently, I got the itch to run an ultramarathon. The cool thing about these itches is, once I get it, I do it. It's also the bad thing. So, after reading up and talking around, I've circled the Pocatello 50 Mile Trail Run for May 2011 on my calendar. Registration opens January 1, 2011 if anyone wants to join me. I emailed the race director and asked him to include me on their reminder email list. Tonight was my first day of training for that race. I began a small whole-body workout and included step-ups because the Pocatello 50 has crazy mountains you run up and down. There are a million trails within a mile or two of our house here in Moab, so I'm going to start running out to those and hitting the trails for training over the next year. My goal is to, sometime this summer, do a 20 mile run up the La Sal Loop Road and up to the top of Geyser Pass.

So, it's cool having Brandi training with me. She doesn't like to run with me anymore, but it's been fun having someone working toward the same goal.

Update

Here's a picture for the bros to be jealous of...

Holidays 2009

We took the kiddos to the local BMX track and sledded the hillage.
Christmas tree cut down out of the mountains with the kiddos. Annie is always reading. Last August, at age 10, she read the entire Work and the Glory series. I handed her Lund's Kingdom and the Crown series on the Savior last week and she's halfway done.
We squeezed in a trip to Logan for my knighting. I now lie on my bed every morning reading the newspaper naked. Brandi gets pissed.
BMX track sledding. Emmertime and Annie.
Brandi and Matt Matt. He closes his eyes to avoid snow carnage.

Annie making Grandma's cinnamon rolls.
Annie made this hideous tree angel with a goatee about 7 years ago. Tradition.

Elk Down Part IV

I filled my late season cow elk tag this morning after 5 days of hunting! I thought it would be easy, but I missed a couple of opportunities earlier in the week bumping elk into thick timber while walking ridgelines and not being ready. The snow has been flying off and on for a couple of weeks bringing record snow to Moab. I've been hunting the western base of the La Sal Mountains between 6,000 and 7,000 feet. The snow has been getting deeper and deeper each day, and as I drove up into a snow storm this morning, I wasn't sure I was going to make it up. I spotted 3 cows at around 8am about a mile away, two canyons over, and in the middle of a roadless series of ridges with cedars, pines, and mixed openings on the south facing slopes. I studied the area through my binoculars and decided that because they were at the top of a draw, they might bed in the timber there. I remembered an old national forest boundary fence running through that area in the forest, and I remembered that the other day I happened upon it and found that someone had driven through the deep snow along the fence making walking much easier if the tracks weren't filled in by now. So, I drove about 3 miles using forest roads and parked what I estimated to be about a half mile from the elk. I found the fenceline and the ruts, and walked through about 4 inches of fresh snow in the ruts down the fenceline. After about a half mile, I turned into the forest thinking I was somewhere in the vicinity of where those elk might have bedded down. After about 5 minutes of walking, I popped out on a little ridge with a few trees on top and looked down into a southwest facing draw that I though the elk were in. Suddenly, a spike elk stepped out about 30 yards below me on the opposite face and looked at me. I took 3 quick steps to get into a clearing and as I did this, the spike began running up the opposite slope which was pretty open even though there were a lot of trees. Suddenly, a herd of about 10-15 cows, several bulls, and the spike busted out of the trees where they were bedded and ran across the slope, stopping to keep looking back. I shot a cow that was clear of the rest of the herd so as not to wound anything else. I shot the elk at about 9:15 am, and as I worked to quarter the elk up, the snow began falling heavier and heavier until visibility was down to just a few hundred meters. I was getting worried and worked quickly. At 10:20, I loaded the backstraps into my day pack, slung on my rifle, and used my rope to drag a hind quarter and front quarter behind me. I had GPS'ed the truck, and it told me I was .38 miles from the truck down the ridge. I took a bearing, and headed up the slope to the top of the ridge and then due north. The snow was deep (probably about 18 inches or more) and my load was heavy, so I could only go about 20 feet at a time, and then had to stop for a brief rest. I arrived at the truck at 11am (only 40 minutes hike). I dropped my gear and load in the truck and grabbed my frame pack. It took me about 15 minutes to hike back down to the elk. I loaded the remaining hind and front quarter on my pack, and headed back to the truck at 11:30. Back to the truck at noon with my last load. The snow was coming down pretty good, and had more than half-filled my tracks coming in. I barely made it out, getting stuck a couple of times. What a great 5 days of hunting! Most of it was getting to know this new area. But each day I saw elk, and was within 30 yards of several big bulls multiple times. Beautiful country.

I took this picture standing next to the elk. I shot from the top of the ridge at the top of the frame. I estimate it was about 70 yards or so. It wasn't far. I took a standing shot and put the elk down with my customary neck shot.