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Logan Peak Trail Run Report

June 29th, 2008 Posted in Running | 2 Comments »

Yesterday morning around 5:45am, about 45 or so runners gathered at Gibbons Park in western Logan, UT at the base of Dry Canyon for the start of the 2nd Annual Logan Peak Trail Run - a 28 mile trek from the base of Dry Canyon at 4847ft to the top of Mt. Logan at 9710. The morning brought cool temperatures and no clouds - a beautiful day to run.

In the days leading up to Logan Peak, many thoughts about the race went through my mind.

• First off, I was excited to go into an event with a racing attitude. Despite running several marathons and shorter races in the months leading up to Logan Peak Trail Run, I feel like I haven’t tested out my race legs since Mountain Mist 50K in late January.

• Second, this will be my first race out west, and my first race at elevation. I have been putting in some very quality miles since I moved out here, and I think I am about ready to go (despite being no higher than 9K feet in my training).

• Finally, and contrary to my second thought, in the back of my mind I kept thinking that I haven’t done any long runs as I usually have in training for such an event. I have done weekends where I have run, 3, 4, and 5 times in the span of 36-48 hours, with each run between 5-12 miles in distance, but I haven’t put in that many long runs over 18 miles. I’ll be curious to see how I perform after we hit the 3 hour mark.

I looked down at my watch - 5:50am. With the race starting in about 10 minutes, I gather up my last minute belongings (watch, gels, hat) and decide to chow down on half of a mojo bar. Now I’ll have you know that I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, especially in a race that I expect to do well in. I’ll be honest, approaching this race, I had full intentions on being competitive, definitely thinking about top ten, and hopefully coming within 45 minutes of the leaders. With my stomach already filled with butterflies, the mojo bar clashed. I took two bites that did me in - for whatever reason, I felt like vomiting. I had already eaten a large pre-race breakfast and a few gels 25 minutes before, and I knew throwing up wasn’t a good option as I would have lost all my race energy.

From this point to the finish, that is the main plot of the race - just nauesa the entire time. I have run 24 ultras/marathons now and this race was the hardest race on my stomach and head. Regardless, the start came at exactly 6:00am, and we were off!

The first 4-5 miles were all about hiking… up, up, and away to the first aid station up Dry Canyon. I ran as much as I could, but there wasn’t a whole lot of running going on. I was feeling pretty good at this point - the sickness in my stomach subsided and I was taken away by the forests and the occasional views through the trees.  Around 7:22, I hit the aid station, feeling pretty good, but admittedly a little tired. The climb to the first aid station was a good one as shown by the elevation profile of the race:

As soon as I hit the aid station, I felt a little low on energy, so it was GU time! I shot a GU and like deja-vu, my stomach hit rock bottom. I came close to throwing it up again and decided to stick around the aid station for another few minutes to walk off the nausea. My ultimate plan was to walk up the first climb to the first aid station and then kick it into gear, running a good amount of the remainder of the race. Keeping that in mind, but with some lingering nausea, I decided to move on, and ran a good portion of the next few miles, passing about 4 runners and feeling pretty good. By the way, the views of the surrounding mountains and the valley down below was beyond description. Just incredible!

In between these next aid stations, I found a little waist belt bottle in the middle of the course filled with gel. I decided to be a good citizen and pick it up and return it to the folks at the next aid station. The jeep roads and trails lead me to the next aid station in good time; still feeling a little sick, but enjoying myself. As I entered the aid station (by the way, the volunteers in the race were awesome!), I flash them the gel bottle that I picked up.

“Oh! The runner in front of you was looking for that! He said he dropped it somewhere on the trail. He is probably about 4 minutes in front of you!”

With a simple mile and a half to the next aid station, I decided to kick it into gear and run a good amount to see if I could catch him. I knew whoever dropped it would probably like their energy before stomping up Logan Peak. I took off at a good pace, and actually caught him relatively quickly, maybe within 10 minutes. Thankful I had picked it up, we chatted a little bit on an uphill section, and then he took off as the trail leveled out as I decided to walk and catch my breath a little.

Hitting the next aid station, I chowed down on some fruit (mainly grapes and watermelon) as my stomach was still not craving any solid food, like cookies, chips, and sandwiches. Because of this, with a big climb to come, I knew I was in trouble. I did have some GUs, some Clif Shot Blox, and some fruit in my pocket to assist me with the out and back section up Logan Peak, but I knew I was in for a good climb. As I left the aid station, I joked with the aid station folks “I’ll see you in 15 minutes!” The climb ahead was a 6 mile out and back, marching up to the radio tower at the peak at 9710 feet elevation.

This section was fun, and also very tough. About 80% of the course from here was covered in several feet of snow leftover from the record-breaking winter Utah enjoyed. The runners in the lead were on their way back down, which was fun watching them play fox and hound, chasing each other down the snow. What a performance! The climb up was a tough one, getting steeper and steeper, but finally, after a good hour and a slow 3 miles, the tower was only several hundred yards away.

I wish I had pictures from this point in the race. You could see forever when you hit the top. Rather than being in an airplane or in a car, I had never been at this high elevation before. I definitely felt dizzy walking up the last 1/4 mile of the peak. The trail was a dirt road underneath the snow, so there was plenty of room to hike up the slope without worrying of falling off the side, but man it was steep on each side! I got up to the top and walked around the tower to take the views in from all directions. Just awesome! The following video isn’t mine, but it’s the view that we all witnessed from the top:

Had it not been a race I would have stuck around up there for at least an hour. After unsuccessfully attempting to stomach a few shot blocks, I headed back down.In general, I consider myself a great downhill runner. I hear a lot of folks complain about downhill running just because it is tough on your legs and knees. Rather than an occasional toenail crying mommy, I can turn up the heat on the downhills. I could not muster any energy however, and felt like I was stumbling down the peak. I was even passed in this section, which was unlike me. I crawled into the next aid station, returning from the out and back section with hardly any energy left.Dropping out at this section definitely crossed my mind, I won’t lie. I felt like it would be impossible to complete the next few sections with the energy I had left. I decided to stick around the aid station a little longer than I generally would, and chit-chatted with the volunteers (did I mention they were great?). I joked around saying that I probably should have volunteered as opposed to run the event. We all laughed, when deep down I was thinking that maybe I should have

There were 3 reasons why I decided to push on:

• I have never DNFed from a race and wasn’t about ready to start today
• I am considering running a hundred miler by the end of the season, and if I couldn’t push through this, that would have a poor affect on my confidence
• I kept coming back to Karl Meltzer’s AT speed attempt coming up in a few months - if he is able to average 45+ miles a day for 47 days straight, surely I can push through one bad day of 28 miles right? It’s all about the ups and downs in a race of this nature, and I was just in a rut.

I pushed on with very little energy towards the next aid station, which was quoted to be 5.5 to 6 miles away. Man it felt like an eternity! There was a good amount of downhills in this section, and I tried to run as much as I could without collapsing It was starting to warm up, and there was about 3 miles of this section that were completely unshaded. It was a death march to say the least. The trail however, was unbelievably beautiful. The views into the canyons, the views back up towards Logan Peak, the valley down below, I could go on and on. The views helped with the hike towards the next aid station. Just one foot in front of the other right?

Finally after a long 1:35, I hit the next aid station, completely zombified. I was so happy to see people with food, and even more happy to see a chair. I sat down immediately. I know you aren’t supposed to sit down in a chair in an ultra as chairs usually mean the end of the race, but I was in a good position depending on how you look at it as it was impossible to drop of at this point. The aid station folks had hiked to this section and there was no transportation down the mountain without hiking out.

I have volunteered at about 10 aid stations in the past, and I felt bad for the volunteers putting up with me. They were very helpful, retrieving food requests and asking if I needed anything. I felt like I was a crab. I was thinking to myself, “man, talk about a crash and burn victim at mile 24″. Usually when I run into the last aid station, I have the finish line in my sight, thinking about how many people I can pass before I hit the tape. All I was thinking about here was trying not to completely burn out.

Despite the last four miles being downhill, I don’t think I could have made it without taking in any sugar. I was fed shot blocks, some coke, and a full bottle of gatorade, just enough to get me off the mountain. I probably spent 10-15 minutes at that last aid station, “regaining conscientiousness”.  Finally, I got off my butt and made a move towards the trail. Thanking the volunteers, I was off towards the finish.

The next section towards the finish was actually great. Like some folks said, it was tough not to run this section as it was just constant downhill. I probably put in 9 minute miles down the canyon, and after a quick stop at a cooler for a drink at the trail head, I hit the finish line in 7h15m and change. I was told I came in 26th place but I was just happy to finish, and for the first time in the race, feeling pretty good.

I learned a lot from the race. I learned what to eat before the race, what not to eat, and never to underestimate a race. Being my first ultra out west, I am not all that disappointed with the finish as I can hopefully take away some aspects of racing out here and apply it to future mountain ultras. I was comparing this race a lot to my last 50K that I had run in January, and was hoping to have results similar to that race and finish in the top 15%. I put together an elevation comparison chart to the two races, and realized maybe comparing these two races was flawed thinking:

 

Probably not the best way to compare a mountain course to a “hilly course” and it’s probably not fair to compare the two courses, but I thought matching one elevation chart to the next tells a good story. Finally, with the Speedgoat 50K coming up in exactly a month, I know how to train better. I have been training pretty hard in comparison to how I used to back in Atlanta, but if I want to do well, I will really have to put in some quality miles. I am not talking increase the mileage necessarily, but put in a lot of miles with climbs and elevation change and run at higher elevation. Thankfully I have The Canyons in my backyard, which will help me in the next months training.

Because of my nausea yesterday, the Logan Peak Trail Run was more like a hike to me. With that being said, I am still tired, but my legs aren’t sore.  Usually after running a hard ultra, I am knocked out for a good 5 days, but I feel good enough to go for a run right now. Maybe I will do just that.

Thanks for reading!

Pictures of the event can be found here thanks to Greg Norrander: http://norrandertrailshots.blogspot.com/

Logan Peak Trail Run results

Runners	M/F	Age	Finish Time	Overall Place
Jonathan Allen	M	29	4:51:30	1 (new course record by 1:25)
Brain Beckstead	M	26	4:53:38	2
leland barker	M	50	4:53:52	3
Wade McFarland	M	52	4:57:35	4
Jon Wheelwright	M	28	5:37:05	5
Drew Michener	M	28	5:39:02	6
Sarah Evans	F	35	5:42:25	7 (1st female)
ryan brueggman	M	32	5:47:15	8
Jami Smith	F	31	5:49:52	9 (2nd female)
Brandon Haddick	M	43	5:52:41	10
Jamie Williams	F	38	6:04:44	11 (3rd female)
Jim Skaggs	M	49	6:12:34	12
Jen Clancy	F	29	6:15:00	13 (4th female)
Davy Crockett	M	 	6:25:57	14
Mark Ellison	M	43	6:29:53	15
Aric manning	M	36	6:30:10	16
Dave Evans	M	31	6:30:14	17
Matt Lloyd	M	38	6:33:00	18
Daniel Bray	M	49	6:41:19	19
Jared Storrs	M	33	6:45:00	20
Jill Bohney	F	43	6:48:33	21 (5th female)
Terry Williams	M	51	6:49:05	22
Cody Blackett	M	34	6:49:05	23
Steve Cracroft	M	29	6:49:44	24
Bill Emmett	M	56	7:07:07	24
Brita moe	F	31	7:10:34	26 (6th female)
Greg Goodson	M	24	7:15:19	27
Larry Mangum	M	54	7:29:31	28
Jake Stephens	M	26	7:57:06	29
james mcgregor	M	65	7:59:03	30 (7th female)
Caroline LuckettF	41	8:11:00	31
Tony DeArcos	M	55	8:32:00	32
Dave Isom	M	43	8:36:55	33
Lisa McMillan	F	45	8:38:32	34 (8th female)
Celeste Collman	F	54	8:43:03	35 (9th female)
Marc Collman	M	51	8:44:33	36
Bruce Burnham	M	 	9:05:30	37
paul cracroft	M	52	4:26:45	1st syncline loop
joseph macavintaM	33	7:57:53	2nd syncline loop
phillip maestas	M	33	7:58:43	3rd syncline loop

Wasatch Back?

June 22nd, 2008 Posted in Running | 1 Comment »

The Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay was this past weekend… what a blast! My company sponsored 4 teams to run in the Wasatch Back Relay which is a 12-person, 181 mile relay race from Logan to Park City, UT. Our teams all started at 8:20 am on Friday morning and finished within 90 minutes within each other.

The race itself was a blast! The scenery was awesome, the format of the relay was great, and it was a great team building activity so-to-speak. Getting 3.5 hours of sleep the night before was the only factor that slowed me down. The lack of sleep hit me hard around dinner time around 9:00pm on Friday night. Luckily, we got 3 hours of solid sleep from 11pm to 2am, when the team called in and said it was about time for us to start running again. I ran 2 legs back to back around 3:00am, which allowed me to proudly say I put in 10.5 miles in my Pajamas (seriously!) through farmlands from Oakley, to Kamas, to Francis. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky… it was awesome!

Our teams finished around noon the next day, which meant at 2:00pm, I was finally able to get some sleep!

Next weekend is the Logan Peak Trail Run. I just got an e-mail from the RD saying that there is still a good amount of snow on the course, but it is melting fast. I ran a total of 21 miles during the relay, all on the road, and I am a little sore and my right foot has been reaggrevated again. I have been taking some advil, icing, and I didn’t run today, but I will probably run 5 miles tomorrow nad test it out. I think I have a good chance at doing well to Logan Peak as I have been training on some great terrain in the last month. Only time will tell!

Enough with the cold weather, Utah!

June 13th, 2008 Posted in General | 1 Comment »

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a video with 60 fps that is 10 seconds long worth? This video was taken the morning of June 11th from my apartment window. Give me a break!

I know I know…

June 9th, 2008 Posted in General | 2 Comments »

It has been a while since I have updated. I apologize! What has it been… over 2 weeks? 3 weeks? Anyways…

Not a whole heck of a lot to report, despite keeping busy all the time. My focus right now and the last 3 weeks has been on my running and training. I feel like I have been putting in some good miles the last 3 weeks. I’ve been putting in a lot of days where I run in the morning and then again in the afternoon. I feel like it is more manageable for me. This past weekend I actually ran 4 times, which is something I have never done in a weekend. I ran 9 miles on the Wasatch 100 trail around 8K feet elevation on Saturday morning close to the Mountain Dell resevoir and a quick 6 around my apartment at night. Sunday morning I climbed up the Canyons as far as I could from my apartment before the snow covering the trails turned me around at 9100 feet elevation and tapped off the weekend with another 7 on some great trails in The Canyons.

The weekend before I ran a good 19 miler on the Wasatch 100 mile course, again close to the Mountain Dell Rec. Area. I started around noon (hey, I like to sleep in from time to time, so sue me!) and ended the run around 4:00pm. It was to be a simple out and back from a small Jeremy Ranch parking lot. Carrying about 55 ounces of water, off I went up the Moose Hollow trail on what was supposed to be a 15 mile run. 15 miles may sound a lot, but I have but up endurance to where a 15 mile run on the soft trails sprinkled around the Park City area is a very manageable run as long as I keep my eye on fuel and hydration. I had intended to finish the run in about 3 hours (which would include breaks to catch numerous glimpses of the Wasatch Range to the south from time to time), putting me at just above a 10 minute pace.

I headed up and away on Moose Hollow trail. The sun was beating down on the exposed single track, which made me regret not putting on any sunscreen. It got up to about 75 degrees, which isn’t too hot in comparison to Atlanta, but because it was the first “warm” day of the year, it made me a little weary. I got to the halfway point, Bald Mountain at about 7900 feet, around 1:40pm. Because my car was parked at 6200 feet, I expected the return trip to be much quicker. Boy I was wrong!

Everything was going quite well until about 3 miles from my car parked down in Jeremy Ranch. I had my 3rd moose encounter, and this one was a good one (well, good depending on how you look at it). Maybe I should say it was eventful. I was rockin’ the downhill as I love to do, probably turning in 7:30 to 8:00 minute miles at this point, and concentrating on my footing, trying not to trip over the rocks and roots that littler this particualr portion of the trail. I picked up my head to visualize my next few steps, and my eye caught a glimse of a few large brown blobs in the trail. My heart stopped, followed by my feet.

About 30 - 40 yards in front of me were several moose. Both keeping me within their sites, both still as a rock. Yikes!

I stood on the trail and kept them in my sight but tried not to make eye contact. After I realized I had sunglasses on, I realized that they probably thought I was looknig right at them. Whatever the case may be, clapping my hands together did not seem to bother the moose. In fact, they seemed interested. They took several steps towards me. Now, let me tell you, I have probably had at least 8-10 bear encounters in the last year or so, all of which came from running in the Appalachian foothills when I lived in Atlanta. The black bears I would run into were generally skiddish. I know how to react to a black bear and a grizzly bear if the situation may arise, but moose? I know they can attack, and I know they are bigger than me.

After the moose seemed interested in me, I calmly walked backwards until I was out of their view. Once about 75 yards away and out of their view, I turned around, and found a dirt road down towards the interstate. Once there it was another 4 miles around I-80 back to my car, adding on an additional hour and 4 miles to my run. I guess that’s why I always pack an extra GU

I know the moose, mooses, and meeses in Utah aren’t as large as moose elsewhere, but check out the video below. It’s the reason why I am a tad spooked of running into moose. I’d honestly rather run into bears… seriously.

Training?

May 25th, 2008 Posted in Running | 1 Comment »

So I haven’t written a post in quite some time, but that is because I have been busy, busy, busy! Spending most of that time on the trails, exploring my new surroundings, and moving apartments yet again!

First off, I have moved into a studio with a loft at the base of The Canyons Ski Resort (practically ski on ski off; I am very excited for the winter)… the apartment is actually much larger than my last apartment in Atlanta, I have a gigantic deck, and it is two stories in some respects (I will soon post pictures). My address here is 2100 Canyon Resort Drive, Park City, UT 84098. I have also acquired a PO Box (hooray… you can send me mail if you are really bored).The address of my PO Box is #982573, Park City, UT 84098. The old apartment wasn’t working out, and this place is definitely a step up, as nice as the last place was!

I have also signed up for the Logan Peak Trail Run and the Speedgoat 50K. With those races on my mind, I have been training quite a bit in the last 2 weeks, almost every day which is unusual for me (I typically give myself 2 days off a week). Though I haven’t done many runs longer than 12 miles, these training runs have been very quality runs, which I am very happy about. I have conquered the altitude finally, and I am running up switchbacks very well. I think I am in very good shape at this point. A small setback in my training though - I had to cut my planned 13 miler today short as my right foot is giving me problems… I think it has to do with my ankle and overuse, but I will have to take the next 2-3 days off, which sucks as running on Memorial Day weekend is awesome I hope patience in this case will pay off, as I expect to do very well at Logan Peak and Speedgoat 50K.

After I cut my run short today, I got back to my apartment and threw together a light camelbak and went to explore some of the trails in my backyard - I literally walked out my frontdoor and went for a 3 hour hike up some awesome trails surrounding the ski resort. I fully expect to run into more wildlife as I will continue to hike around the mountains around here, but for today, it was just birds, deer, and the occasional chipmunk (definitely no complaints though!). There is still a good amount of snow on some of the trails out of the way of direct sunlight, but the snow is melting quickly. Anything above 10K feet is still buried in the white stuff though… I really can’t wait for that stuff to melt, I am just dying to “get high”.

If I can fix this foot problem and have a good few months of training, I may be signing up for my first 100 miler, the Bear 100 in September. If I can go uninjured this summer and keep up the training, I feel that I am more than ready to tackle a 100, even if the Bear 100 isn’t the easiest 100 miler to start with.

Ernie and Bert play drums?

May 9th, 2008 Posted in General | 3 Comments »

Sorry - I can’t help to post this video… did you know that Ernie and Bert play drums?

Yonder Mountain String Band Guitar Tab - “Must’ve Had Your Reasons”

May 7th, 2008 Posted in Guitar Tabs | 2 Comments »

Hopefully this will help you play Yonder Mountain String Band’s “Must’ve Had Your Reasons” on guitar. Below is the tab, along with a video that I posted on YouTube. Enjoy! *note - capo on the 2nd fret!*

e|-----0----------------1----------------0----0----1--------|
B|-----1----------------1----------------1----1----2--------|
G|-----0----------------2----------------0----0----2--------|
D|-----2----------------3----------------2----0----2--------|
A|-----3----------------3----------------3----2----0--------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------|

      Must've had your reasons When you left w/o a call...

e|-----0---------------------------0------3----1------------|
B|-----3---------------------------1------3----1------------|
G|-----0---------------------------0------0----2------------|
D|-----0---------------------------2------0----3------------|
A|-----2---------------------------3------2----3------------|
E|-----3----------------------------------3----1------------|

      I dont want you thinkin' I shed too many tears...

e|-----0----------------1----------------0----0----1--------|
B|-----1----------------1----------------1----1----2--------|
G|-----0----------------2----------------0----0----2--------|
D|-----2----------------3----------------2----0----2--------|
A|-----3----------------3----------------3----2----0--------|
E|----------------------------------------------------------|

 I never felt the need to cry...   for all the wonderin' why

e|--------------------1--------------3-------------0--------|
B|--------------------1--------------3-------------1--------|
G|--------------------2--------------0-------------2--------|
D|--------------------3--------------0-------------0--------|
A|--------------------3--------------2-------------3--------|
E|-----------------------------------3----------------------|

       I don't think love can ever feel that way again

...

e|-------------------1--------------3-------------0------0--|
B|-------------------1--------------3-------------1------1--|
G|-------------------2--------------0-------------2------3--|
D|-------------------3--------------0-------------0------2--|
A|-------------------3--------------2-------------3------3--|
E|----------------------------------3-----------------------|

         Wonderin' if love can ever feel that way again

e|--------------------1--------------3-------------0--------|
B|--------------------1--------------3-------------1--------|
G|--------------------2--------------0-------------2--------|
D|--------------------3--------------0-------------0--------|
A|--------------------3--------------2-------------3--------|
E|-----------------------------------3----------------------|

               I wouldn't bet you're thinkin' 'bout me now

e|----------3--------------------------------1--------------|
B|----------3--------------------------------1--------------|
G|----------0--------------------------------2--------------|
D|----------0--------------------------------3--------------|
A|----------2--------------------------------3--------------|
E|----------3--------------------------------1--------------|

 That's all the same to me 'cause I don't think that much

e|------3-----------------1--------------3------------------|
B|------3-----------------1--------------3------------------|
G|------0-----------------2--------------0------------------|
D|------0-----------------3--------------0------------------|
A|------2-----------------3--------------2------------------|
E|------3-----------------1--------------3------------------|

    of you Since those couple nights I spent alone,

e|----0------3------0-------3-------1-----------------------|
B|----1------3------1-------3-------1-----------------------|
G|----0------0------2-------0-------2-----------------------|
D|----2------0------2-------0-------3-----------------------|
A|----3------2------0-------2-------3-----------------------|
E|-----------3--------------3-------1-----------------------|

   Sitting home waiting for you to call

e|----------3-------------0---------------------------------|
B|----------3-------------1---------------------------------|
G|----------0-------------0---------------------------------|
D|----------0-------------2---------------------------------|
A|----------2-------------3---------------------------------|
E|----------3-----------------------------------------------|

    And you never called at all

Post comments if you have any questions!

My Cross Country Trip Report

May 4th, 2008 Posted in Weekend Adventures | 4 Comments »

Granted that my trip across country was a week ago, I will try to remember as many details as possible, starting with the drive on Monday from Houston to Caprock Canyon State Park in Texas:

Day 2: Houston, TX to Caprock Canyon State Park, TX

The trip got off to a late start, maybe 11:00am or so as we waited for traffic around the Houston area to die down. We hit the road, drove through Houston, hit up a Whataburger (which was actually pretty good!) and finally made it to Dallas/Ft. Worth. It wasn’t before long until we got off the interstate, and hit up state road 287 which rolls through Wichita Falls and Childress.

As small as 287 is, in order to get to Caprock Canyon State Park, we had to get off onto another road for about 20 miles. By this time, the sun was setting low, and the temperature was getting a little cooler (maybe in the low 60s). It did seem like the Texas sun kept getting closer and closer to the horizon, but wouldn’t set. While driving from the town of Estelline to Turkey, TX, I witnessed the “biggest sky” I have ever seen in my life. The 15 miles from 287 to the small town of Turkey, TX was simply beautiful. That’s really the only way to describe it. Just land, fields, farms, the sunset, and again, the biggest sky I have ever seen.

As the sun was setting even further, we came upon the oasis that is Turkey, TX. By oasis, I mean I find it unbelievable that there are towns in the United States that are surrounded by miles and miles of uninhabited land. The “Welcome to Turkey” greeting sign showed a population of 494, and that Turkey was the home of Bob Wills (who is apparently a Western Swing musician). The town was a few antique stores, a few hole in the wall restaurants, maybe a gas station if you were lucky, and about 100 homes.

In the next few days, we passed through many of these towns because we wouldn’t be on interstates for the rest of the trip for the most part. With that being said, the speed limit on all these back roads were still 65 mph which still allowed for relatively quick travel from one destination to the next. Many of these roads were either one or two lanes, but because they were surrounded by land that would seem like you were in “No Country for Old Men”, the speed limit was still high because the roads were so desolate. When you got a mile away from a town, you would read signs that said “reduce speed ahead”. You would have to slow down to maybe 30 mph in these towns with populations of 500 or less, but the town would only be maybe a ½ mile stretch in every 15 miles or so. It made sightseeing interesting, and it really tickled my fancy.

Finally, we drove through a town called Quitaque, home of the entrance of Caprock Canyons State Park. As we approached the park, the sun had just dipped below the horizon. On the way to the tent campsites about 5 miles into the park, the road was literally littered with burrowing owls ; baby owls were all over the road. At one point I saw about 5 of them just walking around. The best part is that they did not move out of the way of the car. Be very careful – don’t run them over!

As we settled on a campsite, we realized that were wasn’t a soul around for at least 3 miles. It’s tough to find solitude now a days but if you ever would like to “get away from it all”, go to a western Texas state park on a weeknight. Once the tent was set up, knocked out a few Coronas and hit the hay. This was probably the first time I had slept in my huge 8 person tent without the rainfly, and it really was perfect timing, as the stars were so bright, you could see your shadow. I kid you not. Our heads hit the pillow around 9:00pm, with the intention to rise early in the morning to hit the road by 7:00am.

In the middle of the night, maybe around midnight, I was awoken by bright headlights shining on the tent door. A little scary as I was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be a soul to be seen all night. I got up to hopefully get a better look, when I realized that the “headlights” was a full moon rising over the canyon wall. Once the moon got high enough, you talk about moonshadows. The moon seemed as bright as the sun. If we had been hiking or running on the trails surrounding the tent, you could leave your headlamp at home. Just incredible!

After starring straight up at the sky for another 15 minutes, I turned over, not to wake up until 5:30am the next day.

Day 3: Quitaque, TX to Great Sand Dunes NP, CO

We were awoken rather early around 5:30am by the sound of the wind against the tent, and the howling of coyotes in the distance (maybe a little less than a mile away if I had to guess). The sun hadn’t risen yet, and it was still about an hour away before the official sunrise, but you could tell where it would break the horizon as the light was getting brighter and brighter as the minutes rolled by. I got up with my cameras to grab some pictures worth a thousand works, and a few videos (maybe worth more than a thousand words?):

We hit the road pretty quickly (maybe 6:30am?) to head towards our next destination, the Great Sand Dunes NP. I don’t know what this place consists of at this point, but it’s a national park and it sounds pretty cool (all national parks are IMHO). We drove on more single lane roads with 70 mph speed limits right off the bat. Just like the movies, there were tumbleweeds constantly blowing across the road. While I don’t have any pictures, I guarantee they do exist!

It was an awesome morning I assure you, and the sight of a Sonic’s after 60 miles of empty road was a blessing. After a refuel of a breakfast burrito and a tank of gas, we headed north towards Amarillo. After maybe a 45 minute drive on I-27, Amarillo came and went. Talking about a boring town (no offense!) – I was expecting cowboys and stuff. All I got was a 15 story building and a few gas stations. Hey, no complaints – at least there was no traffic. In 10 minutes, we entered the town and left. Heading north towards a small town called Dumas, we passed some gigantic windmills. As we approached them, they just kept getting bigger and bigger. They really weren’t moving, but man they were something else.

It was funny going through Dumas. It was a small town, maybe population 10,000 (I guess a large town in comparison). The funny part was the GPS, as we were driving through town, said “turn left in 400 feet.” Finally when we approached the turn, which was at a tiny stoplight in the town (keep in mind we are not on any major interstate, but some backroads again) we turned left onto another road. As we turned left, the GPS says “good, now that you turned left onto this seemingly unimportant road, travel 129 miles on it. I guess this sums up why people call travelling across country “boring”. Just long stretches of road, not a whole lot of changing scenery:

Soon we hit New Mexico – the Land of Enchantment. While we were only in NM for a few hours, at least I can say “yeah, I’ve been there”. We drove through Kiowa National Grasslands, past Clayton Lake State Park, mailed a package to my Uncle from Des Moines, drove past Capulo Volcano National Monument, and finally hit I-25, headed north into Colorado.

Right before we hit I-25, driving down state road 87 in NM, we could see in the distance the Rocky Mountains. After driving through so many miles of plains, I’ll have you know that the mountains look scary and intimidating. Still snowcapped, rising above everything else, staring you in the face. As we hit I-25 heading north into CO, we were in them, driving on some steep grades and sharp curves. Generally, a treacherous stretch of highway.

It wasn’t very long before we hit Walsenburg, where we would again turn onto some “non-interstate roads” once again. At this point, we were surrounded by 3 or 4 peaks that were higher than 14K feet however it didn’t look so high because we were probably 8K feet in elevation ourselves. After a few miles on state road 160, we approach the Great Sand Dunes NP – great timing! It’s only 2:30pm (granted we did move into MST, giving us an extra hour.

If you’ve never been to Great Sand Dunes NP, I’ll tell you it’s quite an interesting place. I didn’t get a great explanation of why there is just a billion sand dunes everywhere, but it was one heck of a sight. These dunes were no joke, some of them getting close to a thousand feet high. On top of that, they are surrounded by two 14K peaks (Crestone Peak at 14,294 feet and Blanca Peak at 14,345 feet). After learning that you can in fact go wherever you want in the dunes as if it was a free-for-all playground, and realizing that it was a great time to in fact climb up the highest dune in the park which was only about a 4 mile hike round trip, you better believe we had to give it a try.

As if I was going on a 15 mile long run, I suited up, bringing 40 oz. of water, a camera, flip video camera, long pants (in case it got too windy for protection against all the sand) and a few Clif Bars. The dunes were wild; it seemed just like what I would imagine the Sahara to look like (minus the mountain range around the border of the dunes). After constantly changing routes to get up to the top as it was very hard to keep up a god pace just going in a straight line as the sand, we finally made it. The top of the dune was something else, only because you could see the entire national park and all the dunes that were there. Only videos and pictures can describe the top of Great Sand Dunes NP:

After poking around the park for a while, and realizing the $17 camping fee, we decided to push on down the road to knock out some of the miles while it was still light. We drove though Alamosa, where we stopped at a hotel and after smelling how bad the room was, we got a refund and kept driving. Probably in another hour or so, just as the sun was setting, there was a campground in South Fork, CO that was “right on the Rio Grande” (which it was). For $10, we set up camp for the night, and went to bed probably immediately as the cold air was beginning to come in. It was 60 degrees at that point, but a low of 28 degrees was forecasted.

Day 4: South Fork, CO to Moab, UT

It was cold in the morning! But alas we arose at 6:15am, quickly packed, and hit the road once again. No point in sticking around – after getting out of the sleeping bag, its rush to pack and get into the heated car. After about 20 minutes, it was on the road again.

Straight off the bat, the drive consisted of driving through snowy peaks and some more steep grades and sharp curves. In an hour, we were at about 11K feet, driving through Wolf Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains. Then down, down, down through Pagosa Springs, past Chimney Rock (not the one on the Oregon Trail), and finally into Durango, elevation 6500 feet.

In the next few miles, we hit Mesa Verde NP – you know, the place with all the ancient cliff dwellings. Not discovered until maybe a little more than a hundred years ago, Mesa Verde consists of the largest cliff dwellings in North America. It was a pretty cool sight. A few pictures and a quick toward around the visitor center, we hit the road once again.

Fortunately, the day’s drive was a very short one (in comparison to the last two days) as we knocked out an extra 100 miles the night before. We drove through Cortez, a small town a little west of Cortez called Yellow Jacket, Colorado (cool, eh?), and Dove Springs. Finally, we hit the sign “Welcome to Utah”. The scenery changed in the next few hours from mountains to red rock country. After getting onto state road 191 in Monticello, we drove past the southern entrance to Canyonlands NP, and finally hit Moab, UT – just on the border of Arches NP. We checked into Big Horn Lodge (very nice!), crashed for a little bit, and then hit up Arches for the last half of the day (unfortunately with a camera with no batteries!)

After a takeout pizza, and a few Coronas, my head hit the pillow and didn’t wake until 9am the next day.

Day 5: Moab, UT to Park City, UT.

Today’s drive was exciting because it was a short drive, and also hit Park City, the ending point (finally!). We probably didn’t leave until 10:00am or so as the beds in the room were definitely comfortable (the first time I had slept on a real bed in the last week). The drive, while for the most part uneventful, was still definitely a joy. Driving through SE Utah on up into the mountains was a sight for sore eyes.

The drive, while only 4 hours long max, took us through some great red rock country, on up through the towns of Price, Provo, Orem, past BYU, all of which are just outside the Uinta National Forest. As soon as we passed Deer Creek State Park, the skies turned from overcast/partly cloudy to snow. A pretty good wake up call to say the least! Here is a storm coming over some of the mountains in the Uintas as we get closer to Park City:

The last few miles from Heber City to Park City were all in the snow, and the snow was coming down pretty hard! However, the drive was finally over.

The first sights of Park City were something else – you can see all the slopes from the three local resorts, and they were all snow-covered. The temperature was maybe 35 degrees – I unfortunately only had a tee-shirt on, as it was probably 35 degrees warmer in Moab when we left.

Update: It is about 10 days after the fact of arriving in Park City and after a few days of work, I feel like I am finally settled in. The movers dropped off all my stuff, my room is arranged, I am learning the ins and outs of the town, and meeting some very nice people. And oh yeah, the trails here are unbelievable. I ran about 8 miles yesterday on some great terrain about 7000 feet elevation, and saw a moose! Kind of scared the crap out of me, but I think I scared him more than he scared me. This post took a while to write, so I apologize for the delay! Anyways, thanks for reading.

My photo albums for the cross country trip can be found here:

Album 1 - Atlanta, GA to Quitaque, TX

Album 2 - Quitaque, TX to Great Sand Dunes NP, CO

Album 3 - Great Sand Dunes NP, CO to Park City, UT

Beer in Utah!

April 28th, 2008 Posted in General | 5 Comments »

Did you know you can buy beers individually in Utah?

Feels like I am in a picture

April 28th, 2008 Posted in Running | 2 Comments »

Pretty much what the title says.

I went for a 7 mile run today on some single track trails just north of Park City where you can see the trails from the highway in an area of town called Jeremy Ranch. I chose these trails for the time being because you can tell that the snow has melted a good bit and the trails looked dry for the most part. Rather than a few snowy patches, the trails were perfect.

The trail probably climbed a good 1000 feet by the time I turned around. Boy was I huffin’ and puffin’ on the way up. I didn’t stop to walk, but I sure wanted to. I am hoping that in a few weeks of being out here, running at elevation will become much easier. I think I now know why folks come out to these big mountain ultras (particularly Hardrock 100) two weeks ahead of time. But hey, no complaints from me! It got up to about 67 degrees today in Park City and it was very warm on the trail, probably due to absolutely no shade.

Regardless, the entire run felt like I was in a picture; I have only encountered wide open sky and unshaded single track trail  like today in Backpacker and Trailrunner Magazine. Seriously, all those pictures that you see published, those trails do exist. And not to make you jealous, but the trail I ran today is only 5 miles from my apartment. On top of that I only ran 3.5 miles of the 300+ miles of trails in the area.

To say the least, I am a happy camper. I start my job on Thursday, and I get internet and cable tomorrow (which means I’ll begin uploading all the pictures and videos). But until then, run on!