Weekly Summary: July 26 - Aug 1

7/26 - Off.

7/27 - Off.

7/28 - 4.74 miles.  :38.34.  ~400'.  Stagecoach.  Easy run.

7/29 - Off.

7/30 - 10.63 miles.  2:15.08.  ~2000'.  Devil's Causeway Short Loop.  East Fork Trail (1119) - Devil's Causeway Trail - Chinese Wall Trail (1803) - Bear River Trail (1120).   Incredible morning run up to the tundra.   Without pushing very hard and stopping for photos, I made it to the Causeway in :44, a solid 8 minutes faster than my first attempt two weeks ago.   The next 3 miles were absolutely sublime.  I felt like I was on top of the world as I ran 8 minute miles at over 11,000' taking in the endless views, surrounded by an ocean of wildflowers and still finding the occasional snow patch.  The descent on Bear River Trail started out with a half mile of crossing snow patches, water crossings and rocky steps.  Eventually, the trail entered the woods again, smoothed out in a few places and was very runnable.  A couple of log bridges helped me cross some fast moving streams.  It would've been nice to run for another hour or so but I wanted to get back home and take care of some things.  Just a fantastic trail run with a little bit of everything.  A ton of marmot sightings!  Even with many stops to take photos (more posted on my Facebook page) and a short refueling stop, I was still able to run the entire loop in 2:02.54 and then did a short cool down.  I will almost certainly try and run this loop for a fast time (1:30 - 1:45) at some point in the future.  

Topo of the Causeway Short Loop.

Looking NW from the Devil's Causeway

The Devil's Causeway

7/31 - Off.

8/1 - 7.12 miles.  :58.00.  ~400'v.  Stagecoach.  Good uptempo run down to the south shore of the lake and back up to the house.  Encountered a little skunk on the trail so I let him do his thing until he disappeared into the tall grass.  Right after that, saw a gorgeous bald eagle perched atop a pole, checking out the critters around the lake.  I think it was the same one Katy and I saw yesterday morning when we walked the dogs down to the dam.  Very cool!

Weekly totals:  21+ miles.  ~2800'v.  Good week with low miles but what a fantastic run on Saturday.  Probably my favorite run since the Lake of the Crags run I did last summer.  Looking forward to running the Mt. Werner Classic this coming Saturday and hoping to run at least as fast as last year (2:06) if not a touch faster.