Weekly Summary: August 6 - August 12

8/6 - Rest.  Wanted to run but got shot down by the wife!  Ha!

8/7 - 6.0 miles.  1:00:xx.  1300'v.  Stagecoach Mountain - Stagecoach.  Hard effort climbing up to The Beach with trekking poles and back to the house.  Then, dropped them off at the house and ran another 3 miles down to the fire station and back on dirt trail.  Pushed the effort the whole way.

8/8 - 7.3 miles.  1:12:xx.  500'v.  Stagecoach.  Easy paced evening run from dusk til dark on the road down to the lake and a couple miles of trail. 

8/9 -  6.76 miles.  :52:45.  500'v.  Stagecoach.  Quick run down to Elk Run Trail and a few 7 minute miles on dirt before climbing back to the house. 

8/10 - Rest.

8/11 - 13.55 miles.  3:34:08.  2910'v.  Black Mountain Trail to East Fork Trail just nouth of Round Lake.  Woke up at 4 a.m. and got to the trail head at Sheriff Reservoir just before 6 a.m.  Looked like it might rain so I waited a few minutes in my truck before deciding to just go for it.  The run started out great and I felt great climbing up into the mountains at dawn.  It was a little bit cloudy but I really didn't think the rain would come.  I ran a couple hours up trail and found a nice spot next to a creek to eat some food (a clementine, some bread with Pocket Fuel peanut butter on it and a Salt Stick tablet).  I sat on a rock, admiring my surroundings and suddenly realized that I should just turn around and spend a little time at home with Katy.  I missed her very much.  I packed up and started back when I felt a drop or two of rain.  I looked northwest and saw rain and suddenly felt a little panicked to get back since I was now climbing back up to some exposed areas.  It eventually began raining steadily on me as I hiked up the rocky trail but it wasn't a complete deluge.  I got pretty wet but after a half hour or so it let up and I started back down towards Sheriff under clearing skies.  I had fun and made it back home by 11 a.m.  I walked around the neighborhood with Katy for about 45 minutes then spent a little while clearing some branches from a couple of trees we had cut down earlier in the week.  That afternoon, I drove up to Clark to meet up with Jonny B, Christian, Paul and Brady and a couple of other people, at a favorite camping spot out on Greenville Mine Road to watch a meteor shower that evening.  I ended up deciding to treat it all as a training day and stayed on my feet (and even did some late night hiking with the dogs) most of the night.   The sky was clear and we saw some really amazing meteors!  I fell asleep in my sleeping bag staring at the stars after a great 20-hour day.

8/12 - Rest.?

Uh-oh.  DNF'ed another training run!  I haven't quite mastered the long, wilderness training run but I'm still happy with the time I've been getting on my feet and the quality of my shorter runs.   It's just logistically difficult to run in the mountains for several hours and I just don't like spending that much time away from my wife during her pregnancy.   Anyway, it's almost taper time so my plan from here until September 14th is to run hard this week, finishing with the Continental Divide Trail Run next Sunday, August 19th (my sister Sommai's birthday!), where I'd like to got under 2 hours and 20 minutes.  After that, I will just put in 3 weeks of easy running and get plenty of rest leading up to race day.  Simple. 

Weekly Summary: July 4 - July 8

7/4 - 9.06 miles.  2:04:15.  1800'v.  Black Mountain Trail.  Headed up to Sheriff Reservoir just outside of Phippsburg to check out a new trail and was blown away by the scenery.  Once I located the trail (after a few minutes of bushwacking around the res) I found a nice, runnable track on a gradual ascent that traversed a hillside packed with skunk cabbage and wildflowers that went on for nearly a MILE.  It was incredible.  Once I hit the ridgeline, the trail continued to snake uphill along a massive cliff line with an expansive view of the Flat Tops to my right.   The trail continued into the trees for a little while before cresting the mountain and offering panoramic views of more mountains, including Pyramid Peak, and a few big alpine meadows.   I found an old trail marker for Baldy Trail (FS 1200, which doesn't appear on any of the maps I own) and ran from cairn to cairn for about a half mile through a meadow until I picked up the trail again and found a tiny pond.  If I weren't tapering for my next race, I would've loved to continue exploring.  The return trip offered up the same spectacular views and I had to pause for a while to take it all in.  Although I only ventured a couple of miles on the trail,  I can't wait to go back and explore it further. 

7/5 - 3.51 miles.  :34:22.  Stagecoach.  Easy effort from the house down the trail to the fire station and back.

7/6 - 7.51 miles.  1:24:49.  Emerald Mountain.  From JDs house downtown, I cruised over to Howelsen Hill and jumped on the Emerald Mountain Loop.  From there, I climbed up to Lupine, then Larry's, MGM and Blair Witch before descending on Blackmere Drive to Lupine to Blackmere and down to Howelsen Lodge to refill my water bottle.   Wicked single track!

7/7 - Rest.

7/8 - 10.61 miles.  3:07:25.  2650'v.  Lower Bear Creek Trail.  Hooked up with running buddy Richard for an easy effort 10 miler on this trail by the Strawberry Park Hot Springs.  I had never been on this trail and rarely run with other people so I was stoked to get on the trail with Rich.  We maintained a fairly even pace on the ascent, hiking most of the uphills.  The trail started out nice and smooth and easy to run for the first 3 miles before it got rockier on the last 2 up to Summit Park.  There were some nice views from the top so we scrambled around on the rocky high point for a few minutes before the return trip.   The return trip went by quickly and I felt great when we wrapped it up. 

Weekly mileage:  30.69 miles.
In tapering mode for the Silver Rush 50 (which is only 46 miles) so I'm easing up on how hard I run while still getting in some quality runs.  Got to go out for over 2 hours on the Fourth and go in 3 hours today.  I'll rest tomorrow and run very lightly the middle of the week before taking a couple days off before the race.   Overall, I'm feeling really good and with a week of rest on my legs, I think I can finish the race in under 10 hours.