Poodles and the Hurricane Rim Trail

Monday, January 17th 2011: 8 miles @ 10:25 minutes per mile pace + 27.5 mile bike ride @ 13.1 mph. I have two possessions which I love with every fiber of my being: 1) my piano, and 2) my bike. When I'm riding my bike it has this little humm, this little purr that I adore. At one point I was heading down the road and I saw what looked like a person with two kids. And then as I got closer I saw that the lady didn't have two kids. She had two enormous, overly groomed poodles. She looked positively ridiculous. I fibbed and told her my wife liked those dogs and asked if I could take a picture:


I added a few miles to the Sand Hollow loop which is beautiful and challenging. My favorite part is reaching the top of the mega-hill overlooking Sand Hollow Reservoir:


There are some huge hills to climb on the way back home and my legs were completely fried. It felt like I was trying to pedal with string cheese. I was on the brink of wussing out and calling Mel to pick me up but made it home.....eventually. My average mph tanked in the last few miles of hills.

Tuesday, January 18th 2011: 6 miles @ 10:23 minutes per mile pace. Just the usual early morning run with my trusty head lamp. I did two more casual miles that night on the treadmill.

Wednesday, January 19th 2011: 11 miles @ 11:26 minutes per mile pace. I ran the Hurricane Rim Trail for only the second time ever. (Click here to see some pictures from the first time I went with Tom.) The first mile is brutal uphill steep enough to make you cry uncle. I had actually forgotten how challenging the trail was. No need for an iPod when you have amazing scenery and a rocky, twisting trail to keep your mind busy.


In town there was a wind advisory with the breeze at 43mph. But on top of the cliffs the wind was howling much worse than in town. I did not enjoy that in the slightest. Curse the wind. There was also a section of the trail that was really muddy and slippery with no way around it. My shoes got caked with mud:


I thought it was cool to see my house from the top of the Hurricane Rim. It is right here:


I will definitely go back to this trail, but I will definitely NOT go back during a wind advisory.

Thursday, January 20th 2011: Rest. This is a rest week (40 miles) before bouncing up again next week to 54 miles.

Friday, January 21st 2011: Rest. I added a few miles to the runs earlier in the week so that I could have a few days off before the St. George Half Marathon.

Saturday, January 22nd 2011: St. George Half Marathon! I did a 3 mile trail run with my brother-in-law Matt later in the day. Good times.

"Make friends with pain and you will never be alone."
~ Ken Clouber