50 Miles, Fog, Wind, and Karate Kid

"My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already." ~ Milton Berle

Monday, January 23rd 2012: Rest. I wish I ran in the morning. The clouds were unreal. Here is a view from my driveway when I left for work:


Tuesday, January 24th 2012: 20 miles @ 11:58 minutes per mile. I had the chance to run with Mel which was fun. It poured rain the entire day before so there was no way we could do a trail run. It was really foggy when we left our house which made for some cool pictures.


We did a six-mile loop together which took us past an enormous church orchard. The lighting was so perfect that I told her to keep going and I would catch up with her in a minute (or 5) after I stopped to take some photos.




I had planned to do a 20 miler so after we finished our loop I headed out for 14 more miles by myself. It was INSANELY windy. I have only dropped out of a run and called for a ride once. But I considered packing it in early this time.

When I was running into the wind, it felt like running in a swimming pool. My legs were churning but my body wasn't moving. I was getting bombarded by flying tumbleweeds. In fact, I shot a short video clip to show you! The end of the clip was when I really got pounded:


My wife is so awesome. She knew it was freezing cold and blowing like a tornado - so she even drove out to make sure I was okay. And.....she had Taco Bell waiting for me when I got home. I pretty much love her. True love is when you have Taco Bell waiting for someone who gets home with snot in their eyelashes.

Wednesday, January 25th 2012: 9 miles @ 12:06 minutes per mile. I wanted to see how my body would hold up to a longer back-to-back run. My knees were achy at first but surprisingly improved as the miles went by. I did another 4 miles on Satan's Sidewalk the treadmill in the evening.

Thursday, January 26th 2012: Quality time with the dentist. We have a love/hate relationship. I hate his drills, he loves my checkbook.

Friday, January 27th 2012: 6 miles @ 11:25 minutes per mile. By far the hardest part of this run was dragging my carcass out of bed so early in the morning. My body wanted to be in bed still, and I felt like a slug for the whole run.

Saturday, January 28th 2012: 11 miles @ 11:13 minutes per mile. I ran most of Gould’s Rim for the first time which has incredible views of Gooseberry Mesa:


As I was running I suddenly saw a shadow speeding up behind me. In a split second I thought “Oh great, I’m going to be dinner for a mountain lion.” I jerked around while simultaneously screaming like a little girl……and then a guy on a mountain bike sped past me. +1 for embarrassing moment while running.


The route had lots of fun little rollers as well as the funniest trail sign I’ve ever seen:


I barely made it back to my car before the sun went down. This provided me with the perfect lighting to channel my inner Karate Kid:


I was happy to reach my goal of running 50 miles for the week. Granted, my pace was similar to the speed of a walrus after being shot by a tranquilizer gun. But still.

35 of those miles were on the road! I haven’t run that many miles on a road during a week for at least four months. And 4 of the miles were on a dreadmill! I haven’t run that many miles on a treadmill for at least four months. It was a good week.

Next Saturday I’ll be doing a beginner trail run on part of the Jem trail including a secret side trail that has some amazing views overlooking Zion. Probably around 6 miles, probably around 9am. Email me (coryreese1@hotmail.com) if you’re interested!