One Big Snake

I had a few good runs this past week, along with an incredible running opportunity on Saturday.

Wednesday, June 13th 2012: 8 miles @ 11:07 minutes per mile. I ran on the Diamond Ranch dirt road and felt freakishly good the entire time. The miles floated by and I got to see a great sunrise. I also came across this critter which was surprisingly long:

Friday, June 15th 2012: 11 miles @ 11:36 minutes per mile. I wasn't able to get out to run until about 9:30pm after the kids got to bed. It was still 472 88 degrees outside but I packed plenty of water so it's all good.

This run was pretty uneventful. The best part was a blast to the past when Richard Marx came on the radio. At the risk of public humiliation, I admit that I owned every Richard Marx cassette tape back in 7th grade. He was the MAN! I confess that I still like his tunes. And I heard the song "Springsteen" by Eric Church. Have you heard that one? It's a keeper.

Saturday night I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience and was able to run with a modern day Forrest Gump. Seriously! I'll have the full story and some pictures in the next day or two.

I hope you had a swell Father's Day. Do yourself a favor and watch this little Father's Day music video. I was laughing so hard that I cried. I think you'll like it. Enjoy!

If God Was A Trail Runner

I don't train on Sundays, but this past weekend I was at Snowbird and broke the no-Sunday rule. Snowbird is a skiers paradise nestled in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. I was there for a work conference. I figured that the next time I was likely to stay at Snowbird was the day after, um.... never, so I headed out Sunday evening to explore a trail.

Thankfully I wasn't sore at all from the Utah Valley Half Marathon the day before. My path was the White Pines Trail. Within minutes I arrived at this cool waterfall:

When God was creating the earth, he put a lot of effort into this area. If God was a trail runner, I think he'd be spending most of his time on this trail. It had plenty of rocks and roots and stream crossings and lots of climbing. Heaven.

There was another trail called Red Pines. I asked a hiker if he would recommend Red Pines or White Pines. He said White was more challenging but more beautiful. Sold! He also said there was some snow up the trail, but I figured it wouldn't be much because the weather at the start was perfect.

The trail climbed higher and higher. The air felt mighty thin. And then I started seeing snow patches. And then the snow patches turned to fields of snow. And then the fields of snow turned into a mountain of snow.

 It felt like climbing a vertical ice skating rink. In some steeper parts I saw that people just slid down on their rear end because that was easier. I didn't realize until I turned around that they probably didn't choose to slide down. They just fell. I ended up sliding down the snow multiple times.

These weren't little sissy patches of snow either. It was deep! Here is my proof:

After about an hour and 45 minutes I reached White Pines Lake. I would have loved to stay at the top a little longer, but I just took a few quick pictures because I was chasing daylight and didn't want to get suck on the mountain in the dark.

Seeing the mountain light up as the sun started to go down was incredible:

After three hours I got back to my car filthy from rolling around in the snow and mud. No GPS but I think I covered around 7 miles. Curse the sun going down! I wish I could have stayed out there all day. White Pines ended up being one of the most amazing trails I've ever set foot on.

Utah Valley Half Marathon As Nacho Libre

On Saturday I ran the Utah Valley Half Marathon. Months ago I bought a Nacho Libre wrestling mask to wear at a race, so this half marathon seemed to be the perfect opportunity. I bought some kids shorts and a flesh-colored shirt from the women's section of Walmart to complete the outfit:

My brother Kenny and sister Hollie also ran the race. I sincerely appreciated their help the night before the race to draw a few markings on my shirt to make it look more realistic:

I ran the full marathon last year and the year before but was happy to do the half this year. This race was the first time I have run on pavement in months. The temperature as we began the race was pefect.

I may have been half asleep for the first half of the race. We had to wake up at 2:30am to get to the bus loading in time. No. That is not a typo. 2:30am. That is positively disgusting. But I suppose the scenery is worth the early wake-up:

I was thankful I remembered to look behind me to see our surroundings from a different perspective:

I learned a few valuable lessons running the race as Nacho Libre:
1) Running 13 miles in a wrestling mask feels like running 13 miles in a sauna.
2) Capes are itchy and scratchy.
3) A sweat shirt tucked into your shirt will bounce around like CRAZY.
4) A few people will look at your lumpy stomach and ask in all seriousness "Is that real, or do you have something stuffed in there?"
5) Did I mention that capes are insanely scratchy?

I arrived at an aid station and took my mask off for a second to take a drink. One of the volunteers looked over at me with my mask off and said "Way to go! Are you a.........um..........pregnant mom?"

Here is another valuable lesson I learned: When you dress up as Nacho Libre at a half marathon, you INSTANTLY have a couple thousand new friends. It was funny to see how excited the spectators became. I gave a high five to every single person I saw. And then I saw the finish line up ahead. I grabbed my cape and started weaving through the chute. My friend Amber finished the race earlier and happened to catch this picture:

I must say - I loved every second of this race. I had so much fun. My body felt great for every step of the race. I have so much fun running comfortably, stopping to take pictures, and running with only one goal: have a blast. I'm not sure I will ever "race" at a race ever again. The siblings encouraged me to get a side profile at the finish line:

Some people at the finish line said they loved the movie Nacho Libre and asked to get a picture. Afterward I asked if they would take a picture of me, Kenny, and Hollie. This fine photographer snapped one of my favorite jumping pictures ever:

Two thumbs up for the excellent race organization. And the excellent volunteers. And the excellent crowd. And my excellent new runner friends. The finishers medal was the best I've seen from Utah Valley.

I'm Nacho Libre At Saturday's Race

A few months ago in Mexico I bought a Nacho Libre mask for $10 - quite arguably the best $10 I ever spent. It would be a crying shame to let a $10 Nacho Libre mask just sit in the closet collecting dust, right?

I'm running the Utah Valley Half Marathon on Saturday and I've decided to go full Nacho.

• $10 wrestling mask - check.
• Cape from a Halloween costume when you were 6 years old - check.
• Red shorts - check.
• Too tight blue spandex shorts from the girls section of the thrift store - check.
• Flesh-colored t-shirt to wear underneath cape......Houston, we have a problem.

Currently I have no t-shirt to wear under the cape. I was hoping to avoid reliving the nightmare of shirts and skins in middle school PE, but I'm willing to do what I've got to do.

I'm eating ice cream and candy like crazy to pack on a few pounds before Saturday. That leaves me three days to transform myself from a nerdy, skinny geek into THIS.......

  
Question: Is Nacho Libre a great movie.....or the greatest movie ever?

Zingers, Amazing Trails, and 101 Degrees

I had the perfect week last week. And not just because it was National Doughnut Day. (Not to sound like Captain Obvious, but of course I celebrated with the appropriate junk food.)

Monday, May 28th 2012: 5 miles at Little Black Mountain. This was my first time in the desert area near the St. George Airport. You drive for a few miles on a rolling dirt road and arrive at a towering mesa surrounded by rolling slick rock and boulders. The scenery was just awesome.

I ran 5 miles on the roads around the mesa, but not before checking out what Little Black Mountain is known for: tons of petroglyphs. I'm excited to take the family back here. I think they'll love it.

Wednesday, May 30th 2012: 8 miles. I was in Salt Lake for a work conference. That evening I met up with Josh from PhatJosh, Susette from You'll Always Have My Heart, and Julia from Pain, Pride, and Perseverance.

They took me on some trails through Draper which were incredible. Incredible. I'm so used to running in the desert, I think this was the first time I've ever run somewhere that was green!

The trail had plenty of climbing and rocks and roots. It was so cool running underneath a canopy of trees:

One of our stops along the way was Ghost Falls which I bravely traversed with Julia:

As much as I was loving the trail and the scenery, what I enjoyed most was spending time on the trail with these friends. Susette just did a 46 mile walk for her 46th birthday and has her first marathon coming up soon. Julia is finishing up her Ph.D in a similar field and is kicking butt training for her first 50 miler. And Josh has lost 175 pounds and is running a ton of races this year. You couldn't ask to run with happier, nicer people.

I was sad as we got closer to the parking lot. I didn't want it to end. This was one of my favorite runs ever. But I didn't know that a reward was waiting for us at the end. Susette is aware of my affection for Hostess, and had Zingers waiting for us! It was the perfect ending to a perfect run.

Saturday, June 2nd 2012: 3 miles in Confluence Park. It was exactly 101 degrees when I headed out on the trail behind my house. (Not to sound like Captain Obvious, but that is too warm for a wussie like me to go out running.) You are guaranteed to have a fast pace here, because if you slow down, deer flies will remove your flesh and not even feel bad about it.

That night I went on a bike ride with Mel. With all the running I've been doing so far this year, this was my first real bike ride. We went nice and easy, and the wife and I had more fun than should be legal.

I feel really blessed and fortunate for all the fun I had during the week. I'm running the Utah Valley Half Marathon this Saturday with my brother and sister which will be awesome. In fact I'm so excited that I may celebrate by having another National Doughnut Day.