Porcupine Rim Trail - Negro Bill Canyon Link-up

This weekend was our "Spring Break" at Fort Washakie, meaning we had a four day weekend.  Hardly exciting compared to a whole week off, but we were glad to head south to warm temperatures and canyon country.  

Camping outside of Moab, UT

On Saturday, Jenny ran in the Desert Rats Trail Running Festival Marathon.  We've had this race on the radar for awhile and it was the perfect opportunity for a training "race" for Jenny before the North Fork 50 in June.  It rained almost the entire race and the clay filled dirt turned into a slippery and sticky mess.  Jenny crossed the finish line in 5:04 which was good enough for first in her age group.  Ella and I played in the mud while Jenny was out working hard.

Cruising through the mud

Porcupine Rim Trail - Negro Bill Canyon

After Jenny had her fun running on Saturday, I got to hit the trails on Easter Sunday outside of Moab, Utah.  I ran the well known 14.5 mile Porcupine Rim Trail and connected it to the very popular Negro Bill Canyon trail for a total of a little over 20 miles.  It was my first 20-some mile run of the year and I was surprised at how well it went. As to be expected, the temperature rose quickly to around 80 degrees, and with the sun beating down, it was a hot few hours on the trail.  The trail was super rocky and rugged; how anyone mountain bikes that thing is beyond me.

Hydration and fueling are always critical, but especially so in the desert.  I ate one pack of Gu Chomps, one pack of Honey Stinger Chews (inferior to the Gu Chomps, in my opinion), and drank two 17 oz. bottles of Gu Roctane, two 17 oz. bottles of First Endurance EFS, and one 17 oz. bottle of water.

Taking off on the Porcupine Rim Trail

Porcupine Rim with the La Sal Mountains

Looking out from the rim at Castle Valley

Looking across the Colorado River canyon into Arches NP

Tayo desperately trying to cool off with the Colorado River in sight

Negro Bill Canyon

Negro Bill Canyon

Sunlight below Morning Glory Arch, Negro Bill Canyon

The rest of the weekend we spent camping, hiking, playing in a creek with the Skinner family, and having an all around great time.  The mountains here are just barely starting to thaw out, so for the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to start getting some serious climbing in.  Only five weeks until Zion Traverse and 10,000+ feet of vert!

Playing in camp

"Icing" our legs

Slick Rock Season

This was the best week of training so far in 2014.  I'm starting to be able to get more miles in, and they are getting faster with less pain.  Because the mountains are still filled with a nearly record setting snowpack, I spent much of the weekend running on slick rock in Red Canyon and at The Bus Loop.  When Evan and I got out for 13 miles on Sunday the air was crisp, but the sun was hot; it was starting to feel almost summer-like.

Running some slick rock

I've also been getting some miles in after school helping a few Fort Washakie students get ready for the Mocassin Lake Challenge; an 18 miles mountain run on the Wind River Reservation at the end of May.  I think it's pretty special that there is an event like this on the rez, and it is super cool that some high school students are up for the challenge.  Some of my student work really hard to move as little as possible throughout the day, so to have some students that want to run after school is phenomenal.  I'm really proud of this group and its fun to already see them looking stronger as they run.

Manny, Tara, Sheyanne, and Isaac

Jenny and I both got after it on the track this week with some 6 minute repeats.  The Lander Running Club is doing some cool stuff and I am glad to be a part of it.  I put a picture of a Jenny up instead of me because she is much better looking than I am.

400m All-American turned ultra runner

Moose just slipping away as I whipped my camera out

On Saturday I had a fun run on the cliffs of Red Canyon.  I kind of wandered around exploring and it was a nice little adventure run.  I was very surprised to run into a couple of moose in a narrow drainage. I suppose that is their winter range, but nonetheless I was still not expecting two giant moose to appear 30 yards in front me.

The "trail"

Tayo has been a good running buddy this spring

Red Canyon

Jenny and Amber did a gnarly 18 mile run on Saturday up Fairfield Hill and at The Bus Loop.  They are both getting ready for the Zion Traverse too, as well as the North Fork 50 miler at the end of June.  Here is a picture of them looking way too happy:

All smiles at The Bus

And of course, while Evan and I were out running on Sunday, Jenny and Amber made a ridiculously delicious brunch.  Here are the blueberry-banana muffins to prove it:

Also, as requested, here is a link to the recipe:
http://www.adashofdelish.com/2013/12/gluten-free-blueberry-banana-bread.html

For flour, Jenny used rice, garbanzo bean, and coconut rather an an "all-purpose" flour mix.  I just need to say it again: these muffins rocked my world.

Next, its time for a recovery week. After that we'll be heading down to Fruita for Jenny to run the Desert Rats Trail Running Festival Marathon, and then onto Moab for camping, running, hiking, and a little more slick rock fun.

Spring Training

Beautiful Wyoming Spring Training

Johnny Behind the Rocks single track

This smile was fake... I was really cold

Spring here is beautiful.  But, with wind, rain, snow, ice, mud, heat, more wind, more snow, more mud, even more wind, it can be challenging too.  After seemingly endless sub-zero cold all winter long, a little mud never hurt anyone. It's safe to say I'm glad winter is over.

She is already faster than me

This week I finished up a great five-week strength program from Lee Brown and the good folks at Elemental Training.  I also got back on the track with the Lander Running Club on Wednesday for some speed work that felt surprisingly good.

Over the weekend I almost got blown off my bike in Sinks Canyon after riding through a dust devil; it left me scrapping mud off of my teeth—no joke.  I ran on the muddy/icy/snowy nature trails for a little bit too.  On Sunday, I went on my first double digit trail run since The Bear 100 last fall.  Evan Reimondo and I had a good, but tired run, of about 13 miles.  Evan has a cool blog you can check out, but don’t look around it too much; its probably way better than mine.  Anyways, my stupid IT band hurt a few times during the end of the run, which really freaked me out, but I think I’ll be okay.  Next weekend I’m shootin’ for 15 miles.

Water in the "desert"

It's not Moab, it's Wyoming

Living the dream

I was fortunate to come back from my run to a brunch of apple-cinnamon rolls, broccoli-bacon-quiche, and a pineapple-apple-orange-beet smoothie. Don't worry, I made Jenny pancakes with apples and an odd greenish colored smoothie on Saturday while she was out running, so we're totally even.

All grub here is sans-gluten because I have celiac disease.

I’m trying really hard to be ready for a 48-mile Zion Traverse in the beginning of June.  If you haven’t heard of Zion National Park, or the Zion Traverse, you need to GTS (Google that shit).

Photo of Zion I jacked from Google Images

Web Log

"Blog" is short for "web log".  The only reason I know that is because I googled it like 4 seconds ago.  Why does someone such as myself create a "blog"?  Well, I envision myself sharing pictures of mountain running and other backcountry travels; sharing the ups and downs of training; and maybe even a few highly geeky gear reviews.  But in reality, its probably going to be only my Mom reading this, or maybe my Dad too (mostly because he just got a new device called an "iPad").

If you are not my Mom or Dad, and you've stumbled your way to Wind River Running, I hope you at least find it mildly interesting... and at the most, maybe even informative and even a little entertaining.  So enjoy my "web log".

Mountain Running: It's Awesome.