Day 261: Wed April 30th - Part deux...

Day Two Hundred Sixty-one - part deux...

As nothing fanstastical happened on this mornings usual run, I am going to throw up my day two on the Bonneville Shoreline trail and switchback photos.

15.5 miles of mostly sunshine, some hail, climbs and valleys.  Understandably, many more people out on the second day than on the cold rainy day before. The temperature was still quite chilly, but luckily dry for the most part. 

Day 258-260: April 27-29th 30.1 Miles = Tired Feet

Day 258-260 - 30.1 Miles = Tired Feet

Wow... what a great few days off of work. What a grand adventure (two actually) out on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail... and how about those achy feet of mine!

So the new running grounds I tried out over the weekend were a success.  I had Justin drop Jax and I off at City Creek and ran through crazy stormy weather 10.5 miles. (Yes, I clocked it again... I had to know since it was all unfamiliar to me).  It was a beautiful, hailing, soggy, water logged run through the switchbacks and shoreline trails... and I loved (most) every minute of it.  I wanted to try out my new hydration pack since I loath to carry water bottles for longer runs, so this was a great place to test it out. Jax loved the new smells, puddles and wide fields of flowers that he romped around in getting as muddy as possible.

Funny enough, I loved the new trail(s) so much, I went the reverse way and extended it, heading the other way on the shoreline trial and switchbacks and clocked 15.5 miles the next day :)  This time it was much drier, but the Red Butte switchback area I took led deep into the canyon and some mighty tough hills that kicked my butt early on.  Afterwards, tired and sore, I felt like a warrior.  Worth every new pain and achy feet.

So, adding in this mornings short run.... I clocked 30.1 miles in only a couple days. 

I still cannot post photos. I have many to add. I will try adding them tomorrow.

Until then... ice bath time.

(Updated April 30th Photos working now - these are from day 1 on the Bonneville Shoreline and switchbacks)

Climbing up from City Creek Canyon

Rain, rain, rain....

Fog starting to roll by

quickly, the fog cloud enveloped the trail for several minutes, at one point I could only see about 10-15ft ahead

so green, though.... the hillsides will be the classic brown color of summer

it's hard to tell, but it was actually raining hail pellets in this photo

some of the trail was very slippery

far away view of downtown Salt Lake

on a mostly brown dirt or rock trail, small areas of bright beautiful red appear in various areas

Spring wildflowers were beautiful and the smells equally so.

Day 257: Sat April 26th - Troubleshooting

Day Two Hundred Fifty-seven - Troubleshooting

I cannot get the photos to load. 

Day 256: Fri April 25th - Simple

Day Two Hundred Fifty-six - Simple

Today was a simple run, short and sweet.  Leading into what I hope is a fun long trail adventure tomorrow morning. It's supposed to rain, which is fine by me, as long as thunder and / or buckets aren't involved.       So we shall see.
If not tomorrow, it will have to be Sunday.
I researched and printed some maps on new trails that I am excited about exploring.
Wish me luck!

Day 255: Thurs April 24th - Wow.Lovely.Beautiful.Breathtaking.Awe.Perfect.Nature

Day Two Hundred Fifty-five -


Wow. Lovely. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Awe. Perfect. Nature.

Afternoon sun hit the flowers and lit them up almost looking photoshopped. 

A narrow side of the trail.

Day 254: Wed April 23rd - River Runs... again

Day Two Hundred Fifty-four - River Runs...again

Oh, the glorious sound of the river roaring to life once again.  

It paces my feet and floods my ears with it's beautiful music. 

Ok, enough poetic crap. I love the river however. I love listening to the water rushing about. It has been bare to barely a trickle all year.  Last night we were pelted with rain and wind  as a cold front blew in. Today, on this crisp cool morning, the river came alive.

Day 252 and 253: Mon / Tues April 22nd - Sunny / Breezy

Day 252 and 253 - Sunny / Breezy

Sunny Monday + incoming storm front = Very Breezy Tuesday

Day 251: Sun April 20th - Sea of Purple

Day Two Hundred Fifty-one - Sea of Purple

Wonderful Easter morning.  Woke up early.  Baskets, egg finding and sugar rush of jellybeans.
Justin dropped Jax and I off in the foothills and we ran a long way home. Took us about 2 1/2 hours. It was a lovely run, but rather on the warm side with constant sunny skies.
Luckily about half way we ran into an athletic center with water fountains outside and we were able to re-hydrate and re-fill our water bottles. I splashed Jax to cool him off and we continued on home.

Jax was a trooper.  He's super dog.


Back home the girls greeted us with "Hi! How was your run.... WHOA you need to take a shower!"

Gotta love'em, but I'm sure they were right, but first... ice bath for my legs and feet.

Day 249 & 250: Fri / Sat April 19th -

Day 249 and 250 - Spring Cleaning

For me, there is nothing better (home wise) than the feeling of accomplishment after Spring Cleaning!
Today's run (Saturday) was a good quick paced run, though my body is slightly sore from yesterday's running and then full day spring cleaning project, which included: carpet cleaning, furniture moving, dusting, baseboard and walls wiping, more dusting, more cleaning and finally loads of laundry and bedding.  So worth the time and effort, though there is always more to do. De-cluttering and cleaning is very cathartic. I love it.

Day 248: Thurs April 17th - After the bad comes the good.

Day Two Hundred Forty-eight - After the bad comes the good.
 
I was bound and determined to follow up yesterdays crappy run with a good run this morning. Not that a person can force these things, but I was lucky enough to be rewarded with just that... a DAMN good longer run.   We ran nowhere spectacular or new, but rather Jax and I ran my favorite trail loop as many times around as we could fit in, with just enough minutes left to get home, shower, change and clock in at work.
 
Jax also seemed to enjoy our run, romping along in the morning sunshine, his shadow wagging its tail behind us.  Though he also nearly drank all my water. I didn't anticipate being gone as long as I was, so I only brought one water bottle, but happily gave most of it to my 4 legged canine friend. Jax deserves it. He comes along most mornings, surrendering to the run and just being in the moment without protest.
Well, most mornings without protest. lol

Day 247: Wed April 16th - I ran out of Zip

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven - I ran out of zip... 

Without bellyaching too much, this was on the top ten worst runs this year. Or ever.  Though it was pretty outside, with wonderful cool temperatures and a calm breeze dancing the aromatic smells of spring blossoms across my nose.......the rest of me was blah. My head, feet, lungs, muscles and entire being were not into it. I shuffled along running, if you can even call it that. Not sure why, or what part of my system was out of sync, but it is mornings like this that make me appreciate the good runs. Because, if every morning felt like this, I would retire my running shoes. :)  

Day 246: Tues April 15th - Zippity Do Da

Day Two Hundred Forty-six - Zippity Do Da

My oh my... what a wonderful day!

Whatever kind of plants these are, they sure were beautiful against the rocks. 

A bright lime and sage green in the sunshine!

Day 245: Mon April 14th - Chasing a Fox!

Day Two Hundred Forty-five: Chasing a Fox!

Went adventuring with both my daughters this time. We ran around the trails, running from tree line to tree line, then made our way into the middle where we hiked through the brush.  Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like two tall ears perked up. The girls and I stopped and stared. It was difficult to see at first, but Mr. Fox was crouched down in the tall grass, watching us as we meandered his way.  Since we didn't want to scare him, and obviously we are not going to chase the fox, we stood very still and watched as he stood back up, glanced several times in our direction and went about his business.  He seemed less concerned with us than we were of him. 

I tried to zoom in and get a good shot of him on my phone, but you know how that goes. Long distant shots with a phone just don't come out well.
Funny enough, when another person out running or walking came down the trial, he'd scamper back up the hill into the bushes, but as soon as they were gone, he would come back down and hang out near us, doing whatever fox do. Even Jax didn't scare him.  The girls oohed and awed at the his beauty, his big bushy white tipped tail swishing behind him.
Thanks for paying us a visit Mr. Fox.

Day 244: Sun April 13th - Adventure Time

 












Day Two Hundred Forty-four
 - The <real> Adventure Time

I love dragging my daughters one at a time with me running on the weekends and days off. Not only does it break up the monotony of running every day, but I also LOVE to spend this one on one time with them.This particular day, Izzy went to play Tennis with Justin and Siena came along we me.

We spent nearly an hour and a half venturing around trails and through the center of the woods, hail pelting us along the way. Frozen rain rocketing down on our heads, stinging my ears (Siena was smart and wore a double hat). We laughed joyfully as we braved the microbursts of sleet, freezing our toes and fingers while looking for treasure or clues to what "They" left behind.
Understandably, there was a lot of stopping and starting as we jogged from site to site exploring.

Here is a small sample of what we found hidden in the woods.

<eerie music begins playing in the background>

This was hidden under some brush. It looks like old wood......or a coffin.

I lifted off the top and a second layer of wood was found underneath.

It looked like an large old crate, rotting in the ground.
However, Siena had a point.... it almost looked human sized. Long in length and about the right width. "Hopefully not a coffin!"
we joked... with nervous laughter.  I started to peel off the top but the two large black beetles we encountered under the second layer was enough to earn a little shriek from Siena as she exclaimed "let's come back with gloves and we can see what's in there next time!"

~ Stay tuned for part two... eventually......

Day 243: Sat April 12th - Battling forces of nature.

Day Two Hundred Forty-three - Battling forces of nature

Day 242: Fri April 11th - A decade gone by.

Day Two Hundred Forty-two - A decade gone by....

My youngest, Izzy was born 10 years ago on this day. My how time has flow.
Ran a quick run this morning, worked a quick half day and spent the rest of the afternoon taking her shopping to spend some birthday money. We had a lot of fun.
In all my 'quickeness'... I forgot to take a photo tho.

So here is one of Izzy:

Happy Birthday Iz!
Love you more than all the germs in the world times a billion...
(this is what we say to each other, she made this up when she was younger and said I love you)

Day 241: Thurs April 10th - Mostest Favortest Run

Day Two Hundred Forty-one - Mostest Favortest Run

I am well aware that "mostest and favortest' are not proper words, however, I warned any readers out there to ignore my grammatical ways.... I am definitely not a professional blogger. lol

Besides, I want to celebrate this morning as one of my mostest favortest runs.  Perfect cool temperatures, beautiful Spring blossoms and gorgeous smells that were a stark contrast to yesterdays garbage pick up day.

Here are some photos of my longer run adventure (sans Jax)

 - in reverse order:

Almost looks haunted.