Playing in the Wasatch Range

Lovely stock photo...(Source)

I had the supremely good fortune to spend a few days last week with a good friend on the Wasatch Front Trail near Salt Lake City, Utah. Running and hiking the trails in the high country is good for my soul, even though I struggled a bit with the steep climbs and high altitude. Salt Lake City is quite a beautiful city tucked into the foothills of the Wasatch mountain range and appears to have a very active outdoorsy-type of population (at least from what I was able to see). It seems like a pleasant enough place to live, especially for the outdoor enthusiast. 

The week provided me with some decent training time of my own as I enter the final few weeks before Grindstone. I must say that while my training has been spot-on, my confidence is pretty shoddy right now. Getting up many of the climbs proved much more difficult than I would have hoped; however I was able to get over a couple climbs in excess of 1000'/mile and collected over 12,000' of climbing for the week. Not too bad. But humbling nonetheless. It appears that flatlanders like me are generally not predisposed to handling the rugged features and relentless climbing found on mountain ranges!! It is what it is though - onward and upward.

Another blogger posted a race plan for this weekend's Leadville 100 that was brilliant in it's simplicity. I believe I will adopt the same for my race in October.

1. When I can, I will run.

2. When I can't run, I will walk.

3. I will eat as much as my glass stomach will allow me to.

4. I will hit Winfield [Reddish Knob Turn Around] around the time I get there.

5. My goal finish time is whenever I cross the finish line.

(Source Here)

Here are some trail pics from a beautiful part of the world: