Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

March 29, 2024

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Location:

Provo,UT,

Member Since:

Apr 07, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K - 17:11 (Cougar Run)

10K - 34:35 (Deseret News)

15K - 57:33 (Utah Running Club)

1/2 - 1:22:26 (Mountain View Trail)

50K - 4:22:31 (Sapper Joe)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub-2:45 at Saint George Marathon

Win the Antelope Island half marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'd like to run the Angeles Crest 100 at some point. And I'd still like to go sub-4 at a trail 50k. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912

Personal:

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<iframe height='454' width='300' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912/latest-rides/184689bbf831149f2053e60709730c07651232d3'></iframe>

I was a competitive cyclist for years. In 2009, after racing in the Tour of Utah, I decided I had plateaued as a cyclist--I could continue to improve, but I wouldn't break through to a new level. So, I started looking for a new challenge.


I thought that challenge would be mountain biking, but I'm a terrible bike handler. I married Catherine in January 2010 and a couple of weeks later I entered the SLTC Winter Training Series with her. A couple of weeks after that I decided I'd like to run ultras, so I signed up for a couple of 50Ks to get started.

Those first races came and went, with varying results. I was looking forward to running more and possibly pushing into the longer distances, but I injured my knee in June 2010 and I've never been consistently healthy since.

I started law school in August 2010, which meant less time for training. In June 2011, Baby Elliott was born, which meant even less time for training. But she's worth it. 

Baby Nora joined us in October 2013, with the same effect on training as Elliott (who, incidentally, is no longer a baby). 

I (finally) finished school in April 2014 and now I'm an evil corporate lawyer in Salt Lake. I have no illusions that I'll ever get back into the shape that I once was, but I'm perfectly at peace with that. I still have many goals to accomplish and many years in which to do it. 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Total Distance
8.60

AM: I went to the gym with Catherine before she went to work. Four miles on the treadmill in 30 minutes while watching Dreamgirls. I like the AF gym's system of running the same movie all day in the Cardio Cinema, but not when the movie isn't a great one for the treadmill, which has been the case for the last couple of days. not bad movies, just not good treadmill movies.

PM: I took a break from the unpacking and headed to Grove Creek for a run up the canyon. Down low the trail was great, and where there was snow it was well packed. But the further up I went, the fewer footprints there were and the sketchier the footing became. It was never treacherous, however.

After a while, I was following a lone pair of footprints (Brooks Cascadias), and the person who had made them passed me on his way back down at about 1.6 miles. It turns out he had turned around almost immediately before that, and soon I was breaking fresh trail.

Here things got tricky, because the trail had been traveled by others, but since the last time it had been covered by a couple of inches of snow. The result was that the ground was uneven, but I couldn't see the unevenness--I could only feel it as my feet broke through the snow.

I reached the bench at exactly two miles and decided to sit and enjoy the view. After a while I decided to follow through with my original plan and try to reach Indian Spring. I left my jacket and my beanie on the bench and headed up the trail, but it seems as through few people have traveled past the bench this winter. Soon, I was running on about a foot of soft snow covered by an inch or less of icy crust. That meant that with every step the snow would support me for a fraction of a second before I would break through.

This was annoying, and it slowed me down, but it caused a bigger, unexpected problem. Because tall-size tights aren't, and because I was wearing low-cut socks (a poor winter choice when your tights are too short), I had several inches of exposed skin on my lower leg. As I would break through the crusty snow on the surface, it would scrape my legs, and it wasn't long before it broke the skin and my ankles were bleeding. So, I decided to turn around a little more than a quarter mile past the bench. (Also, I saw some large paw prints that may or may not have belonged to something man-eating. Yikes).

The run back down was fun but uneventful. The end.

Nike Lunarlite Racer Miles: 4.00Adidas Adizero XT Miles: 4.60
Weight: 165.40
Comments
From Aaron Kennard on Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 12:31:43 from 98.245.117.176

I have scars on my ankles from post holing with exposed ankles up to bear peak last winter...not the most comfortable way to run through crusty snow. good thing you got out of there before that man-eater smelled your blood

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