Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

April 25, 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:

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

Fri, Sep 10, 2010

Total Distance

14.00

There's a lull in my workload, so I got an early start and ran Timpanogos again this morning. (Catherine and I might race tomorrow, and there's no better praparation for a road 5K than a long, slow run up a mountain the day before.) Other than a dropped glove that required a bit of backtracking, the run up was uneventful. There were very few people on the trail, and I ran all the way to the cirque. From there I started mixing some hiking with the running, and it was mostly a crawl from the saddle to the summit. It was bitterly cold at the summit, but there was no wind and I was wearing thick gloves so it was much more tolerable than on Monday. Plus, summit was dusted with snow and engulfed in fog, and I had it to myself. Very cool.

I stopped at the summit long enough to send a text to Catherine and then it was back to running. Descending to the saddle was much easier with the sun out, but I was still slow. I stopped after a couple of miles to check my fluid levels and tighten my shoes, but once I untied my shoes I had a lot of trouble relacing them with my forzen fingers. That annoyed me, but then I ran past about 7 goats right next to the trail, and that cheered me up.

Descending today was much nicer than on Monday, partly because I could see and partly because there were fewer people coming up, and most of them passed me without incident. Except for some idiot about two miles from the trailhead who was hauling his bawling baby in a Chariot jog stroller or bike trailer of some sort. I'm not sure what he was thinking, and I would have been screaming, too, if I were his kid.

1:45:47 up

1:02:39 down

2:48:27 total

Brooks Cascadia 4 Miles: 14.00

Weight: 161.00

Comments

From jun on Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 14:39:40 from 97.126.232.37

Wow, that is a fast time. You need to try and find one more time to get up there this year and go after the speed record. You can confirm the record on summitpost.com. Just search for Timpanogos and got to the main page. Read through it and you'll see Phil's reference to the speed record. There needs to be a real one set that people can go after.

From Faceless Ghost on Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 15:27:32 from 128.187.97.3

Karl Meltzer claims 1:58:58 (actually, he claims the time for his dog but implies that he was right there.)

http://blog.coachingendurance.com/2009/09/running-mount-timpanogos-emerald-lake.shtml

Of course, I detect BS. According to the same source, Meltzer's fastest ascent is a smoking 1:18:49. Assuming he set his round trip record on the same run, there's no way sub-2 is plausible unless he cut some serious trail. I mean, to do that he'd have to run 7+ miles in 40 minutes. I don't care how much of a technical wizard he is--I have a hard time believing Meltzer (or anyone) can average 5:43 down any significant portion of that trail, let alone the whole thing.

From jun on Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 15:31:03 from 97.126.232.37

I fully agree with that assessment. I don't see how it would be possible to go that fast if he did a 1:18:00 on the way up.

From Scott Wesemann on Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 01:39:31 from 75.162.85.220

Nice time FG. That is fast! I loved your description of the summit. Those can be some of the best summits when you're up in the fog. Kind of surreal.

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