ZION NATIONAL PARK (and Vegas)

This past weekend Ted and I flew to Vegas for a night and then spent a long weekend in Zion National Park in southern Utah. Allegiant flys cheap into Vegas but the flight gets in late, so we figured we may as well stay there for the night. We stayed at the MGM Grand in the "West Wing" which was very modern and hip and all that. It was nice. We stayed up and gambled (losing about $30 I think) until early in the morning.

I purchased and consumed most of a half-yard of weird orange sweet booze drink. Probably 2000 calories in the drink. I brought it into the sushi restaurant with me and sneakily worked on it there. It was a little embarassing but it was also really late and I expected they have probably seen worse than people coming in with their half yards of orange drink.

For the most part I find gambling boring but we found this incredibly cool racehorse game. Everyone sits around the table and bets on the horses. Slowly they run around and you cheer and maybe win your quarter back or more. The horsie game was completely addicting. Ted took a video but I'm not sure you will all be as enthralled as we were. The game took awhile and, if you wanted to, you could easily stretch $20 to last all night. We hung out playing the horsies until 4 a.m. Pacific, which was an absolute feat for me.

Early Saturday morning, despite being up so very late, we drove to Zion which is only a couple hours from Vegas. Ted and I intended to hike the Zion Narrows, which is evidently a spectacular hike down the river through narrow slot canyon type terrain. Unfortunately, for the first day all year, it was closed due to flash flood risk. We were able to hike about a mile up towards the mouth of the canyon, but could not even see the beginning. Oh well.

Saturday night we hiked to Scoggins Wash on the Coalpits Wash trail and camped. It was really cool to be out alone in the desert. The stars at night were incredible, and the perfectly clear morning was breathtaking.

There are many spectacular views in Zion and my pictures hardly do them justice.

Ted and I did one hike that began with this sign. A little ominous. I have a bit of a fear of heights and can be a real wuss when it comes to things like precarious cliffs and exposure. Nonetheless, I went forward boldly. The hike was to Hidden Canyon, which was hidden up high. To get there you had to hug some cliff edges.

Hmmmm. . . I wasn't too sure about going forward on the edge of the cliff. I'm a wimp when it comes to these things. Fear of heights and all.

Although it was totally out of character for me, I went forward on the hike, gripping the chain that is provided for extra safety. Really, it wasn't that bad.

At the end of the traversible part of the Hidden Canyon is this arch. Very cool.

Ted making his way down the cliff ledge, gripping the chain for dear life. Maybe that's an exaggeration.

A little bouldering thrown in for good measure.

It was a great long weekend. I highly recommend it. Thanks Ted for planning it! And I didn't run the whole weekend!

Weekend Up North, Eh?

I had the pleasure this weekend of going to Banff and staying with Leslie and Keith, who are truly great hosts and tour guides. Since I’ve downhill skiied all of a few times I have been interested in backcountry touring, which seems right up my alley. Leslie and Keith offered to take me on a beginner level backcountry tour so I jumped on the opportunity. It was just as fun and awesome as I imagined it would be. I learned that I need to actually learn how to ski though.

(Danni snowplows down what appears to be a flat surface -- yes I need to learn to ski!)

For those of you who didn’t grow up in a ski town or skiing all the time and have no idea what I’m talking about, backcountry touring is like cross-country skiing on fat alpine skis with alpine-style boots. The boots can be flipped into “walk” mode which allows them to hinge as you walk, and then flipped into “ski” mode which makes them stiff like a regular downhill/alpine ski boot. The skis themselves are often fatter than a regular downhill ski, and the bindings are super fancy and allow you to free your heel for walking or click the heel down for skiing. Also, “skins” are affixed to the bottom of the ski while you “walk” and then you remove them while you ski. It’s very cool. This is also known as “randonee” skiing. Many people use this set up to get into the backcountry to find a nice powdery run and do “turns” (whatever that means, I only know pizza and french fries) while some people just use this set up to cruise around in the backcountry and explore. There are definitely some dangers in the winter in the backcountry, which include avalanche danger (Keith planned our tour purposefully so we weren’t anywhere near any avalanche danger) and all sorts of other random things. It’s definitely a sport that requires a lot of knowledge, skill and gear. Perhaps I can be there (after learning to ski!) in about a decade.

So to get to our tour we took the gondola up to Sunshine, the ski resort near Banff, and then ducked under the rope and took off into the gorgeous and quiet backcountry. We toured for about 5 hours, down around a lake and back through Sunshine meadows (I think?). It was really fantastic!!!

(isn't Leslie adorable?)

I had only one incident where I was really struggling and a bit panicked. I call it crisis corner. Going up and turning up a steep bit was difficult and I found myself sliding backwards. Not that I was going to go anywhere or plummet to my death – but I was nonetheless in a state of panic and stressed out. Leslie pushed my butt up and Keith instructed me up the difficult hill. It all worked out!

(Keith was a good teacher)

On Sunday we lazed about in the morning and then ran up Sulpher Mountain. Well, hiked up. We had gorgeous views until the blizzard hit. We took the gondola most of the way back down and then ran home. Leslie is in amazing shape. She ran all week in California in the Marin Headlands on a last second spontaneous vacation only to amuse and entertain me all weekend in the mountains. She still kicked my butt going up that mountain!!! My heart rate was much higher than it probably should have been. I also decided that my IceBugs no longer grip very well and might be, sadly, nearing retirement. I had gear envy for sure and want those kahtula spike thingies. The cool kids have them.

(above, Leslie enjoys her hot Gatorade)

Leslie and Keith are awesome and I’m pretty sure Keith is my long lost Jewish brother. It’s so nice to be a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from Banff, one of the most magical vacation spots in North America, and close to such cool people. Yay me!

WEEKEND OF RUNNING

This morning it was just Sonja, Deb and I braving the snowy roads. It's really coming down now. I guess it's Spring!!!
I think Deb came only because she felt obligated -- she knew no one else was coming. But I don't think it was so bad and I don't think she thought it was too bad.

This is what we ran on. Snowy! Yesterday I ran long -- I got in 32 miles. My route was pretty unexciting but I got the miles in. Saw some interesting things. I like this mural. Do not feed the bears.

Below is The Cottage in Kila, Montana. I love this place. They have a bar and restaurant. It came at mile 22 of my run and I really thought about stopping, having a beer and having Ted come pick me up. I decided to just finish my run though. It's hard to have a split personality.

There were a lot of these "Waterfowl Production Area" signs -- every other sign allows public hunting and then every other sign said "closed beyond this sign." I'm not really sure what's going on but I did see some folks with rifles and bird dogs.

I honestly have no idea what the below road sign means. Anyone?

Running roads is pretty dull but it was pretty in parts and I figured I need to actually run sometimes. I was pleased to learn that I can still run at least 32 miles. Not sure how this will translate to 100 miles of trails -- or more imminently 50 miles of trails. In the heat!

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

This was the day after the snowshoeing trip not last weekend but the weekend before. Ted and I had a nice Sunday drive since I was being pretty tired and a lot lame.
Lake McDonald. Unreal.

I like it here.

FANTASIZING ABOUT WESTERN STATES

Amazingly, the normally slow Danni, who wasn't sure if she was trained enough to finish, beats Nikki Kimball and Bev Anderson-Abbs to the finish becoming the greatest upset in all of ultrarunning history!!! Chris O'Connor beats them too! A double upset!
But because I'm a very good sport I give Nikki a beer and she forgives me for beating her.

Pacer Cheryl and Kiwi Paul, who finishes right after Bev, and I kick back and drink more beer.

See how fun Western States is going to be??? I just need to get out and do my long runs, eh?

HOW NOT TO RUN A HALF MARATHON

Yesterday was the "Snow Joke" half marathon in Seeley Lake, Montana. This is more of a fun run, though I think it's the Montana half marathon championship, so it's not like I "race" this or am very serious about it. And, I'm not fast even at my fastest so running a hilly slippery winter race doesn't make for a fast race. BUT, I can tell you that this isn't the way to run a half marathon. I blame Sonja, who was attached to my waist.

7:11
7:18
7:42
7:59
8:12
8:53
8:57
8:45
18:59 (2 miles)
8:49
9:26
10:42 (1.1 miles)

Yeah. I was hurting on those last miles! Part of it was that we were running on snowpack and it was a little slippery, but mostly I just hurt. The bottle of wine the night before might not have helped either of course.

SNOWSHOE ADVENTURE IN THE JEWEL BASIN

Yesterday Callie, Kent and I went snowshoeing in the Jewel Basin wilderness area, which is an area in the Swan Mountains. Ths sky was an unbelievably perfect blue and temperatures rose to around 40 degrees. A perfect day to be out enoying the day. We were out for close to 5 hours and were totally wiped by the end. But it was so exhilirating and beautiful I was on cloud nine. These pictures are totally out of order so bear with me.
There was some sliding too. Kent wanted to slide straight down the face of the mountain but I thought that sounded like a bad idea. This little slope had to suffice.
There was a well-worn snowshoe path which made it easier than it would have been had we been breaking trail. We saw a backcountry skier while we were up there too. The only annoying thing was that snowmobilers were out in full force in the area and occassionally the loud sounds of their snowmobiles interrupted the otherwise peaceful calm. I thought snowmobiles weren't allowed anywhere in the Jewel Basin but evidently I was wrong.

The above picture is where we decided that perhaps we should loop back towards home. I really know little about backcountry snow safety but hiking over that cornice looking thingy didn't seem prudent. Not to mention the strenuous climb. We made our way down off the spine of the mountain and found the trail that led back to Camp Misery and then back down to the car.
This was a very steep climb. Sammi, behind me, kept stepping on the back of my snowshoe as if she were trying to hitch a ride, and Mukwah, in front of me, periodically laid down on the trail to take a rest. Sonja did pretty well though I think she would prefer to be off-leash.

The views of the valley were phenomenal. You can see Flathead Lake behind us. This climb about killed me. I am very sore today.

A PRESIDENTS DAY UPDATE

For some reason we got Presidents' Day off this year. Woohoo that's change I can believe in. I did go into the office this morning for a few hours but headed up to the hill for some skiing. I am getting better but my weak spot is turning on steep downhills. I will be going super slowly one direction but then I get a little scared to turn and head the other way for fear I will pick up too much speed as I'm making my turn. I need to just get over it. Geesh.

Leslie and Keith in Banff just returned from an awesome alpine touring expedition and definitely inspired me to work on my skills. I may just head up to Banff and let them teach me some basics of touring.

In running news, I ran 20 miles yesterday. The first 5 were really fast and the last 15 were nice and slow. I walked a lot the last 5 miles since it's all about "time on my feet." I only ran about 34 miles this week, which is about half what I was running this time last year. However, I got in 4 Crossfit workouts and while I'm a little uneasy about my new approach, I think it will work out fine and, frankly, I can't bring myself to run more than I am running. I'm also able to run faster and doing a weekly speedworkout with Leanne, which is better than I was doing last year.

I'm pretty tired after my "weekend warrior" long weekend. Time to do it all again!!!

Skiing -- Part Deux

Yesterday was a perfect sunny day and I went skiing with girlfriends Krista and Stephanie. We stuck to the beginner lift but did several runs going down the hard way. I had my first "yardsale" where I scattered my stuff along the mountain, though the chair lift guy says it's not really a yardsale if I didn't lose my goggles. We had a really nice day. I can't believe I actually enjoy skiing. Part of it is mastering getting on and off the scary chair lift. Part of it is realizing that I am strong enough to stay in control if I choose to easy down slowly and cautiously.
The best part is I can pretend to be all sporty-like and then enjoy my apres-ski beer doubly.

Putting my race schedule together

So, I've signed up for Diablo, a very tough 50 miler near San Francisco known for getting hot. I am told that it is a great training run for Western States, so I decided to run Diablo rather than Ice Age. I can't see going to Chicago/Wisconsin without taking the time to see all my friends, so I decided to save that one for next year and make it a goal race and take sufficient time off work to see everyone.

I had been planning on the Pacific Rim 24 hour, but Longview, Washington isn't where I thought it was and so rather than being a 5 hour drive it's a 9 hour drive. I must have been confusing it with the Yakima marathon or something. So, I'm not sure now. That's in March, and it would be a good endurance exercise and a good mental exercise and I think it would be fun. But I need Ted to come along and drive me home -- or else I will need to take an extra day off work. Hmmm. I'm not sure whether this will work. I should maybe look into the train.

My eating is a disaster lately so I need to get that in check. But with a very difficult 50 miler coming up in two months I feel more motivated than I felt before to get out the door. For some reason though I've just really been struggling. I think today I'll take my snowshoes out and see if I can't feel the love.

I took my snowshoes out and felt the love. Being outside alone in the woods is recharging. I need to remember that. The sun sure helped.

A Break from the Regularly Scheduled Programming

Today I had my first trial. I mean, I've been on trial teams but today I was first chair and tried a case. I had the benefit of my friend and boss Kim coming to help/supervise/support which made things much easier. She was like crew and pacer rolled into one -- only she was allowed to mule. It was a real estate case that I won't bother to explain, but it was an important day so I thought I should mention it. I don't know yet whether I won or lost, and chances are good that I won't mention it since I try to make it a habit to not really talk work here. But this was a big deal to me so I wanted to share. That is all. Carry on.