A New Beginning—Indian Creek, Utah

Well, I’ve officially started a phase of life that I will refer to as the “Dirtbag Years” from here on. No job. No “home.” No stress. No worries. Pursuing my passions. Finally, a sense of overwhelming peace is present in my life. 

My buddy Alex and I headed out to Indian Creek, Utah last Monday and spent about five days there exploring the world-class crack climbing. This proved to be a somewhat arduous task for me as I’ve only climbed rocks twice before—neither really being much of a crack climbing experience. So, I was faced with the task of simultaneously learning crack climbing technique and developing fitness. Easy? No. Fun and exciting? YES! Hopefully when I return to The Creek on Tuesday (or Wednesday?) the climbing will come a bit easier and I won’t spend 30-45 minutes flailing up the routes. We’ll see…

So, without too much useless babbling, here are some photos from the first days in The Creek. 

Welcoming the warmth of the sun

Flat and easy 8-mile run as the heat of the day started to set in

Alex cleaning up a route

Nice route to shimmy up

The Creek sure is beautiful

Home for about five days

Sunset view from our campsite

Another sunset view

PBR in The Creek

Words and photos don't seem to do much justice to the scenery

Alex getting ready to lead Wavy Gravy

Alex still getting ready for Wavy Gravy

View from the Crag

Relaxing in the shade with a PBR in hand

Pretty much sums it all up

My first off-width climb with a bit of a tricky finishing move

Paradise :)

The desert can be particularly brutal. These little bastards hurt to fall on. Trust me...

Stopping to admire the view on a little run in Canyonlands NP

Sunset in Canyonlands NP

Stopping for a breather during a run

This is what happens when you forget to tape up while crack climbing

Week in Review: October 1-7

Monday, October 1^st  

AM—None

PM—2 Miles—0:15—150’—Creek Path

Just a short and easy run to get my legs used to running again after several weeks of little to no running.

Tuesday, October 2^nd    

AM—None

PM—5 Miles—0:55—1,650’—Sanitas  

Ran into Tony Molina at Settlers Park and joined him up Sanitas rather than my planned trip up Flagstaff. Took the ascent really easy and then bombed down the descent in what was likely my fastest Sanitas descent ever (I wasn’t really watching my time though since I planned on a very easy outing).

Wednesday, October 3^rd   

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—0:59—1,650’—Flagstaff

Super easy run. Took the up and down both at a casual pace.

Thursday, October 4^th     

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—1:03—1,600’—Flagstaff and Mesa Out-and-Back

I met up with Tony Molina for an easy run up Flagstaff. We came down Gregory Canyon where I pushed slightly on the descent—not fast, not slow, but closer to fast than slow. I added on the initial climb up the Mesa trail from Chautauqua and turned around at the top.

Friday, October 5^th    

AM—None

PM—None (Bouldering at The Spot)

Saturday, October 6^th            

AM—10 Miles—3:00—2,900’—Green Mountain via Flagstaff and Middle Route

I continued with this week’s theme of casual climbing. I was making decent time up Flagstaff and all the way to the first set of rocky switchbacks on upper Greenman despite what felt like an easy effort. Once I hit the rocky sections everything immediately became covered in ice and I fell into a hike. I foolishly pushed to the summit not thinking about the logistics of getting down all of the ice-covered rocks. On the way down there were several instances where I just had to slide on my ass down the icy rocks—not fun. About 1:15 of the time from today’s run was due to slow-going on the ice.

PM—None

Sunday, October 7^th

AM—None

PM—13 Miles—2:24—2,900’—Green Mountain via Bear Canyon

I started with the intent of a Mesa trail out-and-back, but quickly scrapped that idea after the first climb up Mesa from Chautauqua—my legs felt like absolute shit. So I accepted that I would go out to some undetermined point and turn around for a much shorter run than planned. When I hit Bear Canyon my legs started feeling somewhat better. So, I decided to just go ahead up the canyon to see what would happen. My legs started coming to life and my pace improved pretty dramatically on the climb. I took the descent pretty easy. It felt great to get out and run in the usual short, shorts and no shirt with the brisk temperatures and frost-covered mountains around me. Much better than yesterday’s what-the-hell-am-I-doing-out-here outing.

Miles—42

Time—8hours 38minutes

Elevation Gain— 10,850 feet

                                                                                                                                             

After nearly six damn weeks of residual fatigue from my DNF at Leadville it seems that my legs are finally starting to come around. I used this as a “welcome back to running” week and took essentially all efforts at a casual pace (with the exception of a few downhill bombings). 

I’m heading to the Moab area tomorrow for a few days of running, climbing, and dirtbagging (not to be confused with teabagging) in the desert before rolling into Leadville for my buddy Jon’s “Welcome, Winter 50k” Fatass. Pretty stoked for 33 miles and loads of vert in the mountains around Leadville.

I’m putting together a pretty lofty list of things to do in the coming months. Of course, all of these depend on how my running comes along in the weeks to come. Here’s hoping to some solid weeks of training!  

The Aspens surrounded by a dense fog. Some foreshadowing for the conditions a little higher on Green.

First ice in my hair for the fall/winter.

A Little Break

Well, I let it happen again. A couple of months go by and the only thing I post about is cutting off my beard. In my defense, since Leadville I haven’t really done much running. I suppose that even after a DNF at mile 76 my legs still endured enough trauma to contribute towards a lingering fatigue which only now seems to be dissipating. 

Since Leadville I’ve probably only ran 100-150 miles (not much at all). I’ll have great outings where I feel strong and fast as ever, but follow them up with several days of extremely lethargic, seemingly never-ending runs.

I took the past week off completely. Not one step of running. For now, it seems to have worked. My legs have felt great the past three days and the fatigue seems to be nearly gone. Guess I’ll just have to take things day-by-day. 

Here are some photos of my outings dating back to a few pre-race day runs in Leadville back in mid-August…

 

One last Green summit run before Leadville

Heading up Hope Pass in the days prior to Leadville

Hope Pass run

Hope Pass run

Llamas on the way up Hope Pass

Hope Pass run

Nearing the top of Hope Pass

Running amongst the Aspens on the way down Hope

Sunrise over Turquoise Lake

Sunset on a week in Leadville

Cool climb next to a waterfall in Tensleep Canyon, Wyoming

Awesome lake in the Cloud Peak Wilderness, Wyoming

First long-haul road trip in the Taco

South (left) and North (right) Arapaho Peaks

View from the South to North Arapaho Peak traverse

Arapaho glacier

Aspens turning!

Nothing like an early morning run on some nice, buttery smooth singletrack...

Crewing Jason Schlarb at the Rub Rabbit Run 100 Miler...Crewing isn't as easy as it looks...