I have had the opportunity to get out into the mountains the last two weekends, so I wanted to post an update. On 2/13/10 Craig and I attempted to climb Lake Mountain, which is just west of Utah Lake. The weather was a little unsettled, and we couldn't actually see the summit because of the clouds. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we went up the wrong canyon. We ended up getting into a lot of snow, mud, and eventually we came to a gully that would have required a nasty bushwhack to keep going, so we decided not to push for the summit. We did get in 8 miles and had a fantastic day.

2/20/10 I Had the best run/hike of the year so far this morning with Craig. My son came into my room last night at 1:30 am barfing all over the carpet, my bed and himself. I had only been asleep for about 30 minutes and with the alarm set for 6:00 I was worried I wouldn't be feeling it today, but I felt great the whole time. We met my friend Matt at the trailhead to Big Beacon (Mt. Wire) at 7:00 this morning and it was COLD. Matt was taking a break from work, and wasn't dressed for hiking, but he is pretty hardcore, so he just came up in his jeans and leather shoes.

The first mile was really cold and the hose on my Camelbak froze and I couldn't get any water. We made good time to the summit hiking fast. We could have run, but we didn't want to leave Matt. We made it to the top in about an hour, and Matt bailed to get back to work. We took a few summit shots, and then decided to go down a different way that would take us over a minor summit and then take us over to the Red Butte summit ridge. The run over to Red Butte was so fun in the well packed snow.

The Red Butte ridge is a little scrambly (not bad) so it slowed us down some and we were soon on the summit while spying several deer (I think we saw at least 50 today). The run down from Red Butte is pretty steep and technical, but a lot of fun. We had a great time and moved really fast down to the saddle, where we decided to take the switchbacks down to the BST. Once we got back down to the BST it was another couple of miles to the car and by this time it was really hot. My Camelbak finally started working again, and I sucked down some water. This was an amazing day and I would go back and do that again anytime. The only bad part of the whole hike/run was my nose ran constantly, and I had to keep farmer blowing. Craig was incredibly strong, and considering he ran a marathon+ two days ago it was pretty amazing that he did so well.

So far for the year I have done 4 trail runs and climbed 5 mountains. I am doing well with that aspect of my 2010 goals. I'm hoping I can attempt/summit at least 52 peaks this year, but if I get a combined 52 mountains/trail runs I'll be happy.

I have added some pictures below.

2010 goals.

I needed to get back into the mountains, so I climbed Mount Van Cott above the U this morning before work. It was a perfect short hike and had about 1200 feet of elevation gain in about a mile and a half. This is a perfect training hike, especially if there is high avalanche danger on the higher peaks. I didn’t know where the trail was, so I went up a gulch that had a faint trail, and ended up busting my hump up to the ridge through some sugary snow. Once I was on the ridge it was quick and easy, although it was a little steep.

I got to enjoy the sunrise from the top over the Wasatch and the entire Salt Lake Valley. I can’t think of a better way to start a day.

It took me a lot of work to finally bag such a little mountain. I took my dog and kids up there on one of the hottest days in the summer of 2009. We had some bad directions, and it took us about an hour of hiking before we ended up in Cepnalopod Gulch. After about 15 minutes heading up the dog wouldn't walk anymore and the kids were crying, so we had to turn back. My kids still call this mountain Mt. Van Hot.

Now for my goals. I have been thinking about the fitness goals that I want to accomplish this year, so I wrote them down, and I plan on looking at these weekly to make sure I am trying my best to reach them. If I can accomplish these I will be right where I want to be for all of the hikes and races that I have planned for this year.

2010 fitness goals:

My fitness goals for 2010:
-Do a trail run or climb a peak at least once per week
- Hike or run at least 30 miles every week
- Lift weights (upper body) twice per week
- work core/abs twice per week
- Workout every day
- Run 2 marathons
- Run 1 ultra