Dang Hammy

Talena and I after the race...see we are still smiling

Last weekend I ran my first ever half marathon. Or should I say walked (I'll get to that in a minute). I have been training for the SLC Marathon which is next month so I have actually run a 13 mile length or longer 3 times now in my training. This was a bonus because come race day I was able to stay really calm. Even though it was a race, it was just another training run for me.

Things started out fine. They bussed us up to the startline so early we had plenty of time to be very cold, but get a good warm up done before the race. I might have actually stretched and warmed up more then I do for most my runs.

10AM the race started. Talena and I stayed together for the first 4 miles and I really liked the pace we were setting. I felt really strong and had good energy. Just before mile 4 my right hamstring started to hurt so I decided to walk for a minute. Talena and I separated and I wouldn't see her for the next 2 hours. I walked for a couple minutes then started to run again. My leg was still hurting so I shortened my stride and slowed down, but tried to keep moving. By mile 6 I felt a big pull in my hamstring. I continued a walk/run for the next 2 miles until finally I gave in to the pain and walked the final 5 miles to the finsihline. I finished with a time of 3 hrs and 5 mins. SAD and PATHETIC but oh well I finished.

The worst thing about the race (or at least my race) were all the people cheering you on when all you want to do is crawl your sad butt to the finish and go home and hide under the covers. I guess for those people that didn't expect better than a 3 hour finish it was encouraging to hear "you can do it", "you're doing great", "keep it up", "you're almost there." But for me I wanted to slap them.

After getting a doctor check up and talking to runners I am recovering from what is most likely a strained hamstring with lots of Ibuprofen, ice and rest. I have not given up on the marathon, but I will be taking it easy so that I can recover for the race.

Spring means...

Spring means bikes, sunshine, lunches outside and slacklining. This week has been a awesome. Monday I took a short ride up City Creek Canyon before heading to FHE where we competed in FHE Olympics. My team took silver in the 4 man bobsled (basically Tricia and I sat on a blank as Tyler and Mike pulled us around...we were fast 16.21 sec). I also took the gold medal in the girls elimination basketball game. Bishop was a little surprised at my win, later he told me my first shoot was so terrible he thought I would get out very quickly...thanks Bish.

Photo from slackline last year

Tuesday started with me attempting a after work run, which end after only 20 minutes because my knee still hurts from Sunday's 18 mile run. But luckily it was still light outside and I decided we needed to slackline. My friend Jon set up his line and after dragging some friends down there we got on the line for the first time this year. It was awesome and I was happy to see most of what I worked on last year had stuck.

Wednesday was another beautiful day. I grabbed me some lunch and headed to Sugarhouse park for so much need me time. I used a crash pad left in my car from the weekend's climbing trip as my blanket. I think it would be a good idea to get a weekly park lunch together with my friends.

Yeah for sun

But what always happens with spring in Utah beautiful days don't last long. Today's forecast...rain. But I am happy to report that the sun will return Saturday.  Cheers to another great Utah spring.  Good on ya sun.

Climbing Sweetness

Red Rocks - Vegas

It isn't spring until you have had your first rock climbing road trip. So I am officially announcing that it is in fact spring. Last weekend I headed down south with the best group of climbing buddies a girl to ask for, for some much needed sun and climbing.

Day 1 - St George

To save ourselves a 7 hour drive when starting our road trip at 8PM we stayed in St George Thursday night and climbed in George Friday. After a road trip favorite breakfast at Denny's we climbed Chukwalla and Turtle Walls. Chukwalla was great climbing. I got on 3, 5.10s. The holds are usually big on this wall but the slight overhang to the entire wall makes your forearms pumped.

Breakfast of climbers

Chukwalla wall (I'm climbing in the black shirt)

Adam showing us how the Banana Dances (5.11d/5.12a)

Climbing Chukwalla something (5.10b)

My biggest problem actually came on an awkward 5.8 at Turtle wall. I am still working on my lead, but since I was killing 10s thought I should be fine on an easy 8 lead. No go. I backed off the crux twice before abandoning the lead entirely. I have never fallen on a lead, so the first fall is really hard for me to get over. I was 3 feet over my last protection (which is about a 6 foot fall) and just couldn't get over the mental to finish the climb. Sadly this climb is what I will remember most from the trip. I keep replaying it in my head wishing I had made the move and just fallen. Who knows maybe I wouldn't have fallen, but I shouldn't let the fear of falling stop me from climbing lead. After a nice hardy breakdown we were off for more climbing.

Snack time in the Wal-Mart parking lot

Day 2 - Las Vegas

It was my first time climbing in the Red Rocks. There seemed to be a lot of different climbing areas. In that sense it reminded me of Joshua Tree. Too many places to climb so you have to go back for a second trip. The Red Rocks are famous for their multi-pitch climbing. Because our group size was so large we opted for a few walls of single pitch climbing which means I feel another road trip calling me.

Gear shot...Cody has a nice rack

Climbing tattos are a tradition.  Adam showing off the HULK

My first climb of the day started with a big boulder move pass an overhang. It took me a few trys to get the move, but finally got it with a left foot heel hook and a right hand mantle. Later I would come back and work on that move until I got it down without any takes. The middle of that climb was a great corner crack. It was just big enough for you fingers and you placed your feet outside. That type of crack climbing is my favorite.

Today must have been the day for crack climbing; the rest of the climbs that day were crack. We climbed Valentine's Day climb which was a 5.8+. It was a great corner crack with a left lean to the entire route making the climbing awkward. I finished the day with a 5.10d crack climb very similar to the Coffin in LCC. The feet holds were tough and I climbed very sloppy, but it was a fun climb.

Cody is just pass the overhang I did...sweet!

Checking out the climbs and the view

Day 3 - Run Red Rocks

So good and bad news. The bad news is I missed the last day of climbing and from the sounds of it missed out on some great climbs. The good news, I ran 18 miles through Red Rocks. My knees were killing me and I got a sunburn on the tops of my hands, but it was really cool to run in a new area.

The view while I was running

The moment of the day was my friend Silver Fox. Silver Fox is what I am calling the sweet gentleman in the silver Xterra who stopped to give me water. My run was around the one-way scenic drive through the park. I drove the 13 mile loop and dropped off water and food at mile 6 and 12. The plan was to run the loop (13) then the 2 miles (13+2=15) back to the park entrance and another 3 miles (13+2+3=18) of the loop making for a 18 mile total. As I ran I stopped at a rest stop to throw away some trash from a powerbar I had just devoured and a sweet black man stopped me to chat about what a nice day it was for a run. We talked about the headwind and the hills before I wished him and his 3 boys a good hike. Two (or so) hours and 10 miles later I was 5 miles from the finish and I had decided to change my route, instead of the messy run I decided 9 miles in an 9 miles out was simpler. This meant I missed my last water/food stop. Also my water at the 6 mile mark was low so when I came back the second time I only had a few sips of water. I figured I would be ok (well at least I wouldn't die). My lips were very chapped as I ran and I was really excited to get to the 3 mile left mark where I had seen an abandoned water bottle (yes I know that sounds gross, I don't know whose it was or where it came from, but I was getting desperate). But to my great surprise about 5 miles left a silver Xterra slowed down and stopped on the road next to me and it was the same black gentleman from earlier. He asked me how I was, "Fine" I said. He said, "You have been out here for awhile, I know how it is. Do you need anything? Water? Do you want a ride back?" I said "I only have 5 miles left of my run and I was good to finish, but do you have water I missed one of my stops. I would love some water." Without hesitation one of the sons grabbed a water bottle and handed it out the window. The lid was still tightly secured (which is better than the random bottle I found on the side of the road) and the water was a relief to my chapped lips. I thanked him and started my run. Surprising to me (who was so exhausted from running in a head wind and running up what seemed like a constant up hill climb) I ran the remaining 5 miles at a great pace, better than the previous 13 miles. Silver Fox will forever be my friend and an angel sent from God to His crazy red headed daughter out running in the Red Rocks of Vegas for 18 miles.

With that the weekend was over. The only thing left to do was to get the Subaru covered in mud on the drive to Meadow's hot springs.

Yurt Round 2

Yurt Group 2

Another great trip to the yurt is in the books. We headed up to the yurt late Friday night. We busted out the headlamps for a beautiful night hike. There was at least 12 new inches of snow which made for some awesome snowshoeing.
Halee and Elba were the highlights of the trip. Their stories of "things that shall not be mentioned in the blog" had us rolling in laughter and a few people in tears. We slept toasty warm thanks to AJ who kept the fire going. Saturday morning we headed back into the snow to explore the area and play in the powder. There may have even be a race or two going on.
After all things yurt, we headed home. Don't worry we stopped at Dick's Drive-In for burgers and onion rings before leaving Kamas (so delicious). We came, we ate, we laughed, we played, we left. Everything you would hope for from a yurt.

Race time...Running in snowshoes is harder than it looks.

All packed up and heading home

Hooray for Ouray

Another weekend of ice climbing starts with the camping earrings. I love how much I have already gotten to wear these and it is only the first week in March.
The climbing trip was a little slow for me. I got sick a few days before the trip, but didn't want to skip it so I climbed sick. We arrived in Ouray late Friday night to find our five climbing friends who had already had a full day of climbing cramped in a tiny hotel room. When we opened the door to our room we were meet by the luxurious amounts of space. Haha, we kept it a secret.
After an ok night of sleep and a late start the next morning we hit the ice. The first climb we did was over 35 meters tall. We were not sure how long it was until it was too late. Both AJ and I had repelled into the climb before we realized the 70 meter rope wasn't long enough. Luckily we got it figured out and I started climbing. Second round of bad news, there was no protection for the belayer from all the ice falling off the wall as you climbed. Now we know why most people belay from the top in this section of the park.
I climbed first. When I finally got to the top, I just wanted to throw up. I was so tired I didn't want to move. It was a tough climb that was only made worse by the fact that I was sick. We headed up further into the ice park and found a couple shorter climbs we played around on for the rest of the day. We headed into town for Mexican food and later lounged in the hot springs for an hour chatting about all the crazy ripped climbers in the pool.

The view when you belay from below :)

Sunday was another late day. Half the group had already climbed two days, so no one seemed too eager to jump out of bed and go climb. We did finally crawl out of bed and made our way into the park to climb. We did a climb in the lower half of the park and it was one of the best of the trip. The ice was perfect and every swing of your tool land perfectly into the soft ice for a strong hold.

My favorite climb of the trip...see the smile

One of the guys had dropped into a climb we couldn't see the bottom of. When we finally got a glimpse of it there were pillars of ice not touching the ground. This made for some interesting climbing. Alec was a serious ice climber as he wrapped his legs around the pillar and pulled himself up. Pictures are the only way to realize the true awesomeness of his climbing.

After a short day of climbing we headed home. It was a great trip. I meet a lot of new climber friends. Hopefully, I will be able to get one more ice climbing trip in for the season.