Sometimes Utah Really Rocks

After getting called in to work at 9PM and staying till 8 this morning I decided it was about time for a ride with the boys.

All I can say is Mid Mountain Trail.

23 miles of single track starting at Deer Valley Resort to Park City Mountain Resort to The Canyons Resort. Most beautiful, fast, fun trail ever. It basically winds up to the top of each resort via switch backs. The descents were incredible! Tight turns through birch trees and wild flowers with just about every type of terrain (baby heads, dirt, sand, red rock, etc.). Even after getting no sleep and not eating well in the morning the adrenalin rush this trail gave me kept me going all 23 miles... with out touching the granny gear. I could ride that trail everyday.



I'm pretty sure I scared away any wildlife because I was hollerin' "yee haw" the whole way.

PS- no pictures of my own because it was just too good to stop.
PPS- I need a full suspension bike so I can stop stealing Shonda's Kona Lisa DS.

Sometimes Utah Really Blows

I hate Utah today.

Being a 20 something girl in Utah sucks... unless you're LDS and married.

Every time I go to the doctor and I hand over my insurance card I'm asked if it's my husband's. Lame.

I tried to trade in my car at 3 different places. Every single one low balled me (more than the usual skeezy car salesman low ball). I'm sure if I would have showed up with a husband I would have gotten close to the flippin' blue book value.

My old (technically current still) landlord claims I didn't repaint my old apartment well enough. Most people just move their shit and leave... in fact, that's what I've done the past 3 places I've lived. This time I knew my landlord was (is) a cock bag so I painted the walls bright white in a semi-gloss paint (at his request) and made sure the floors and appliances were spotless. Today he calls me to let me know he thinks he can still see some powder blue in the bathroom and some yellow in the office. He plans on charging me for someone to paint it again and rent for every day that it stays the way I left it. The colors were all very light, I primed, I painted, and now I'm going to get boned because I'm a little girl all on my own in Utah.

I can't remember the last time I was this fucking pissed. Balls!

Summer Ohhh Nine

Although I haven't been on a ride in 4 weeks I have managed to stay busy... with things other than work and school (whoa!):

-Moved from the university area of SLC to the oh so trendy Ave's
-Got a pooch. His name is Bear, he's an Australian Cattle Dog (little blue Heeler), he's about 1, loves the trail, and doesn't shit in my house
-Ran the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon (6 minutes faster than the SLC Half)
-Enjoying lots of live music: Park City Roots Rock Reggae Fest, Jenny Lewis, Bon Iver, The Black Keys, and open mic night at Moe's
-Hiking a ton with my homies
-Got a job at Snowbird for the winter (free tram pass worth $1100 included)



I've got some good karma going lately:
Point 1: went on a night run with Bear about 2 weeks after I got him, someone lights a loud firework as we cross the street, he wrangles out of his collar and books it up the Ave's in the dark, I search for 45 minutes (screaming his name and balling to strangers), run home to get my phone (since I've given my number out to said strangers), I get home and my dog follows me through the door as my neighbor explains that he'd been waiting there for 30 minutes.
Point 2: After leaving Shonda's house in Park City I was coming down Parley's Canyon (traffic goes about 75), heard a thumping noise under my feet, my ABS light goes on, drive home since there aren't many places to stop in the canyon, look in my tire well, see the my tire has shredded but stayed in tact.



Lots of plans in the next few weeks too:
-Snake River float trip next Thursday with the PACU crew
-Jupiter Peak Steeplechase August 8th
-Birthday celebrations the weekend after my birthday include the first day of Oktober Fest at Snowbird followed by bar hopping through Park City (without membership fee's!)

Still making silly wishes.

4th of July in Jackson

Jackson, WY is the most beautiful place I've been in my life.

Fact.



PACU crew and significant others made the 4.5 hour trek to WY for the holiday weekend. Within 20 minutes of arriving we downed Billy Burgers and signed up for the Jackson 4th of July 10K.



We camped on National Forrest land on Shadow Mountain. I definitely hadn't peed in the woods for years but it was totally worth it for the flow-y single track just a few miles up the fire roads from our site. I got to steel Shonda's Kona Lisa DS and motored up the mountain despite the elevation being twice what I live in... I was feeling so good that I bombed down the trail and totally nailed a log and ate shit. I caught guff the rest of the trip for my sweet spill. After riding with the boys the entire group went for a hike to Grizzly Lake by the Red Cliffs. Dogs aren't allowed in the National Park so we had to stay on the east side... kinda sucky but still beautiful.



We ran the Jackson 4th of July 10k the next morning, I ran average 10 minute miles (absolutely sucking wind the entire time, 7400 ft bizzle). Unfortunately, while I was taking a recovery nap the day before I left my trail running shoes outside of my tent during a thunder shower so it was a pretty squishy 6.2 miles for me... but I did keep my red cowboy hat on the entire time. Classy. We got a pretty rowdy, drunk game of Apple to Apples goin' that night while listening to "country rock". Probably the most fun I've had since I moved from Carbondale.

Going to work and school was a total buzz kill on Monday... I mostly want to quit my job, drop out of school, and move to Jackson. There's definitely a job opening at the hospital there... not that I looked or anything.

Running Through Cougar Country

Some of the PACU crew spent the morning in Provo at the Provo Riverwoods 10-Miler... now, the race aside Provo is it's own little world. It is home of the Brigham Young University Cougars, the LDS university, and it's filled with all the typical stereotype mormons: the men who think they're all that and a bag of chips, the wives with 6 children and no job, and the young married couples playing house and living off of mommy and daddy. So, this race took some real tolerance because there was a 20 minute shuttle ride to the start and the finish was filled with a ton of loud children and spouses.

The course was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. It started at about 7000 feet up in the mountains, it's been raining for the past week so everything is green and some clouds were hanging on the peaks... majestic fo' shizzle. After running 3 miles down a small canyon we turned on to the Riverwoods Trail which follows the Provo River and goes past Bridal Vale Falls, it's all shaded and nicely paved. It should have been my best time because it was a great downhill/flat course.



Reasons the PACU girls didn't do as well as last week:
-The hospital has been crazy busy this week so we were all beat
-Apparently we spend enough time together that our periods have synced... therefor cramping and bloating ensued
-I'm getting sick from not eating enough carbs (trying to drop the pound-age)
-... and I'm out of excuses

I was hoping to run 9.5 minute splits since last weekend I was at 9.9 but I ended up running at 10.01... pretty disappointing. Not bad considering there was conversation at mile 4.5 about "I just want to walk this fucker" and "Oh, I feel like shit" and "I really don't want to play anymore". All in all everyone did well, no racing till the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon (July 18th).

PS- my quads are getting a little rediculous... I can only imagine what they'd look like if I started riding my bike and got a tan. Daaayum.

BLS: Basic Life Support

Is it wrong if I thoroughly enjoyed practicing chest compressions for 3 hours today in my BLS renewal class?

CPR is pretty unaffective... but it sure is fun.



Oh, Pam.

Running at the Butt Crack of Dawn

The PACU Crew took on another running challenge this morning. This morning at the crack of dawn, to be specific. The Salt Lake City Crack of Dawn 10-Miler started with a 2 mile stretch up East Canyon to the lookout over Little Dell Reservoir, down the switch-backs to Emigration Canyon, all the way to This is the Place Park for the finish.



The worst part of this run wasn't the 2 miles up a canyon but the lack of level road to run on. Most of the race had a pitch off to the right which has made my left knee and quad pretty sore. My first race was the Salt Lake Half Marathon with 10.8 minute splits, today's race (my second) I had 9.9 minute splits. I'm pretty happy with that progress considering major lack of training and feeling relatively crappy the past day or two.

Over breakfast San San "the machine" Wu (she placed 2nd for the women overall, first in her age group, and then went mountain biking) was talking about the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase race. It's a trail run in Park City up to Jupiter's Peak and back down for a total of 16 miles. It sounds like a pretty good race to determine if I should do the Pike's Peak half or full marathon next year. There are only 250 places so I'm sure I'll be registered before the end of the week. I've put a lot on my plate for this summer with work and class, but it should be a blast!

June-
13th- Provo Riverwoods 10-Miler

July-
2nd-5th- Jackson Hole camping/ mountain biking trip
18th- Bryce Canyon Half Marathon
31st- Snake River float trip

August-
1st-2nd- Snake River float trip
8th- Jupiter Peak Steeplechase Race

September:
19th- Chequamegon 40 mountain bike race

October:
18th- Moab Other Half Marathon