OK, I've been struggling with getting back into running, but for the last couple of weeks have been pretty focused on making some change. One of those changes is getting my mileage back up.

So my mileage was Pitiful (with a capital P) this week, but I'm giving myself a bit of a break as I kind of messed up my foot last weekend. I was good to it all week, iced it 2X a day, stretched what I could, and it feels pretty good.

Good enough to tackle a mountain run? Sure, why not.

So a friend and I ran to the summit of a beautiful mountain here in Utah called Mt Timpanogos. It's 7 miles to the summit. That means 7 miles up and 7 miles down. The trail starts at about 7600' elev and climbs to about 10000' (a gain of about 2400') in 5 miles and then the last 2000' in 2 miles. Yeah. We ran up until about 10500', at which point I could run no more...my legs were done with the "up" running at that point. So we power hiked to the summit, stopping at times to watch the very cute and fluffy mountain goats that live up there, chatted with people, and enjoyed the day. We ended up running all the way down, which is my favorite part (!), although my hip was a little cranky after about 12 miles.

No way could I have run farther. But it felt pretty good. Walking the last 1.5 or so miles really helped.

To put it into perspective, the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance run was this weekend. Over 300 people each ran 100 miles in a period of 36 hours. The gain on that puppy is something like 27,000 feet. I'm not worthy!!!!!