Moab Retreat and Training Update
Ah the new year is only just a month in and I’ve already had a great adventure! I had the privilege of heading west to Moab, Utah for a long weekend of running and talking about trail/ultrarunning. What could be better?! I can say with a fair amount of confidence that to this point, Moab might be one of the most unique place I have visited in terms of terrain. It has big mountains, the plateaus and arches normally associated with Utah, and even sand dunes transformed into stone. All of these areas are within miles of each other. It seems mostly when I visit an area you have mountains, plains, deserts, etc. and to though some of these places may exists close by each other it tends to take some travel time to move from one experience to the other. Not Moab, jump in the car and you can be in all of these varied areas in just minutes. It is really hard to put into words how amazing of a time I had seeing this area on foot with friends. Slot canyons, petrified trees, petroglyphs, slickrock, snow, ice, sunshine, scrambling… so many amazing sights and things to do! I captured a some video and pictures that I hope tells a bit more of the story. Some photos are from my buddy Travis Trampe (we are the Travi). [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=cvir23OZyzY&list=UUadsjVZrCkfJ-9RKTkfhCbg&feature=player_detailpage]
Training wise, things are starting to trend up. After being knocked down by the flu for the first week of Jan, I came back fairly strong and have averaged over 60 miles a week for the last 4. I'll move this up a bit more in Feb, but this weather that has hit the central part of the US sure has not made it easy. We have had lots of snow and lots of really cold days. Doing my best to enjoy the treadmill and make the most of my time outside. Luckily the really bad stuff seems to have missed the weekends and I've been consistently hitting the 25-29 mile long runs every Sat or Sun. These runs may have been muddy or snow packed but it all will pay off when the good weather hits. Potawatomi 100 in on the schedule and I'm going to go in fit and trying to hit it hard. Game on.
