Running on Eddie

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Albion Meadows Hike / Sugarloaf Hike in Alta, Utah 07-05-2014

On Saturday I was itching for an easy hike. I had down an easy 7 miles in the morning so I didn't want a marathon of a hike later. I figured that the wild flowers should be up and out up in Alta. The village of Alta is located at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. You basically park at the ski lodge and you can either take a free shuttle to Cecret Lake or make the mile or two walk through the meadows.

I opted for the latter but sadly I was up there about a week or two too early. There were some wildflowers up, but definitely not the massive bouquet that I remembered from last year.

I almost opted to go back and do White Pine or Red Pine, but I only wanted to spend a little bit of time up there and while I had brought plenty of fluids I was a little low on food.

I started to hike and was feeling a little let down. I've been to Cecret Lake before (several times) and on weekends like this it is usually a mob fest of screaming kids. There's little solitude at Cecret Lake unless you go very late in the season.

I made it about half way through the meadow when I saw the turnoff for Cecret Lake, or I could take a zig-ziagging trail up the side of the mountain. I had never taken that trail before, so I opted for that one. I ran into some people who told me the trail I was on would drop me into the backside of Cecret Lake, so I figured I'd make the loop, drop into the lake and come out through the way I had intended. Along the way I spotted about 4 deer eating grass in the valley. Luckily no moose sightings.

Once I got near the lake I ran into some other hikers who were coming from above the lake and I asked them what was up there. They told me it was worth the extra effort and to make the climb and I'd be rewarded with a view of a valley and 2 mini lakes (actually puddles). So I went up there and hung out at a shutdown ski lift and got a birds-eye view of Little Cottonwood Canyon as well as the village of Alta.

After that I ran into another hiker who told me to continue another mile and I'd see an even cooler view. Despite my growing hunger and my lack of food, I hustled over the next ridge and was just shocked at what I saw: a huge panoramic view of the backside of the Wastach Mountains including Mount Timponogus.

My curiosity at this point was definitely piqued and I wound up climbing close to 11000 feet to the Snowbird lift. I figured that my short couple of mile hike turned into an 8 - 10 mile adventure with about 3000 feet of elevation gain.

Luckily I had plenty of water and the food made due (I was ravenous by the time I got home though). I definitely want to continue to explore the backside of that canyon and next time I'll probably pay for the shuttle up there so I can explore a bit further. There was a whole mess of trails that led into valley. I talked to a guide at Alta and he said in another 10 days that canyon will be filled with flowers. Definitely on my todo list.

Looking at Devil's Castle from Albion Meadows

Snow melt / water fall

Ascending the trail

View of Alta as I climb out of Albion Meadows

Bed of wild flowers

Look closely, you'll see a deer in the middle left part of the photo

Looking down upon Cecret Lake

View of Alta -- still snow up there too

Continuing the climb, you can see Salt Lake Valley below

Hanging at the ski lift

The wildflowers were coming up here pretty good

The view of the back canyon. Timponogus is in the background

Some of the small lakes are in the background

Just shy of 11000. Got some passerbys to take my picture

View of the Salt Lake Valley at 11,000 feet

Mount Baldy

More wild flowers

Map of the area

Quick visit to Cecret Lake

Another patch of wildflowers

Snow removal equipment

West Wendover Trip for 7/3 - 7/4

Well, with the mother in law finally healthy, we decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend. On Thursday we headed out out of town to hit up Wendover. We had a free meal coming our way, a free room and and dreams of becoming instantly richer with a pull of a slot machine.

The Trip There

For the most part, the trip there was uneventful. Although just about anytime we go, the weather plays havoc with us. If it isn't a snow storm, it is something else. When we left Salt Lake, it was sunny and in the low 90's. However, by the time we got west of Toole and into Grantsville we were being buffeted by 50 mile an hour winds. The temperature on my car had dropped all the way to 68 degrees. We definitely had to slow down.

However, once we got half way there the wind had died down and we were able to safely resume going 80 mph.

Thursday

Upon arrival we immediately jumped into doing some gambling at Montego Bay. Shari and her mom were busy with various machines while I jumped on a Spartacus machine. I put in $20 and quickly turned it into $30 after I got a double bonus round. Sadly, the WMS machines usually pay crap for bonuses. I like their games, but they usually make me disappointed.

After we had played a while we jumped into the Montego Bay buffet. Shari and I ate for less than $20 thanks to a free meal pass. I may take a beating in the casino but I always try to get it back in the buffet and my appetite certainly didn't let me down.

Upon finishing eating we gambled some more. I jumped on a new bank of the contoured machines that offer Fu Dao Le and other Asian-themed games. I put in a $20 and managed to get extremely lucky. I was getting several bonus rounds and finally I got the Red Envelope Bonus. At any spin, regardless of the amount wagered, you could win the jackpot. It was up to $186 and I was playing the lowest possible bet. All of the sudden I got a "This is your lucky day" activation and the bonus showed up. With all my other bonuses and such I turned my $20 into $250. I wound up playing for a good hour before cashing out with $200.

Shari and her mom weren't having any luck so we got our room squared away and headed over to the Rainbow. It was getting late, and I had a race in the morning, but I humored them. As usual, I didn't have any lucky at the Rainbow.

Me posing by my jackpot win

Exploding money

My final cashout

The winning screen

Friday

In the morning, I got up at about 5:30AM and went and ran the Wendover 4th of July 5K. I did get a chance to sit in the Jacuzzi and meet some people from Seattle. I sort of wish I was I staying another day to more fully enjoy it. Afterwards I headed back to Montego Bay and we had a free buffet (due to all of our comps coming in from last night).

We goofed around a bit in Montego Bay before heading out to the Peppermill to try our luck there. I jumped on another Fu Dao Le machine. I tossed in $20 and it quickly went bye-bye. I figured I had run through my luck and I should just take last night's winnings and call it a good trip. However, the Red Envelope bonus was sitting at $180 and I figured if I played long enough I could get it again (I was seeing people nailing this bonus left and right).

I put in another $20 and finally was able to build that up to over $200. I was getting plenty of bonus rounds and one of my bonus rounds yielded a $185 spin. Shari and I were really ecstatic and I think we caused a bit of commotion as I had a crowd of people watching me. We took some pictures as the money was coming in and security came down and told us to knock it off. I've been busted before for taking movies / pictures in the casino, so I guess I'll have to be a bit more discrete. I wound up gambling quite a bit of it away in hopes I'd get the Red Envelope bonus (it was sitting at $180 and way overdue)

After that I pretty much didn't have any more luck. We did hit up the Rainbow where I put in $60 in various machines and got next to nothing.

We decided to eat at the buffet at the Rainbow. While I definitely prefer the Montego Bay one, transporting my 81-year-old mother in law can be a bit of an effort and it was just easier for everyone to have to eat there. I pretty much had nothing but crab legs for dinner.

Dessert

Exploding with money

My $190 spin. The middle section had 3x wilds

Just before security came

One of about 5 plates of crab legs

The Trip Home

While leaving Wendover, I noticed that on the opposite side of the freeway there wasn't any west-bound traffic. Nothing. I was like, uh-oh, there's a bad accident. Sure enough, about 30 miles outside of Wendover, we saw a very sobering site. On the opposite side of the freeway was a wreck. White sheets covered the cars (indicative of fatalities) and two flight for life helicopters parked on the freeway, completely idle.

Turns out it appears to have been caused by a drunk driver driving on the opposite side of the freeway. At 80 mph, these accidents are usually horrible and what remained of the vehicles looked like something out of a Twisted Metal game. You can see the story here: http://www.coyote-tv.com/2014/07/05/weekend-horror-pick-up-driver-kills-family-on-i-80/ We saw a number of helicopters and other police vehicles coming out of Salt Lake. Apparently traffic was backed up for 3 hours.

Despite the sobering accident we all pretty much had a good trip. I came home about $80 - $100 richer. I also paid for all the tips, etc. Shari lost pretty much all my winnings so between the two of us we were around $20 in the hole. Shari's mom took a beating and lost hundreds. Heck, I've had plenty of trips like that.

Overall a fun trip.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

This week in running 7/5

Day	Mileage / Workout	Comments
Sunday 6/29	7 miles	Easy run throughout. 5 mile hike in the afternoon
Monday 6/30	7 miles	7M: Mostly easy with some drills at the end. Still recovering from my half marathon
Tuesday 7/1	7 miles	1.5M in 11:55, 1M in 7:50, .5M in 3:45, 4 x .12M in 0:048 decent workout. 2:30 rest between reps
Wednesday 7/2	5 miles	Mostly easy with 8 20 - 30 second strides at the end
Thursday 7/3	Off	No exercise today except 2 mile walk
Friday 7/4	5 miles	Wendover 5K + recovery run afterwards
Saturday 7/5	7 Miles - 8-10 miles of hiking including climb from 8000 to 11,000 feet	Medium level pace
Total miles for the week: 38 - YTD: 930.5

Well another week of training down. I am most excited about my Tuesday speed workout run. I really wasn't in the mood for speed work, but I did it. I really like the cut down workout, where I start with a mildly fast portion at a long distance and start to increase the pace. 38 miles for the week (plus about 8 miles of lunch time walking + 13 miles of hiking) puts me at a nice total.

I still remain somewhat frustrated in the fact that I used to run that workout a lot faster. Whether it is age, altitude or what, I am not quite sure. It is frustrating to see your times get slower despite training as diligently as I always have.

I am still doing a fair amount of cross training in the mountains. I firmly believe this helps me build length strength. I feel I can really zip up the hills. Also, it becomes a cardio workout because of the altitude.

This week I plan to train fairly hard until Tuesday or Wednesday. On Friday I have another night half marathon: I am doing the Legacy Midnight Half Marathon in Bountiful, Utah. This will be my third year doing the race and I was hooked from the first time I did it (something thrilled about running the darkened bike trail at night). I know the course well so I should be able to run without the fear of getting lost (like the first year I did. I had to come to a complete stop because I didn't know which way to turn). The race starts at 10pm, so it will be another late night.

This week's photo is a shot of Mount Olympus as the sun sheds it last rays on it. I took it as I was wrapping up one of my runs this week. One of these days I'll get to the top:

2014 West Wendover Nevada 5K - July 4th Run

Last year when I was in Wendover Nevada, I noticed that they had an annual 4th of July 5K in town. By the time I had read it, last year, it was too late for me to get into it. This year, I made a conscious effort to run this under-publicized race and try it out.

It was held at the beautiful Toana Vista Golf Course on the west end of town. The race started at 6:30 and get this: it was absolutely free. Not $10, not $20, not $45 but free.

Granted this was an informal race. The time keeper wasn't a professional organization, it was a guy with a stop watch, pen and a tab of paper. I don't think my results are ever going to make it online and it started a bit late. So my expectations were pretty low to begin with, which is just fine with me.

My plan was to use this race as a tune up and just run it solidly.

The race started out on the golf course and surprisingly it stayed on the golf course the entire time. While running on fairway grass might sound ideal on one's joints, it took a lot of spring out of your stride. Once I took off after an informal ready-set-go, I could hear the jingle of my car keys in my back pocket. 15 yards later -- nothing. Crap! I had completely forgotten to zipper up my shorts pocket, so right at the start I had to stop, go back to the start and locate my keys. Luckily they were easy to find.

I quickly got back into my 8 minute per mile pace and started passing dozens of people. By the end of the first mile I was in the top 10 mile and was slowly over taking people.

My thighs were shot after the first mile. While I've done some running on grass, I had never run this much and I was wishing I was on pavement again. The rolling hills and the lack of bounce was just wrecking my stride and pace. From what I remember, I hit mile 1 right on target with a time of just about 8 minutes.

At the start of mile 2 the runners started to get more spaced out. While initially the course was pretty easy to figure out -- when we jumped on some of the dirt golf cart tracks it wasn't completely obvious were to go. The markers that we were supposed to follow weren't omnipresent and there were a few times that I came to a near stop just to try and figure out where I was supposed to go. I just needed some sort of reinforcement to know I was going in the right direction. After mile 2 I dropped the last kid who I had been following (the majority of people running the race were younger than 18). Also during this mile I saw a couple of Pronghorns galloping through the course.

I crossed the line in 26:37, which is insanely slow for me. But given the rolling hills of the golf, the fact that I did virtually no warm-up and I am not sure I ran the correct course, I'll swallow my pride. My Garmin read 3.20 miles. I think I was probably first "masters" runner to cross out of about 60 runners (their largest race size to date) and probably about 8th overall. I am not too worried about my race time, being that I probably ran last week's half marathon at about the same pace. I had to stop several times to figure out where to go, I lost my keys (briefly) and I was mostly using it as a tempo training run.

I wound up running the course some more just to log some miles and take photos. Also, it turns out I knew two of the runners there. Runners of my blog will recall that I did Race to the Angel last September and I saw a few people that remembered me (and I remembered them). We all made promises to do the Race to the Angel Race and check in with each other then. Only a handful of people have the nuts to run up a canyon, not down.