June 29, 2012

Summer vacation season kickoff!

After staying home for ONE whole weekend without traveling to a race, we're hitting the road again this afternoon... but this time for vacation!!! We staying at Brian Head for the next couple nights where the air will be thin (base elevation = 9600 feet) and the temperatures will be nice and cool. Hiking, trail running, hot tubbing, archery, horseshoes, and mountain biking are all on the agenda. Cedar Breaks National Monument is closeby, and if the absurd wildfires don't keep Kolob Canyons close we'll probably hit that area along with Zion's main canyon before finishing up the trip at Bryce Canyon NP.

Zion NP, Observation Point (June 2008 trip w/ my parents)
Bryce Canyon (June 2008)
Andrea running in Bryce (September 2010)

June 28, 2012

Race photos from Duluth


Some screenshots from the USA 1/2 Champs in Duluth...

Post-Race



Andrea and Allison




June 27, 2012

New Utah race - Tour de RUN


In a few weeks, the inagural "Tour de Run" will kick off - its a new Utah race where competitors will run 3 "stages" (5K, 10K, 5 miles) over an 18 hour period. The winners will be determined by overall time (cycling style). We think this is a very innovative concept and we're looking forward to participating. In the age of "every race has to be a half marathon or obstacle course run or it doesn't count," ideas like the Tour de Run and the entire "Bring Back The Mile" campaign are a refreshing change of pace and a great way to test yourself over shorter distances.

You can check out the TdR's Facebook page, or their official website for more information.

Date: July 13-14, 2012
Location: Highland/Cedar Hills, Utah
Start Times: 7:00 pm (Friday), 7:00 am and 1:00 pm (Saturday)

Stage Distances:
Stage 1 - 5K
Stage 2 - 10K
Stage 3 - 5 miles

You can register on their website using this code: wasatchreferral and it's only $50 for 3 races!

June 25, 2012

Pfeifferhorn

The Pfeifferhorn - if you look really close, that's me (Jake) on the summit

When the temperature starts breaking the 100 degree barrier in the Salt Lake valley, we head to the mountains. Yesterday (Sunday) Andrea and I (along with 4 of our friends) went for an awesome hike up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The goal was to reach the summit of the Pfeifferhorn, an iconic and beautiful 11,326 foot mountain. Its a 4.5 mile, 3700 foot climb from the White Pine trailhead. 

We took our time on the way up - stopping for breaks at Red Pine Lake and the upper lakes - it was such a beautiful day and we just wanted to soak in the outdoors as much as possible. Its good for the soul to have days like this. From the upper lakes, a couple of us continued on to the alpine ridge. I took off running from that point and made the push to the summit in good time while the girls watched from below. Other than some fun scrambling on the "knife edge" it was a straightforward route to the top. The views were just spectacular.

Unfortunately, at some point on the hike out at the end of the day, I dropped my camera. I didn't realize it until we were back at the car. I ran back up the trail for about 1.5 mile, re-tracing my steps, but I never was able to locate it. I'm not necessarily bummed about the camera itself, but I am sad about losing all the photos. I had taken about 100 awesome pictures throughout the course of the day, and I hate to lose the "evidence" of such a great day in an awesome place with our friends. I guess this means we'll have to go back up there... the upper Red Pine basin is one of the most beautiful places in the Wasatch range.

Luckily our friend Amiee sent me a few of her photos, so we have something to put on the blog...

Hiking around Red Pine Lake
Not much snow left!
Our crew stopping to take in the views
Red Pine Lake from above - Cottonwood Ridge in the background
Maybird Gulch
I'm the little speck working my way up towards the summit
Timp and Box Elder

June 24, 2012

A wedding in the mountains


After Saturday morning's Wedding Bells Relay - we went to Allie & James' actual wedding, which was up at Snowbird. It was a beautiful summer evening up in the mountains and we had an excellent time.
Mt Superior, our favorite mountain to ski, needs some snow! :-)
The ceremony was out here w/ a perfect mountain backdrop
Once in a while we wear non-running clothes
The bride and groom
The aisle, which Allie and her father somehow missed! They came in the side.

 Allie!
Reception area
Lots of delicious treats!
Lookin' snazzy with the shades and sport coat
The view
First dance
Bonnie, Allie, and Andrea

June 23, 2012

Wedding Bells 5K Relay!


Two of our favorite running buddies and good friends, James and Allie, are getting married tonight! Considering the fact that they met each other at a race, got engaged at a race, and each run about 30 races a year, it was only fitting for them to have a race on their wedding day. They organized the
Wedding Bells Relay 5K, and it was a total hit! By far our favorite race of the year :-)

James and Allie after the SLC Marathon
Race directors!
There were 5 on our relay team. We thought it was only appropriate to dress according to the theme. So the three girls wore bridemaids dresses, Jake wore American flag shorts (in honor of James new US citizenship), and Kevin... well, we're not sure how jean shorts and a "come at me bro" shirt fit the theme but he definitely had us cracking up.

Our team...

Andrea
Amiee
Kevin
Devra
Jake
After lots of goofing around, the first legs of each relay team headed to the 200m mark for the start. The horn blew and they were off! Devra ran the opening 200 meters and then we alternated 400s for the remainder of the race. We won in an official time of 15:11. Andrea split some 72s - not bad for a bum hamstring and wearing a dress. Jake averaged 63 seconds for his 3 legs, which felt infinitely harder than running a full mile at that pace a few weeks ago.

It was a really fun morning - great to hang out at the track with friends and just have a good time.

Jake, Devra, Amiee, Andrea, Kevin











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