Jog Blog Day #10 - Lizard Hill

So you do remember the trail with the power lines and the huge population of lizards?  Well, I've run it a few times and I've decided to use that trail as my control, kinda like the "Fun Run" we used to have in Jr. High.  Due to the huge amounts of lizard on this trail, I've named it: Lizard Hill!  I need to find a way to tell how I'm progressing over time and I really enjoy this run.  It has everything a quick trail run needs.  A steep incline at the beginning and a plethora of ups and downs after that, the trail is challenging in that it is littered with rocks that require very agile strides as you run.  I'd rate the trail's difficulty level at just above medium which I think is ideal for a constant with my various runs. 
Today's run was pleasant.  I waited until the sun was a little lower in the sky so it wasn't nearly as hot as it normally is when I run.  I decided to really push today and do my best not so slow to a walk no matter how badly I wanted to.  I ended up walking twice (I guess I still have some more conditioning before I'm up to par), but I ran a good 90% of the time; dodging my feet in between boulders mostly, to keep myself from eating dirt.  If I ever do fall on that trail, I'll be in for a load of hurt because there are very few spaces where there's enough room to fall and not get shanked by pointy rocks (therein lies the challenge).
The turn back point of the trail is marked by a very large water tank that's being dug out for some reason or another so I thought I'd share it with you, and next to the tank was this giant beetle.  He's kinda cute, don't you think?  Anyway, next time I run this one, I'll give you times and stats so we can see how much I've actually been improving.
Until next time...

"Wish I had some PF Flyers"

Cory

Jog Blog Day #9 - Couch Potato

Man, what a run today! The outcome of today's run was completely unexpected! I had my route all picked out before I even got out to there and I though it was just going to be a simple circumnavigation of one of the big hills, but boy was it not that, not at all! I pulled up to my starting point in my Jeep and have never heard a more quiet place in my entire life. I couldn't hear anything for miles. It was almost unnerving how quiet it was.

During the first quarter mile, all was well and I it was a good warm up for what was to come. At the first turn, I realized I had made a huge mistake. Today's trail was a straight climb for 560 feet. Crap... Have you ever felt like your heart was beating so hard it was going to explode? Well multiply that by ten and you'll fee how I was feeling at the top. And although it was a horrible physical test, I felt rather accomplished while fire burned through my arteries. The entire run was only 2 miles and a little bit, but it felt so good knowing what I had done. On the way down, I had some time to think about life and all of its intricate workings and I thought a lot about what it means to be a father. One of the things that really struck home to me was that fathers not only have a responsibility to not only provide for the family, but also teach life lessons to their children that normally may have to be learned the hard way. You can think for yourselves about what those lessons are they may be small or large, but they're important. Mothers are not excluded from this responsibility and I think that having a mother and a father teach you what they know and what they believe is important for the success of the child. I could go on, but this post is long enough.

Here's a link for my run, and it should have the stats along with the map if you click on the "Track 5 (End)."

The couch some lazy person forgot to take back home after shooting it up.

My 560 foot climb started at the base by the power line tower (right) and ended out of the picture at the far left. "Ouch!"

"Wish I had some PF Flyers"

Cory

Jog Blog day #8 - Catch up

Okay, so I haven't blogged any of my runs in quite some time and I'm sorry I've dropped the ball *groveling.* Anyway, I've been running in a few different places and not anywere near the mines. They've been a little closer to home and there's been a lot more wildlife around these parts. I still feel quite blessed to be so close to the outdoors and so many beautiful places (even if they are a little drier than the mountains). Some days, on the trails, I saw up to 23 lizards basking in the sun and one was even 1 1/2 feet long! Here are a few pics of where I've been running and my aquaintances along the way.

A sweet tower of power! Although it's scary running under so much energy buzzing above you.

A view of the valley from the top of the nearest hill by our house.

So, for Father's day, I found out that my wife and family are very supportive of my commitment to running and they got me all of this wonderful stuff. The "Pillow" tie (awesome!) and light (just as awesome!) are from my wonderful wife so I can rest when I'm not running and see where I'm going if it ever gets dark, or if I get eaten by a rabid animal they can find what's left of my body! The camel back is from my parents so I'm not dehydrated on my runs and the running socks are from my grandparents so my feet stay happy on the rocks and dust. Thanks everyone for your love!So yesterday, once I got all set up with my gear and my tactical knife (which may have come in handy), I set off into the wild. Once in the dirt and tall grass, I realized a good part of my trail was almost covered by growth and I had a hard time figuring out where to go until I saw it become more defined in front of me as it rose up the steepest of all the climbs I've taken so far. After my run, I took a look at my GPS and it told me I went up 600 feet and back down 600 feet. It never leveled off and it never let me rest. I thought I was going to die 3/4 of the way up and I had to stop for a while. I'll tell you one thing, I'll never do that trail again, I can't do 1 mile of up and then 1 mile of down, I need some flat stuff to actually run on. Sheesh!

Creepy spider nest where the spider actually ran out and tried to attack my shoe. Made me jump like a mad man.

So happy to get back to the jeep and some safety.

"Wish I had som PF Flyers"

Cory

Hunters

So while the White family was here visiting us in Utah, Tarren and I decided we'd go snake hunting. We sucked at it, but we did find plenty of mice. There were more mice in the area around the old mines than I had ever seen in my life! We disturbed a whole bunch of them, including a pretty big nest of them babies and all (sorry little guys). We've learned one thing though, don't look for cold blooded creatures when it's cold. I think that's a pretty good moto. Anyways, here are a few pics of our finds and of Tarren sliding down a muddy hill because all he brought on this trip of his were some sneakers.
Oh, we did play in the mud a bit. It's been over a week now and there's still mud in the Jeep's wheel wells from that trip (oh and I punctured a tire, but that was an easy fix...).

Mice

More mice

Sucker in the mud :)

Talk about dirty!

"Wish I had som PF Flyers"

Cory

Jog Blog Day #4 - You're It

So today was a little different from the regular runs. We took care of our friend's children for the night so I couldn't exactly get out in the dirt for a real run. I decided to keep track of my distance in their back yard as we played the girl's favorite game: Infinite freeze tag. What's that you ask? I'm it . . . the . . . entire . . . time. . . So I ran a lot, a whole lot, 40 minutes of non stop chasing midget ninjas. And the best part is, halfway through, the smallest one (who is 4) decided to incorporate a defense from my tagging them with a swimming noodle. She started handing out badminton racquets saying, "Weapon, weapon, here's weapon." The game took a bit of a turn at that time, but thank goodness I'm so darn agile (like a panther). I'm pretty good at the game until they flee to the club house. I'm too big to crawl in there before they're all out and back on the lawn so I have to sit and wait like a lion for it's prey. Okay, never mind, that was a little creepy, but it's a fun game to play. The end.

"Wish I had some PF Flyers"

-Cory

Jog Blog Day #3 - Mount Olympus

What a perfect day it was to go running in the outdoors. The sun was shining, it wasn't too hot, oh and did I mention Boreas, Greek god of the north wind, must have been pissed! In fact, the wind was so strong, I was running at what seemed like a 45 degree angle most of the time.

Today's run was a little different than the runs before in that I routed my run on Google Maps beforehand so I could time my run a little better. It was kinda nice in that I could find my route, measure it, see how long it would take me to run it and then execute it. There were a few hiccups in that plan, but it all worked out in the end.

I started out at the base of an active pit mine and the second biggest mine in the area. It's really interesting to see the layers of history that are revealed in places like this. You can tell what kind of activity occurred thousands upon thousands of years ago in a single glance! The only drawback (and it's a big one), is that mines like these create a very large problem for our ecosystem if they're allowed to progress. Take for example the point of the mountain. If no on had ever dug there and it were still intact, our weather in Utah County would be drastically different concerning wind patterns, precipitation and a number of other things. Mining may be fascinating, but it's not healthy for our environment.

Anyway, that's where I began and ended today's run. From the beginning, I could tell that this run was going to be an interesting one, but I ran all the same. the first half of the run was fairly simple and flat and straight with a few slopes that got my heart pumping a bit. At the crest of my run, there were a few guys target shooting and they kindly let me pass with a nod. Right at the end of the bend, is where the "fun" began, everything became much more difficult. There were sudden steep slopes and the wind was even more furious the higher I climbed. The wind pulled against my breath making it much harder to breath and my eyes were watering terribly. Instead of my tears running down my cheeks like normal, they traveled straight across my face and passed the tops of my ears as I trekked to the first peak. At the top of that first peak, I could see our neighborhood and the gravel pits below me but I couldn't stop for long because my time was running short, I had to get to my wonderful aunt's birthday party (happy 45 Auntie!). Peaks 2 and 3 weren't as steep, but my body was yelling at me to give up, and upon my decent of peak 3 I found my road had been completely bulldozed and continued a quarter mile ahead of me, great! I tried to take a shortcut at that point and head back to my car and I found a huge plowed area of dark exposed clay with heaps of soil and rock in completely random places. As the loose sand pelted my body like small bullets from midget guns, I continued on, but found there was no way I would ever get through.

Backtracking sucks so bad when you're already late and completely wiped out. The best part is, that when I turned around to get back to the road a quarter mile up, I ran into the steepest peak in the area. I felt like I was scaling Mount Olympus itself to defeat the gods that were causing such a torturous course. Maybe it was my weary mind, but I swear I heard, "Release the Kraken!!!" But no Kraken appeared (unfortunately).

Things got even better for me once I reached the top of Olympus. There was an old shot up sign that said, "High Wall." I thought, "What the heck is a high wall? . . . Oh, that's a high wall," as I gazed down at a nearly 600 foot drop on the backside of this gigantic mound. "Thanks for nothing Google Maps, you told me there was a way down from here on a road that doesn't exist now! WONDERFUL!!! I'll never get home!"

But I did. After passing some huge 12-15 foot boulders and climbing 600 feet down the backside of the hill, I was finally on a regular dirt road again. Boy was I glad to be down and on my way home to shower and head to the party (30 minutes late that is).

I got a new app for my phone that's way more accurate than my guessing job last time and the whole run was 3.2 miles and total elevation difference was 679 feet. Max elevation: 5195 Feet.

The second largest mine.

"Hey everyone, I can see my house from here!"

"Mini - Mordor."

What a terrible warning, it should say, "Watch out for a huge cliff or you'll die a terrible death!"

Climbing to the top of Olympus.

My 600 Foot drop, and also the largest mine.

12 Foot boulder. (You can see my car in this pic)

15 foot boulder

Map of my run using the more accurate app on my phone.

"Wish I had some PF Flyers"

-Cory

Jog Blog Day #2 - Thanks For The Warning

Thanks to the miracle we call GPS and the fact that many phones are now equipped with such technology, I was able to map out my run and show it to you today. It's so exciting, I'm going to have a hernia! What with the perfect semi-overcast sky and the warm air sweeping past me, I was ready as ever to get a move on. I started in the same place as yesterday, (I'm super surprised my little Jetta made it there, although I wish I could have had the Jeep but Megs took our leading lady to the pool with some friends- that was a super long tangent, but a good one nonetheless), but instead of heading down towards the previous mine, I headed to the one above it. It still had gnashes from the bulldozer scraping and tearing the quartz and iron ore from its walls and for a moment, I thought I might climb inside it for some better close up pics, but the sides were way to steep for me. Little did I know what climbs I would run into further on.

After climbing over a small knoll, I came across a spectacular sight; a huge jutting rock cliff that fell off on both sides creating a ship-like point! It was so pretty, I had to take an awesome picture and share it with all of you (I won't tell you how I took it because it would blow your mind)!

Beyond the jutting rock of awesomeness and a quick stroll down a long stretch of road, I came upon a mud bog that was full of fresh animal tracks! I must have startled the little buggers because the tracks were fresh as could be.

Here comes the not so boring part:

The dirt road I had taken to this point basically ended at the mud bog and I didn't want to turn back, so I thought, "Oh, I'll just climb up this here hill, no problem." Upon further review of the hill, it actually turned out to be a hillside made completely of slate slab pieces lying on top of one another. I thought, "Well, I've already started the climb, might as well finish it." And so I did.

Not to worry everyone, I didn't get hurt. But the truth is, there were a few times were I had to be quick on my feet to keep from sliding all the way down to the bottom to a perilous demise on the jagged slate. Once I reached the top, I made sure to take a picture of just how steep the slope was to remember not to try something like that again.

Today was a good day for things I'll never do again. . .

After coming around the bend at the farthest point on my journey and recording the spectacular view in a very pretty panoramic picture of the church's wheat fields, I headed back to the car (not really realizing how far I was from my vehicle). I kept wondering, "When am I going to see the hill my car is on?" as I would pass mound after mound of heaved dirt, rock and concrete. Though I was still wondering when the end of this run would come, I did find it much easier to run continuously when you're not climbing out of mines or mud holes. The experience on the long road was quite pleasant until suddenly, there was a buzzing in the bushes to the side of me and I froze. Not 5 feet from where I was standing laid a viper, coiled and ready to strike. Now, of course, I once again proved that I'm not the brightest of the bunch, because I didn't really back away. I just stood there looking into those beady black eyes, waiting for the worst to happen. But the worst didn't happen, and upon further study (thanks Wikipedia), I have found that rattle snakes are really quite shy and try to keep away from human encounters when they can. Since they're mostly deaf and rely upon feeling vibrations through the ground and smelling with their sinister looking forked tongues, they can get spooked easily. We sat for a few brief moments waiting and since nothing happened, I slowly began my retreat. The two and a half foot snake rocked its head back and forth watching each leg individually as my heels scuffed the ground away from harm.
And that was it, I escaped from harm safe and sound because it warned me (thanks Mr. Rattles). I continued my jog past the turn to the hill where my real protection (the sheet metal of my VW), awaited me. I tried to drive back down the trail to find the snake again, but he was long gone by the time I got there.

I cannot express how glad I was to have been warned by my potential enemy before blindly blundering into certain danger. I think it may have been a good lesson learned not only on the trail, but also in our lives, that there are warnings created for us on our journey through life that rattle and buzz when we get too close to them. It is our choice to either retreat from these evil things or become enticed by their wonder and mystery. May we always make safe decisions.

In the name of . . . Ha ha! Just kidding! Amen.

A map of my long and arduous journey. Let's all cheer for GPS on Android phones!

Today's mine

The Jutted Rock of Awesomeness

Mud bog print

The slate hill from below

The Slate hill from above (and a little shaken. . .)

The beautiful wheat fields

A mini "San Andreas Fault"

If you click on this image, you can see the rattle snake coiled up just in front of the rock. I didn't dare get closer again after our surprise encounter.

"Wish I had some PF Flyers"

-Cory