A Proud Couple of Days

This has been an interesting week for running. Since running my marathon last week I thought I would cool it down and maybe even take a low mileage week to recover. However, for some reason when I get something in my head it gets stuck there and the only way to get it out is to complete it. I did an amazing 18 mile on Monday from my house all the way up to Millcreek Canyon and up to the Pipeline Trailhead. From there I ran all the way out to the point, the 1 mile back to Rattlesnake Gulch, down to the canyon road and back home. That, in and of itself, was a monster day and had the feeling of a marathon considering I did so much climbing (1500 ft in 7 miles).
But I couldn't/didn't stop there. On Thursday, after only two rest days I decided to go out for another long run in the morning. I was awake at 3:20am and out the door by 3:40am. I ran the roads through Holladay and Cottonwood, then north along Wasatch all the way to Parley's canyon and then back home. 21+ miles in total. When I am that close to running a full marathon I just have to go for the rest of the miles. So later in the day I went back out and hit the Jordan River Parkway for what I thought would be 5 more miles. Turns out I felt pretty good and went for a total of seven, making for an ultra-marathon day at 28+ miles. Huge day.
Yesterday I was invited to go hike/run a peak this morning. I wasn't sure how well I'd be recovered from running 28 miles on pavement, but I figured if I felt up to it that I would give it a try. I met up with Scott W and his friend Matt at the Bonneville Shoreline Trailhead at 7am and we headed straight up the ridgeline to Wire Peak, 2.4 miles and 2200 vertical feet of elevation gain away. We hiked the whole thing, even though there were some parts lower down that could have been run. Once on top Matt turned around and went back down while Scott and I turned north and headed over to Red Butte Peak. From there it was a pretty technical downhill back to the BST, but then cruiser back to the car for a total of 6 miles.
This week I ran three days totaling 52.15 miles and climbing more than 4,500 vertical feet. Not too shabby. I actually think I'll take it easy next week. Time to recover.