Awesomeness Is Eternal

What a great week last week. I only worked half a week so that I could help Altra with their booth at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. Knowing I would be busy helping them on Thursday and Friday and having a backpacking trip planned with family on Saturday and Sunday I knew it was important that I got in some good runs early in the week.

Scott and I did our Monday run up View Benchmark. We got a late start and it was already hot, but we just took it easy and enjoyed the breeze the last mile to the summit. As we got within a half mile of the bottom I told Scott it was time to do some speed training and dropped the hammer to the high 5 min/mile range. He didn't like that, so I snapped a photo of him finishing, then made fun of him for not keeping up. That's how good a friend I am.

For those that haven't heard, the Forest Service closed the Timpooneke trailhead this past Sunday so that they can expand the very much needed parking area. Josh and I figured it would be a good idea to get one last run up that trail until September, so we headed up for an afternoon run on Wednesday. It was hot up there and even though I always had water available, I wasn't drinking as much as I should have and was very dehydrated by the time I hit the summit. I was able to refill down in the cirque, but I was too far behind at that point and didn't recover for the rest of the run and later into the evening. That was my toughest run up Timp, but as always, it was still amazing. That makes my fourth summit of that peak this year.

The OR show on Thursday and Friday was a bunch of fun. Altra is making a real impact in the world of specialty running shoes. There is no doubt they are going to be huge in the next couple of years. I had the honor of participating in the Uphill Challenge against some of the best hill climbers in the business. I failed, of course, but it was still cool. Somehow, someone recognized my solid MC skills and asked me to MC the next comp between Tony K and Luke Nelson. I had a ton of fun with that. I also got to show Tyler around the place and he had a great time picking up a few free items.

On Saturday Tyler and I hiked into Island Lake up in the Uintas where my dad, brother-in-law, and a few cousins were already camped. We made quick work of the trail, dropped our gear, and headed straight for the 35 foot cliff we could jump into the lake. Tyler had never been cliff jumping, so it was super awesome to watch him huck himself off that big thing. We had a whole bunch of fun messing around with family, then hiked out midday on Sunday. What an awesome week.