On July 24th, 2010 Mike Dawson and I took off from Coalville, Utah bound for Evanston via Chalk Creek. From Evanston we headed south up to Mirror Lake and down to Kamas. It was hot ride, especially near Evanston but we pulled each other along, working well as a team. Mike is an incredibly strong athlete. Running, biking, hiking, it doesn’t matter, he’s strong. This was a great route! 125 miles long, a bunch of vert and plenty of heat. I would have had no where near as much fun had I been alone. Thanks Mike for the great ride. Here I come Watoja. 
Posted by: runuphill | July 24, 2010
Ridin’ with Dawson
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: runuphill | July 5, 2010
Hardrock 2010
Pat and Mindy hiking up Red Mtn #1
Ah yes, the San Juans in July, nothing can compare. Mindy, Pat, Ryan and I are enjoying the high mountain air, clear skies, temps in the 60-70s, and the occasional and very sporadic rain storms. On the drive down from SLC we went up to La Sal pass in the La Sal mtns (outside Moab), and climbed up Mount Tukuhnikivatz. What a stellar time of year, perfect weather, and amazing views; it was one of the sweetest panoramas I’ve ever seen. Next, onto the San Juans.
We drove to Telluride, where we spent a few hours and inquired about the kayaking options. In Colorado, it helps to be a solid 5+ boater…. So, onto Ophir and up to the Pass. We wandered up to Crystal Lake and watched as the sun began to set. What an amazing small, and rarely visited lake given how close it is to a major dirt road. We made camp just off the pass at a great little site. A small single-track leads out to an amazing cabin under construction. Turns out that the owner Bob Kingsley is building a new winter ski yurt. Trust me, this will be amazing when it is done (supposedly this fall). See www.opushut.com for more info.
The next morning we drove into Silverton and then up to Red Mtn Pass at just under 13,000′. We all summited Red Mtn #1, and I did a sweet scree descent off the west side. Then we ran the ridge over to Red Mtn #1, which like we were on Mars. The rock is so red in sections from the iron oxide that it really feels out of this world. And the contrast with the surrounding mountains, which are anything but red, makes it that much more unique.
Today (Monday), Mindy and Pat went up to Grant Swamp Pass and then ran backwards on the course over to the KT aid station. Ryan and I carted up six 4×8′ sheets of drywall and two 62 lb buckets of drywall mud up to the Opus Hut to help Bob out.
Pics of the trip thus far here.
More to come…
Posted in Running
Posted by: runuphill | April 24, 2010
Hitched!
Mindy and I on-top of Observation Point during a hike on our wedding weekend.
For those who don’t know Mindy and I tied the knot on April 24th, 2010. It is near impossible to put into words how magical that day was. For those that were there with us, the perfection of the day is hopefully something you’ll remember forever. For those that were not there, suffice it to say that we held it in our favorite place on earth and mother nature was kind to us with blue skies, perfect temperatures and California condors soaring above us during a hike. The weekend consisted of everything important to us : family, simplicity, and a beautiful display of the most powerful natural settings on earth.
Our amazing friend Pat McMurtry married us on this beautiful April day. His enthusiasm for conducting the ceremony was amazing and from the first second I asked him if he he’d do it (mile 82 in the Wasatch 100, 2009) I knew he was the right person for the job. In October when I asked Mindy to marry me, she agreed.
Posted by: runuphill | March 13, 2010
Coyote Two Moon – 3-6-2010
Pat McMurtry in his "Cat in the Hat" costume, coming into the Howard Creek Aid Station (~mile 57) : Photo by Glenn Tachiyama
Given the rave reviews I had heard from friends like Roch and Karl, roughly 5 months ago I decided to sign up for the Coyote Two Moon. ”It’s more than a race, it’s an event!”, said Roch Horton. With his talent for recreating great events using his commanding voice and dynamic body language, I couldn’t help being drawn to this race which Roch described to me back in the fall of 2009. He described the “bonus” and “boner” minutes and how they worked. The fact that bowling the night before the race, running into aid stations in costume, performing talent shows after running 80 miles, and eating cat food late in a race when one can barely stomach simple calories can all get you “bonus” minutes makes this event truly unique. Chris Scott the race director sounded like a complete nut… I had to meet him and experience this event of his.
Given that costumes and being creative are part of the event, I contacted my good friend, mentor, and hero, Pat McMurtry and explained the event to him. Within a day or two he signed up. He’s an incredibly talented runner and one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. Pat is also going to marry Mindy and I in April, so he’s a special guy in my life in many ways. He is one of the most intelligent, mathematical, and quantitative people I know, but is also somehow one of the most creative and colorful people I know. I try to spend as much time with him as I can. Once Pat signed up for the event his preparation began. Not just training like a wild man, but planning out customes, wardrobe changes at aid stations, songs to sing to the aid station volunteers, gifts for people, documentation (video/photos) techniques, etc. He embodies all things Coyote Two Moon. Read More…
Posted in Running
Posted by: runuphill | February 27, 2010
Zion Spring Century – 2010
My good friends Ryan Kunz and Jon Skramstad talked me into signing up for the Zion Spring Century road ride this past weekend. I’m not really a biker, but given that I want to do Lotoja in September I figured it would be good to get some saddle time. So, without a single day of peddling in the past 9 months (?) I headed down to St. George the evening before the race. As a runner I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the aid stations for this event, but it turns out that they were quite similar to what I have become accustomed to. I needed only water. The weather called for a day of rain so I brought my Sugoi jacket that proved to be very nice. The ride was awesome and wound through areas in and around St. George that I never even knew existed. Once in Hurricane, Utah I hit the aid station, got some water and asked for directions. The staff pointed me in what they thought was the correct direction. Several miles later I figured out that they had sent me on the slightly different 60 mile course so I turned back and eventually got back on the correct course. The climb out of Hurricane was uphill with a strong head-wind, which means for a runner on a bike that you’re out of the saddle, which was nice. The wind was relentless all the way through Rockville, Springdale, and through to the turn-around point at the park entrance. But, this meant that the ride back would be effortless. At the park aid station I stopped for some water and was amazed at the spread of food. Big BLT Subway sandwiches. While it sounded nice I knew better. So, I peddled all the way back to the finish line sipping my First Endurance EFS gel and arrived just before the rain really started. 107 mile in 6 hrs 5 minutes, I was happy with that. Mindy was at the finish line so all was good. We waited for my friends to finish and then drove back to SLC. Another great journey.
Posted in Biking
Posted by: runuphill | February 22, 2010
2009 Re-Cap
Well, it’s nearing the end of February, 2010, but I wanted to do a quick re-cap of 2009 because it was by far the best year of my life. And, the crazy thing is that 2010 is only going to be better. 2009 was filled with so many great adventures with amazing people in beautiful places. That is what my life is all about….
- Arizona Trip – Mindy and I left on December 26th, 2008 heading south in one of the craziest storms we had ever seen. We drove to Zion and saw some of the most beautiful snow covered scenes. We then headed down to southern Arizona where we hooked up with Chaz and Terri in Cochise Stronghold, Mt. Lemmon, and later the two of us went to Sedona and had a blast together and brought in the new year. We also got a great winter run in the Grand Canyon.
- Ran the Moab Red Hot again in near perfect conditions. The views in Moab in February can be breathtaking as the LaSals climb above pristine red standstone formations.
- Made a video documentary of my grandfather, Lowell Hicks, at 95 years old carting his marimba around playing gigs for folks 20 years younger than him. He is truly amazing.
- Had a surprise 30th birthday party for Mindy in the San Juans. Brendan and Chaz met up with us at the Last Dollar Hut.
- Massive dump of ~120″ (that is NOT a typo!) in 10 days in the Wasatch. Backgrountry skiing was unreal
- Zion with Buzz and Mindy : Partriarch Traverse, Crawford Arch in the snow/rain. Story – Pics
- Climbed Tricks of the Trade in Zion National Park with Brendan.
- Yosemite, Nose In a Day with Brendan
- Put on the Pocatello 50! website – photos
- Flipped the switch on a 2.8kW photo-voltaic system to power my entire house.
- Trifecta Training with Buzz and Ryan : Heaps, Imlay, Icebox – Story – Pics
- Success on the Trifecta with Buzz and Ryan, what an experience. 25 hrs of pure adventure with two of the best friends around.
- Ran the Steeplechase. Photos here.
- Ran the Lake City 50 in EPIC blizzard conditions. Still PR’d in 10 hrs 2 min.
- Mindy and I spent a week in the San Juans prior to Hardrock
- Set a PR at Hardrock of 28hr 32 min. Buzz and Pat paced me. Completely suffer-fest for the last 25 miles, but in good company.
- Supporting Mindy, Derek and others at Speedgoat 50km. Results. Photos.
- ABBA concert with family and friends. :)
- Learned a bunch of the Millwood 100 with many new explorations in the Wasatch and about a dozen Kessler Summits
- Custom WF100 trailwork opportunity with good friends on the Desolation Trail
- Lone Peak with Chaz, Terri, and Mindy – Pics
- Vaquero Loco 50km and S. Teton with Ryan and Mindy – Story - Pics
- Teton “Open-Avalanche” Loop Run Story – Pics
- Table Mtn Loop with Matt Hart – Pics – Matt’s blog writeup
- Supporting Mindy and Ty Draney at the Grand Teton Races – Story – Pics
- Wasath 100 PR – Story
- Proposed to Mindy on-top of North Guardian Angel. Met up with family and friends afterwards in Springdale, followed by staying at the Zion Lodge that night. – Pics
- Red River Gorge rock climbing with Great friends – Pics
- Set FKT on the Zion Traverse with Christian Johnson. Jay Aldous joined us for most of it. Pics – Story
Posted in Yearly Recap
Posted by: runuphill | February 13, 2010
Moab Red Hot 50k
This past weekend Mindy and I heading down to Moab to run the Red Hot. This would be my 3rd time at the 55km and Mindy’s first time at the longer version (she ran the 33km last year). Weather has been unusually warm the prior few weeks in SLC, but the thought of warm dry southern Utah weather still sounded nice. Well, we didn’t get any of it! The temps were below freezing at the start and much of the course was under snow. The first loop even involved some nice post-holing, which made me feel at home. I ended setting a P.W. (Personal Worst) with my slowest time to date of 4:58. While this may sound strange, I was still pretty happy with it given my limited training and the conditions. Once the sun came out and warmed things up it was actually a great experience. Mindy whipped out a fabulous 6th place overall in 6:18. Woohoo!
Posted in Running
Posted by: runuphill | November 29, 2009
New Zion Traverse FKT
Spectacular view from the West Rim Trail, looking West
Two weekends ago Mindy and I had a few dreamy days in Zion National Park. The weather was perfect for running and the forecast was more of the same through the following weekend. So, on a whim I decided to get off my lazy butt and run the Trans Zion Traverse (TZT). With just a few emails I had two good friends, Jay Aldous and Christian Johnson, sign up for the journey. Christian’s experience of Zion thus far had been the standard tourist trails and sites so I was excited to show him this incredible run. Plus, he’s running the HURT 100 in January so this would make for a great training run for him.
Jay Aldous in Hop Valley
After stuffing ourselves with a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner Mindy and I hopped in the car and drove down to Cedar City where we quietly snuck into the hotel room that Christian and Jay were staying in. At 6AM we woke to some fine gas-station coffee compliments of Jay, quickly packed our stuff, and headed out, bound for the Kolob entrance of Zion National Park. Just after 7:00 AM we left Lee’s Pass down the La Verkin Creek Trail. We reached the Kolob Arch trail intersection in about an hour and started the small climb up into Hop Valley. We were moving quite well and enjoying good conversation. Jay shared some stories of his past endurance activities, which really are amazing. For example, back when I was in diapers, Jay was into REALLY long distance cycling. He tackled a circumnavigation of the lower 48 United States, and then moved on to set the record (which stood for 18 years!) for circumnavigating…. the entire globe! Something like 13,000 miles in 100 days. Jay is an amazing guy. And, at 48 years old, this year he pulled off a 22:03 at the Wasatch 100 after taking a 26 year hiatus from the race.
Posted in Running
Posted by: runuphill | October 23, 2009
Red River Gorge Goodness
We’ve reached the end of another fabulous trip in the Red River Gorge (RRG), located in the heart of Kentucky. When telling non-climbers that I’m going to Kentucky for rock-climbing the looks I get back are always quizzical at best. Mindy and I have each been all over the world climbing, and after another incredibly successful trip here we’re convinced that it has some of the best sport climbing in the world and is one of the most all-around fun places to compile a group of great friends for a week.
This place is magical to us. It was in the Red just two years ago that the sparks started to fly between us, which ultimately lead to me asking her to marry me three weeks ago. The climbing is fabulous and not having much fitness has made it that much more challenging, and quite comical as well. And, the running, OMG the running, is so incredibly good. About an hour ago I finished a completely dreamy run on the Sheltowee Trace, a 278 mile run through the entire state, that at some point I will return and run it in its entirety. The Fall colors are jaw-droppingly beautiful and the running is always up or down, very little flat. We’re very close to an area called the “Natural Bridges State Park” which is killer! I could run here every day and be happy.
Our group has been so much fun: Brendan “The Glide” Perkins, Mindy, myself, Jed “Little” Hill, Trent “TBD” Baker, Noah Bigwood, Kris Dockstaeder, Jeff Pederson, and Nancy Feagin made up an incredibly strong and motivated group from SLC.
We lucked out with near-perfect weather for 5 days straight which allowed us to adequately thrash our fingertips, smiling the entire time. We intend to make this an annual or at least bi-annual event given how much fun we’ve had.
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: runuphill | September 14, 2009
Wasatch 100 – 2009
Running into Lambs Canyon aid station with Chaz (~mile 52)
Just when I thought this summer couldn’t get much better, it did! This past weekend was the 30th running of the Wasatch 100. For the past few years I have been a pacer/support crew, running with Jenn Kuhlmann from Brighton to the finish 3 years ago, with Ryan McDermott from Lambs to the end 2 years ago, and with Ryan from Brighton to the end last year. I really enjoy being a pacer, but I was excited to be toeing the start line myself this time. The line-up was very exciting with some big names like Karl Meltzer, Hal Koerner, Geoff Roes, Josh Brimhall, Jon Anderson, and the amazing local talent of Mandy Hosford, Erik Storheim, Christian Johnson, David Hunt, and Jay Aldous to name a few. Almost all of my running since Hardrock had been weekend-warrior trips for adventure runs in the beautiful Tetons, so switching into “race” mode was different and exciting.
At 5AM we took off and I took stride right behind Karl and Geoff for the first ~5 mile warm-up section. Then we started the climb, mmmmm uphill… tasty. I lead up to Chinskraper and then a mile or so more, which was fun. Since it was a big uphill climb I didn’t mind being at the front of the group, knowing that once it opened up the testosterone freight-train behind me would start going rediculously fast on the ripper descent road to the Francis Sheds. And I was right! Once the climbing let up a group of 4-5 dudes passed me at a very fast pace and I let them go, figuring that I’d see several of them before the end.
Posted in Running
