I planned on 17 trail miles but it got too dark and I was beat. So I cut it short. I ran the first leg of the trail marathon I'm thinking about trying. The route goes steeply down into City Creek Canyon, then right back up the other side and up to the radio towers on the ridge line, then back down to the shoreline in North Salt Lake. At this point the it got really tough. The stinking trail went straight up the mountain, then straight down to the ridge line above City Creek. The snow was quite deep in places, the wind was blowing, it had started to snow, and I lost the trail a few times. From the ridge line the route dives straight down the pipeline right of way to the bottom of City Creek, no switch backs. Then it was an "easier" climb back up to where I started. On this loop my legs were beat, my feet soaked, and I started feeling demoralized. I was thinking, these trail guys aren't runners they're massocists. It took me 2:23 to finish that first loop and it was only 11ish miles, yack! I was really having second thoughts about running this. I mean what's the point? But I took a quick break ate a few hand fulls of pretzles and a gel, drank some GatorAide and went back out for another 5 miles. I was still tired but mentally felt much better. The pretty sunset and twinkly lights of the city below were a great inspiration.
| 