Training Log Archive: maprunner

Time to leave Moab. Mike and I stopped at Mill Canyon on the way out of town to look at some very cool dinosaur tracks. Then drove to Denver and flew home. A long travel day. But a very nice vacation.

I promised myself I would star gaze on this trip. But I was too tired to stay up late (sunset was late here). I decided that if I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom, then I would also go outside to look at the stars. So I did. Always nice to see the Milky Way when you get the chance.

When in Moab, one must mountain bike. Even if I had never been on a mountain bike before. I was excited to do this, especially since it was on a full suspension bike. We went on a group tour. As we started out, up a hill, I was dying. I couldn't breathe. Between being sick all week (although I was getting better), and the slight altitude, I just had no aerobic capacity. This sucked. I told the group that I was going to head back to the van. The guides suggested that I try the next section, which was down hill, and looped back towards the van. That was fun (I like going downhill fast!)

After that, one of the guides (Gina) rode behind me and gave me instructions and encouragement. Her instructions were great, really taught me a lot. And she would tell me when to shift, when to power up, any time we came to an uphill. I made it up every hill, but I always had to stop and catch my breath at the top. The rest of the group was always waiting for me, which made me feel bad, but I don't think they had to wait very long.

Thanks to Gina's instructions, my technique got better and better, and I was surprised at how well I could ride over the rocky ground. And I started to enjoy myself! The down hill switchbacks were the most fun, but I also liked the challenging down hills over rocks.

The scenery was also amazing, I wish I had more time to enjoy it.

My brother and I stopped after 2 hours, while the rest of the group did one more loop (GPS track is Mike's longer route; time and distance adjusted in my log)

After mountain biking, we went home and napped and rested and swam in the pool. I went into town in the afternoon to buy some fabric. The store was a quilt shop (not so good for me, although I know many of my logs readers would have loved it). Did find some fabric with "local" themes that I bought to make Christmas gifts for Mike.

Then I met the others for a jet boat ride on the Colorado river. Not the kind of thing Mike and I would ever have done on our own, but my nephew is a speed demon and he really wanted to do this (and it was our birthday gift to him). This is one of those boats that goes really fast, then slams on the brakes and does a 360 , spraying water every where. We also created some waves and then rode back through them to thoroughly soak everyone in the boat. I liked it well enough (except for the noise). Nick loved it. Mike was glad when it was over (I'm frankly pretty surprised he did it at all). Mike went home (he wasn't feeling well) while the rest of us stopped in town for a nice Thai dinner.

Up very early to get to Arches National park and hike to Delicate Arch. Beautiful hike, lots of fun to show the park to my nephew. Trail was not so crowded going up, but was pretty crowded as we went down.

I forgot my GPS watch at home, so this is Mike's track (just the "up" part of the hike). He ran down, while my brother, nephew and I hiked down. Time is estimated.

And then a second short hike to see the Windows. Very cool place, I had never been to Arches before.

Mike and I went back to Arches in the afternoon to drive around the parts we didn't see this morning. (My brother and nephew stayed back at the condo, enjoying the pool) We stopped a few different overlooks. But I was tired from this morning, so I took a nap while Mike did a short walk to Sand Dune Arch. When he came back, he insisted that I had to see this one for myself, so we went back out. I'm really glad we did.
Returned to a nice home cooked meal by William.

Travel day from Denver to Moab. Really enjoyed the drive through Glenwood Springs canyon on I-70.

Adenaline workout, plus some hiking on slick rock in Moab. My brother William and I did a ziplline tour, which was lots of fun. I tried to get GPS tracks, but I messed up. The hiking was bit scary (narrow rock bridges with steep sides). The ziplines were awesome: long, over deep canyons, with great views. So glad we did this.

I joined Mike on his bike trip to Ullrick's hill. I turned around early because I had enough; still feeling off.

Slept a lot last night, and I felt a bit better this morning, so I decided it was time to get some exercise. Mike's June mini-map was ready and he had set 4 courses. He had shared the maps with Mook and MeanGene, so I wasn't surprised to Gene in the parking lot when I arrived. I decided to run a different course than Gene was running, to keep us from stressing each other out. I also decided to go at whatever pace my body would allow.

Ended up jogging some of the first course, less of the second. Map reading was pretty good, although I slowed down a lot sometimes to look at the map. Lots of detail in this tiny area, was great training and lots of fun.