Date: 2/27/21
Training Day: 36
Miles: 8.4 (+7.2 hiking)
Time: 90 min
Shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 21
Weather: Cloudy, mid-20s

How It Felt: At the halfway point I did not want to run the full 90 minutes. But once I hit the hour mark, I felt great! The hike was rough at first, but then it was absolutely wonderful.

Commentary: Friday I drove to Ogden, UT to visit a friend. Since I had my long run today, my plan was to get up at 6am, drive to Anytime Fitness, and knock out my run. My friend was supposed to get up at 8:30am, so I figured that was just enough time to get my run in and get back before he woke up.

That night I had a strong, 16-ounce beer at dinner, so I slept like shit. I wasn’t even close to being ready by the time 6:30am rolled around. When I walked out the door I looked up and down the block and decided to run outside. It would save 40 minutes driving, and it felt like forever since I ran outside.

A thin layer of ice and a dusting of snow covered the sidewalks. I ran up and down the same three streets for my run, but it was still fantastic. I love watching the sky brighten with sunrise. And even though I wanted to stop short of the 90 minutes, I finished strong and picked up my pace for the last mile. I got back right around the time my friend woke up. Perfect timing!

We planned to hike at Antelope Island, but we didn’t really have a plan for the day. We stopped at a coffee shop for breakfast and beverages. Then we hit up REI so he could pick some stuff up for the hike. On the way to Antelope Island we were talking about how we got such a late start and started the day with no plan.

On the way there we decided to hike Frary Mountain. When we started hiking at noon it was snowing and the wind was strong and frigid. About two-thirds of the way up the sun broke through the clouds. By the time we reached the summit we had blue skies above us and clouds on the horizon. We had a 360° view from the top. Had we started earlier we might have missed the blue skies at the top. Perfect timing.

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