Date: 2/5/22
Training Day: 62
Miles: 8.3
Weather: High 20s-30s

How It Felt: Overall the hike felt good, but some of the uphills still kicked my ass more than they should have. I also got shin splints, which is weird.

Commentary: Unlike Friday, we did not want Saturday to be a touristy day. We wanted to do an awesome hike without running into a bunch of folks. So, we got up early to start our hike by 8am. That might not sound like an early start, but the temperature was still in the teens when we started our hike.

The hike looked like a bit of a lollipop with a loop at the end of an out-and-back. From looking at All Trails it appeared that most folks went counterclockwise on the loop. Between the elevation profile (my husband’s knees aren’t a fan of steep downhills) and the location of the touristy spots, we opted for clockwise.

I believe we made a good decision because we didn’t see another human until 2.5 hours into our hike. For over six miles we had the trail to ourselves. There were multiple times my husband high fived me for getting an early start. The out-and-back part was near Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. As soon as we got to the out-and-back part there were people everywhere.

When we started the hike, our van was the only vehicle parked in the parking lot with one car about to park. When we got back the parking lot was mostly full. My husband and I high fived again for starting early. Then we made a beeline for Tacos Mi Preferida.

After stuffing ourselves and getting food to-go for dinner, we found home for the night around 2pm. Normally, we would have adventured for a bit longer before calling it day, but we really wanted the cat to get some quality time outside to be an advanture cat. The sun was warm enough to bust out the camp chairs and enjoy a beer outside.

Before finishing my beer, I decided I needed to get my strength workout in. I busted out a small, homemade tarp and set up everything I needed. I’d always dreamed of doing workouts like this while living in the van, but not once I had ever even tried. Today was the day, and it went swimmingly. At one point, I was working out in only my underwear and tank top because I got so toasty. It was absolutely wonderful.

I thought I would get both my runs for the weekend in, but after hiking and then doing my strength workout, I couldn’t bring myself to run. Probably should have just run on Thursday instead of trying to do spin. I told myself that trail running, especially ultras, is half hiking anyway, so my hikes helped with training.

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