After a six-day 2,500-mile journey my family and I arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on June 30th. After all the build up prior to our move I couldn’t be happier to get acquainted with our new home…and our new trails.
I have some great stuff coming up for Utah Outside. In addition to Run Reports (running trails and passing along my thoughts) I also have gotten my grubby little mitts on three new pairs of shoes: Salomon XA Comp 4 GTX, Vasque Transistors, and Vibram Five Finger KSO Treks. I’ve done some runs in these so far but I want to use them on local trails before passing along my thoughts.
I made it out for the first time on July 1st. I’m fortunate in that my company is based in Park City so my boss and I hit the trails at Round Valley for an hour long run. I was a bit nervous in that I had just spent nearly a week sitting in a car, plus I was coming from a place that was literally at sea level and now here I am going for a run at roughly 7,000 feet. If my lazy car legs wouldn’t slow me down than my anemic lungs surely would.
It ended up being a bit of both. During the initial climb my legs felt fantastic. Fresh and spry they carried me uphill not at all like I had just rocked four straight 11-hour days behind the wheel. My lungs however had something else to say. It was a bit of a struggle but I was able to control my breathing and try to keep a strong pace to the top of the hill. On the descent and return back to the parking lot my legs decided to act up and the final few rollers were definitely not that fun and I would have chopped off one of my limbs for a drink (forgot how dry it is in the west). But overall a great first run in Utah and many more to look forward to from this Salt Lake City Trail Running Newbie!
As one of your fellow trail runners in the area, I just wanted to take a second to welcome you to our amazing trails and wish you many great trail runs to come. I was wondering if you have heard yet about the Park City Mini Trail Series? I am the race director and have been working with some local bloggers to help me get the word out. I am putting on the 10k this weekend and would love to have you out for it. It is on that same Round Valley Trail system that you ran on previously. You can find more information at http://www.R-U-Nevents.com or by emailing me: rhielle@R-U-Nevents.com. Happy Trails!