Me and my Mountains

I took off again for another week of fabulously fun camping.   Because I was going up into a higher mountain area where there was no cell phone or Internet services, I decided to pretty much take the last week off blogging instead of scheduling posts to run while I was gone.  I didn't want my amazing followers to wonder why I was posting and ignoring your comments:)


To be honest, it was really nice to be away from laptops and cellphones for a week.  Yes, I love my blogging world, but even as much as I enjoy it, its nice to take a vacation from it and all things social media:)

Normally in August in Utah these area's are pretty much bone dry.
But because of a lucky bunch of summer showers we have been getting
Things are still beautiful green, and we still have lots of wildflowers, so pretty!

CAMPING

I didn't catch these twins mama in the picture, but we enjoyed
watching the baby deer chase each other and play in the nearby
meadow at night!

So yes I spent the past week up camping in a beautiful area here in Utah.  We have a yearly family camping trip where all my siblings and their families all come up.
Besides camping and enjoying the cooler higher elevation temperatures. I spent the week doing a lot of fishing, hiking and having a lot of fun with my adventurous family who all love the outdoors!

It's really hard to see from this picture, but this is a
beautiful 5 point buck we saw one evening.

Had the opportunity to spot a lot of great wildlife. If you know where to look and happen to be in the right spot at the right time, you have the opportunity to see a lot.  You'll think this is weird, but I can break out the scope and spend a lot of relaxing time looking off on the mountains for the chance to spot beautiful animals.  Yes, I know I am weird, but that's okay I am totally okay being me!

HIKING
I did a lot of hiking, one day full of long hiking that ended up with over 10.5 miles on the fitbit by the end of the day.  One thing great about my family is everyone loves to hike, even the babies:)
Of course I end up carrying the ones under 1, and even the 2 & 3 year olds a bit more than they walk:)
But the older kids have great legs and can go for miles without showing any signs of getting tired.  In fact I am pretty sure they can hike circles around me at times:)

We did some back country hiking, one thing I love about this is you really don't run into too many people, if any!  We had 6 of us go out for a day of long hiking and although we were together, we were kinds spread out at times.  (We have super fast hikers, some who like to run trails, and others who enjoy more sightseeing, and watching for possible bear or cougar sightings... No, we didn't see any this time:)
I'm not going to lie, the time alone walking through the forest alone listening to nature was really nice and relaxing.  Made me realize I should probably pack a pistol and go out and do a few more solo hikes on occasion:)  Of course, catching up at times and at our end destination was a lot of fun too!

A back country waterfall we hiked too!  It was pretty amazing, normally in Utah
these rivers are a small trickle by August.  But thanks to our wetter summer they
still look like they do in spring run off:)

BIGFOOT PRANK
I mentioned a while back about the upcoming Bigfoot prank we were going to pull on my sister, who whole heartily believes.

We kept having evenings of rain or downpours, so our window for being able to pull off he Bigfoot prank was getting smaller and smaller.  Finally on the 2nd to last night we made the attempt.
My sister was in her tent, so we did a quick test run before she came out (which is when I took the picture) and I have to say, and everyone agreed.  My nephew did a great job, and it looked so real.  We picked the perfect area and perfect time of night.
We also picked an area that we wouldn't have to worry about him getting shot, I mean there are crazy people who get a little trigger happy if they see black shadows in the dark...

It's really hard to see in this picture, so I put an arrow to point it out.
It was easier to see in person, and really did look like a real Bigfoot going by.

However, we didn't count on one little ridiculous fact.  To pull this off correctly, we should have googled what Bigfoot sightings are like.
Because it only took her a minute to figure out it was fake, not because it didn't look real, even she said it did.  But apparently as we were educated on this after, LOL.  Bigfoot sightings have to have a horrible smell, she said the smell of like a dozen decaying bodies????  She also said they make a very loud screech????
Seriously, the girl knows her Bigfoot junk, haha..

Well, although it didn't work this year.  She educated us enough that next year we have enough to pull this off without her ever guessing and we will get her!!!  We will involve another party to help play the part, there will be a night of going spotlighting for deer and moose, a pick up, a dirt road and a spotlight.  We may have to acquire a few roadkill animals for the designated area, I know yuck, but we are determined!  I'm also thinking a Bose stereo system planted somewhere in the forest will also be needed for the sound effects...  I am not worried about her seeing this post, but next year it is on!

One of the views from my morning runs!  One thing about getting out early to run
You get to see all he wildlife before anyone else:)  Plus, it's so much more peaceful!

RUNNING
Yes, I did get some running in.  My injuries are still holding at about 90% healed, and although the healing torn hip flexor acted up a little in the cold, it wasn't too bad and I took care of it.  The Peroneal and Achillies tendons are doing pretty good, the swelling isn't gone totally, but other than one bad day that I had to take it easier, for the most part they seem to be holding well.
So luckily I was able to get out and do a little running each morning of the trip.
The higher elevation really worked my lungs and I had mostly dirt roads to run on.  But my love for running kicked in and I didn't let the elevation get to me, instead I let it push me harder.  I was careful on the dirt, for my injuries.
But I had a great week of it!

I only took a camera with me one morning on the run, and this is
the beautiful country I was luckily to view as I ran each morning.

In fact, I am up to running 3 miles non stop now.
I've been having a hard time catching myself saying, I am ONLY up to ..... miles....  Because even though its been a while, my mind still thinks it's not much.
But I am having to stop myself and leave out the "only" and say YAY I am up to 3 miles:)  After a year and a half of injuries and an entire year off any running and all cardio.  It's been harder to get my body to pick it back up, and for the first time that I can ever remember I am having to start from scratch.

I'm kind of loving it though, its harder than I want it to be, but I am okay with that!  Guess I just get to enjoy the build a bit more, and the hard work that goes into slowly building mileage up again!  Besides, I'd rather have a slow build into mileage to enjoy than no running mileage at all!

Even though this is a longer post, that is the shorter version of my past week and a few shared pictures I took while relaxing in my mountains.
I'm not going to lie though, even though I've been doing a lot of camping lately I am already looking forward to when I can get out again for more!
I can't express how much I am enjoying getting out and running and hiking in my mountains again!  Seriously, last year was a total bummer, and I got out a lot but only could really read books and fish:)  This year, I am really loving getting back to the trails.  I'll never take it for granted again!

However, for now I will have to go back to that thing called work:)  But on the plus side, I am just working hard, so I can play even harder so it's all good!