Varvel Family: May Running

Cold Water Traverse:

We kicked off May with a race in Utah. We were signed up last year, but had to roll over to this year because of COVID. Steph, Stacey, Mark, and I ran the Cold Water Traverse. The course was fun, and the flowers were in full bloom!

Stacey-Steph-Tricia-Mark
Getting ready to start!

Yellow flowers everywhere!

We ran along the Bonneville Shoreline. Lots of ups and downs.

Mark kicked my trash on the down hills. I'm pretty sure he's half mountain goat. We'd be together, and then I'd look up and a minute later, he was WAY ahead of me.

We did it!

Results:

16 miles

Mark: 3:01:26

Tricia: 3:02:43

The race was over, but for Mark and I the running wasn't. It was a long training day for me, so once I finished the race, got rehydrated and ate some food, I started back down the trail in reverse order.

I was no longer in race mode, so I took my time, took pictures, and enjoyed myself. Mark drove the truck back up by the start, and started coming down the trail to meet. me.

Back through the tunnel to start again.

The trail was really pretty.

Who wouldn't want to run through this?

Yay, after I took a wrong turn and added a half mile to my return route, I found Mark.

Mark

Tricia

I ended up covering 28 miles that day, and Mark was just a little less than that. We were hot and tired, and really enjoyed our Maddox dinner on the way home.

Women's Runs:

When Sidewinder opens up, that means our Women's Runs are officially back on the trails in the mountains! Whahoooo!

Our first one in May was up Sidewinder, and we had a great turnout and a great run! The sunset on the way down was a great added bonus!

Lots of new faces for this one!

We saw a herd of deer right at the beginning.

There's nothing like a skull to brighten up a run!

All 10 of us made it to the top!

Running back down with a great sunset.

The End!

Our next run was on a stormy evening on Wolf Flats. We lucked out and barely missed the rain. It really got started on our drive home.

Wolf Flats

We had a smaller group for Little Kelly's, and a very stubborn bull blocking our path.

Georgina-Bobbi-Larissa-Tricia

It didn't matter what we did, this guy wasn't moving. We ended up bush-wacking around him to get by.

We technically didn't hold a Women's Run on the 24th. It was the night of the Duck Donuthon, so we all did that instead.

IFTR Early Morning Runs:

We only had one early morning group run in May, and then Grit League started. We ran Ozone, and Trail Hollow. When we finished, I kept going for another four miles on Eagle Pass Road. Fun morning!

Pretty sunrise at the end of the run.

Pocatello-Over the Top Course:

I had back to back 15 milers, so on Friday Mark, Amanda, and I went to Pocatello to run the Over The Top course. We had great weather, and everything down there is starting to turn so green. Great day!

Starting the climb.

There's nothing better than a trail lined with wildflowers.

At the top!

I superman fell! Dang root!

So green!

Finishing up down City Creek.

Kepp's Trail of Hollow Ozone Bones:

For our second 15 miler, we made a big loop out of a bunch of smaller trails we usually do. Hence, the crazy name.

Trail of Bones

We had a really great cloud day.

This was our anniversary. Twenty eight years, and going strong!

JT's Pocatello Trail Marathon:

JT was signed up for the Ogden Marathon, but it went virtual, so he decided to organize a trail marathon in Pocatello, so he'd have company. It worked out perfectly with my training schedule, so I headed down to join in the fun. He had the Gibson Jack loop mapped out, and we had to do it three times. People could come and join in for as much or as little as they wanted. He even had an aid station set up in the parking lot. It was hot, and it was hard, but I stuck it out and finished. 👊

The IFTR people represented! There were 6 of us that went down to run.

We had a beautiful day!

We reversed directions each loop. I had to climb this sucker twice. I climbed it once from the other direction, and that was even worse!

The top of the climb on the first loop.
Steve-Ryan-Tricia-Georgina-Carney

We had these views any direction we looked.

This was the only patch of snow on the whole thing. I took full advantage, and sat down on it and rubbed snow all over my arms and legs. I'm clearly not used to the heat yet.

It was a really good day, and I felt really good about how my body held up. I was ready to be done, but it by no means destroyed me, so that's a good sign.

Blackfoot River Road:

I'm in the midst of the hard training, so even though I had run a hard trail marathon the day before, I had to follow it up with a long run the next day. We covered 18 miles on the Blackfoot River Road. I hit a low point on this run, which doesn't happen to me very often, but once I ate, and drank some electrolyte, I perked right back up, and finished really strong.

It's always better to suffer with friends!

This is a really pretty area in the sping.

This road goes on for miles!

Blackfoot River

We had the best Idaho traffic jam on the way back.

😂😂😂

Post Surgery Hike with Mat:

After Mat's brain surgery, we were all so worried about him. Things weren't looking good at all while he was in the hospital, but once he was able to go home, he made miraculous progress! It was such a relief every time we got a positive update from Carrie. We were all still feeling a little anxious, and wanted to see Mat for ourselves. Once he could start hiking, we planned a Geagle hike at Cress Creek. Carrie couldn't come because she had class, but the rest of us were able to be there. We picked Mat up, and once we saw him and talked to him, it was like a huge wave of relief. I seriously can't even explain it, but it felt like all was right again in our little flock. I totally believe in miracles, and we saw them happen first hand with Mat.

A beautiful night along the river.

Tricia-Mark-Steph-RJ-Jenn-Mat
Wish Carrie could have been there.

Cress Creek

Palisades:

Mark had Friday off, so we hit the Palisades Creek Trail. We went a little past the lower lake. It was a fun, drizzly morning. It was just us the the mountain goats out there. Very peaceful morning. Steph went later in the day, and had a full on downpour. So much rain that parts of the trail were under water. We lucked out.

The creek is raging!

Everything is turning a fun, spring green.

Raining on the lake.

We saw a few goats!

Duck Donuthon:

What started as a joke, turned into a very large and very successful event. All the guys on the IFTR page saw the the women did a taco run, and they all started saying that they needed a food run. The short version is that Dan jumped right on it, and got the Duck Donuthon organized! You could sign up for the mile run (run a mile, eat a donut), or the 5k (run a mile, eat a donut, for three miles), the 10K (6 miles and 6 donuts), or the half marathon (13 miles and 13 donuts). Dan had to turn people away, because so many people signed up. So funny! I think Duck Donuts made 700 donuts for the event. I helped at the beginning while I was waiting for Mark to get there. Steph and I were the donut runners. We brought them from the store, out to the table where the runners took them to eat. It was so funny to watch. I signed up for the 5k, so I only had to eat 3 donuts, but I kept running the 10K with Mark, as moral support. 😂 I didn't have any problems eating my 3 donuts. Maybe I train too much in that area. 😂 Mark said it really started to get hard after the 4th donut. He wasn't feeling great after the 5th, but he gutted it out and was able to finish.