April Adventures

 I love spring running in Idaho! It's like a fun surprise; you never know what you're going to get. We had sunshine, flowers, mud, snow, and the usual wind. Never a dull moment!

Bigelow's X4:

Doing Bigelow's 4 times in a row was a self imposed prerequisite for me before doing the Grand Slam later in the month. Bigelow's is a 1 mile climb with 1000 ft of vert. It's a great training hill! Joyce and I raced the storm that was rolling in, and we both finished our 4 times up and down it.

I saw this moose on my way to the trailhead.

Racing the storm!

Gnarly Climb to Cranky:

This one was a struggle for me. I was supposed to do between 12-15 miles, but I had to cut it short. I did a miserable 8.5 miles. The first half I was trying not to puke, but it was dark, and I didn't want to be out there by myself, so I had to run to keep up with the group. The second half I was trying not to pass out. Ugh!

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There was more snow on the trails then we thought there would be.

Trail Hollow/Ozone:

Steph and I met for 10 miles on Trail Hollow and Ozone. It was a good chance to get all caught up with her.

Sunnyside Hills:

I had a great solo run up the Sunnyside hill. I did 12 miles, and felt really strong on the hill. I don't run by myself very often, but I had a lot going through my head this particular week, so it was a good chance for me to do some thinking, and clear the noise in my head a bit.

Classic Corvette Loop:

I ran with a group of ladies in the foothills on the Classic Corvette Loop. 

We had a really pretty day, and everything is starting to green up.

Biking in Yellowstone:

Joyce and Phil invited us to ride e-bikes with them through Yellowstone before the park opened up to traffic. Mark and I rented bikes from Idaho Mountain trading, and off we went. So dang fun!

Stopping to see the bison.

Having lunch at a hot pool.

It's really cool to feel like you have the whole park to yourself.

Palisades:

We did a beautiful 19 miler on Palisades. What a great day! 

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The lower lake.

The upper lake

The upper lake was so low that we could walk out and stand on the island. It's going to be a rough drought summer.

Gnarly Climb to Rolly Polly:

A nice 10 mile run to celebrate Casey's birthday, and then we came back to my house for an ice cream cake.

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Ririe Roads:

Has a nice easy 4 miles in the rain with Mark around our country block.

Women's Runs:

We had a women's run up Henry's Creek. I met Steph out there early, so we did some miles up Taylor Mountain Road before everyone else got there. I haven't run the Henry and Taylor area in a long time, so it was a nice, drizzly 10 miles.

Beautiful sunset on the drive out.

I met with Steph early again before the bridal shower women's run for Michelle. We ran down Eagle Pass Road, and then met with the rest of the group to do Ozone.

Boise Grand Slam:

The Grand Slam is a series of 4 of the most challenging, prominent peaks in the Boise area. The 4 peaks total between 32-33 miles, with over 11,000 feet of vert. I learned about the challenge a couple of years ago when Bailey hiked 3 of the 4 of them with Nora during the spring. Most people try to conquer the 4 peaks in a season, but I started throwing the idea around of doing them all in one shot. The more I looked into it, the more I realized that people occasionally do this. This was our year to do it!

The day exceeded all of my expectations! We had beautiful weather, perfect trail conditions, amazing views, and people who made me happy all day long. It's days like these that I'm always so grateful for the people I surround myself with. 

Mount Heinen:

This was the perfect peak to kick off our challenge with. It was 9.75 miles with 4,300 ft of gain. We watched a beautiful sunrise over the Lucky Peak Reservoir. I loved it!

We were only in the dark for a few minutes.

It was fun to look back and see the reservoir once it started getting light.

We were treated to the most beautiful sunrise.

😍😍😍

So pretty!

Peak #1 done!

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Running down was fun!

Cervidae Peak:

Cervidae Peak was the shortest one at 4.6 miles, but it packed a punch with over 2000 ft of vert. We had lots more gorgeous views.

Mark cresting many of the false summits.

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Peak # 2 done!

I love these people!

Lucky/Shaw Peak:

This one was my least favorite as far as scenery goes, but we had some hilarious conversations that more than made up for it. 😂 This one was 8.5 miles with 2,400 ft. of gain.

Mike was with us as a driver/crew the whole time, and he went part way up a few of the peaks to get his mileage in too.

We hit lots of snow on this one.

The view from this one was down into Boise.

Peak #3 done!

Kepros Peak:

Our final peak was my very favorite. Kepros was 9.5 miles with 2,300 ft of gain. It was very runnable, sweet single track, with gorgeous views. We all finished strong with plenty of run still left in us. 

So lucky to have a built in adventure buddy!

Peak #4 done!

If you look closely at this picture, you can see the trail we came on.

We were thrilled that we finished with daylight left, and that we all felt so good.

I'm in awe that on any given day I can say, "Who wants to drive 4.5 hours from home to climb 4 peaks for 33 miles and over 11,000 ft of gain?" and I have this tribe that not only says yes, but that rallies around me and gets equally excited about it. These are definitely my people!

Most people know how much I thrive on stuff like this. I love a good physical challenge, and pushing my body. I'm often told I'm crazy. 😂 I love the mind-body connection and seeing what can be accomplished when you learn how to use one to prove the other wrong. I love everything about it! But what I love most is the people I get to share these miles and experiences with. You get to know someone so deeply when you do cool, challenging things with them; when you help each other push past what they thought their limits were. Four of these people have run 100 mile races, one completed the Tahoe 200, one talked me into climbing all of the Idaho 12ers, and we've all crossed the Grand Canyon. I could go on and on about the physical things they've accomplished, but the reason I always want them with me on adventures is because they are the kindest, most supportive, encouraging people you will ever meet. They build me up and make me feel like I can achieve anything, and I'm forever grateful for having these kinds of people in my life.

Windmill Road:

Not all runs go as smoothly as I'd like. This 10 miler that I set out to do quickly became a 6 miler. The 20 mph wind blowing the sleet in my face was not super fun. 😅 I needed goggles because my eyes were taking a beating. I finally had to turn around and head back to my car.

The green farm fields sure looked pretty though!

Aruba:

I finished the month of April with some dreamy Aruba running. I'll just drop this picture here, but will go into more details on my Aruba vacation post.

I've never ran on, let alone seen, a more beautiful beach!