03/22/2011: Last day in NH for the winter so I did my long run on the Pumpelly Trail and extended it down the road along Dublin Lake. Good run but tough running near and above treeline. 3" of new snow last night filled in the wells around rocks and you couldn't tell if you were stepping on hard pack snow or going to plunge through. Took it easy. Cramping up toward the end. I may need to do more gels or start bringing one bottle of Nuun water to supplement the straight water I have been drinking from the hydration pack. I am playing with the hydration pack in order to run the Grand Canyon but so far the only thing I don't like is that I have no intake of sodium beyond food and that is not enough. S-caps maybe? 2:50, 12.0 miles, 1,900' vert.
03/25/2011: Arrived in Moab! I found a spot to camp out in Behind the Rocks next to a feature called Prostitute Butte. Looks like I will be here for a couple of days. The maps and 4WD roads seemed to be at odds with each other until I took a short run around the "Butte" to recon. ~0:10, 1.0 miles, 50' vert.
On the way to Moab I couldn't resist stopping at Vail Pass to get some quick turns and dig a quick pit to see what has been going on in the snowpack. Looks like some pencil and knife-hard crusts near the surface with more homogenous layering of lightly faceted grains further down (>50 cm). It agrees with what Cisco told me over the phone: that there had been several weeks of Spring weather followed by a return of winter weather the last week or so. This winter weather was what left me with about 5 cm of fresh powder that enticed me pull off the highway and "shred" a bit.
03/26/2011: Ran a combination of the Behind the Rocks 4WD road and Tip Toe Behind the Rocks. The navigation was difficult and as a result I didn't run the full Tip Toe road (I just figured that out). The running was easy and there were only minor aches and pains. Don't know if I will stay in the Behind the Rocks area due to the majority of trails being miles and miles of sandy roads. I would like to run some real trails at some point and hopefully with some vertical gain. 1:55, 7.5 miles, 500' vert.
Weekly Summary: 20.5 miles, 2,450' vert.
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