Jeremy Ranch Road

I took a day off from work to do a long run up in Park City. The best laid plans often tend to backfire and the first change to my plans came as I was getting ready to head out the door. Work had an emergency and needed me to come in and fix it. By the time I finished the project, it was going to be noon at the start of my run - on a day predicted to be in the 90's. The second change in plan came because I finally was able to contact the race director for the Logan Peak Trail Run next Saturday and found I could still register for the race - so wasn't going to do as much mileage on my day off.

Drank as much liquid as I could force in on the drive up to Park City since I knew it was going to be very hot and I was only carrying about 70 oz of fluids.

I ran this road during the winter with Leslie Peterson. It goes from Jeremy Ranch into the next county and ends up (I believe) in Emigration Canyon. During the winter it was snow packed and icy. Those same conditions didn't exist today. As you can see from the above picture, in the summer, the road is dirt and I mainly shared it with sheep, cyclists, and some trucks/cars/motorcycles.

It was a pretty, sunny day out and I just put on my iPod and listened to the book The Forgotten 500 to help pass time. I ran all but the worst uphills on the way out. Talked to a large herd of sheep at about mile 3, just after crossing the county line. Luckily the bugs weren't bad and the area around me was very green from all the recent rain.

My plan for the day was 15 miles, so reached the end of the road just after mile 7 and continued on the paved road until 7.5 and then turned around. On the return trip, I could definitely feel the heat sapping me. When I did this route in the winter, I easily ran the entire return trip and then continued on down towards Park City. The hills were just too much in the heat, so walked a good section of uphills in the last 5-7 miles - worrying about running out of water. I stopped at a couple of stream crossings and wet down my arms and head and hat - but was afraid to drink the water with a big race coming up.

Ran out of water with only a half mile to go. I was not dehydrated, but could have used another 20 ounces or so if I had wanted to run the return route. Also - starting late in the heat of the day was a big mistake - but sometimes you just have to make do the best you can.