Lone Peak Run trip, fall, learn

Saturday morning, 4 am, I prepare 2 scoops of Perpetuem, a bottle of Endurolyte capsules and my Nathan water pack. I pick up Chandler in American Fork. We drive out to Alpine and see Vince getting out of his car. Daniel arrives and we start running. The grade is 15% and continues to get steeper as we move along. Dan starts lagging and I stay with him. I've always believed in the buddy system.

The morning is pleasant at 6 am and our run progresses through brush, tall bushes and the occasional stinging Nettle. We see snow towards the top and Vince tosses a snowball at me. Hey! He yells, the first snowball of July!

Dan doesn't follow us to the peak and stays below at the saddle. We trek through the snow, climbing over large slabs of granite we reach lone peak. It is a small platform that overlooks a deep ravine. When I stand on it, I feel vertigo and I'm reminded that yep, I still want to live!

We take some pictures, enjoy the view and I notice how hard it is to breathe. We are 11,250 ft and we can see Utah Valley, Salt Lake Valley, Utah Lake, Alpine, Saratoga and miles of development I don't know yet.

As we start back down, it is harder to go down. There is always a risk of slipping on wet stone, loose rock and dirt or snow. We weave in diagonals back and forth down the slope. I jumped on to the snow and fell through into a crevasse. My arms fanned out like wings and caught on rocks on both sides. I pulled myself out. Chandler and Vince were ahead of me. I was lucky that I walked away with a skinned left elbow and sore right shoulder. I slide down snow banks, sometimes on my rear and eventually find the trail. I have a hard time keeping up with Vince and Chandler. They are running but I find my strength has been depleted and I lost my gel bottle in two previous falls. My focus starts to wane and I have to concentrate more than I'm used to. I ran as I could trying not to recoil when branches, thorns and thistle whipped at my legs. It was painful but at least it helped me stay alert. I had a moment where my right foot caught a root and I launched into the left side of the trail. I took a face plant into the soil and slid a few inches. I immediately got up and continued to run. I walked carefully down some sections and ran down others until I found Vince and Chandler waiting patiently for me. They had waited about 8 min.

I learned not to jump on a snow bank, you are never sure what is underneath. Watch out for wet surfaces, they can be surprisingly slippery. Keep your focus on the trail when running to avoid tripping; slow to a walk to get a view once in a while.

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