Weekly Workouts – Utah ski adventures

You know what I’ve asked a lot on my trip?  “What day is it?”  haha, yep, it’s been a long trip!  But a great trip.  We spent most of the week in Utah skiing in the Cottonwood Canyons. I only ran 4 miles this week but skied a little over 200 miles for this whole trip. My knee has been suspicious, so I’ve been skiing with a supportive brace to keep it from being wrecked. The system works well! Not sure how that is going to feel for running in the near future, but I’ll be paying close attention to it. Overall it was a fun week! I’m still doing my daily stretching and my streak is up to 39 days now. Go me! Let’s get into the weekly details…

Backing up to last Sunday, when I last posted I was sitting in the parking lot of Snowbird ski resort at 7:45am waiting for the chairlift to start. There were a lot of us waiting to get on the first chairlift (although I’m sure it is pretty normal here!). Let’s goooooooo!

It was a beautiful sunny day at Snowbird. Breathtaking!!

There was a photographer on the slopes and she got a picture of us on the chairlift. I’d like to say these other people are our new friends, but nope, we never spoke again after this picture was taken. haha! I love that guy’s ski design. I’m sure powder day sickness is a thing in ski towns.

Snowbird has a cool tunnel between the mountains which serves a great transportation purpose and also provides a history lesson. Fun!

Mon – 4 miles.  I RAN!  Yes, I got outside and ran on my lunch hour from work.  It was sunny and I got to see the mountains in the background.  Not quite as exhausting as running at the high altitude of Colorado, but still, I was not feeling too strong on this run.  

Tues – 21 miles skiing, Brighton ski resort.  This is a “new to us” resort.  It took a little while to get a feel for it, but in the end I really enjoyed the beautiful tree runs.  Nothing better than a fun ski run through enchanted snowy trees!! 

Weds – Work day, rest day.  After work we went to Park City.  I could spend hours just “people watching” because it is a destination for the rich and famous… or at least people who dress like it!  Luckily dressing like a ski bum is also normal.  Did you know Salt Lake City/Park City will host the winter Olympics again in 2034?  It will be the 5th time hosting.  We passed by the Olympic training center (bobsled, luge, etc) and saw the high jump area.

Thurs – 21 miles skiing, Solitude resort.  This is another “new to us” resort.  The winds started picking up and snow started falling around 11am.  A big winter storm is rolling in and lots of snow is predicted. Not many people were at the resort today and had a fun day of skiing.

Fri – Ski?  Nope, drive home.  We had originally planned for this to be our last ski day, but when we woke up at 6am we found out that the canyon road was closed for avalanche mitigation.  What??  It wasn’t going to open until 8:30am.  This threw a wrench in our ski plans which were to wake up early, get to the slopes early and snag a free parking spot since we didn’t have a parking reservation.  Drats.  Given the fresh snow and the holiday weekend, we decided the resort was going to be packed and we’d spend most of the day waiting in lift lines.  So, we decided to just call it a wrap and head back home a day early.  I will admit that I was a bit torn if we made the right decision when I saw the mild conditions in Salt Lake City and the surprising lack of traffic in our area, but I know the canyons and resort road are a whole different story so it’s all good.  And, I could only imagine that I would blow out my knee on the challenging ski conditions which would suck. 

Our route back home consisted of one long drive down I-80 until we get to Ohio.  Even I won’t get lost with this route!  It was a long day of driving from Utah to Iowa, 15 hours on the road!  We drove through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and finally made it to Iowa. We rolled into our hotel a little after midnight.  zzzzzzzz

Sat – Back on the road again at 9am.  A bit late, but I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.  We made it home by 8:30 pm. It was so weird coming home to our house without cats, since our daughter has them. I took a walk around the neighborhood when I got home to get my legs moving and get my daily Strava activity.

Sun – Maybe a short run to see how the knee is doing? And the usual post-trip stuff, unpack, laundry and grocery shop! Ah, back to reality. We will be having a belated Valentine’s Day dinner tonight since we spent ours on the road, and at a cheap hotel. (haha, no, that’s not a true date night!). This made me smile – in our sunroom my plant had grown all the way up to the door handle. A sure sign that we’ve been gone a long time!

Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!

Q: Did you get a winter storm in your area this week?

We came home to snow in Ohio. I am so happy to see it!!