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Diamond Peak Circumnav!

July 4, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: not very cool; but not too hot

Comments:
My first long run since, like, the Cool Loop!

Got up at 7 and battled the mosquitoes to make tea and prepare. Finally got out at 8:30, feeling pretty good.

I did this with the Hunters in 2014, and we did it the same: from Vivian Lake TH, which is a 0.6 spur to the loop, starting at about 10 on the clock.

I was pretty nervous about this run, so I ran behind CA the entire time. We walked a lot, but when we ran, she would get out front. As we climbed to the spine of the Diamond rise, well north of the mountain, I decided I'd try to ONLY nose-breathe...and I did, for the whole rest of the day:

* Hiking: breath in for two steps hiking (two out);
* Running: breath in for four run steps (four for the exhale)

It worked as a great pace and effort regulator and was SUPER-relaxing.

GREAT Loop. Once you get on the east side, which curiously always seems to have more snow, the PCT is amazingly smooth and runnable, and the views, awesome. We ran into some patchy drifts that required hiking, but it was wayyy better than '14.

Around mile 8 or so we "peaked" the east ridge of the circumnav, then had a long, gradual descent to the south side, and into the trees again. Once there, we *almost* missed the trail junction to go back west (we would've run south for a lonnnng time!). Ran that mini-spine for a couple miles, then got on the Diamond Peak trail, going north.

TONS of mosquitoes. They were ok if you kept moving, but merciless if you stopped. A couple map checks were pretty brutal!

Once on the DPT, it was a straight shot north. Very few downed logs, but it needs some serious tread and brush work, especially the northern end.

On the west end, it began to get hot. I kept it easy and CA pulled pretty far out front, but I was able to keep up on the downs, at least.

Things got pretty dang hot near the end, but a little lake appeared, so we jumped in, which felt amazing! From there, it was just over a mile to the finish.

GREAT run. Didn't feel fit or fast, but felt GOOD.

Really worked hard on hip extension:

* general opening
* pawback
* pelvic push
* Anti-rogering (straight back push)

Post-run:
* quickly escaped mosquitoes
* drove back to town
* had Alexis and Micah over for food in the PM