Well dang nabbit. I recently recorded this video clip in an effort to win a new bicycle from Bicycling Magazine. Unfortunately it didn’t make the cut. But it was a hoot to make and I’d do it all over again.
Enjoy!
Frontier Life
Running “The Bus” Trail above Lander, WY
It’s spring in Wyoming. Which means there is snow still falling. As I write this today (May 11), we’re getting pounded with snow. The forecast calls for up to 20 inches of snow in our foothills. Boo hoo! I know, the optimist would say we need the moisture, and everything will be so green come summer. And of course I agree, but it sure puts a damper on my trail running and training for my upcoming 50-k event in Lake Tahoe.
Here is a short video clip I captured during a recent run on a trail above Lander, WY, called The Bus. It is beautiful scenery, particularly when blanketed by snow. But still, about the snow: waaaaa!
Next Up: 50-Kilometer Trail Run
This is POST 25 of my “fitness journey.” For backstory, see Post 1,
Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7,Post 8, Post 9, Post 10, Post 11, Post 12Post 13,Post 14, Post 15, Post 16, and Post 17,Post 18, Post 19,Post 20,Post 21, Post 22,Post 23, and Post 24.
Howdy! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted a fitness update. Let me try to catch you up. Right now I’m training for the Lake Tahoe 50-kilometer trail run on July 17. I’ve done 50ks and trail marathons before, including an attempt at a 50-miler. But, it’s been a while since I ran. :>
So this next phase of my training is focused on incorporating running into my training, as well as ramping up my endurance. Currently, I’m doing two days a week of foundation/strength work with coach, Steve Bechtel, of Elemental Training Center. I’m also doing high intensity workouts 2-3 times a week (running hill intervals or doing intervals and tempo work on the elliptical trainer or stepmill), and also fitting in some short trail runs or bike rides during the week if the opportunity presents itself. Then, during one weekend day, I’m spending 3-6 hours trailrunning, hiking, cycling or some combination of these.
One of the things I love most about training for an endurance event is the journey — the scenery I get to experience in my back yard, the foothills and peaks of Wyoming’s southern Wind River Range.
Scenes from my training:
In addition to the many miles I look forward to logging in our Wind River Range foothills and high country, and the Tahoe 50k event, I plan to pedal my road bike 100 miles during the Fremont Area Recreation Tour (FART), and also do the 28-mile Logan Peak Trail Run. I might also mention I hope to keep the weight off, possibly even lose a little more, but only if I can sustain the level of training necessary to complete all of the above. We’ll see how that goes. I will keep you posted here.
Thanks for your continued readership and support. I appreciate it very much!
Elemental Gym has a fantastic gym, some terrific programs and classes that will help you achieve better fitness. And, I might add, some great personal trainers: Steve Bechtel, Ellen Bechtel, Jagoe Reid, Sophie Mosemann and Lee Brown.
Happy Holidays from My Family To Yours
Here’s our first Johnson Family Holiday Video Blog/Greeting. Our 7-year-old and 9-year-old had much to do with the production, direction and editing of this vlog. It was a lot of fun to make, despite the 1 degree, frosty and foggy temperature!
From our family out on the frontier of Wyoming to you and yours: We wish you very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! (BTW, Finis, our 2-year-old is battling an ear infection and that’s why he’s not real jovial like he usually is.)
If You Seek Fulfillment as well as a Paycheck, Look No Further than This Job Post
I live on the frontier of Wyoming. I love this state because of its natural beauty, ruggedness, big open spaces, wild animals, its authentic Western heritage, and the fact there are only 530,000 of us lucky enough to live here. It’s lonely, and I like it that way.
The following is an actual job opening that I read on our local Landertalk email listserve a while back. I love it. It describes so many of the hard-working people who are my neighbors and friends. And regardless of the monetary compensation for performing the listed duties, I have a feeling — a pretty certain one — that the individual who fits this position will be compensated well. For the compensation — shall we call it, fulfillment — received for doing hard work on the frontier does not only come in the form of monetary currency.
This job posting was written by local ranch owner/operator Nannette Slingerland, who gave me permission to publish it.
I am looking for an amazing person who is honest, considerate and excited to be a jack-of-all-trades: Someone to fix fence, make a gate that opens without always buying a new powder river one, repair old barns and sheds in a manner in keeping with their character, understand how water flows through a ditch and across a meadow;
run a tractor or a skid steer, chain saw, shovel, backhoe, four-wheeler; how to look under the hood to see if there is oil, battery, radiator and wires or if there is air in the tires; someone who just likes being busy and doesn’t mind working alone; someone with common sense and the sense to work safely; someone who understands that all life on a ranch is not depicted in a Marlboro commercial;
someone who likes working in an environment that takes pride in maintaining room at the table for everything that calls the ranch home, such as beaver, cougar, bear, red angus cattle, eagles, blue herons, churro sheep, trout, ancient cottonwoods, sage, willow and cedar, mule deer, coyotes, dung beetles, hummingbirds, and pigmy owls along with an assortment of chickens, ducks, turkeys, peafowl, snakes, voles, and an old apple orchard that desperately needs a bit ( an understatement) of pruning so we can make cider again and endless apple pies.
I am looking for a magic person who is as patient with an old cow that can’t see the wide-open gate right in front of her as they are with the pick-up that decided not to start this morning of all mornings; and who appreciates animals as well as himself and his tools; a person that doesn’t mind an occasional day in the saddle. (Pay and benefits are negotiable for the right person.)
(Thanks to my friend, Scott Copeland, for use of his Red Canyon photo.)
Click HERE for my last Frontier-Related blog post.