Nice evening run up in the hills. Met up with a guy named Ariel from Uruguay coming up the steep hill just up from the Orem cemetary. I caught up with Ariel and he asked how far I was going and as it turns out it was about the same distance. Ariel was (still is) an amazing runner in his day in Uruguay, bronze medalist in National Championships and narrowly missed Olympic qualifier. He's now 49, has a large family and works and resides in Orem. Just qualified for Boston and will be running UV Marathon in June.
So Ariel and I we went on a nice run up the hill to the fire road and north to the gate (4 mi). At this point, I asked Ariel if he was in for a bomber 2 mi loop down the dragon's back and up the other side. He was "in" so we went off. See-sawed with some novice mountain bikers. I was much fast downhill and he's a quick flat road guy so we went back and forth for the next few miles back on the fire road. Good tempo run with Ariel coming back from hippy meadow (Johnson's Meadow): 7:39, 7:19, 7:27, 7:39.
Ariel gave up the ghost in the last mile or so but we ran well together. He'd beat me on the flats for sure on a good day. (Ariel had also run 10 miles that morning and was bonking badly--neither of us had GU or water.)
Good to run with friends--even new friends. Hit 5, even 4:30 mm for a few brief moments flying down the hill.
Elevation Gain: 1,350 | 