We interrupt this break in blogging with a special report. I checked off one of my 2015 goals- running the grand canyon from south rim to north rim and back (47 miles with the route we chose). Dr. Hottie and I completed this journey Tuesday, April 7th & I've been replaying the day in my head ever since. It was one of those days where I felt in tune with nature, God, my husband, and other hikers/runners. I saw the sunrise and sunset and the only thing I had done in between was hike and run in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was incredibly simplistic yet completely awe-inspiring. So, to recap:
Monday we drove 8 hours from Salt Lake to the Grand Canyon. The drive is scenic as you pass Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and finally drive into Arizona. We had reserved a campsite within Grand Canyon Park for 3 nights. After our cold-weather camping adventure in Zion Ntl Park back in November, we came prepared with plenty of firewood, layers (upon layers!!), and good food. Monday afternoon and evening were filled with logistics and prepping our packs for the run the next day. We got to bed a bit late, as we had to drive around the park to try and pick up the NCAA national championship basketball game on AM radio. Our Badgers were playing Duke, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know the score. Unfortunately they lost, but I was super-proud of my Badgers and hit the hay for 5 hours of good sleep.
3am wake up call, breakfast, and putting on all our run clothes. One of the biggest challenges in doing the run in the springtime is the 20-30 degree difference in temperature you typically experience from the top to the bottom of the canyon. When we started the run, temp was in the low 30's, but the high temp for the bottom of the canyon was upper 70's. They were also calling for very high winds all day, so we brought A LOT of layers. Looking back it was likely overkill, but it was our first self-supported ultra-run @ 47 miles and we wanted to have enough clothing to survive a night in the wilderness in the small chance something would happen to us. Speaking of safety we also each had space blankets, lighters, rope, knife, water purification tabs, basic first aid kit, 2 L bladders for water + 2 softflask bottles @ 0.75L each, and ~1500 calories of food. We also had cell phones with us, but you get no service in the canyon. However, there are emergency phones at certain checkpoints along the route. In attempting a self-supported run of this magnitude it's imperative to have a healthy amount of respect for the conditions, the terrain, how far you are going, and the fact that even though you are in the 2nd most visited national park in the USA, it is still the backcountry! I certainly said a few prayers along the way asking God for protection.
On to the fun part of the recap- the running and the VIEWS! We hit the top of Bright Angel trail at about 5am. We spent the first hour in the dark with our headlamps on. I felt really awkward and disoriented to start as we didn't have time to scope out the trail the day before. I kept my eyes on the ground and slowly followed the switchbacks. Dr. Hottie yelled out to me, "wow, check out the steep drop off!" Uhhh... no thanks honey I'm just going to keep my eyes on the trail for now thank you!
Monday we drove 8 hours from Salt Lake to the Grand Canyon. The drive is scenic as you pass Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and finally drive into Arizona. We had reserved a campsite within Grand Canyon Park for 3 nights. After our cold-weather camping adventure in Zion Ntl Park back in November, we came prepared with plenty of firewood, layers (upon layers!!), and good food. Monday afternoon and evening were filled with logistics and prepping our packs for the run the next day. We got to bed a bit late, as we had to drive around the park to try and pick up the NCAA national championship basketball game on AM radio. Our Badgers were playing Duke, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know the score. Unfortunately they lost, but I was super-proud of my Badgers and hit the hay for 5 hours of good sleep.
3am wake up call, breakfast, and putting on all our run clothes. One of the biggest challenges in doing the run in the springtime is the 20-30 degree difference in temperature you typically experience from the top to the bottom of the canyon. When we started the run, temp was in the low 30's, but the high temp for the bottom of the canyon was upper 70's. They were also calling for very high winds all day, so we brought A LOT of layers. Looking back it was likely overkill, but it was our first self-supported ultra-run @ 47 miles and we wanted to have enough clothing to survive a night in the wilderness in the small chance something would happen to us. Speaking of safety we also each had space blankets, lighters, rope, knife, water purification tabs, basic first aid kit, 2 L bladders for water + 2 softflask bottles @ 0.75L each, and ~1500 calories of food. We also had cell phones with us, but you get no service in the canyon. However, there are emergency phones at certain checkpoints along the route. In attempting a self-supported run of this magnitude it's imperative to have a healthy amount of respect for the conditions, the terrain, how far you are going, and the fact that even though you are in the 2nd most visited national park in the USA, it is still the backcountry! I certainly said a few prayers along the way asking God for protection.
On to the fun part of the recap- the running and the VIEWS! We hit the top of Bright Angel trail at about 5am. We spent the first hour in the dark with our headlamps on. I felt really awkward and disoriented to start as we didn't have time to scope out the trail the day before. I kept my eyes on the ground and slowly followed the switchbacks. Dr. Hottie yelled out to me, "wow, check out the steep drop off!" Uhhh... no thanks honey I'm just going to keep my eyes on the trail for now thank you!
The first light in the canyon was a welcome sight. I became giddy at seeing the vast expanse of the canyon and what lay ahead in our adventure. We significantly picked up our pace as the trail is wide and quite runnable. The deeper we got into the canyon the more lush the vegetation became. Trees, grass, blooming cacti, and the most wonderfully smelling flowers of which I don't know the name of. It was so lovely, and we came across a number of hikers who had camped in the canyon overnight and were on their way out. All of the hikers we encountered were incredibly nice. They all stepped aside for us, even when we didn't have the right of way- and many of them asked if we were headed all the way to the north rim- when we replied yes, responses were anywhere from, "you're crazy" to "good luck" to "that's awesome". At the bottom of the canyon you see the expansive Colorado River and cross a huge suspended footbridge. We were seriously feeling good and having fun!
Shortly after we crossed the Colorado River, we arrived at Phantom Ranch. It is a little oasis at the bottom of the canyon including a campground, cabins, a store, restaurant, water, and bathrooms. We took our first real break @ Phantom Ranch to refill our packs with water, eat, use the potty, etc. There were lots of toilets throughout the run- in fact I never used the bathroom outside. Besides making me more comfortable, I was also happy I didn't have to pee or poop outside in such a beautiful place. Dr. Hottie and I didn't really have a time goal for the run- we took a lot of breaks (sometimes very long breaks...haha), took loads of pictures, and chatted with anyone who felt like talking. As we ran out of Phantom Ranch, I saw a sign indicating the North Rim was ~13 miles away. At that point, it really hit me... we are doing a LONG run. 13 miles to north rim, and then we have to come all the way back! We were able to hold a very respectable pace from Phantom Ranch to Cottonwood campground- the trail was pretty flat and very runnable. We stopped at Cottonwood campground to clean up with baby wipes and use the bathroom, knowing it was going to be a tough climb up to the North Rim. You climb a total of ~5,000ft from the bottom of the canyon to the north rim. The last 6 miles, the grade gets really steep and the switchbacks are endless! It was a really long climb, and I was cooked when we finally got to the top- our 1/2 way point! We took a nice, long 30 minute break (which was our longest), ate food, cleaned up, did some foot treatment, and I tried to go poo. Not sure if it's dehydration or lack of protein or both- but I have a really hard time going #2 on long runs. I suppose this is a far better scenario than the alternative! Dr. Hottie made me do the "wonder-woman" power pose before heading back down into the canyon. We recently watched a TED talk on the effect body posture can have on your attitude. The researcher found that when people spent ~2min in 2 different types of "power poses" they had less stress hormone in the blood, and rated their confidence as higher. So, we put the research to the test and both did a power pose to get a boost of confidence before flying down some really scary switchbacks in high wind gusts.
All I wanted to do was get down, down, DOWN! I felt like the wind was going to take me and blow me over the edge for a nice 5,000 foot fall. I hyper-focused on the trail in front of me and my foot placement. I wanted to run to get it over with, but Dr. Hottie made us walk since one wrong step could prove to have fatal consequences. Reaching the bottom was a huge mental boost, but our legs were tired from a huge climb and descent. We managed to hold a pretty good pace to Phantom Ranch again, but Dr. Hottie hit a low. His pack was significantly larger than mine and way heavier- his back and shoulders were hurting and I could tell he wanted nothing more than to drop the pack. I tried to keep conversation light and make him laugh and look at the views. I had my lowest point from miles 20-30 and Dr. Hottie's was the last 10 miles. As we approached Phantom Ranch the sun was setting a glow to the red rock and we were running through fields of flowers. This was my "pinch me is this really happening" moment. I wish I could bottle that feeling and hand it out on the street. I felt invincible, thankful for what the human body can do, elated @ the journey we were wrapping up, in awe of the view, and confident that God was really close to us at that moment. Running can seem like quite a selfish endeavor at times, but it is through running and sport that I am inspired and am able to inspire others. I fulfill my potential through it and have a community within it. Moving my body has played a huge part of all my 30 years of living, and I know it's much bigger than myself.
After Phantom Ranch, it was essentially up, up, up for 8-9 miles. We were tired and the sun was going down fast. I don't think it any coincidence that we ran into a trail angel with ~6 miles to go. I spotted a guy ahead of us moving at a pretty good clip- he was hardly carrying anything so I assumed he was just out hiking for the afternoon/evening. We caught up to Alan while he stopped to take a picture and learned he was also doing R2R2R! It's kind of funny we didn't run into him earlier as I had no recollection of when he had passed us (he started quite a bit later compared to us). We chatted and I learned Alan is quite the ultra runner! He has completed the Rocky Mountain Slam on multiple occasions (four 100 mile races in one season), and he was doing the grand canyon run for his 46th birthday. I geeked out as much as my tired brain would allow and asked lots of questions about race courses, training for 100s, etc. He led us out of the canyon and I focused on following his feet as it got dark. Dr. Hottie was quiet and I knew he was in the hurt locker- I felt so bad for him and his heavy pack!! We were all in the hurt locker the last couple miles as it was dark and getting cold fast. When we hit the top of south rim, it was shockingly cold and Alan offered to give us a ride back to our car from the trailhead and thank God for that as we would have froze otherwise! One of the coolest things about trail running is the large probability that people you encounter on the trail are great folks that quickly become friends!
So that's it! We did it and lived to tell the tale. I often joke with Dr. Hottie that we bicker less when we're doing long runs together than when we're at home just hanging out. For the most part, we work really well together in these challenges & I couldn't do it without his support....and he certainly couldn't do it without my coaching and planning...haha!
Adventure completed. We'll be back Grand Canyon- you were good to us!
So that's it! We did it and lived to tell the tale. I often joke with Dr. Hottie that we bicker less when we're doing long runs together than when we're at home just hanging out. For the most part, we work really well together in these challenges & I couldn't do it without his support....and he certainly couldn't do it without my coaching and planning...haha!
Adventure completed. We'll be back Grand Canyon- you were good to us!