Run-Shuffle-Hike: Grand Canyon 2019

Well, it’s been about 8 months since I’ve forced myself to sit down and write a blog. To the three people who actually read this thing, one of them being my future self, here’s what’s been going on… 

Work

I became an unofficial Texas resident. Not really, but I spent a significant amount of time on a refinery in Texas between March and October. 114 of 223 days, but who’s counting? In order to avoid writing a novel and complaining, I’m going to list the first 20 words/phrases that come to mind. Heat. Humidity. So much sweat. Foundations. Inspector. Integrity. Delay. Broken machinery. Contractor. Arguments. Stop shaving? Pick-up trucks. Freezie pops. Treadmill. Water. Gatorade. Pretzels. Reading. Hotel points. Stay positive. 

Between the rotations in Texas and office work in Kansas City, I raced in two events. 

Pikes Peak Marathon

Start of Pikes Peak. First and last mile were on road.

Pikes Peak happened towards the end of August. For this race in Colorado Springs, CO, people of questionable sanity run 13 miles from Manitou Springs up to the summit of Pikes Peak (a Colorado 14’er). Over the course of the run, you climb approximately 7,000ft up the mountain. Then you turn around and destroy your legs running 13 miles back down. The event was epic. The task of running up a mountain seems relatively straight forward until you’re standing in Manitou Springs and you see how far/high you actually have to go. I’d been looking forward to the run since signing up in January. My main goal for the race was to get through it and enjoy the views and the challenge. My Achilles had started bothering me again back in May and never really healed so I honestly just managed the pain and my expectations. Since wrapping up my time in Texas, I’ve been more focused on healing and strengthening the area and would really like to get back to Pikes Peak for either the Ascent or Marathon in 2020. TBD. 

Chicago Marathon

In October, I ran in my first Marathon Major at the Chicago Marathon. I signed up for Chicago in the fall of 2018 with a few friends from work. I hadn’t been to Chicago in about 15 years and I appreciated the ease of mass transit. The race itself was incredible. It was hard to wrap my mind around an event with 50,000 people running. Somehow, logistics for the weekend were incredibly well organized. The 26-mile route was a great way to see the city. There crowds of people cheering and the experience has made want to partake in some of the other big-city marathons. I thoroughly enjoyed running through the various neighborhoods and experiencing the cultures along the course. Chinatown went all out with a gong and multi-person dragon costume. After Chicago, I flew directly to Texas to finish what turned out be my last field rotation for this current project. 

Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim

Towards the end of October, Matt Malone (a friend I know from my time on Team EMJ) threw out the idea of running Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim in the Grand Canyon. Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim is not an official event, but more of a bucket-list running route for runners who “enjoy” long distances, trails, lots of climbing, and beautiful views. For the traditional route, runners start at one of two trailheads on the south rim, descend into the Grand Canyon, run across the canyon, climb up the north rim of the canyon, then turn around and reverse the route. For most people, “running” alternates between running, shuffling, and power hiking depending on fitness, experience, ground slope, elapsed time, motivation, and hydration and hanger levels. The route we chose ended up being around 44 miles and included about 11,000ft of elevation gain. Running Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim was on my radar for a few years in the future, but when the opportunity came to run it in just a few weeks, I said I was in and booked my flights. 

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2870117694

Matt had previously run R2R2R a few years ago with an extremely impressive split. This time around he was looking for some company and wanted to take things a little slower (thankfully). Our group of five guys probably set a record for the least amount of communication before an event like this. 200 words tops. Somehow, everyone made it to the Airbnb in Flagstaff and we had a 30 minute discussion for our plan of attack the next morning before going to bed around 10pm. 

The crew

After an hour-ish drive, we parked about 0.8 miles from the trailhead to guarantee our vehicles wouldn’t get towed. We started down South Kaibab trail a little after 6am. The full moon provided a surprising amount of light and the high 30s temperature was perfect. The South Kaibab into the canyon is around 7 miles long and descends about 5,000ft. Within a few minutes on the notoriously steep trail, the temperature had risen, and my quads were already protesting. We luckily timed our start to miss the mules who descend into the canyon every morning carrying water and supplies to the small huts at Phantom Ranch. 

Heading down South Kaibab

Sunrise going down South Kaibab

The views were incredible from 5 minutes in. The moonlight and progressing sunrise allowed us to see our surroundings. One positive to not starting at 4am was that we could see the views while we were still excited and mentally engaged (8-10 hrs later would be another story). While the trail was plenty wide, the drop-offs were very steep. This was my first time to the Grand Canyon and the shear size of the ditch was impressive. The geology gradually changed as we descended, and the temperature continued to climb. We stopped a few times on the descent to take in the views, but after a little more than an hour, we reached the suspension bridge over the Colorado River. 

Crossing the Colorado River

All five of us regrouped and the smarter people in our group (not me) topped off their water. As we continued on across the canyon, Matt and I ran together up the gradual slope. Running up the canyon was wild. There was a small stream going down the center with 20-30ft floodplains full of vegetation on either side. The trail crossed back and forth over the river using a number of small bridges but otherwise hugged one wall of the canyon. The footing was good and the only obstacles that really made us alter our strides were small rock walls (maybe 1-1.5 feet high) that were set up across the trail what felt like every 50 feet to help prevent erosion. At this point in the day, it was easy enough to hop over them, but I knew five hours from now, they would feel much higher and faceplanting would be a serious concern. Matt and I remarked on the views, played with his GoPro, and generally ran together for the 11 miles of slow incline. The weather was ideal; mid to high 50’s with no wind. We crossed paths several times with other groups of runners and hikers all out enjoying their day. 

Running up the canyon

Eventually we reached the base of the climb up the north rim which was not nearly as steep as South Kaibab. We’d already gained a significant amount of elevation running across the canyon. The 2-3% feels flat while your running, but over 11 miles, the incline adds up. The real climb up the north rim was about five miles. We agreed to try and “run” (more like shuffle) for short bursts of distance then walk when the trail became too steep. On several occasions throughout the climb, the trail doubled back and provided a view of where we’d come from. The views were beautiful looking back down the canyon at the switchbacks we’d just climbed. Then we remembered we still weren’t yet half-way done... 

About two miles from the top of the north rim I realized I was going to run out of water. To start the day, I’d naively filled my hydration bladder with a little over 1 liter of water and had another 500ml of electrolytes in a soft bottle. My thought process was that I didn’t want to descend with more weight than necessary (because that was really going to save my quads), and I thought I could make it all the way across the canyon before needing to refill. Though Matt had been very clear that water at the north rim was turned off at this time of the year, I skipped the opportunities to fill up along the way. Though running out of water was inevitable, I wasn’t too worried. I’d been in similar situations before and knew I could deal with being uncomfortable for two-ish hours. I reminded myself to stay calm, manage my effort, and rehydrate once the opportunity arose. We climbed our way from the exposed canyon wall through the forest and topped out at the north rim. During the climb, the temperature had gone back down, closer to 45-50 degrees. Once at the top, Matt and I took in some food and chilled out for about 10 minutes. I had a handful of pretzels, a bar, and finished off my water. Admittedly, it was risky to not leave any room for error by saving a sip, but I knew the trail back to water was all downhill. That and I wanted to fully swallow my food. 

Looking back from the North Rim

We re-packed our bags and headed back down the north rim. After a couple miles, we ran into Corey, Dillon, and Eric. They were in good spirits and doing well but moving a little slower than they wanted. They provided some encouraging information that water was only 3-4 more miles away. Matt had run out of water, too. This stretch from the north rim to the small creek crossing with a water spigot was likely the most challenging part in the day for me. The section included miles 22-27, the sun was completely out, and, because we were back in the canyon, the temperature had risen. I’ve had some scary triathlon and training experiences in the past where I didn’t drink enough fluids and started losing coordination and mental processing power. During most races, I know I can keep the effort level high because if something happens, there are enough people around who can drag me off the course, elevate my legs, give me some ice, and stick an IV in me. On the other hand, if something were to happen in the canyon, help would take much longer and there are far fewer resources. Safe to say, Matt and I were relieved once we reached the spigot. I guzzled 2 liters of water and ate more pretzels. I also topped off my hydration bladder and pulled out my sandwich bag of electrolyte mix to refill my soft bottle. Matt pounded water as well and we agreed we felt like new men. If there’s one thing endurance sports and long days of exercising teaches you, it’s how to be in tune with your body and what it needs. After several years, I’m more aware of those feelings and have also learned that on long days you have enough time to get back on track if you fall behind on water, salt, or calories. 

Matt and I stripped off our tights and headed back out onto the trail. We had about 11 miles of slight downhill back through the canyon. We both anticipated that climb out would likely include a lot of power hiking because we’d be 38 miles in and the climb was very steep. With that in mind, we both pushed hard to make the most of the remaining terrain we could run. With my fluids topped off, I felt fantastic. My legs were feeling the fatigue, and those mini rock walls were extremely antagonizing, but I kept turning my feet over. By the time we made it to the base of the climb, I’d gone through all my water, again. We topped fluids off, ate another snack, then began the climb back up the south rim. 

In my head, I thought two hours to cover six miles was reasonable. We started chipping away at the distance. Within 10 minutes, we looked back and were already amazed by how far we’d climbed above the river. Matt and I both had good energy left but running up South Kaibab wasn’t going to happen. We passed the time talking and commenting on the sights. After an hour, we came across a few sections of trail we could shuffle. About two miles from the rim, we reached a false summit where a lot of people had hiked down to and gathered for photo ops. Matt and I regrouped for the final push. 

I soaked up this feeling of fatigue. Rarely do we appreciate all the work it took to get to that level before finishing. We’re too impatient and want it all to be over. How many hours did it take to get to that feeling at mile 90 of the gravel century? It takes people 8 hours (or more!) to get to that feeling of 22 miles into an Ironman marathon. We were 8 hours into our R2R2R journey, and we still had 2 miles to go. With time, I’ve tried to recognize the fact that we don’t get to do these epic long-ass days every weekend and that it sometimes takes 8 hours of non-stopping moving to get those levels of pain and emotion. These feelings are addicting, and I was loving it. 

We pushed on and eventually forced ourselves to jog the last few steps up to the south rim. After a few pictures at the rim, we headed to the car. The south rim was much busier than when we’d started, and we got a number of concerned stares from people sitting on the shuttle bus watching us hobble up the road. Someone with a walker probably could have made faster progress… 

Thankful for these legs for carrying me

The entire run/shuffle/hike took us about 8.5 hours. We were pleased with our effort. While we agreed we could have gone faster, we knew the next few days of recovery would be much shorter because we didn’t go too deep. On our way back to the AirBnb, we stopped at a general store where I found some stunning postcards and got myself sports drink, a coke, and some chocolate milk. After cleaning up, Yelp directed us to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Flagstaff which we promptly followed up with ice cream. After a few hours, we heard from Cory that they’d made it safely out of the canyon. Their day had been longer than anticipated but they’d finished and had a great time. 

My legs were understandably wrecked for two days after the Grand Canyon, but I forced myself to do some easy riding and swimming to keep blood flowing. The hardest parts of that first week was getting out of bed when I seriously was worried about falling over on the way to the bathroom. 

One thing I’ve understood more this year is that waiting for perfect circumstances doesn’t necessarily guarantee things will pan out. Sometimes the best trips, friendships, and memories come from taking the first step and figuring out the rest as you go. Getting to share the highs and lows of any experience with a few other people makes all the difference. Another reason why sports are great. 

With the occurrence of Thanksgiving this past weekend, I hope everyone had a great holiday and I’m thankful to have friends that push and inspire me. Stay in touch and let me know if you have any epic exercising/adventuring/exploring planned. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day.