The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

R2R2R

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Location:

Logan,UT,USA

Member Since:

Dec 15, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

PRs after age 40:

 

5k     15:15  Running of the Leopards.

8k      22:21  Alta Death Dash

10k   33:02    Des News

Half Marathon      1:10  Timp Half

Marathon        2:32    Ogden

First solo R2R2R Bass Trails Grand Canyon 

First R2R2R Grand Canyon Toroweap Overlook

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Not be fat all year

Long-Term Running Goals:

Smell the dirt, feel the mountain, taste the wind.

Personal:

 

"Our legs are tight, our feet are flying, and we are gliding over the roll of the land. The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old, and we are free and at peace. The clock has stopped because another time has taken over." C. Bowden

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
216.4018.000.000.00234.40
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
19.600.000.000.0019.60

5 in the morning along the grass trails after getting into Orlando.  Just too hot to go any further.

Hit the trails again in the evening and got in my long run.  Feeling much better than the week before TOU.  It never gets old running on grass this far.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Easy run in Denver, all covered in scratches and cuts from the Everglades runs. Last day of five in the road, yes!

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Got in this quick run in between flights in Denver again.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Recovery day

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Not  whole lot of time for the running thing the past few days.  We are off camping for the weekend checking out the Fall colors.  I did get in a nice neighborhood run with the kids.  I had a rope tied around my waist and pulled Shelby on her scooter the whole way.

Two amazing Master's performances this past week.  Germany's Irina Miketenko ran a 2:21 in Berlin at 41 and Ian ran his lifetime PR at St. George, a 2:20 coached by Ed Eyestone.  Gives me some good hope in us old guys.

Talked to a lot of friends that ran St george this year and read the long list of good runs on the race reports.  What an inspiring day for Utah runners yesterday.  Gave me a good shot in the arm during a time when running is kind of kicking my butt.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Off day unless playing Sunday afternoon football all evening counts

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

Evening run in Vegas.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.000.003.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.000.003.00

14 hour day at work training new pilots. Really no time at all this week for anything but work and family, but coach Murphy told me last year to get out even if it's for 15 minutes. So this week is a string of little runs.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Finally four days ahead with spare time. Spending the week of work in Salt Lake flying football charters for the universities. Always fun and got FAA waivers for the kids to fly with me. Figure three days of missed school is survivable.

I missed the Circuit dinner for work which sucked. It was a good year, and it's time to gear up for next.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Lucky hour of sunshine. Six miles on the BST trail.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

Nice run in the light rain, City Creek.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.007.000.000.007.00

Legs and joints have been killing me for the last week and a half on runs so today I hit the gym for some start of burning this out. One easy and six at 5:40.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0011.000.000.0011.00

Yesterday's quick treadmill miles helped loosen me up a bit. My knee felt much better today. I pushed it again today trying to hit 6:30 for a 10 mile tempo and it felt good to be out running again instead of jogging. One mile easy cooldown.

One of the interesting combinations of being a runner and a commercial pilot is the EKG. Once you hit 40 you have to do one every year. Problem is, the FAA defines any resting heart rate under 50 as Bradycardia, too low a heart rate. Any normal doc would just ask you if you were a runner but the FAA can't take anything outside normal. Further, if it is under 40 the EKG machine itself adds a warning. I'm pretty out of shape right now but my HR still holds about 40. For the last four years the doc and I have a solution that works pretty good. I run around the block twice and we slap the leads on quick. This morning they kept falling off after we did it and we were both laughing, trying to get the stupid test done.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

Easy run around the neighborhood just to say I did it.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Diddly squat. Hiking and mapping out cabin spots for summer sites. Big bull moose has come down from the trees each night.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

5 trail miles on a day packed with hiking and exploring the mountains.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Stuart Peak trail run, 8,700 feet. Two moose, one coyote, seven deer, three elk, two snakes, one eagle, and a skunk family. These mountains are full of more life than I have seen trail running anywhere in the world.

Kids rode four wheelers all day and shot guns with our friends.

Both kids can shoot dang close to as good as I can now.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

Easy trail run, only 35 minutes to get it done.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.400.000.000.0011.40

Back to normal life today after four days in the mountains around Star Valley, WY. Not much time for running there but the kids and I put in 30 miles of hiking. Froze our butts off each night too.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Rain and sleet in St Louis today. All day. Stuck to the treadmill for a boring hour. Knee is killing me today. Probably the hiking last week.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

Another treadmill run in St Louis...

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.000.003.00

Easy run after getting home. First run with my neighbor who is new to this running thing.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Very busy two days off at home, but the kids are gone so I found myself caught up by 11am. The thought had crossed my mind to run a R2R2R this Fall if the chance popped up and here it was. Did an hour of weather and trail checking and headed south. I will do the rest of my work on the phone in the car.

Stopped in Salt Lake and ran the Jordan River trail for an hour. Maybe I can use this run to burn the cobwebs out of my bum knee.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Race: R2R2R (48.4 Miles) 11:17:00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
48.400.000.000.0048.40

This isn't a race but it's one of those things that I count as one. A just for fun event.

I wanted to get in a North Rim to South and back (R2R2R) trail run again this year in the Grand Canyon. I batted the idea around a few times with friends but everybody had a busy Fall schedule. But then the kids were gone for the weekend and the weather looked perfect. All the water was still on along the trail except the North Rim. In my experience, a host of things need to come together for a R2R2R, so if a few line up you just have to go for it. My running has been in a slump for a while, too many injuries to train for speed. But I have done a lot of long slow trail runs. Maybe that would translate to a good R2R2R. Also I found it appealing to try it solo. What would it be like crossing that canyon on your own?

I slept through my alarm Saturday morning and woke at 7am. I had minimal gear for the run today, a small Camelback, tons of gummi bears, and for the first time a Go Pro camera that would clip on my headlamp band outside it's case. It was 18 degrees and I was freezing, but I knew it would warm up quick. The weather forecast was perfect. I hit the trail at 7:45 and planned on filling the Camelback at the first water stop, Supai Tunnel, 1.7 miles down the North Rim Kaibob trail. Down the trail I really missed Rob, as this section of the trail is as vivid in my memory as yesterday. It was my first experience running the Grand Canyon two years ago, and we talked the whole way down. I knew it would be a tough run without him.

My knee was not happy and a few doubts entered my mind around 5 miles into it. But my pace was excellent and I was enjoying running the North Rim trail in the light. The Camelback was a new experience. I won it in a race raffle a few years ago and had never used it. Who the heck needs 50 ounces of water? But it was amazing. It held all my gear and I could sip from the tube on the go. I passed Cottonwood and Phantom Ranch without stopping. In the base of the canyon you usually pass other R2R runners on their way across and it was again awesome today to say Hi as you pass. There were three separate groups and a lot of very fit women running. I hadn't seen this before and wondered if it had something to do with the shutdown or it being one of the last weekends to get a R2R done. I stopped in Indian Gardens to drink and refill. I decided to just continue the run without the usual breaks up to the South Rim and go slow on the way back. I got into a rhythm and made the Rim just after 12 noon. My Garmin said 24.2 miles which was due to the short run from the North campground. Now I plugged the Garmin in at the lodge and made two huge PB&J sandwiches and had the best Coke on the planet. I was hurting though and wondering what that crossing would mean for the way back, having skipped the usual 15 minute breaks at the water stations.

It was a mess getting going again. Everything hurt. My first mile going down was 11 minutes. Lots of hikers as usual on this side, and very friendly, even shouting encouragement. Now I took my time, stopping at Indian Gardens for 15 minutes. Coming down Bright Angel just after the Devil's Corkscrew a very fit 20 something runner that I had crossed paths with in the early morning stopped to talk to me. He was out if water and hurting, having crossed via South Kaibob, the shorter trail, in 3:45. A sweet time! I saw none of the other runners from the morning which means they were all R2R's. But coming up on Phantom Ranch there was the big group I had passed going the other way. We all sat and talked with a large group from France hiking the canyon in a week. One of the French guys was incredulous about the amount of serious runners in the canyon. He said his impression of Americans had totally changed. I had the same impression from this run. You can easily get discouraged about the state of people and their attitudes, then get out doing something like this and find there are hundreds just like you.

The big group doing a R2R2R had 5 guys and 3 girls. They said they had started at two am from the South Kaibob trailhead. That's nuts. They had waited fir the whole group to get into Phantom Ranch since only the 9 mile climb up the Bright Angel trail was left. They had been there over an hour waiting for stragglers. Two of the guys were flat out on the ground. I sat with them for a bit talking through the day and making sure they were OK. Phantom Ranch has full facilities so it would be a good cutoff point. I had 14 miles to go and it was hitting me too. Now the lack of rest stops on the south crossing caught up. By Cottonwood campground I was toast. I drenched in water, filled up the Camelback, and headed up. It was impossible. I decided to run a mile and hike 5 minutes, then alternate it as long as I could. After 3 miles I was baking in the sun and was just hiking. But I know from long trail runs in the past that you never know what you'll feel like in 30 minutes, so keep going at any cost. When I reached the ranger station at the bottom of the North Rim Kaibob trail I was tempted to knock on the door and crash for the day. I was so dead. But after sitting for 15 minutes and freezing my butt off, I had to get going. My jacket and light were a mile up the trail stashed in a bush and with temperatures dropping and not knowing how I was going to make it, I was getting worried. Going this far on your own is a whole different animal. Despite feeling like I could barely hike, I settled on a run up the trail and sure enough, the fatigue passed. At least enough that I could keep going. I passed two groups of day hikers on the last climb, but not a single ranger all day. At the top I was overcome by the feeling of having made it, pushing through. I haven't experienced such a day full of incredible people and awesome energy in as long as I remember. I really missed running it with the guys who showed it to me, but also enjoyed the total focus it took to do it solo. I have unlimited respect for those who run 100 mile trail races. I can't even imagine it.

I saw more wildlife than ever before in the canyon today. Jumped three deer, a big buck, wild turkeys everywhere, a fox, and squirrels all over. That was different than past crossings. I also had that Go Pro along so I'll get a video of some of the clips put together.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(10)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.000.003.00

Easy shakeout run after yesterday. Needed to check if I broke anything.

I survived.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Six miles on a hotel treadmill in Vegas.

Good times.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.000.000.003.00

With three straight 14 hour work days there's not much time for running this week. Oh well...

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Nice Fall run along Stokes trail, Logan.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
216.4018.000.000.00234.40
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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