Where to start with this bad boy? I had one of the best times of my life this weekend. It was amazing. Steve A and Walter organized a group and all the logistics. Brought Steves sweet RV to drive down in, hang out, sleep, camp, eat warm meals, warm showers, and heaters from the 17 F outside. Had some mechnical issues on the way down with 2 blown out tires. This kind of sucked because it took Steve out of the run the next day. The guy with the most invested didn't even get to go. That sucks but he's a rockstar, super level headed, funny and smart. So he was able to orginize a fix on our wheels while we ran. Plus get 23+ miles of running in between.
Anyways I didn't sleep very good at all the night before. Even though Walter and I got the big nice bed in the back of the RV. I was super restless with a thousand things going through my mind. So I was glad when 4 am finally rolled around and we woke to get ready for our 5 a.m leave time.
I decided that even though it was 17 F out that I'd still leave in shorts. Thinking that a: I hate running in anything else and b: I'd warm up fast as we dropped into the canyon. This turned out to be a great choice. Wasn't really that cold at the start and I quickly warmed up.
We had snow/ packed ice for only like a half mile or so then the trail was golden. In the darkness of the morning the group made it's way down. Headlamps bouncing up and down the trail. Steve ran with us at the start and we had a group of about 5 pretty close for the first couple miles. But when Steve decided to turn around our little group for the day turned into Walter, Chirsite and I. I had no time goal. No need to hammer it. So we just kept a nice, consistent pace. We kept Christie up front the set the pace and this turned out to be perfect. As she did an outstanding job but also kept Walter and I from getting too frisky when we "felt good". The pace basically never changed. We just worked our way through the canyon like little ants. By the time there was light enough to see we were around 8 miles into the run and temps were amazing. We all dropped a layer or two and were now rolling down the trail in short sleeves and shorts. This section all the way to Phantom ranch is the best running section of the entire trip. So we made good time but never got overworked. I read a report earlier in the week that said "Once you get to the river- you haven't even started". I tried to apply that today in every aspect of our run. Do as little as possible before then and get "up" for the uphills. The asent up South Kiabab is sweet and sour. You have to do it this way to complete the "loop" imho. But it's steep, wind swept, and not very pretty in comparison to the rest of the canyon. And it just doesn't break up like the other stuff. You kind of have to eat the whole thing at once rather than chipping it off from point to point. But we finally made it to the top of the south rim in 4:29. Not too bad really. When I ran it myself a couple years ago I really ran pretty strong and only did it in 3:45- and then I didn't start in the dark.
Once ontop we had to catch the shuttles over to where the Bright Angel trail drops in. This transaction isn't that painful and we were soon over at the lodge. I grabbed a king size snickers bar there and had a couple drinks from Walters coke. Both are highly recommended if your thinking of doing this run. I felt strong, happy and thankful to be at this point and ready to tackle the rest. It was super foggy on the south side. Cold foggy that stuck to the trees and bushes. This was the hardest part of the south side. I was just cold. Shivering and wet from my sweat. We needed to get moving so I could just warm up a little. We started our trip back across all feeling pretty strong... and that was good. But that wasn't the case for others in our group. As we dropped into the canyon we passed everyone else as they made their way up. First was Steven Abraham Lincoln Hopper Pope. I was pumped to see him. Because of logistics he hadn't come with me in the RV but had come over with Ben and John from here in STG that morning. Sucks we couldn't have ran it together but I'm pumped he got to do it. He looked good as we wished each other well and headed on. But after that each person in the group didn't have the same spring in your step look that one might need to finish such a task. But with each person in our group we wished them well. Gave them food and other supplies and then crossed our fingers that they'd all make it back across safe.
Again making our way back down Bright Angel I was electrified at what I was doing. The beauty around me and for the energy in our little group. I knew then we'd make it and never worried about that again. There are a lot more hickers on this trail so we made our way past them, deer and a couple mule trains all the way to the river. I'd forgotten how far up the river you have to run to get to the bridge. This is a cool spot... it's just cool. I love being down by the river looking up out of the crazy deep canyon. We took some photos on the bridge and made our way to Phantom for the final pit stop before world war 3 and our painful "pull" up out of this mutha.
I got one more king size snickers at Phantom and refilled the bladder in my pack. Walked arond a little. Enjoyed the moment there with this little running team. It was a special moment just to stop and reflect on the mornings work. I was ready...
As we left Phantom and hit the "good" running trail. I had the hardest time. Maybe the time spent idle at Phantom wasn't that good? I really started to get a little mental for a mile or two. Never sore, tired or sick of it. But more delusional. But I kept running, following Christie's "old faithful" like march we entered our final leg. It was through these miles that my snickers and caffine kicked in and for the rest of the day I was agian alive. Felt fantastic. Could have grabbed a couple more gears and hammered it out of there. But Walter started to really struggle. I'd given him a 5 hr energy that turned his stomach to crap and he didn't look good. I didn't feel it wise to press on without anyone in our little group so we'd run a little then wait or go back to check on him. I really thought at one point that it was going to get super ugly. But it didn't. He rallied the best he could. We got him in some compression shocks, took his pack and made our way to the rangers station.
I decided early in the day that if we could run most of the day then once we got to the rangers station on the way back we could relax and do more of a power hike the rest of the way out. This took some pressure off. Becaue you didn't feel like you had to kill it anymore. If everything got bad... hey we could at least walk. Soon after that Steve again comes bouncing down the trail. Singing with headphones on (the guy is a gem. honestly one of the coolest people I've ever met). He came with more supplies. We fixed Walter up with some homeade thigh compression sleeves and kept moving. Christie and I left Walt with Steve and we kept our even pace up. I thought the whole day this part of the trip would just suck. I thought I'd be trashed, cold and dark. But we felt good, were having fun and it wasn't dark yet. In fact we didn't even use the headlamps on the way back. That was awesome! It was beautiful as we started to crest the rim and looked back on the heavy fog sitting on the canyon below. Honestly a heavenly image. Both Christie and I were tired but we both were super excited to have just finished such a great day.
She's a machine. The whole day. Just kept it together and pressed on up the trail. Walter and I would have struggled with out her. And in true Christie fasion she wanted to hit 50 miles for the day. I wasn't super thrilled about the idea but I'd never ran 50 before and we only needed like 4.6 more. So she and I went out and back on the road a couple times- around the parking lot and finally hit her 50.
We were done and it felt amazing. What else was amazing? Getting in a warm RV taking a hot shower and cooking a hot dinner right there in the rv next to the trailhead. While we waited for the rest of the group to come in. Walter and Stever weren't too far behind Christie and I coming out of the canyon. Then a couple hours later Steven Hooper and John B, came in. We loaded them up with food/ drinks and warmed them in the rv before they drove Ben's car back to STG. Ben decided to only do r2r and had his wife come pick him up. Right around 10 p.m Steve was getting dressed up to go out looking for the other 3 in our group who were still out on the trail. When we saw two head lamps and another silhouette with them. They made it! Everyone was in! I was so pumped and relieved that no one was still out there. In all 8 people with us did the full r2r2r. That's a great day. Each person leaving better off then when they entered.
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