Bouncing Back for a Half (Yet another RR)

It was a busy week.

After finishing the New York City Marathon Sunday, I had 5 days to recover before doing a Pikermi on Saturday on the other coast. Just living the dream.

Monday my legs felt not too bad for day one. I went for a long walk with DW and SIL to enjoy the Fall colors in New Jersey. Then I put the calf sleeves back on for the 6-hour flight back to LA.

Tuesday was my one day at work to catch up, and then I went out that night to celebrate my son turning 21. So I met him at a seedy bar and bought him a beer and watched hockey. First time we drank together. Kind of strange. I remembered the first time I had a beer with my Dad at a party. It signifies a subtle change in the relationship. Like we are now more equal.

Anyway, it was fun. And the start of another long weekend. Because it was time for my annual reunion with my high school buddies where we play golf, eat good food, drink a lot, and do a race. This year we were going to Santa Barbara. The guys all showed up on Wednesday and we drove up from LA to SB together to our wonderful rented house near the beach.

Thursday and Friday we played 18 holes of golf in beautiful settings. Like this.


My legs were recovering very well. And we used golf carts so that helped a little. Still, that's a lot of time on my feet and in the sun. Plus drinking and stuffing myself every night is probably not the best taper plan. But we were having fun!



Saturday was race day. Did I mention we were in the middle of a heat wave? Highs of about 80. But it was nice and cool and low 50's for the 7:15AM start. I felt bad for the marathoners starting at 7:30 and having to run past Noon.

The course meandered around town before a pretty good hill at mile 11 and then a downhill finish to the beach. Parts of it were on a nice bike path. It was very scenic and pleasant.


There were six of us running, and one goal was to beat the rest of them. Last year I was suffering from Plantar Fasciitis and two of the guys beat me at Savannah. This year I had my marathon recovery excuse, but I still I thought I could run under 1:40, which meant only one guy posed a serious challenge. M had a similar sub 1:40 goal so we started together.

The start was a bit of a cluster. It was on a wide road but the start chute was in only one lane to go over the strip and through the arch. They had a sign for "sub 10-minute pace" very close to the front! And we entered from the back. So we fought our way up as far as we could, but still had to maneuver around a lot of people the first half mile. But we settled in and went through 1 in 7:32. Perfect. Felt pretty good! But probably because it was all downhill (see above for elevation).

By the end of mile 2 I was already feeling heavy legs. Ugh, this must be marathon fatigue. I was maintaining pace, but it was harder than it should have been. I let M slip away ahead of me and that took the pressure off a little. 7:32 again.

The next few miles were flat and fun on the bike path. I settled in with a group of three other runners as a kind of peloton and it helped. Two had ponytails which helped too. M was maybe 30 yards ahead but I was staying about the same distance behind and felt OK. Legs felt heavy, but cardio felt good. 7:23, 7:21, 7:28

I slipped ahead of my group in mile 6 and I started to catch more people. M started coming back to me, so I used that goal to go catch him. He was huffing and puffing pretty hard, so I knew he wouldn't be staying with me long. We were starting to go up some long gradual hills here too. I dropped M and kept moving up. Six and Seven were uphill, 7:34 and 7:52.

The hill had me pretty tired, but I was channeling my marathon spirit from 6 days ago; where I would just ignore the fatigue and keep plugging. This was nothing compared to 26 miles! Endurance experience really gives you the mental strength to push through limits.

Miles 8-10 were mostly downhill so my pace picked up. 7:40, 7:27, 7:36. I knew there was one big hill to come, so I was trying to conserve and stay relaxed. Then we turned a corner and saw the big rise. I settled in to big-hill-shuffle pace. Kept my breathing under control and plugged on up. Before long I was over the top and catching my breath, ready to push it on in. Mile 11 was 8:24 up the hill.

The downhill let me naturally pick up speed, and I was just really enjoying myself. (Maybe I'm just remembering the joy now, and forgetting about the painful fatigue) But it was a beautiful day, I could see the ocean from the cliff, just wonderful. Mile 12 - 7:19

Then there was a big banner that said, "Run 25.2 miles for yourself, and the last mile for the veterans". And there was an old guy in uniform handing out little flags. Then the whole last mile there were hundreds of full-size flags lining the road. This was a Veteran's Day race. The last mile was downhill along the coast and I was moving along with another guy who was also pushing the pace. I waved my little flag and I thought about all the pains that veterans have suffered - lost limbs, burns, PTSD - and it made it easier to push through my little race pain and accelerate even harder that last mile. Mile 13 - 6:59

The last tenth was at 6:16 pace as I waved my flag and celebrated. 1:38:51!


 and then I relaxed


 I love racing.

Happy to beat my sub 1:40 goal (and my rivals) and have a great time doing it.

Later we all went out wine-tasting in the local wineries to wrap up the weekend. Life is good.

Breezing Through New York (NYCM RR)

New York, New York, it's a wonderful town. And I got to run across all 5 boroughs with over 50,000 like-minded maniacs. This race was everything it is hyped up to be. Despite cold, windy conditions that apparently cut the crowds down quite a bit, it seemed like a big crowd to me, and I loved it!

The dear wife and I hit the expo on Saturday, and it was crowded! But everything was still smooth and fast.


We ran into Katherine Switzer, and she was very nice. She's a hugger. Buy a book, get a hug.

I managed to meet up with most of the Loopster contingent there. MJ and I posed for the paparazzi.


And we grabbed Cheeky Runner out of the pacer station for a jumping pic. Because when you meet her, you have to get a jumping pic, right? Our camera failed, but maybe someone out there has a better one?


It was nice to see some familiar faces. KeepRunningGirl came down even though she wasn't racing, probably to absorb some Loopster mojo for her 50-miler. And 50Stater (Omar) popped in to get his state count to 20 (I believe). He is doing 3 marathons in 5 weeks I think!

Then we met up with Fenwick Razzleberry, Christine.Eliz and Jen.M.Yee (all new meets for me)! It was great to meet them, and of course they were exactly like I expected them to be (osom). We braved the cold and rain and headed downtown for a tasty lunch. We talked about the weather and what to wear and race strategy - the usual. And probably a bunch of other cool stuff that I forgot about. And the obligatory photo op.



Race day!

I was staying in New Jersey at my brother's house, and he dropped me off at the start, which amazingly was very simple! The site does not encourage it, saying you have to take the assigned buses or ferry, but I would have had to be at the bus before 6AM. Instead we drove right up on side streets after 7:30 and I got out a block away from where the buses were unloading. Piece of cake! It was low 40's and VERY windy so I was bundled up in throw away sweats, gloves, hat and a garbage bag.

I found my way in through security, where we had to take off our watch for the metal detectors. It was smooth and everyone was in good spirits. Still lots of time to kill before my 10:05 start. Seemed like 1/3 of the runners were international types. It was cool to see the flags and uniforms and hear all the languages. Everyone was excited to be there! I got some free coffee and bagels and a banana and relaxed for a while. But first, let me take a selfie.

 

The other Loopsters were nowhere to be found, due to later start times, so I just chilled. Or tried not to. Eventually we moved into a corral and started stripping down as we walked onto the bridge. Nervous chatter and lots of smiles. The bridge is a unique and cool start to the race. And the ridiculously gusty winds made it quite the adventure! I was near the front of wave two, so once we got going, I had plenty of space and enjoyed the parade! People were holding up their phones and filming the start or taking pics as they ran. It was fun! Kind of like this:



The wind on the bridge was insane. Gusts would literally move me over by a foot or two, or knock my foot into my other leg. A few hats got blown off. I was trotting and laughing and smiling. The view of Manhattan was incredible. Most people were too serious, but I was having fun, even put my arms out like an airplane for a while. Just enjoying the moment and trying to go slow on the uphill first mile.

Race strategy: My goal was sub 3:40 (8:20 pace). I wanted to try and start slow to delay the inevitable bonking, since my training was less than perfect. I averaged 35 miles/week for the last two months, so I didn't really have the endurance for 26.2. But I was close. I figured I would just run easy as long as I could, have fun, and hope I didn't fade too bad. Of course my "easy" long runs usually turn out to be about 8:00 pace because I have a hard time backing off....

I don't have all my splits because after the race my Garmin decided to delete them all. But I was watching during the race, so I'll give my best memory of them. Plus I have the 5K splits from the website.

We crested the hill on the bridge before mile 1, and I was just over 9:00 pace. Yay! Good job! Then mile two was coming down the bridge, and it was steep! And the wind was more behind us then blowing at us, so mile 2 was 7:40. Oops! I was trying to relax and go slow! Promise!

By now the sun was out and the 45 degrees felt pretty nice. I ditched my hat, extra shirt and gloves by early in mile 3 and was down to shorts and a tee, plus calf sleeves. I was very comfortable and was surprised by all the clothes people continued to wear for the whole race. Temp was perfect. I never got hot or sweated much, but wasn't cold either.

Brooklyn was awesome. People lined every road and cheered. A lot. They really made it fun and easy to enjoy the run instead of thinking about silly things like fatigue and pain. As I tired, all I had to do was acknowledge people with a smile or nod, or stick my hand out for high fives, and I would get instant bursts of adrenaline. I probably slapped hands with over 100 people. It always picked me up.

I hit 5K in 25:15 or 8:07 pace, which meant I was now running sub-8. I would try to relax and ease off, but 7:55 felt pretty easy. The next 3 5K splits to 20K were at 7:55, 7:49 and 7:55 pace. Just cruising. I hit the half in 1:44:10 or 7:57 pace. Awesome. There's a camera guy! Woooo!



The winds were occasionally gusty, but not too bad. I did tuck in behind runners frequently to draft, but never for too long because I didn't want to be creepy. I looked for KeepRunningGirl near her home in Brooklyn but there were just too many people. The sights and the bands and the people made it very fun, even when the fatigue started to set in. By mile 10 I was already feeling tired in the legs. It took some will to keep up the pace. There were a few little hills to get over, and the ups would make me feel like I was fading, but then the downs always replenished my mojo, and my pace would return to about 8:00.



The Queensboro bridge at mile 16 wasn't as steep as I feared. I just took it down a notch and powered on up. Getting tired. but still moving along. The views of Manhattan were great again. And then we got to go down and I looked forward to 1st Avenue and Manhattan.

But the crowds there were almost silent! I tried to wave them up to a frenzy, to little effect. It was the only disappointing part of the race, since I had heard it was so loud there. But it did pick up later. Ritz told me later that the crowds were MUCH quieter and smaller than normal. Still pretty great though.

20-25K were 8:13 pace but that included two bridges and ended at the top of Queensboro bridge. 25K-30K was 7:58 pace. Still got it at 18.6 miles!

It was windier in Manhattan, as the tall buildings made for wind tunnels. I was definitely very tired and my legs felt heavy, but I just kept plugging. My Garmin got messed up on the bridge so I was checking my real time at the mile markers as I was within seconds of 8:00 pace. 2:08 at 16, 2:16 at 17, 2:24 at 18, 2:32 at 19. Then another bridge into the Bronx. It wasn't much, but I was fading. Hit 20 in 2:40:20. 8:01 pace.

This was virtually a repeat of my Boston splits, where I was sub 8 through 18, hit 20 at 2:40, and then fell apart to finish at 3:45. But I felt a lot better today. I hadn't walked at all and didn't really want to yet. And I had kind of promised Ritz I wouldn't walk in Central park, so there was that. But I was slowing. Mile 21 was about 8:35 and mile 22 was close to 9. I did walk through one water stop there to get one last good drink of gatorade. I had fueled pretty well today. Good breakfast, 3 GUs, lots of gatorade. Seemed to be working. 30-35K was 8:38 pace.

We got to 5th Avenue and it was a mile long hill before getting into Central Park. And the hoped-for tailwind now that we were going South seemed to have turned around. Worst winds of the race. One gust at an intersection was like 50mph crazy! At this point I wasn't looking at my pace. I was just committed to keeping running, and not walking. And that helped me pass a lot of people. I slowed, but I was still moving OK and felt like I was going to do this. And I knew my family was in the Park waiting for me.




DW made me a sign. And my parents drove up from North Carolina for the race. For 30 seconds of seeing me trot by. Crazy.


I FINALLY crested that long 5th avenue hill and got into the pleasant Central park curving road and some downhill. I was past mile 24 now. I knew I was going to beat my goal and get a good time. I just needed to hang on and get it done. Because I was really fricking tired! Still, no real blisters, no cramps, no chafing. Just very sore muscles. Then I saw the family and swung over for some high fives. I didn't want to stop for even a hug, because I was worried about cramping or losing the little momentum I had, so I kept on plugging.



Then there was only about 1.5 miles to go, and I just had to keep on swimming. One step at a time. I didn't feel good. I didn't look good. But I was happy.


35 to 40K was 8:54 pace, and the last 2K were 9:29 pace. Yes, I was fading fast. I actually started to get blurry vision in the last mile, and foggy brain, and tingles in my back. I thought maybe I would be that guy who collapses at the finish line. So I slowed down more to be safe and just shuffled to the finish, where it all got better. I had seen these finish roads often on TV over the years, and now it was me turning that corner, me climbing that little hill, and me throwing my arms up at the finish!




Still flying!


3:36:02, 8:15 pace. Considering the hills, the winds, and my minimal training, that was an A+ result for me! I was ecstatic. May be the most fun I've ever had in a marathon. Placed 5,655 out of over 50,000!

I survived the long walk to the poncho and met up with my family. We walked to a friend's penthouse not far away, where I was able to shower and relax. My legs were not bad for post-marathon! I ended up walking over a mile that night and felt fine. After a bit, DW and I met up with the NYC Dashing Whippets party. Because I was not coming to New York without seeing Ms. Ritz!

Had a great burger and a beer, and ran into this Loopster.



And Ms Ritz hung with us for a while and shared her race story. Always so much fun to be with her. And I got to meet her husband too. Bonus!

 All in all, a wonderful weekend! Thank you Big Apple! Hope I can do it again sometime!

Wrapping up Marathon Training with a Fun Run

 It's Marathon Week!!! Lots of Loopsters are tapering for races in Marshall, NYC, Indy, and Santa Clarita (and...?) I'm getting pretty excited!!


Tapering is going great. I only did 19.5 miles last week, and I am feeling rested and fresh. Antsy even. Tuesday I cut my usual 7 to 5.5 and felt good. Wednesday I hit the track, but I didn't push it too hard, and cut it short. For those keeping score, I managed 4x400 (99, 96, 93, 91), 1200 at 6:56 pace, and 800 in 3:29. Just enough to wake up the speedy-twitch muscles. 6.2 total. Then I took off Thursday and Friday.

Saturday I planned to do an easy 8, but I was convinced to join the Mountain Goats, because they had picked a new trail that looked too fun to pass up. All single-track instead of fire road, with reasonable hills, and some cool stuff to check out. And less than 8 miles.

The trail was in Solstice Canyon in Malibu. Along the trail were several ruins of old houses that had been destroyed by fire in the 1980's. They must have been beautiful because the location is awesome, tucked into a canyon about a mile up from the beach. Here is what the house used to look like.




 But now it looks like this. We stopped to look around after the first mile.

The house is right next to the creek and a waterfall with lots of rocks to climb on. Not much water now due to the drought, but it was pretty cool.

Then we cruised along the trails. A new guy joined the group who was my age and speed, so we ran together the whole way and chatted. I took it easy and enjoyed the beautiful day.



It ended up being 7.8 miles, and I finished feeling plenty strong. No trips or falls to ruin my race.

So now it is marathon week. My plan is 6 easy tonight, 5 on Wednesday. Then Thursday morning, DW and I fly to New York City. We will be staying with my brother, and my parents are also going to show up, so it will be a fun family weekend. And of course I will be meeting up with Loopsters whenever possible, at the expo, before the race, after the race...

Looks like it will be perfectly chilly for racing, with no rain. Getting excited!!!

Good Times, Bad Times, You Know I Had my Share

I thought of the title as it relates to my splits (coming later) and then it got stuck in my head, so now I pass the worm to you. You're welcome.

(Peg, you may have to google it)

Anyway, yesterday was my first (and last) 20-miler for this marathon cycle. To rewind a little, I was building up nicely and had a successful 19-miler five weeks ago. But then I was a little busy over scheduling my life...

4 weeks ago - Erie Pikermi

3 weeks ago - 21 miler aborted at 15.4

2 weeks ago - Grand Canyon

1 week ago - 10K race

So with nothing scheduled for this weekend I thought I'd better get that 20-miler in, what with the marathon only 3 weeks out...So I did my usual flat beach run and hoped I could run marathon pace for most of it. It looked to be another warm day, so I got up early and out the door at 6:45AM. I felt kind of silly topless out there with the sun just rising, and a little chilly, but I have come to love the freedom of running shirtless lately. I got over the shyness of being nearly naked last summer (coincidentally about the time that I lost the small tire around my waist), and it eliminates the nipple chafing possibilities and feels great! The only problem is all the sweat just rolls into my shorts and I am soaked through pretty early and just drip a lot. But anyway...

Last week wasn't great. I think the Grand Canyon excursion did a number on my quads and hips, and I may have compensated somehow because now I am getting some knee pain and the PF is starting to hurt again. Nothing major, but enough to be irritating and scare me. I did 7 Tuesday, 6 Wednesday and 8 Friday, and there were some good miles, and some worrisome sore knee moments in there. But Friday was mostly good, so I was optimistic for the 20, but a little nervous.

So I did my usual easy start, with the first 5 on wood chips as I warmed up and mile 6 over the hill to the beach where the rest would be flat along the beach.


I love the new Garmin Connect elevation and pace graphs. You can see my "warmup" 6 miles, the hill, and then where the "time-trial" begins at sea level.

First mile I'm trotting along feeling good. Knee seems to be behaving. It is overcast with the marine layer rolling in from the ocean. I am hopeful it will stay cloudy for the three hours I need and I can avoid the heat of the sun. I think about Roger and Shanda who are already an hour into their marathons in Long Beach about 15 miles away. It was good to have a Loop lunch with them and Atom Buddy and JB and IMBBananas yesterday. 9:09

Mile 2 I come across some street closures. Oh yes, the Hermosa triathlon is today! This is a Sprint tri I have done three times. I hop off the chips and run in the closed street. No bikes are here yet, but before I get off the course, the lead biker shows up with police escort. I will be coming back through here at the end and I try to calculate if the race will still be going on. Perhaps. Race mojo kicks up my pace. 8:38

I seem to be feeling pretty good and pace is about what it is on a good day on the trail. I tried to tell myself to stay at 8:20 today as a trial for the marathon, since I would love to go out slow and see if it would work better than my usual bank and bonk strategy. But I seem to be incapable of keeping my pace down. Miles 3-5 are 8:28, 8:21 and 8:05. On the wood chips. Mile 6 up the hill still is 8:24. All this points to the pace being under 8 once I get to the flat bike path...

Sure enough. Miles 7-14: 7:59, 8:01, 7:52, 7:51, 7:48, 7:49, 7:50, 7:56

I'm just more comfortable working a little bit. Plus there was this guy 200 yards ahead of me at the same pace, and having that hare out there makes it easy to go faster than maybe you should...Eventually I let him go when I stopped for water. Still the 7:50's surprised me. Gotta be the Hokas.

The sun was staying hidden, and I felt good, so I started to think maybe I could hold this sub-8 the whole way!

Not so fast. About mile 15 I started to feel tired. 8:06. And the rest of the way I went through the five stages of grief.

Mile 16: Denial - No, you're not pooping out, just a little fatigue. This 2nd GU and a short break will rejuvenate you! 8:09

Mile 17: Anger - Oh crap. Totally falling apart now. Ugh. Why do I go out too fast?! Idiot! 8:28

Mile 18: Bargaining - Can I walk yet? Just keep going and you can stop for water every 1.5 miles - even though it's not that hot out. You can do it! 8:09

Mile 19: Depression - This marathon is going to hurt like hell. Why do I do this to myself. Ugh, I suck. 8:30

Mile 20: Acceptance - Hey, you made it! Sure the pace sucks, but not that bad, huh? 8:40

Ended up with 20.4 miles at 8:14 pace, with the last 14 at 8:05. Definitely a good day! Looks like NYC will be a bank and bonk day, but I can live with that. By the way, in mile 19 I came through the end of the triathlon and got to see the last runner approaching the finish line. So I saw two triathletes, the first and the last, and a whole triathlon took place while I was running.

A little more work this week, and then looking forward to a taper.

Racing and Not Racing - 10K RR

I came into this one with tired legs and little motivation. The Grand Canyon last weekend beat me up pretty good, so I was sore for about 4 days, and sluggish on my two mid-week runs. But this is one of my favorite local races, so I signed up anyway. All my running group buddies would be there, and 3,000 other locals. This would be my 14th time running this 10K. Tradition counts for a lot.

So I put on my Club uniform and got my butt out there. Warmed up for about half a mile, nodding to all the others wearing the same uniform (about 50 of us- most of whom kicked my butt). And I lined up to race. My strategy - go out and see how I feel and adjust. I had a very small hope that I could PR (6:59 pace). In case Loop magic brought a miracle. If I wasn't so tired I would have had a good shot. But realistically I planned to be conservative and just run. Run hard, but no need to hurt myself.

So off we went. I had to dodge a lot of newbs who lined up in the front, but soon got on track. First pace check was 7:25, but it was dropping. I chased a few of my teammates and got into a groove. Pace dropped to 7:18, 7:14, 7:12. Went through mile 1 in 7:08.

The first mile was fun! I thought ...just maybe....but then it started to get hard. A short hill hit me harder than it should have and I was struggling a little. So I eased off a bit and tried not to huff and puff too much. By the time I felt better my pace was 7:30 and I had another little hill to climb. Nope, it wasn't going to be a magical PR day.

But I was still working and trying to stay on the edge of not dying. I found a new comfort zone and it was kind of fun to be running at 80-90% effort instead of 100%. Hard, but not so painful that you wonder what the hell you're doing. Miles 2 and 3 were 7:28 and 7:31.

I started racing a little more after this. Found people I wanted to pass. Pushed a little more into race mode. Mile 4 was 7:17. Then in mile 5 we hit the big hill which always brings me to a gasping shuffle. Survived that in 7:33 and found myself at the last mile along the beach heading for the finish.

Normally I am suffering big-time at this point. It was fun to be at tempo effort and able to push it and pass people without feeling like I was going to puke and collapse. Mile 6 was 6:58 and then the last 1/4 at 6:25 pace into the finish.

Final time 45:33. Over two minutes slower than last year. But I felt good. It was a nice 85% effort tempo run on a warm day and I got a cool t-shirt. 10K #97 in the books.

Then to punish myself for not trying, I went out Sunday and did 11 to get back into marathon training. Still tired legs, but not bad considering. Averaged 8:30 pace and finished strong on a hot day.

Now I've got a few more weeks to build endurance for NYC.

 

Is it Possible to Race without Racing?

My legs are tired. But I have a 10K tomorrow.

Originally I had hoped to try and beat last year's time. Which was an AGPR of 43:14. But, as usual, I overstuffed my calendar and did the Grand Canyon last weekend, and I am definitely still recovering. The soreness is pretty much gone now. I did 5.5 on Tuesday and 5 miles last night. And they felt OK. But just OK. I'm certainly not tapered to race a hard 10K.

So I will show up in the morning. And I will tell myself to just go out conservative and not worry about chasing that 6:59 pace. But I don't know if that is possible. It's a race! Must! Run! Hard!

So I kind of expect to blow up and suffer and die. The course has a nasty hill at mile 5. Why can't I just run it for fun? 8 minute pace? Enjoy the festive atmosphere and then run 12 on Sunday for marathon training? Yes, that's what I'll do....




Not sure if I can do that.

Stupid competitive juices.

A Grand Adventure - Running Rim to Rim

"Oh shoot, I forgot my Garmin".

We were thirty minutes into an 8-hour drive from LA to the Grand Canyon. Oh well. I guess this one would be run naked. It's not like the lap times would be meaningful. And the elevation chart can easily be found online. I had my shoes, my borrowed camelbak, my fuel, my rain gear. And the expectation of a grand adventure, helped by the forecast of thunderstorms on run day.

I'd been planning this run for over a year, since last year's trek was cancelled by the government shutdown. I was going with a large group of Mountain Goats, but everyone had different plans. Some were doing Rim to Rim to Rim. Some were doing Rim to Rim, and back the next day. Most were just going across once, and at a slower pace. I fell in with two goat buddies who run at about my pace; Julia and Keith - both Boston qualifiers and ultra veterans. We changed up our plan in the last few days and decided to go North to South, meaning we would catch a ride to the other side early in the AM instead of needing one after the run. And we would go straight to our hotel after finishing. And the elevation profile is a little easier. With the forecast of afternoon rain, it turned out to be a great plan.

J and I arrived Friday afternoon and had a few hours to relax, so we headed to the rim for our first view of the big ditch. HO. LEE. COW.




It is one amazing sight, that's for sure. We got lucky with the weather and got some good photos with cool clouds. But after about a half hour, it gets boring. Later, we met up with the Goat group for dinner, and finalized logistics, and then hit our 1940's era "lodge" for a good night's rest.

We were up at 5:15, and out the door by 5:45 for our 4 hour drive to the North Rim. Another goat volunteered to drive there, where he would go down a few miles, and wait for his friends and hike back up with them, and then give rides back that evening. Worked great for us! The drive was beautiful too, as we saw the sunrise and lots of beautiful red rock formations. Also there was a large forest with Autumn colors mixed in with the pines that was breathtaking.

We arrived at 10AM, and the three of us were soon ready to head down the trail. Not a Garmin between us.


From the trail head there, you can't see the canyon, but about 30 seconds later, there it is. Wow. Down we went. It was cool and partly cloudy. Mostly cloudy really. Perfect running weather. Maybe 50 degrees. I was giddy and wanted to run fast. I was literally skipping down the trail over all the little bumps. Since we were going to stick together, I had to wait up for the others every so often. Of course the views were astounding.



Plus the view changed quite a bit. Over the course of the day there were many different types of topography. So it never got boring.


All of these were from the first 5 mile descent. After that it started to rain and we didn't get any more pictures. But there were plenty of great views. The whole trail was just amazing.


Going down was fun and easy. Sometimes the trail was too technical to run, so we had to walk on and off through some rocky parts. But mostly we cruised along. We ran into some of our Goat friends who had started early in the AM on the other side, and were going both ways.  We would stop and chat for a minute. We also saw some hikers and everyone was friendly and said Hi. Spirits were good.

And then the weather started to turn. At first there were just occasional showers and wind. We got a little wet. It was OK. Then at about Cottonwood the wind really picked up and was blowing sand in my eyes. It was brutal for about ten minutes - I was shielding my eyes with my hand and stopping when it gusted really hard. I thought this was the beginning of the storms that were predicted to roll in about 2-4PM. But it let up after a bit and we kept going.

The whole trail was single track, so we would need to announce ourselves to pass hikers. One woman saw us coming and said "Joggers coming through". We cracked up and that became a punchline the rest of the day.

Julia was falling back a little, and told Keith and I to just go ahead. So we rolled for about an hour without stopping down Bright Angel Canyon. This was less steep and went along the river through a tight canyon. Fantastic stuff. It felt good to get some "real running" in. We got to Phantom Ranch about 3 hours after we started. 15 miles in and feeling good. We stopped there to wait for J, and I took advantage of a real flushing toilet. I had eaten a CLIF bar during the run, and my tummy wasn't real happy about it. But after the pit stop, it was just fine.

After we regrouped, we cruised to the Colorado River. The rain was getting steady now so we were pretty wet. We would hear thunder and see lightning flashes occasionally, but it never got too bad. And the temp was in the high 60's so it wasn't too cold. Or too hot either! Pretty damn good actually. We heard it was 100 the day before in the canyon.

The river crossing was fun on a "kind of" scary pedestrian bridge. The river was flowing fast and very muddy due to the storm. Here is a stock photo to show the bridge.
 
And here is the river on our crossing.



 We got to hike/jog a little ways along the river before heading up. Looking up, it seemed utterly ridiculous that we would hike out of this thing. It made no sense to consider the whole climb, so we just focused on keeping moving, one step at a time, and eventually it added up to 4,300 feet. And that was the easy trail!

This chart approximately shows our trek, except we went from right to left. I felt kind of bad for the people going the other way...

 

The last 7 or 8 miles going up took over 3 hours. There was no running. There was no jogging. Well, maybe a few steps here and there. But we hiked hard. There was very little stopping and resting - maybe three times in three hours. We passed a lot of hikers and only got passed once, near the top. It was relentless climbing. And it was steady rain most of the time. We were soaked through. I was getting pretty chilly when we took a brief stop and I added a jacket (which only kept the rain out briefly). I started to worry about hypothermia. But once we got climbing again, the exertion warmed me enough that it got better.

The muscles were sore now; Butt, quads, calves, and my PF started complaining again. No blister or chafing problems at all though. The trail was mainly puddles and stream. We crossed maybe a dozen little streams but none were more than 2 inches deep. The water coming off the red rocks and dirt made the puddles all look like tomato soup. And we saw lots of chocolate waterfalls a la Willy Wonka. Or maybe I was hungry.

A couple times we heard rocks coming off the cliff. And one three-foot boulder rolled down to within about ten feet of me! Nature is fun!

The rain and mist meant we didn't get the long views on the way up, but it was still amazing climbing up the canyons. We would look down, amazed at the heights we had just climbed. I tried not to look up, because it seemed like there was always 1,000 feet of sheer cliff above me. But the relentless moving eventually conquered it all.

As we got into the last 1/2 mile, I got a little finish line adrenaline and pushed the pace ahead of my companions. It seemed like forever, but finally we saw civilization and the finish. 23.4 miles, Six hours and 55 minutes, and we were done. I just went across the whole fricking Grand Canyon, bitches! Holy crap!


It was about 5PM, getting chilly, still raining, and now we all started shivering uncontrollably. We headed to the nearby Bright Angel Lodge to get inside, found some other hikers/runners to chat with, and toweled off and got a little warmer. Then we took a shuttle bus the last mile to our lodge where we could take the best hot shower ever.

So, this trip was perfect! So much beauty and adventure. No injuries or problems. The rain wasn't great, but I think I prefer that to high heat any day! And the first 15 miles were fantastic fun. I'd recommend the Rim to Rim to anyone. Can't say I'm eager to do R2R2R however. That seems crazy.

Now it is 3 days later. My muscles REALLY hurt for a while, but I think I'm recovering today. I think I'll go for a run tonight. 10K race coming up on Saturday...