More on the Grand Canyon

Doing a "rim-to-rim-to-rim" (R2R2R) run, or a variation thereof, is a hugely popular thing in the ultrarunning community it seems. So, I'll offer some thoughts that may or may not be helpful to someone planning a winter R2R2R or Grand Canyon trip. First though, a summary of the trip.

A summary of the trip

I met Cheryl, my good friend from Chicago and 2 Jenns I've had the pleasure of knowing through running at the Las Vegas airport on Wedensday. One Jenn is preggo and was called "Pregolas" which made it easier to keep track of the Jenns. We went to Whole Paycheck and bought a ton of food and drove to the Grand Canyon.


It was fun driving over the Hoover Dam and generally enjoying a girly roadtrip replete with lots of snacks.

When we arrived we walked a short ways down the Bright Angel trail and were pretty silly excited. I wanted to just head down right there and then! Instead we packed up our stuff, made plans for the morning and tried to sleep. The first shuttle to the South Kaibab (or Kabob) trail left at 8:oo or so -- and we didn't want to go downhill on slippery snowy trail in the dark -- so we got a somewhat late start.

The run down to the river was pretty much awesome. I was completely "blissed out" as some say. The views, the light, the vibe and pretty much everything was fabulous. We hit Phantom Ranch and had coffee and snacks. The others wrote postcards -- they are carried out by mules. Cheryl was feeling awful due to the altitude but we made her press on anyhow. We hiked to Ribbon Falls, which is about 5.5-6 miles from Phantom Ranch. We turned around and headed out. We took the Bright Angel trail up, which is longer but less steep. It finishes right at the Bright Angel lodge, where we were staying. Good recommendation from superstar ultra runner Devon.

My favorite time to be out running is when dusk turns to night. It's the most peaceful and soul-warming feeling to me. Everything turned pink before turning to dark. We were treated with a full moon and hardly needed headlamps. Everything was perfect except Cheryl wasn't feeling great. In part, perhaps, because she was racing far ahead of us thinking she was slowing us down. Silly Cheryl!

After we finished we had beer and pizza and then crashed. Friday we headed to Vegas and so it stays in Vegas yadda yadda. My blackjack money stayed in Vegas at least.



OK, some thoughts:

The Grand Canyon in the winter

The Grand Canyon area was hit with a relatively big snow storm just prior to our arrival, so I'm not sure it's always so snowy. Nonetheless, the trails on the South Rim are so heavily travelled, even in the winter, that the snow is packed. Definitely glad I had traction. I used kahtoola microspikes, but the Jenns had YakTrax and those worked well too. We didn't make it far enough to find out, but we were told snow was waist high somewhere around Supai Tunnel (I think) on the North Rim. Obviously, a R2R2R would require postholing or worse. I'm not sure it would have been possible (or it would have been pretty dangerous if the snow was that deep). The entire North Rim is closed in the winter so it's not like you can drive over there or get food once at the North Rim. Just something to keep in mind.

The weather was absolutely awesome. It was 30s on the South Rim when we left, and warmish and sunny (50?) in the Canyon. We remarked often that we picked a great time of year to play in the Grand Canyon, even though a full R2R2R wasn't in the cards.

It's high(ish) altitude

I don't know the science behind it, but someone did tell me that some people can get altitude sickness at 5,000 feet. Different people are affected differently by elevation, and the South Rim is somewhere around 7,000 feet. Just another thing to keep in mind. The North Rim is closer to 9,000 feet, which is starting to approach "high" even for those who aren't sensitive. (Obviously having gobs of time to acclimate before setting off on an adventure is ideal for those who are sensitive to elevation, but who has that much time.)

Water

Given the cool temperatures, we didn't need as much water as one might need in the warmer months. There was water at the South Rim of course, Bright Angel campground, Phantom Ranch and at a Caretaker Cabin near Roaring Falls. You could do a R2R2R I think in cool temps in the winter, even with most of the normal water sources turned off for winter (assuming snow didn't stop you on the North Rim). I carried a 3L pack (GoLite Rush) and never came even close to running out of water. Always better to carry more than less of course, especially in the Grand Canyon.

If anyone has more specific questions, feel free to ask. I know that wasn't really very detailed.

GRAND CANYON

Last Thursday my friends Cheryl, Jenn and Jennifer joined me for a frolick in the Grand Canyon.
We ran down the South Kaibab trail, through Phantom Ranch to Ribbon Falls and back up the Bright Angel trail. We actually hiked more than ran -- completing somewhere in the 30 mile range -- and did it in a reasonable length of time considering our extroardinarily plentiful and leisurely breaks.

I think January is a good time to go though there is definitely snow. The South Rim trails are packed but we were told the North Rim would be impossibly snowy for us. There were reports of waist high snow 5 miles from hte North Rim. So really, a R2R2R was out of the question for us and we decided to just have fun and have a good day.


I will post more of a report when I settle down enough to organize my thoughts into coherent sentences. The upshot of it was that this was a sweet adventure. I had so much fun and am sort of feeling the post-awesome-time malaise that sets in after doing something really fabulous.

BIATHLON!

Rebecca (pictured above) and I did a biathlon Saturday in Seeley Lake, MT and ho my it was so very fun. It was 3 k ski, 5 target shoot prone, 3k ski, 5 target shoot standing and 3k ski. However, you had to ski penalty laps for each missed target. I skied a total of 6 penalty laps, one the first time and 5 the second.
I am in the background here shooting. In the first picture you can see me in the corner leaving the shooting area. It was a complete blast. I will definitely be doing it next year, but I will be working on my skate skiing (or will use classic XC skis) and will do some target shooting. I highly recommend trying this sport if you're at all interested.

DANNI & TED GO SKIING

Ted and I went to the mountain today, and it has been a long long time since Ted had skiied. I was sort of jealous at how quickly he went from apprehensively skiing the "magic carpet ride" to readily tackling some steeper stuff on another chair that took me a really long time to want to try. He says he had fun.
The sun eventually came out (not pictured) and we enjoyed a beer outside on the patio afterwards. That's one of my favorite parts of resort skiing. Another favorite part is improving -- on Friday evening my friend Shawn wore skis (rather than his normal board) and gave me a lesson on making parallel turns. It's really fun to progress at something new.

Yesterday I skinned up the mountain with my friend Quinn. It was incredibly foggy, so I went down an easier run from the top while she practiced her tele turns on a different run. Somehow I managed to go to the wrong spot at the bottom and had to take a chair back up to where we had parked. Getting off the chair I hit myself in the face with my ski poles, which was pretty ridiculous. That was a lot of fun though. I really can't wait to get out touring. Plus, when I was skinning up with Quinn I realized I'm losing some cardiovascular fitness with all this chair-lift skiing, beer drinking and lack of running. . . .

I'm Loving Skiing (and our holiday loot)

This is my ski-buddy Corey, who is actually a snowboarder (though she has skiied her whole life, she's learning to board -- though this is her second winter so she's actually quite good).

I'm really enjoying skiing, which surprises me since I'm such a wuss. I have my ups and downs, and the downs sometimes result in snow going up my nose and me in unusual positions on the hill, but on the whole I really feel like I'm making progress. I've been doing ok on blue runs, and am hoping to soon trade my "pizza" turns for some "french fry" turns. (South Park reference anyone?)

Also, it's pretty ridiculous for me to post food pictures since I'm the furthest thing from a cook, but I figure if anyone else out there is as lazy as me, these are good tips. My sister-in-law Lucia sent us this great collection of curry spices from Penzeys as a Christmas gift. I made a super fast and easy dish by sauteeing mushrooms, garlic and onion in olive oil, adding some tandoori spice, then adding half a cup of light coconut milk, then adding frozen tail-off shrimp (I love Costco) and a handful of spinach. (That sentence is long, can you believe I pretty much write for a living? Scary :p) Even without adding any salt it was really good. And pretty low-cal/low WW point. I would guesstimate 300ish calories.

I am also enjoying playing with my new camera, which was a Christmas present from me to me. Thanks me! Thme!

January is the virtuous eating month

Though that is a beer growler behind the new kitchen gadget as well as our wine aerator, which has boosted our cheap wine drinking into a whole new dimension.

At least for me it is. My parents got us (by way of geneous gift certificate) the above kitchen gadget for Christmas. It's a mandoline (sp?) and juliennes, slices, crinkle cuts and all that fun stuff. I've been wanting one forever but Ted is firmly against extra kitchen gadgets. This one seems like such a basic and wonderful item, I finally won and got one.

I used it over lunch for the first time and made this zucchini pasta. I julienned the zucchini so it looks like linguini, sauteed it with red onion, garlic, mushrooms and shrimp, and tossed with spaghetti sauce. The whole thing was 5ish Weight Watcher points, and would be less if you used less olive oil. It's also nearly "Paleo" and would be strictly "Paleo" if you weren't lazy like I am using Ragu.

STILL ALIVE

Not that there's any reason we wouldn't be. We did spend 8 days visiting Ted's folks as well as mine -- it was great to see family. It's too bad we can't see them more. We're blessed with great parents that are fun to be around. :-) We returned New Year's day, and I promptly went skiing and experienced night skiing for the first time. These pictures were taken Saturday night. I'm not sure why Jesus is on the ski hill, but I quite like this picture below (my buddy Corey is on the left).

I have some fun running plans coming up, but I'm terribly out of shape right now. It will be interesting to see whether I have enough residual endurance and running muscle-memory to survive my planned fun. . . in the GRAND CANYON! at the end of the month with friends. I'm really well fed and undertrained right now, but I'm banking on that muscle memory thing.

Ted's parents got him one of those groovy Flip video cameras for Christmas, and I took some great niece videos, but I need to figure out how to upload before I can bore all of you with Stella movies. I will try to control myself. It is not, afterall, my toy anyhow :p

That's the latest and greatest. If the sun ever comes out I will be able to get some excellent photos. It has been so foggy lately you can scarcely see your hand in front of your face up high in the mountains. Enough rambling.

I bought a season pass so I can learn to ski this winter -- this was opening weekend and it was a mixed bag. Saturday was good conditions (I thought) and I surprised myself by having a pleasant day. Today it was REALLY cold and windy and icy and I struggled. It was clear today and beautiful, but I didn't bring my camera and didn't want to take my mitten off to get a picture with my phone. You'll have to take my word for it.

I already feel like I've made good progress this weekend. I have ridden the chair and gotten on and off without hysteria or injury. I've made it down the dreaded "anthill" -- which is a really steep hill one must ski down to get to all of the green runs from the top -- three times now. Twice in good snow once in bad snow. Yesterday I skiied a blue run and liked it. I'm slow and silly looking but doing better.

I'm learning to ski so I can backcountry tour -- but I've got to say that so far I sort of enjoy the resorty feel of resort skiing. There are lodges at the bottom and the top, and both serve food and beer. Love it.

These pictures are really little, but we'll pretend this post is arty. I went hiking with Traci, Caleb and Don Stolte on Sunday. The hike involved lots of snow, ice and fire.

Opening day is Saturday, and I'm pretty excited to get started on my ski-learnin'. I feel like learning to ski will be a little like mowing a tall lawn -- hopefully I will see gratifying quick improvement, which I realize will be followed by a plateau. But when you're first learning something, a little improvement is like night and day. I already saw some of that last year.

It's only early December and I already feel myself putting on the holiday weight and resigning myself to gluttony and indulgence. I wish I could say this bothers me. Oh, I'm sure I'll whine intermittently about this. . . but bring on the holidays!

THANKSGIVING AND FIRST SKI OF THE SEASON

Kim joined us for Thanksgiving -- we did our traditional cheese fondue plus some random other food items.
I thought the can of cranberry was pretty funny. And it tastes good so there.

Ted and I made a pumpkin pie as a team (he made the crust and I made the filling from our CSA pumpkins) and Kim made an awesome huckleberry pie. We didn't go hungry.

Today I skinned up Big Mountain. It was snowing and cloudy but the snow was powdery good. I'm a TERRIBLE downhill skiier though. My quads are still burning a couple hours later. Ouch.

I did take the "easiest route" as I always do. Skiing powder is both easier and harder I think for a newbie. It slows you down and cushions the falls but makes control a little harder.

Self-portrait. I was pleased with myself for being brave and going out today.

I took a little side junket for a short bit. It was pretty. It's great to be able to get out in the snow and enjoy being outside. I really hope I can get to where skiing downhill is genuinely fun rather than quasi-terrifying and embarassing. There were lots of other people out and I got a lot of encouragement. Which is nice but clearly I was something of a spectacle.

RUNNING

I've basically taken the last couple of months off from running, with a few Sunday runs or short runs to Crossfit thrown in, but today I realized how much I really need running. Those endorphins -- they're real. I love being outside running. I like Crossfit but just don't feel the same after a Crossfit workout as I do after a run. Sonja likes running too.
Eating Paleo has made me pretty bingey this past week. It's not that I'm hungry eating Paleo, but the deprivation doesn't seem to work for me. It makes me want foods I don't normally even eat. I'm not a big candy person, but have really been craving candy. I've become obsessed with oatmeal, which isn't even an exciting food. It puts me back into the mindset where if I'm going to have pizza its the last pizza ever on this earth and I must eat all of it. Not healthy and not a step forward. So ultimately, my concerted efforts to eat Paleo have resulted in gaining a couple pounds. I think I need to step away from the concerted eating-related efforts. I am like the former anorexic without ever having had an eating disorder. It's really annoying.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TED!!!!

Ted is the bestest ever. Really, he is.

OL' CRAZY EYED SONJA (Technically Red Sonja Niteflite, for her homies) is THREE!

Yes, we're the crazy types who celebrate canine birthdays. And the thing about Red Sonja being the shameful kind of dog who was not rescued is that we know when she was born -- in the shop next door when we were at Haymoon Ranch in Whitefish.

What it means, more significantly, is that we've been here in Montana for close to 3 years. She was born about a week before we loaded up the truck and made a new and more chillaxed life away from Chicago. If memory serves, Ted's birthday (the 18th) was spent loading the truck. Another important date in this family. Of course it's more important than the dog's birthday!

Back to the move. As you might guess, I give it two thumbs up. Now if this shoulder season would end already and give us some powder!

Paleo "CousCous"

I suspect no one is particularly interested in my food babble of late, but I thought I'd share something I learned today. Cauliflower makes a great couscous substitute. I boiled frozen cauliflower for maybe 30 seconds and pulsed it in the food processor until it was couscous looking. I put it in the pan with chicken, olives, raisins, sundried tomato, cumin and turmeric and it was great. It would be better with slivered almonds, and the seasoning could probably be more elaborate, but I thought it was awesome. I was surprised by the fact that the mouth-feel was pretty much identical to real couscous. Bizarre. And delicious.

The photo was taken with my phone -- I'm not into food photography as you might now be aware.

WARM UP AND A DO-OVER

They don't go with the topic but I'm posting a couple Halloween pictures. Leslie and Keith came and Keith won best costume for sure with his Mountie costume. Leslie was a Parks Canada person, and for some reason the only other picture I have of her costume is still on my phone.

I did well eating Paleo M-R, but Friday night for dinner I sneaked in wine, beer and a cupcake. Not the end of the world, but Saturday was full-on unhealthy, regardless of your dietary preferences. I ate LOTS of kinda gross food, some really good food, and drank a lot of beer. It was an excellent reminder that if I'm going to eat less healthful foods, I should make them count. Sunday I was craving Kraft Dinner (the exotic version of boxed mac & cheese, which Keith and Leslie brought from Canadia), so I ate it. Lesson #2, when a craving strikes, probably a small amount will suffice. By the time I polished off the box I was not enjoying it and felt uncomfortable. But anyhow, I'm back on the wagon as of yesterday and am going to make a solid effort through Thanksgiving. My friend Chris gave me some great information on Paleo and I feel a little more behind some of the principles and selectively ignoring some of the Paleo principles. The main one I can get behind is de-glutening my diet and, of course, cutting the junk. For the sake of keeping myself in line I am not drinking before Thanksgiving. I am going to cut dairy until Thanksgiving, but not because I'm convinced its a terribly valid restriction from a health standpoint. Not saying I'm any expert or even that knowledgeable about nutrition, but frankly I trust Cheryl and Chris the most and will pretty much do what they suggest :p

As of today my weight is UP a couple pounds, but it's water and will proabably take me until Friday to de-bloat. Again, the weekend binge thing seems *not* worthwhile on a weekly basis since it's obviously what prevents me from becoming the mean lean running/Cross-fitting machine of my dreams :-)

ER OK WHATEVER

Not much to report -- haven't been in beautiful places or done anything noteworthy lately. But I'll share with you that my Crossfit friend has convinced me to (reluctantly) try the "Paleo Diet" until Thanksgiving. It's where you eat like a caveman (if you google it you'll get all kinds of results). It is insanely popular among Crossfit devotees. There are some devout followers of this way of eating, some of whom read my blog, so I won't diss it. . . anyhow, I thought I'd share so I can let you know how long this lasts and how I do. I'm not giving up coffee though, even if "Grog" didn't have an espresso machine. And I'll probably have booze on Halloween. Otherwise, I'll give it my best and let you know if it cures all that ails me (mmmmm ale) or whether it just makes me so miserable that I act like a grumpy caveman. The goal isn't to lose weight necessarily, the goal is supposed to be to feel wonderful and boost my athletic abilities. Obviously, I'm only trying it in case it makes me skinny :p I'll keep you posted.

PICTURES FROM TODAY'S HIKE IN THE JEWEL BASIN

Ted and I decided to see if we couldn't squeeze in another hike this season -- indeed we could so we climbed Mount Aeneas, which is a cool mountain if you ask me.



Here, below, you can see the last approach to the top. I wore my new Kahtuula (sp?) micro spikes and Ted wore crampons for a short bit of the hike. Traction wasn't critical but it made it easier.
My handsome man Ted. It was really windy up there.

Below is me striking my male underwear model pose. You'll have to take my word for it.

Some of us bring water or Gatorade on a hike -- others, like Ted, bring Scotch. Seems like a nice way to celebrate reaching the peak.

Winter will be here soon I reckon.

In Girl Scouts we used to sing a song:

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other gold.

My friend Joanna came to visit last weekend, which was a treat because she is very busy parenting two beautiful little girls and working and living life in Colorado. Joanna and I have been friends for 30 years -- we met when we were four years old. The rarity and specialness of our friendship is not lost on me.
This last weekend (the one following Joanna's visit) Ted and I went to our friend Helen's wedding in Atlanta. Helen is a friend from Madison, so we became friends about 11 years ago, and I've done a pretty mediocre job staying in touch with her and hadn't seen her since my own wedding, where she was a bridesmaid. I was reminded of the importance of keeping in contact with good friends, even when newer ones are now on the scene. I know it's sappy, but I really feel compelled to gush about the value I place on my friendships. I include my family in this category, because being related by blood or marriage is not, alone, what makes me love my family. It's our friendships and enjoyment of each others' company that makes these relationships special. And the friendships I have are what make my life what it is. The point here is that it's hard work to stay in touch with old friends, though not always as is the case with Joanna, but it's one of the most worthwhile things possible as far as I can tell. It's sad to realize that you've lost touch, but nice to realize how easy it is to renew connections. Therefore I intend to do better!!!