10-21-2011 Rim to Rim Speed Attempt, The Grand Canyon

Exactly 18 days ago I said I would never go back to the Grand  Canyon.  If I would have stuck with it, I would have missed out on perhaps the most miserable few hours of my life.  Jared and I ran Rim to Rim to Rim on the 3rd.  I thought we did pretty well, especially making the half way point in 4:20 (9:45 total). I was content.  A few days later Andy went down after working all night and went 3:43 Rim to Rim and finished in 9:12.  He said his 3:43 was pretty casual.  This made me reconsider.

The Rim to Rim fastest known time is 3:06.10 by Jared Scott.  That seemed fast but within reason.  For the last 10 days or so I couldn't get that time out of my head.  I constantly thought of splits and how to make 3:06 happen.  The plan was to run hard through Phantom Ranch and then use poles and try to finish at about the same speed we did on the 3rd.  This what followed:

Splits
Cottonwood Campground 45 mins (6.8 miles)
Phantom Ranch 1:31 (13.7 miles)
3.5 Miles to go sign 2:20 (17.4 miles)
South Rim 3:19

North Kaibab as my sun disappeared

The first 15-16 miles were on pace, maybe a bit ahead.  I ran out of drink and felt the first tired twinges about 2 hours in and from there slowly fell off pace.  There's a fair amount of flat runnable trail up the South Kaibab.  Each time there was flat trail I would run but a few steps later would start cramping, not good.  I was stuck moving slow as the watch kept ticking. I repeatedly tried to speed up but the cramps in my legs just wouldn't let it happen.  3:19, not even close.

Thoughts
1.  In retrospect I went out too hard.  That was the plan though.  I figured it was better to set myself up to run fast with the risk of dying then play it conservative and never be close. I died.  A little pace specific training would have gone a long way.
2.  Walking behind a donkey train for 8 mins didn't help.  This probably only cost me 4 mins since I was walking the whole time but it's still a little annoying walking through fresh logs and puddles.
3.  1.5 liters of water just isn't enough in the desert when the high's 85.  I had electrolyte tabs and gu to spare but with no water they did me no good. I guess there's always next time...

Blisters?

After topping on the South Rim I realized I could barely walk.  I had some gnarly blisters on my feet, no food, no headlamp, no jacket, had to work the next day,  and for some reason had no ride back to the North Rim.  That left me with 21 miles back to my car.  Since I was cramping while sitting, I wasn't sure how the rest of the day would go.  Thinking I might end up spending most of the night out suffering while trying to get back, I took the shuttle to the Village to "prepare."  I ate, bought a jacket, and got excited.  As expected, it was horrible.  85 degree temps were nauseating, the sun gave me a headache, trying to run induced cramps, my blisters ached.  Knowing that if I couldn't run the misery would last a very long time was the  worst part. All I could do was laugh, walk, and enjoy the discomfort.  Mind numbing.  I had a phone with music but I kept it off, I figured I would need the battery life since it was my only light source.  I did. Too bad the cop who pulled me over didn't see me shuffling up the North Rim 45 minutes earlier, in the dark, with my phone light guding the way.  If he had, maybe he wouldn't have given me a ticket.

10-15-2011 Main Baldy Chute again

We went up to Baldy yesterday, it was so good we figured we had to go back. Today, not as good. Still beautiful though. A few pictures.

The drive up

Andy high on Baldy Shoulder

Alissa Tolley Bushnell also on the shoulder

Side slipping the ice

Tanner Bushnell skiing between the ice

10-7-2011 Main Baldy Chute

First ski day today.  It was great, loads of rocks, horrible skiing, great. 

Jared Inouye on day 1

Our skinner in Main Baldy

Andy had to work until 10 this morning so he missed out on the AM ski.  I thought he was going to cry so we went back up for round #2.  Equally bad skiing but it still felt great to get out.  A few pics.

Andy about to ski the "clicketty clack"

Andy, more "clicketty clack"

The drive out was beautiful, yellow leaves and snow.

10-3-2011 Rim to Rim to Rim, The Grand Canyon

Since running the Trans Zion earlier this year we've been talking about the rim to rim to rim.  Schedules didn't work out for everyone but luckily Jared had Sunday afternoon and Monday off so we headed down for a quick trip.  We worked out splits to make the round trip in under 10 hours.  Our North to South goal was 4:20.  After starting just after 7 AM we quickly ditched our jackets as the sun was getting hot, fast.  The first section is a 5 mile down hill off the North Rim and down to the "caretaker cabin."  We were expecting to move a bit quicker on this section but the trail was pretty steep in places and the footing not always very secure.  

Jared off the N. Rim

More Jared 

From the "cabin" it's a pretty nice low angle down for 8 miles to Phantom Ranch.  We got back on schedule here but we both noticed that our legs felt fatigued.  All the down was a little harder than expected.

Heading to Phantom Ranch, main branch of the GC in the distance

From Phantom Ranch we crossed the Colorado and had a 7 mile up hill to the South Rim.  We thought we were ahead of schedule until we saw a  sign that noted 3.5 mile to go, demoralizing.  This was 3:30 into the day and were we slowing a bit.  I looked at my watch and for a second it read a 25 min mile.  If we kept that pace we'd top out at 5 hours and our hopes for a sub 10 hours trip would be over.  It was warm and we were a bit tired but we both decided to go harder than comfortable in order to have a chance.  Running past hordes of hikers we hit the rim at 4:20.50.

Up the S. Kaibab

View from close to the top

A quick water break at the top and we were back running.  Jared's GI problems for the day started after eating wasabi/soy sauce almonds on the S. Rim.  In retrospect, maybe not the best warm weather food... Back down to Phantom Ranch he was fighting dry heaves and over heating.  Passing the trains of mules was ridiculous.  We had to wait until they could pull off the trail and then slowly walk behind them hoping we didn't get kicked.  

"Scariest part of the day."

S. Kaibab

Once down to the Colorado, we lounged in the water for a few minutes before starting the 8 mile low angle up hill to the "caretaker cabin."  This is were the GI distress worsened.  The 7 miles of dry heaves down to Phantom Ranch left Jared a little behind on nutrition, not a good place to be with 13 miles of up hill to go.  We walked/shuffled the next 6 miles glad for the overcast skies and rain, the whole time hoping Jared's GI would settle and that he'd be able to put down some food and come back to life.  With 7-8 miles to go it looked like we'd have to walk it out since Jared couldn't hold down food.  He insisted I run it out and try to hit our goal.  Feeling bad for leaving my partner (not bad enough to stay) but motivated to break 10, it was a very uncomfortable/hard effort for the next 2 hours.  To make matters worse my watch died 8:10 into the day.  I had the last big climb to do without knowing how close I was to the 10 hours mark.  Knowing we started at 7:04AM I kept asking hikers for the time and going as hard as I could.  4:47PM once I hit the trailhead made the total time right around 9:45. Turns out after I left Jared he tried to drink a little Coke, 10 minutes later it came right back out.  He had a rough last few hours but topped out just under 11 hours.  

Afternoon rain on the N. Rim. Notice the bridge down low.

We left the N. Rim around 6 PM and then had a long drive home.  Jared only vomited once in the car on the drive back, he managed to keep it in his mouth and get his window down only to spit it out all over the door, gross.

Stats:

Total elevation gain: 10,710

Total milage: 41.8 miles

Total time: 9:45 (give or take a few mins)

Food: 20 gu's, 1 probar, 1 oz beef jerky, 1 Phantom Ranch lemonade

Total SLC to SLC time: 32 hours

9-28-2011 Grandeur Peak TT

The SHTC was 5 deep for a TT of the west ridge of Grandeur Peak, steep.  23 mins to the junction, 44 to the top.  All 5 of us were under 60 mins.  Even though everyone whined about it being hiking club instead of track club, being on the Grandeur summit in golden hour was worth it.