NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

At the end of October, I completed my second Rim to Rim to Rim (R3) at the Grand Canyon with some very close friends. It was a beautiful experience that filled my soul; not just the accomplishment itself but the pleasure of being safely in community with some dear friends. Sharing that experience with them, encouraging each other through the ups and downs and really taking in the full aspect of the day was wonderful.

My first experience of R3 occurred about a year and half ago and at that time it was the longest and hardest endurance event I had encountered. I also have quite a robust fear of heights and completing R3 the first time was a challenge in facing and in many ways overcoming that fear. I would not say it’s gone completely but it’s certainly much, much less than it was before. My first R3 attempt I hit a big wall on the last and very hard climb out. Climbing out of the canyon the first time was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I felt exhausted, my gas tank was empty, and remembered several times thinking I wasn’t sure if I would make it.

So, this second time around I set out for redemption and achieved it! I took some lessons learned from that first attempt, one was not enough climbing in my arsenal during training and the other was that I had not followed through on my nutrition during R3. I got to a point where I did not want to eat or take salt tabs anymore (my form of electrolytes), so I just stopped. I’m sure you know how that went—not well. As I trained for R3 this time I set climbing goals for myself. My goal for August was 10,0000’ of climbing and I got over 12,000’. My goal for September was 20,000’ of Climbing and I got over 22,000’. I racked up another 10,000’ in October before we set out on October 31^st to take on the challenge.

The day ended up being perfect weather. We started down the canyon at 2:30 am with a beautiful saucer-shaped moon providing a guiding light to aid our headlamps on the way down. Through the light of the moon, we could see the outline of the canyon wall. The trail was very dry with lots of slippery loose gravel, resulting in a couple of slips but safe falls. We methodically wound our way down the South Kaibab trail sharing things we're thankful for and counting our blessings to be safe, healthy, and in this very beautiful place. As we neared the bottom the sound of the Colorado River greeted us and we were able to spy the river in the most beautiful light of the moon. We wound our way down to Phantom Canyon where we refilled our water packs and ran on in the darkness across the canyon floor to the North Rim.

Reaching the North Rim we were able to refill water again to begin the first 5800’ climb up to the summit of the North Rim. Three abreast we climbed, all of us with strong training pushing our bodies ably up the mountain. We spied some beautiful waterfalls and now with the light of day at our aid stopped to view the vast beauty of the great canyon we had just nimbly crossed through the night. The sky was the bluest blue I think I’ve ever seen. I can hardly describe the deep full color with not a cloud in sight. The heat of the sun quickly found us on the climb and it was getting hot. We dutifully ate, drank, and took electrolytes/salt at a minimum every half an hour. Cresting the summit of the North Rim we treated ourselves to a 15-minute sit-down break. We each had packed a sandwich (real food!) and I enjoyed some coke (my go-to in a long endurance day). That food and drink was the reboot my body needed. Refilling our packs once again we set out to descend back into the canyon.

On the run/hike down my friend came up with a game we could play to occupy our minds. It provoked a lot of laughter and served to provide a much needed mental break from the arduous task we were undertaking. At the bottom of the north we refilled our packs again and started out to run in the heat of the day back across the canyon floor. My friend each had a couple of family members that had traveled down Bright Angel to meet us at Phantom Canyon for the climb out. Running back through “the box” the heat was intense in the high 80s and we were all feeling it. I upped my salt/ electrolyte intake during this stretch and drank 2 liters of water in just 7 miles. We were over a 50K at this point and had been moving for 12 straight hours, so of course, that was taking its toll on us with sore legs and feeling tired. Seeing our friends at Phantom Canyon provided a much-needed mental boost. We took a very short stop for some of Phantom Canyon’s famous lemonade, which tasted like heaven at the point.

Then around 4 pm, we steeled ourselves for the ~4,850’ climb out of the Canyon. Remembering how incredibly difficult and how hard I crashed on this climb the last time I repeated to myself, “I am strong and capable” (my mantra for the day) and prepared to tackle the climb. I was adamant about staying on top of nutrition throughout the whole day including the climb out. At this point, I did not want to eat but I did anyway, making sure I consumed calories, water, and salt/electrolytes through the entirety of the climb out.

We were blessed with daylight for the first half of the climb. Having come down South Kaibab in the darkness many hours earlier it was a treat to see the intense scenery that had been but an outline in the glowing light of the moon. I climbed with a strength and resolve that surprised me and felt very strong and with energy to spare as I powered up the canyon wall. As we climbed out with our fresh companions at our sides we recounted the memories of the day and they shared theirs with us. Then my friend Brian announced we were at the halfway point of the climb. I didn’t believe him and asked him twice if he was serious. He gestured to a sign on the trail which proved he wasn’t pulling my leg. I could not believe we had already done half of the climb. How I felt at that point did not jive at all with my memories of that death march out of the canyon just a year before.

Filled with renewed energy I dawned my headlamp and kept climbing. Our group separated some at this point as we each put our heads down and quieted down to finish our adventure. I found myself alone, in the middle of our little party, on the last 2.5 miles out. I steadily pushed on reaching the “ooh ahh” point, as my friend named it, which declared we had 1.5 to go. With the headlamps above and below me providing assurance that I was not alone I pushed forward and with great surprise found I had reached the last switchback to the summit of the South Rim. I couldn’t believe I was already there, the climb had gone so smoothly that it went by really fast and even felt shorter than the 7 miles it actually was.

This experience was night and day different from my previous one, which proved to me the value of committed training and nutrition. I believe the combination of those two things are what so vastly improved my experience resulting in a finish that was 2 hours faster than the year before.

I will be forever grateful for the blessing of this grand adventure and the beautiful time of community I got to experience with my dearest friends, a thing that is harder to come by these days. I know that this experience will only serve to make me stronger and fuel me forward both physically and mentally.