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Month: November 2013

Grand Canyon double crossing R2R2R #14

Inversion layer of clouds

In 2005 I ran across the Grand Canyon and back for the first time.   At that time, only a few runners could be found running rim-to-rim-to-rim.  Now during some weekends it is almost like a super highway of runners who experience the amazing beauty of the canyon.   It had been about 2 ½ years since I had run in the canyon and four years since I had run a traditional R2R2R using the corridor trails.  It was time to return and I had my sights on attempting a quad crossing, repeating what I had accomplished back in 2006.

Winter training

Now that winter approaches, most runners start shutting down their training.  I tend to do the opposite, step it up, and increase the weekly miles.  But the type of training shifts from the mountains down to the desert floor.  For me, the summer is about mountain 100s and adventure runs that involve peaks and long climbs.  But during the winter, I love to run on the plains and train for the speedy flat-land races.  This is how I discovered the beauty of the Pony Express Trail, running in the desert during the cold months.

My next races will likely be Across the Years 72-hours, Rocky Raccoon 100, Buffalo Run 100, and Salt Flats 100, all relatively flat courses.  Making the shift from mountains to the plains is not as easy as it may seem, and for me getting even more difficult with age. These past six months have been good.  Even though I slowed down, there has never been a better year for me running uphill.  My downhill speed hasn’t fully come back since the broken leg almost two years ago, but my strength and speed running up hills during later stages of recent 100s has been a nice surprise.  But now it is time to leave the hills behind for a few months and rediscover the flats.  I started my winter training officially started on October 26, later than usual because of a terrible three-week cold/illness.