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Over the course of the day my trail name became Gritty Titty. (I plan! I research!), so our final 10 mile climb would be in the dark with the mountain lions, steep cliffs and homicidal maniacs. Walking seemed to hurt as much as running, so we kept running. And, to pop 4 ibuprofen at a time which is really good for both your stomach and your liver. My go to when things are tough is to not assume will get any worse and to just keep moving forward. I knew I had many many miles of climbing to go, so I tried to not panic. We maneuvered down the North Rim pretty quickly, but my left knee was bugging me. It was one rim to the other, but the way back is longer (as in - it ended up being over 26 miles). The only thing was - it wasn't exactly halfway. I could be doing a one mile run and once I get to. to sunset: There is just something mentally uplifting about being halfway done with anything. Hi North Rim! Sorry we can't stick around.ġ2:30 p.m.
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Then I slept for a total of 3 hours because I was so stressed about truly living life and taking risks. We drove 3 1/2 hours to the Grand Canyon, stood on the South Rim and said "Holy shit what the actual hell have we gotten ourselves into?" We went to the tavern and had pizza and beer and prided ourselves on the fact that we were truly living life and taking risks. As I boarded in Denver, I approached the gate agent with my zipper fully down (not intentional) and he seemed pretty excited about it saying "Well, alright! Here we go!". I kid, but I actually did bring duct tape (pro tip: wrap a few feet of duct tape around a business or credit card to make a for a lightweight travel option!) In the end I didn't bring anything but duct tape because that's all anyone really needs in life. You have no idea how many hours I put into planning my gear, fueling, hydration, route, water sources. I control my anxiety and make up for anything that I lack like common sense by over preparing. Plans made, training started, researching commenced. And, you have to pay out the ass for what looks way less nice than the Rosebud Motel from Schitt's Creek (but was actually quite nice on the inside). You have to do these things 500 years in advance. We really committed to it all back in March when I reserved our room at a lodge in the Canyon.
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Julie agreed we would do it and that was that. Probably after 5 glasses of chardonnay on a Tuesday. I have no clue when I first decided to do this. Would it be shocking if I told you I tried to buy a hat to wear during the run that said "I Rim Jobs" (this exists of course it does), but it didn't come in time. I did R3 last Saturday and I need to process it so can you please read about it? Not to mention, I scoured the internet obsessively before doing R3 for other people's reports on their day so this is my way of giving back to the R3 world. Yea, I know this is something crazy ultra runners do for fun and torture because we are like that. Yea, I know other people, many other people, have done this before me and will do it after me. 18 hours (about 15 hours moving time - yea we took lots of pictures and stuff). In one day! This is called Rim to Rim to Rim or if you are really cool, you call it R3.Ĥ8.3 miles. Or, maybe that the 48.3 mile run was done from th e South Rim of the Grand Canyon down to the Colorado River, up to the North Rim of the canyon and back again. Or, maybe that I even did a 48.3 mile run. But, this resurrection could only be done for something epic like me not having to poop during a 48.3 mile run. I know there are other causalities out there. HI! Do you hear something? That is the sound of me resurrecting this blog from the annals of the blog graveyard.