Searching for fall in the Grand Canyon state
Work recently took me to Phoenix, Arizona for a week and while it meant missing the first week of fall, it was a welcome change of scenery. Even though I was working for the majority of the trip I was able to take full advantage of the cool desert mornings to log a good number of miles. I’m finally starting to feel closer to normal, so I was able to push myself a little bit and get in a few longer runs. I also managed to work in more than my fair share of hikes at a couple of the local peaks, Camelback, and Piestewa (aka Squaw peak).
Things started fairly mellow, with an easy seven miles on the canal path near my hotel. This became a go-to spot for me over the week. It didn’t take long to figure out that this is a go-to spot for many of the locals as it was a popular route at sunrise.
The cool desert mornings really were just what I needed. It seemed like August lasted roughly 65 days this year. Temperatures in Atlanta were absolutely brutal and the humid morning seemed to suck all of your energy out in a relatively short amount of time and/or effort. In Arizona, as long as I got out early there were no temperature issues.
Our second day in Arizona a small group decided to hike Camelback mountain in the morning. I got an easy five miles in before we rendezvoused for the hike. It turned out to be a good call because that hike is pretty tough despite being roughly a mile and a quarter. We parked at the Echo Canyon trailhead and worked our way to the summit in about 40 minutes. Not a blistering pace, but not an easy stroll either. We decided to check out the other side of the mountain and took the Cholla trail down and Uber’d back to the car.
The Echo Canyon trail is much steeper and therefore more difficult but it’s also far more engaging. I could see someone wanting to go up the cholla trail but going down it was pretty boring compared to the other trail, in my opinion anyway.
Night Mission
Because I’m a glutton for punishment or maybe because I still have that Keene state chip on my shoulder where when someone told me how fast they went up Camelback, my brain said fine I’ll do it twice in one day then. Therefore, that night I joined another group that wanted to head up for sunset.
This time it wasn’t all about being a tough guy though, the group included a number of our photo/video crew which meant the Instagram photos were going to be (insert fire emojis here). A group of six or seven of us piled into the van we rented and headed to the mountain. This trip ended up taking a lot longer than we’d anticipated as the size of the group meant we started to stretch out on the trail.
We made it to the top a few minutes before sunset and the Instagram photoshoot commenced. After a few minutes of photos, I consulted with my co-worker and road trip adventure mate Austin Hittel (@ahittel on IG) about how we were going to get down before dark. The short answer. We weren’t.
The sunsets very quickly in the desert, and by the time we regrouped and began the descent it was full-on dark. We ended up picking up a few other people from work that got caught out as well as a few other stragglers.
Austin led the train at the front with a couple of iPhone lights and I brought up the rear since I was the only one the brought a headlamp. Let me tell you, that headlamp was a lifesaver. I don’t even want to think about how long it would have taken to get down without it or what kind of injuries could have been sustained. It was a little nerve-wracking but to be totally honest. I had an absolute blasty blast. The fact that the sunset hike turned into a night mission was awesome.
That is until we got to the bottom. When we started making our way down we heard a couple people mention that the park service ticketed cars after sunset. Can confirm.
We got back to the parking lot in one piece but picked up a nice $98 ticket for being parked after dark. They are militant about what sunset means too. The second the sun dips below the horizon, ticket time. They must pull in a few 100k on those tickets alone. That’s not a complaint. I totally get it. If I’m being honest though, worth it.
Sunrise Hike
A couple days after doing the double on Camelback Mountain, I decided to venture out to Piestewa Peak. This one was runnable from the hotel, so my initial plan way to run out to the base of the mountain and just sort of check things out. The first part of the run was nothing special. To be honest, it wasn’t all that much fun but once I entered the canyon/valley area below it that changed.
Piestewa or Squaw Peak as locals call it is in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, a large park that despite being in the middle of a very developed area, quickly makes you feel like you are out in the wilderness. I reached the base around three miles into my run and when I saw that it was a little more than a mile to the top I figured I might as well go for it.
This climb was much more of a trail than Camelback, which is basically just scrambling over rocks the whole time. It’s super rugged and technical at least compared to what I am used to. I motored my way up pretty well, stopping every few minutes to take in the views.
My time on the summit was pretty shortlived as I didn’t have a ton of time but it was definitely worth the impromptu push. Some water might have been a good idea, but since this was a solo mission I was able to manage the effort and not overcook it on the way back. The descent was really tricky because of the type of rock. It’s super sharp and jagged with every step seemingly less sure than the one before. It probably took me just as long to get back down as it did to get up. This trip absolutely ruined my running shoes. Trail shoes would have been good to pack.
When I got back to our workspace at the hotel and recounted my morning summit to Austin, he suggested sunrise hike the next day. It didn’t take long for me to sign up for that.
The next morning, Austin, myself, and another co-worker – Jenny – jumped in the van at 5:45 for the quick ride to the park with the plan to be on the climb by before 6 and on the summit around 6:30, shortly before sunrise. After our previous night mission, we thought it would be best to keep the group small, and I think that worked in our favor as we could see a line of headlamps snaking up the trail as we approached in the van. The small group allowed us to stay closer together and overall move up the mountain faster.
We started the climb at 5:59 and made the climb in a little under 40 minutes, making a couple of stops to catch our breath and soak in the views of city lights on one side of the mountain and the sun slowly breaching the horizon on the other.
We hit the summit at just about the perfect time. Despite everyone else settling in on the rocky outcropping to the left, my recon the previous day meant we knew that the actual summit required a bit of hand over hand climbing to reach. We tagged the geological survey marker at the peak and settled down to hang out and watch the sunrise over the barren desert landscape that stretched out towards the horizon.
Once again, I chose my adventure partners wisely as Austin and Jenny got some awesome photos of the morning mission. Always travel with professional photographers/videographers if you can. Way better than setting your phone up and then running past it.
I uploaded all of the hikes from this week to Strava, more so for fun and to see the stats than to actually track the mileage or time, but I did take a look at the leaderboard for the Piestewa Peak trails. I knew I wasn’t going to be on the leaderboard but I wanted to know what the KOM was since this trail is a little more runnable than Camelback. The KOM…Jim Walmsley
Triple Trouble
Why not do Camelback three times? That was the question I was asking myself on Friday of the trip. After some of our crew heard the story from our night mission they decided they wanted to take a sunset trip to close out the week. I don’t need much persuading for outdoor adventures. I was in.
This time we were a little smarter and decided to Uber to the trailhead to avoid any entanglements with the park rangers. We also left earlier to try and avoid another night mission. I brought my headlamp just in case.
With a smaller group, we were able to make it a quicker trip this time. Austin ended up pushing ahead with a few of our faster co-workers while I decided to bring up the rear. Honestly, all the vertical was starting to wear on me a little bit and my adductors were telling me to chill out. The mellow pace was really enjoyable. Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in how fast you are moving through these spaces and you end up missing out on the journey. I’m as competitive as the next person but every now and then it’s nice to shut off that part of your brain and just enjoy it. I’m really glad that I got out and did some of the things I did on my own where I was able to go at my pace, but it was more fun to do a bunch of these things with a group and enjoy the shared experience. And of course, we got fresh photos with the bomb lighting.
What I’m Reading/Listening to/Liking…
Morning Shakeout Podcast | Christopher McDougall
This episode of Mario Fraioli’s Morning Shakeout Podcast is an interesting conversation between Mario and author Christopher McDougall. They touch on a variety of topics, including his now-infamous book Born to Run. Based on how that book blew up and essentially kicked off the barefoot/minimalist trend in running it was interesting to hear McDougall say he nearly cut the one chapter about running shoes out of the book.
I always thought that was an overblown part of the story. I remember it more for the story of the runners in it and the adventure of it. It kind of felt like the book got a little short-changed because it became the “barefoot running” book. But in actuality, there was way more to the story.
Even though he is a big-time believer in barefoot running, the hype that followed the book made him out to be a bit of a zealot for it. This conversation showed that he’s definitely more into running for the community of it, regardless of footwear choices.
I had to touch on the born to run part of the podcast but the thing I most enjoyed, and I seriously almost had to pull over the car so I could jot down a few notes about, was this notion of what it means to be a “real runner”.
“It’s surprising. I bet you if you asked 1000 random runners of various levels, ‘do you consider yourself a real runner?’ I bet you’d be surprised. I bet you there are 3:30 marathoners out there that would go ‘no, no, I’m not a real runner. I can’t break three hours in a marathon.”
– Chris McDougall
I legitimately had this same thought on a run the other day. Is there a sport that carries more self-doubt than running? They dive into this notion that people carry, “I’m not a real runner. I only run 5ks…”
Running is running. It doesn’t matter how far you go, how often you go, or whether you race or not. If you put one foot in front of the other and you aren’t walking then you’re running. And if you’re running, you’re a runner.
It’s all relative, so why do we care? It’s about effort not speed. I think we as a running community lose sight of that too often because the clock looms so large.
“It is the great sport of apologies. Of self-doubt.”
– Christopher McDougall
There are no doubt times when the clock matters for pretty much everyone but everyone has their own reasons. We need to stop trying to run away from the fact that running is a mass participation sport and embrace it. If you run, you’re a runner. I don’t care how fast or how long. To some people I know, I’m really fast and I run really far. To others, I’m the back of the pack and my idea of a long run is a warm-up for them. None of that matters because at the end of the day we are all runners.
Salazar/NOP/Mary Cain
This is one of those things that I don’t like, but since everyone has to have a take here’s mine. Salazar should be done for a long time. The NOP doping stuff is bad, but can anyone honestly look themselves in the mirror and say they are surprised. Running as a professional sport is set up to incentivize doping.
When the only thing that matters is results. That’s what you get. There is always going to be someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the results, even if that means crossing the line. What do you expect from a sport that has contracts that can be reduced when benchmarks aren’t met, or results-based objectives aren’t met? No other sport works that way. Other pro sports have clauses that impact guaranteed money or opt-outs for players and teams but those contracts are generally much more lucrative and there is some level of security when the athlete signs it.
When the sport is set up this way, people like Alberto Salazar are the symptom, not the disease. That’s not to absolve him of anything. Especially not what Mary Cain has recently brought to light. No coach should treat their athletes that way. Results-oriented or not. Coaching isn’t about grinding down all of your athletes and hoping that a couple of them turn into diamonds, but that’s what the sport has become.
Athletes Controlling Their Content
This is a good segue to the next thing I’m liking. It’s not really one single podcast or article or video. It’s more of a shift that some teams and athletes have made where they are controlling their own stories. Endurance sports lend themselves to this really well because the race or event only makes up a small part of the journey.
There are some athletes out there that have started to leverage their power as content creators. Look at what people like Ted King, Jeremy Powers, and Nick Symmonds have done and what companies and teams like Red Bull and EF Pro Cycling are doing. They are still chasing results, but the story isn’t just in the one-day event and whether they won or not. Look at Ted King’s Groad to Kanza series on YouTube. He didn’t win that race, but I’m tuning in every time he posts a video because he’s telling a story that familiar and relatable.
Sure, I hope EF Pro Cycling wins races, but I’ve gotten more enjoyment out of watching their guys tell the stories from Leadville and Dirty Kanza. Ted King broaches this subject in recent podcasts with both Colin Strickland and Payson McElveen.
It’s an interesting time in endurance sports. Everyone is incredibly driven and wants to be at there best, but I think it’s better to take note of these people who are telling their larger story rather than focus solely on what place they come in on Saturday or Sunday. If the only thing you are focused on is the result, you are going to be disappointed a lot more than you’re happy. It’s cliche and yeah, okay it sounds like someone’s AIM away message from 2003 but this all really is about the journey, not the destination.
From the IG Feed…
Here are a couple of posts that have come across my IG feed that have inspired me over the last few weeks.
Sean Kunis is a guy that I’ve gotten to know through a couple of other local runners, Matt Johnson and Adam Aldridge. Sean finished second at the Sky to Summit 50k recently in north Georgia a few weeks ago. He is super tough.
Speaking of tough, Josh Ferenc is a New England hardman. This picture looks absolutely miserable, but that’s when Josh is at his best.
I’ve talked about Ryan Petry before on this blog. He’s a pro mountain biker but his Instagram is an awesome follow when it comes to inspiration. It seems like he’s always doing something epic in his training.
Certified Rollers 