April Flowers

 Over the last few weeks, I've been able to get in a bit of running.  At this point I'm completely healthy, although maybe not completely fit, but am thankful to be back in the forest.  As the rain delayed the flowers this year, I was able to get going in the nick of time and see all the flowers coming up.  At this point, the trillium, fairy slippers, and glacier lilies are out and just a few iris are starting to show up.  A little later in the year we will have a ton of iris out, some tiger lilies and foxglove.  I'll put up some more pictures when those arrive, but here's this months allotment of flowers!

The first trillium

Fairy slippers starting to come out

Fairy slippers and Poison Oak stalks

Just a few iris so far

Glacier Lilies

A little hard to see, but probably 20 fairy slippers here

The Last Few Months

Well, sorry its been so long since I posted anything, but a lot has happened over the last few months.  I'll try to keep it as brief as I can, but there are a few big changes!

1) Heading into 2017, I'll have a few changes in my sponsors.  I am incredibly excited to be with The North Face this year!  I have always looked up to many of their athletes and now am honored to be a member of their athlete team.  Additionally, I will now be working with VFuel, an energy gel company whose gels I used exclusively at Western States last year.  I will continue to partner with Injinji and Squirrel's Nut Butter in 2017.  I will no longer be with Salomon, so I would like to thank them for all the support they have given me over the last 2 years.  Additionally, my time with Salomon has given me many amazing memories which I will never forget.  There are truly great people at Salomon and I can't thank them enough for all the support they have given me.

2) The biggest change is that I decided to transfer to Oregon State University back home in Corvallis, Oregon this winter.  I am currently attending OSU as a non-degree seeking student (that was the best I could do as I transferred so late).  This fall I wasn't very happy at Northern Arizona University, and I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was causing all my stress.  I'm not totally sure what was stressing me out, but I realized that coming home to Corvallis would be a good choice.  Since I've been home I've been far less stressed and much happier with life!  Jacob is still at NAU and seems to be having a great time.  I've very thankful that he's adapted to the change far better than I did and is making the most of his time in Flagstaff.

3) I got hurt.  This is fairly crappy news, but I've learned an awful lot from it.  I strained my groin in the middle on January after running on slushy wet snow for 12 days.  Apparently the extra strain from sliding around was a little to much for my left groin to take.  In the weeks that followed I spent a lot of time moaning about my situation.  While the injury was frustrating, the obvious lack of balance in my life slowly became evident to me.  I analyzed my situation and found the complete lack of balance to be of far greater concern than the injury itself.  It didn't take me long to realize that for a few years I've been putting a lot of energy into running, but completely neglecting all other activities that I enjoy.  I realized that putting all your energy into one area is not sustainable, and less enjoyable than spreading out your interest over various activities.  So, over the last few weeks I've been focusing on pursuing a wide variety of activities and have been more content for doing so.

With all that said, I'm certainly looking forward to getting back to running.  I'm confident that I will be able to take a far more balanced approach than in the past while continuing to pursue running at the level I want to.  So hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to put that plan in action!  I've been walking a few time lately and my groin is feeling significantly better.  I was even able to go for a shuffle on Friday with minimal pain.  Still, patience in the name of the game and while I'm excited to get running, I certainly don't want to delay my recovery any longer.

Thanksgiving in the Grand Canyon

The last few years we've spent Thanksgiving break backpacking in the Southwest.  This year we headed to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  As always the Canyon offered spectacular views, but this time we were so far from any place I knew, it seemed like a totally different place.  Our parents flew in on Wednesday and after class was over for the day we drove up to Cliff Dwellers Lodge and spent the night.  Wednesday was Mom's birthday, so it was nice to see her on her special day!  Thursday morning we drove through Jacob Lake and to the Bill Hall trailhead and headed into the Canyon.  We headed down to the Esplanade and took in some amazing views looking out over the canyon.  Soon we dropped off the Esplanade and made our way down toward Thunder River.  Thunder River was probably the most amazing geologic feature that I've ever seen.  (All that water you see in the pictures below is coming straight out of the rock.)  After hiking past Thunder River, we continued down the river to where it meets Tapeats Creek.  After following the creek for half a mile, we reached the campsite and set up the tent.

Thunder River, coming right out of the rock

Tapeats Creek

The next morning we continue down Tapeats Creek to the Colorado River.  The trail was a little rough through this section but far better than the trip repot Mom read made it out to be.  Upon reaching the Colorado we had a quick snack before following the river downstream to Deer Creek.  Hiking along the river was pretty cool and really gives you an appreciation for how large and powerful the river is.  The trail would follow the river closely when it could, but there were a few rugged ascents and descents along the way.  The trail climbs up from the Colorado before reaching Deer Creek, so we came into Deer Creek about a mile above the river.  We found a tent site near the creek, set up camp, and enjoyed the evening.

Sunrise

Farther down Tapeats  Creek

The Colorado River

Where Tapeats Creek meets the Colorado

Saturday morning we headed down Deer Creek to the confluence with the Colorado River.  The trail followed a ledge along an ever deeper canyon before it peeled away from Deer Creek and switchbacked down to the river.  Upon reaching the river we headed back toward the base of Deer Creek falls and took in the view.  After spending some time by the river, we climbed back up Deer Creek, grabbed our packs, and headed up toward Surprise Valley.  After we reached Surprise Valley, we continued the climb up to the Esplanade.  We had cached water here at the beginning of our trip, but with a potential snow storm rolling in that night, we decided to head out.  We only had 2.5 miles to the rim so we decided to finish the trip a day early and spend the night in the hotel.  Mom had read a few trip report where people had to leave their car on the north rim for the winter because of a snow storm so we didn't want that to be us!  The final climb out of the canyon lead to some beautiful evening view, including one of the most stunning sunsets I've ever seen.  Fortunately, I neglected to charge my camera before the trip so it had died just a few hours earlier.  Once we got to the rim, we drove back to Cliff Dwellers Lodge and enjoyed a hot shower and a good night's sleep.

Deer Creek

Deer Creek Falls

Climbing up Surprise Valley

Looking back over Surprise Valley

Back on the Esplanade

Dead Horse Ultra and Arches National Park

At the end of November Jacob ran Dead Horse 50 miler in Moab.  We drove up Friday, Jacob raced Saturday, then we headed to Arches Sunday before a long drive back to Flagstaff.  Now that I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my delayed flight, I figured I'd share some pictures.

Just before the 6am start

Sunrise at the first aid station

Jacob rolling into mile 15

Jacob coming into mile 18

Coming into the finish

Finishing up in 8:55

 The race was a fun experience for me as I got to crew for my brother.  There were 6 aid station I could get to and since I was alone, it was all on me to get there.  This gave me an appreciation of my family and all the other families out there trying to catch up with their runner throughout the day.  Fortunately I managed to get a run in and enjoy some beautiful view of the La Sal Mountains sitting above the surrounding country.

Arches National Park

Landscape Arch

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Skyline Arch

Just below Skyline Arch

Part of the historic Wolfe Ranch

Balanced Rock

Same rock, new angle

Arches was pretty cool too.  I got to run in the morning, then Jacob and I headed north for a few miles before turning into Arches National Park.  We went to a few different arches, but weren't able to spend too much time as we still had to get to Flagstaff for school on Monday.  While it was a great weekend for exploring some new country, I didn't do any homework!  Oops.  Now that the semester's over that seems okay, but I was regretting last week.