We left the campsite in Prescott and made our way to the Grand Canyon — my first time ever. I know I know- it’s insane it’s taken me this long to get here. What matters is that I made it ;) And since last fall I’ve been saying I would come here this spring to run the rim2rim or if I was really in run shape, I’d do R2R2R.

(The morning breakfast and yoga before relocating ….):

As it turns out - I’m not in that kind of run shape, so I’m dropping down in and then coming back up. Without a driver on the north end to pick me up I can’t just run south to north rim. However my friend Danny - the reason I am here- he’s doing the full r2r2r … down angel across the bottom to north rim then back to south rim up Kaibab and then back to our campsite —he’ll have over 50 miles in tomorrow.

And because he reserved a campsite awhile back for his big run, here I am. Thanks to Danny I’m finally seeing and running some of the Grand Canyon. Thankful once again for this van making its way into my life opening up these new possibilities for me. ⭐️

Today we settled into the campsite (um hello mister elk!) then took the bikes to visit the drop in at Angel and the run up and out at Kaibab.

And then we had a feast at our campsite.

Danny crawled into his tent super early since he’s getting up at 3am to be running by 430am. 🏕 🏃 😴

Tonight … as the entire campground winds down and it grows quiet out there, I am maximizing the time by using my hotspot to check emails on my laptop. …Because it IS a weekday after all and inboxes never sleep. 📥

Today’s wins:

Today marked my fourth day since I’d properly showered and washed my hair. I was so excited for the campground showers and got here to find them closed due to covid. So badly needing to wash my hair, I used a cycling water bottle and some shampoo and mannnnnnnnn did that feel amazing !!! Clean wet hair. Wow. I felt like a new woman. It truly is the little things out here. 🧼

Speaking of the little things … so far I’ve put 2 tanks of fuel in, I’ve paid $14/night for 2 nights at the Prescott campsite, I grabbed some water & snacks at Natural Grocers today and then I bought a National Parks pass at the gate today ($80/year - the GC entrance fee was $35 so that was a no brainer). Life in the van, in parks, spending the days outdoors running, riding, doing yoga … it’s a pretty inexpensive and super gratifying way to live. Simplicity at its best.
🙏🏼 I’m so grateful and thankful to be out here. I’m excited to run & recon some of the rim tomorrow — however far my legs decide to take me ! 🚀

Oh and for logistics- we are staying at the Mather campground. It’s pretty densely packed with spots, you don’t get much room away from your neighbor, but the restrooms are nice and clean and you can’t beat $18/night! A bike /walking path takes you easily from here to the trail heads on both the west (angel) or east (Kaibab).

Ok so the big run day… first, coffee & breakfast !

Danny and I both had successful endeavors ! I ran down Bright Angel from our campsite and went about 6.5 miles towards the bottom, past Indian Garden, and then turned around and came back up. The down was much harder on me than the run up! It was around 4 hours for me and about a half marathon distance — more than I’ve run in a while! And NOT a fast pace. When I say run- it was more of a walk/jog/hike. It was an amazing experience. I carried a ton of water with me and stayed on top of hydration the entire time. I also brought snacks and ate them all.
In a nutshell- this run/hike was Much MUCH harder than I expected. I cannot imagine running rim to rim let alone coming back again.

Danny had a huge & successful day- he started around 420am & ran into our campground a little after 5pm tonight — his watch tells the story of this amazing feat, check out those stats ! At some point he posted a 6:44min mile today too-! He looked fresh as a daisy, incredible how NOT exhausted he seemed. Ramsey hopped into his lap when he sat down- I’m sure that didn’t feel great on tired quads !

Overall this has been a GREAT trip full of fun, new places, people & experiences. Sooo thankful. 🙏🏼 🚐 🏃‍♀️ 🐶 🚲 🌳 🏕 🏔