We dropped the cars at a parking lot close to the trailhead and jumped in Jim’s car to stay warm. Matt, Jim, Devon and I walked over to the windy trailhead just before 6am and cued our watches and cameras so that we could video and photograph the start of our R2R2R run. It is absolutely amazing to stand on that cliff edge and look down and across at the miles you are about to cover. I do think the R2R2R is a ultrarunners right of passage run and each time I am there (that was my third visit) I am taken with the beauty and the idea of crossing that canyon and passing through the years that the land represents. The last 30 seconds waiting for the clock to turn from 5:59 to 6am seemed like an eternity, but as soon as that crossed my mind the clock turned and we were on our way.
Matt followed us and filmed sections with his Go-Pro camera down to Phantom Ranch. We chit-chatted a bit, checked in on how we thought we were doing on pace, reminded each other to eat and drink and I continued to be wow’ed at the magnitude of this run. At Phantom Ranch Devon filmed our run in to tag the time as we meandered through the sleepy camp. I took the task of filling our bottles while she used the facilities and Matt ran up the trail to get one final clip before making his way back up to the south rim. After a little longer stop, we charged out of Phantom and a couple of turns up canyon I did another pace check and we both realized it was probably a bit soon to be pushing just yet. We stayed on top of hydration and eating and kept plugging away.
As we headed up it became more evident the toll the miles were taking on our bodies. It became more and more important to manage ourselves, and also realized that this effort was one step trickier. We had to keep in mind each other’s condition, every step of the way. The concern of letting the other down was ever present, even though we talked ahead of time about not wasting energy on apologizing, the thoughts were there. I was thankful for having run the route before so as familiar landmarks started to appear I could feel my excitement gaining for the halfway point. We filled up bottles and bladders at the basketball hoop/ artist’s house for the remaining 7 to the N. Rim and hopefully enough to get us back to this spot. Devon’s speedy marathon and 100k road legs were giving a bit of grief on the long climb, but she kept it together, we backed a hair off the pace and both smiled for the camera at the North Rim trailhead.
I had visions of making up hours on the way back down to Phantom Ranch. After documenting the North Rim, I wanted to start cruising down. I could feel my anxiousness and desire for the FKT goal motivating every stride and I think I was pushing Devon from behind. Devon was smart to hold us back on the pace a bit and I’d say we matched our decent on the South Rim keeping a steady pace, but not pushing. We crossed paths again with Tracy, a woman we had seen on our way up, and found out that she was there from Michigan to do the double crossing to celebrate her 40th birthday. She asked, “is that Devon?” Indeed. “You are the Banchee.” There was only one other R2R2Rer that day. A young, tall, bearded guy that we said a quick hello to near the top of the North Rim.
Once we filled water again (at the basketball hoop spot) I really wanted to start moving. It seemed to work best to keep Devon out front as I was happy to lock onto her shoulder and keep pace. After a true heart to heart about whether we should stick together or not, running a few miles and then realizing that wasn’t what we were out here to do, Devon rallied and it was obvious she was taking it on her shoulders to get us into Phantom as quick as possible. Those marathon legs cranked on what I think is the crux section of the canyon and I sat right on her shoulder, working hard to stay out of the pain cave and wrapping my mind around pulling us up and out of the canyon on the other side.
We made it into Phantom and both Devon and I knew she had put it on the line a bit to get us there. We were both hot and a kind lady offered to buy us ice as we refilled the bottles. I thanked her and declined letting her know that we were trying to go self-supported. Devon filmed once again and we walked a bit to recover before picking up pace to a jog. With that we looked up and saw the dreaded mule train approaching us. We both uttered wonderment of how this would go, but before it could be a major concern the leader stopped the train and pointed us on a side trail that went to the same spot. Thankfully we did not lose any time dealing with a mule train.
