Brutalful

We ate all this during the run and THEN some. Mexican for dinner the night before, oatmeal in the morning, bagels and cream cheese at Phantom Ranch . . and still lost weight. 

Laying out our gear the night before. My dad came prepared for EVERYTHING. He pretty much would've had the supplies to give me surgery on the trail. 

This sign admonishes you not to hike from the rim to the river and back in one day (about 18 miles). Psch. 

After five solid miles of downhill, there's only one thing worse than seeing ALL THIS downhill to go. And that is knowing that you'll have to climb it 36 miles later.

About eight miles in! Sun finally up.

Bridge over the Colorado River. This was taken right after we saw a man in a BATMAN costume hiking up the South Rim. I guess it's a Halloween tradition for some people to do a rim hike in costume!

Ten miles of rolling terrain before the ass-kicking ascent up the North Rim. This is where we met an 18-year old kid named David who was prepping for the same run we were doing. He and his dad had a van parked at the top of the North Rim--they gave us ice-cold sodas once we got up there! 

Right above Roaring Springs, about to hang a left to head up the trail to the North Rim. 

The trail up the North Rim got pretty gnarly. I listened to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" on the way up which perfectly captured the majesty of the canyon. Randomly, the next song was Debussy's "Claire de Lune" . . . which also perfectly captured the majesty of the canyon. Led Zeppelin and Debussy. Who knew?

Nearing the top of the North Rim! FINALLY. You can see the canyon we came up and how it snakes off to the right. Oy. This is about where the song "Don't Fence Me In" came on my iPod.

I reserve the right to a nasty 80's combover hair after 36 miles.

Weakest fist-pump ever, but who cares? DONE.

We rolled into our Best Western at around midnight--physically exhausted, but not quite sleepy. Bodies are weird. After eating everything left in our packs (and some serious loopiness from Dad!), we fell asleep at around 1:30. Only slept a little while though. It's hard to rest when you're so sore!

The next morning we hobbled over to the motel's surprisingly awesome breakfast buffet, spent a few minutes in the jacuzzi, and lifted weights in the exercise room to released lactic acid. Then I drove ten hours home.

Equal parts brutal and beautiful--brutalful!--just about sums it up. We may have to make this a yearly tradition. Or every other year. Or never again.