The Misogi Redo - Sometimes you have to fail to succeed (Part 3).

Hello monkiis, I've been waiting exacting 38 days to publish this episode. I am proud to say that after my initial failure (due to injury) I completed the 'Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim' trail run on May 13, 2019. It took me 17-hours and 45-minutes in total time. We started from the South Rim, Bright Angel Trailhead at 3am and finished at 8:45pm, returning to where we had started. (By 'we' my buddy Chad who had done the run a few weeks prior was kind enough to support me on the first and last 10-miles of my journey.) The total distance is 50-miles and you ascend and descend over 10,000 feet. It was a proper Misogi. It almost feels like cheating when you start in the dark. Time and distance pass at a very different rate when your perception is limited to the tight funnel of a headlamp. We crossed the Colorado river just as the sun was stating to rise and arrived at Phantom Ranch shortly after. This is where my solo journey started. It was 13-miles to the North from this point which meant that I would have to cover a marathon distance to get back to this point. I felt great until I hit the steep climb from the Manzanita water station to the North Rim. I was getting roasted in the sun and quickly ran out of water. After what felt like a never ending climb, there was finally no more trail leading up and I was suddenly at the North Kaibab Trailhead. There were a few cars and to my surprise, the water at the North Rim was on. This was a huge psychological boost as I had finished all my water during the climb up and it would have been quite challenging to consume the calories needed without water. I was also hot and took advantage of the water source to basically drench myself. I quickly cooled off and was now almost too cold. My biggest concern at this point was the heat. It was not even Noon yet and I would be descending to lower elevation where it would be 20-30 degrees hotter. I was considering just hanging out on the North Rim until the afternoon to wait out the heat, but I finally concluded that there was more than enough water along the way to keep me both hydrated and cool. As soon as I started down I felt significantly better. I made good time until the last 7-8 miles back to Phantom Ranch. My running pace was not actually that slow, rather, it was the constant stopping to drink and soak myself in the creek I was running next to. I arrived back at Phantom Ranch and found Chad waiting at our pre-determined meeting spot. It had taken me about 2-hours longer than I had estimated and I could tell that Chad was ready to get out from the canyon. The final segment required us to cover 10-miles and climb 5,000 vertical feet. The first 5-miles felt relatively good and it was uplifting to have a friend with me. However, once we left Indian Garden to climb the last 4.5 miles out, I felt completely worked. I was in pain pretty much everywhere. It was in a lot of places I had not experienced before. My method was to keep the momentum and just focus on the next step. Every once-and-a-while I would make the mistake of looking up and would see the massive wall still ahead of us. It looked impossible. We were on the most popular trail in the canyon, but there was a part of me that still did not believe that it actually went back to the rim. At last, we reached the tunnels which signal that you are very close to the end. Then, almost as if you are stepping into a new reality, there is no more up and you are standing back on concrete surrounded by signs, buildings, and flickering lights. We took a quick photo in the dark and hopped in the car to the nearest open establishment that sold hot food. 

I'm still processing this Misogi and will continue to share reflections, lessons learned, and more. It was all about maintaining the monkii-state-of-mind and I'm looking forward to continuing to distill exactly what this means.

Click here to learn more about the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim.

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