Friday, October 9, 2026

Home yesterday from my ten day trip. Last Tuesday I flew to Las Vegas with Alison and Bruce. Then we drove from there to Under Canvas (tent hotel) near the Grand Canyon. I had a good night's sleep listening to the rain on the tent all night. Alison and Bruce didn't have it so good--Bruce was having an "issue" all night and they were both up a lot. Next day we took Bruce to the Grand Canyon urgent care, and Alison and I went for a run along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We picked up Bruce, who received good help, and we drove to Kanab, Utah. We checked into our rental and went to Grand Trail Fest home base. We picked up our bibs and got our dinner.  Bruce was "out" for the trail runs because of his health issue. Next morning, Alison and I got up at 4:00 a.m. and left the rental at 5:00 to be at the start of the first race by 7:30. Day One was a 15.77 mile run through Bryce Canyon. The first 10 miles has breathtaking scenery. The last 5 miles were breathtaking because of how difficult they were! Endless incline switchbacks. We had to hike for most it. There was a 2,000 plus foot elevation change at 8000 ft of altitude! Seriously challenging. My right calf started to cramp up painfully every now and then. My knees were aching. My hips and glutes were screaming! It was the hardest physical activity I've ever done in my whole life. I barely made it across the finish line! I finished in 59th place out of 256 runners. I finished 3rd out of 9 men aged 60-64. I really can't believe that! I ran an average of 14 minutes per mile, total chip time of 3:47:41. Alison finished ahead of me by 15-20 minutes. She did great! I have to say I did not think I'd be able to walk, let alone run!, for Day Two's 10 mile run through Zion National Park . . . but I made it through that course as well. Here are some pics and vids of our runs: 

Here we are on the south rim of the Grand Canyon

At the start of the Bryce Canyon run at sunrise

A short video from near the top

The views were beyond.com

Me starting the first hill climb at Zion on Friday as the sun came up.

Here we are at the finish line Day Two, 10+ miles

Day Three: Antelope Valley. Alison did this one alone, as I decided that if I had any hope of running my 800 and 400 races at the Huntsman Games on Tuesday and Wednesday, I needed to rest my legs. Alison ran 13+ miles! I went for a hike while she ran (I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove her to the start and collected her at the finish--the least I could do!)    On Sunday we got up and drove to Springdale, a little town nestled in the valley at Zion National Park. Stunning place! Alison and I took a hike in the valley along the Virgin River.

The rocks changed colors every minute as the sun went down

Alison and Bruce drove me to St. George, Utah, on Monday morning. I rented a car and checked into my hotel. Went to the convention center to pick up my packet for the World Senior Games. It was a huge venue. They have just about any sport you can think of for competition. Next morning (Tuesday) I went to check in at the track to get my bib. I was there early, and I decided to go back to my hotel and get out of the sun until closer to race time, which was, according to the meet website I had checked the night before and took a screen shot of, 1:30.  When I got back to the track around noon to start my warm up, I discovered that the 800 races had already been run! I looked at the screen shot photo I had, and I noticed "1:30 EDT" . . . "EDT" did not register with me the night before. I guess I never could have imagined that a track meet schedule would be posted in a different time zone than where the track is located. My bad. Honestly my legs were still pretty stiff from the trails, so maybe it was God doing for me what I couldn't do for myself lol. 

The next day I went back, at the correct time, to race in the 400. Unfortunately, this meet does not organize runners into heats by seed times (i.e., a faster heat and slower heats). They put those of us with the fastest times in different heats. And since there was no final, you were sort of stuck racing the clock. And I was in lane 3, with no runners in 1, 2, 4, or 5, which also made it hard. However. . . it actually probably didn't matter in the end, because when I ran my race, my legs got so lactic at about 120 meters to go, it's a MIRACLE I even made the finish line. I won the heat by fractions of a second (to a 64 year old--such a GREAT performance for him!).  David Gibbon, the fastest sixty-year-old sprinter in the WORLD, won the second heat at a second faster than I. He won gold in the 50, 100, 200 and finally the 400 meter races. He's spectacular to watch run. Perfect, effortless form. What an athlete. 

Here is a "photo finish" of my race--you can see my pain!

Meanwhile, I was hoping to run somewhere in the 57-59 second range!  I was really kind of clueless about the toll the trail running would have on my body. To do over again, I would have skipped the Huntsman Games and done Day 3 of the trail fest. It was something very different and very challenging and also very fun! The meet . . . not so much. I don't think I'll ever make the journey out there for that one again. The USATF big meets are just more competitive and better organized. 

What I have learned and appreciated from this trip: It's awesome to try new things; I appreciate that my body is still able to do tremendous things at age 62; friends make running fun; Utah and northern Arizona are glorious!