Go Far by Jennifer McConachie & Jennifer Strong McConachie

Author:Jennifer McConachie & Jennifer Strong McConachie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hatherleigh Press
Published: 2021-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

An American Epic

After several international expeditions, it was time to do something classically American: running the Grand Canyon, rim to rim to rim. The Grand Canyon is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States due to its immensity and colored rockscape. It is also uniquely ours. The Colorado River roars through its bottom and the history is rich. It is a national park and has been home to Native Americans of the American Southwest for thousands of years. I had always wanted to travel to the Grand Canyon. I wanted to see in person something that captures the spirit of America’s westward frontier. Running its length had become an ultrarunning challenge, so it seemed like the way I was going to get to this natural American monument was going to be to run it. It was a big goal; an astounding idea; a feat worthy of an epic. My run across the Grand Canyon and back would be 50 miles through a millions-of-years-old, 18-mile wide, overwhelmingly sized hole in the earth, visible from space.

While planning ways to delve into America’s most famous natural landscape, at one point, my dad, some of our friends, and I had decided to run the shorter Grand Canyon rim to rim. That would have been a great distance, around 20-25 miles; enough of a challenge, but totally doable. However, there was a United States government shutdown at that time that interrupted our plans and closed the National Parks. Not wanting to wait until the north rim opened again in May, we decided to go for the full rim to rim to rim, from the south rim to north rim of the Grand Canyon and back to the south rim, on a spring weekend in April. It would be harder all around, but we had to take advantage of our timing and training and seize the moment and our momentum.

Luckily, my running mileage was already high from my other ultra run races, so I wasn’t overly worried about covering the 50-mile distance of running across the Grand Canyon and then back again—the R2R2R. When undertaking anything ultra in size though, there is always a little worry: Worry about performance, worry about injury prevention and worry about ability. This time I was more concerned about the logistics; the geological terrain and the idea of running down one side, through the bottom Vishnu Schist rock, up another side, then back down, across, and up another trail. I would have to have a solid nutrition and safety plan in place to undertake this American classic, especially since one side, the north rim, would be entirely closed at the time of year we were attempting the crossing. We would have to be completely self-reliant with no hope of support or supplies from outside sources or the National Park Service, other than a private emergency evacuation helicopter for only the most life-threatening instances.

I always memorize an event’s course and visualize my race plan before a competition when possible.

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