Catch up- The Grand Canyon

So the last thing I documented on this blog was that I was pregnant. Wow. That was FOREVER ago! I mean . . . I'm still pregnant . . . but some very fun things have happened since then! So I will just start with one of the GRANDEST.

Before I found out I was pregnant Lamon and I had planned with some friends to hike the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim in one day. It is a pretty intense 24 mile hike. And I just figured, "Hey . . . I will only be 11 or 12 weeks pregnant in September when we go . . . I should be fine." And I totally planned on doing it. And when I was about 7 weeks pregnant I went on a really hard training run on part of the Timp Trail Marathon course. It was pretty hard but I survived (barely).  I felt proud of myself and was pretty encouraged that I just might be able to pull it off.

Ha ha. Darn Pregnancy Amnesia!! A lot of sickness happens after you are seven weeks pregnant. And oh was I sick! But I kept running and kept hoping that I would be ready to do the Grand Canyon despite. Well about a week before we were supposed to go I went on a very short run and had to stop in the middle of it because I was dry heaving. I came home and told Lamon, "I don't think I can do this."
I mean seriously, if I can't make it through a two mile run without throwing up . . . what is 24 miles in the Grand Canyon going to be like? I had to be honest with myself.

I still wanted to go though. I didn't want to miss out on the Grand Canyon! So we decided that I would drop them off at the North Rim at 6 in the morning and then I would drive the five hours around to the South Rim and hike down and meet them half way up. That way I could still get a good hike in and enjoy the Grand Canyon too! And so that is what I did.

And can I just say that the drive was intense. I have never seen so many deer in my life! I had to maneuver around 7 different deer that were in the middle of the road. And that was just the ones "in" the road. Who knows how many were out there. But I made it to the South Rim without hitting a deer or totaling our friends van which was absolutely fabulous.

I got to the South Rim around 11:00 and promptly started down. I ran the entire 4 miles down and was feeling pretty good about myself. I was wondering, "Could I have done the whole thing . . .? " I made it to Indian Gardens with time to spare. I ended up waiting about an hour for them to get there. And when they met up with me Lamon said, "Hey, do you want to go out to that lookout." It was about a three mile round trip diversion. He wanted me to be able to see the river. I said, "Sure." So we jogged out to the lookout and back and then started the hike back up. And . . .  remember me saying how I wondered on the way down if I might have possibly been able to do the whole thing? . . . Ya . . . my answer came on the way back up!

 In order to do an intense endurance hike like that you have to eat. And I could not eat! I was feeling so sick. I was so nauseated and I could not choke down anything. It seemed like that four miles up the canyon would NEVER end. Boy was I glad I didn't try to do the entire thing! But I will someday! I made them all promise me that we would all go back when I wasn't with child and out of shape so I could conquer it.

But hey, I'm still going to say that I am tough for the 11 miles of sweat I put in at the Grand Canyon. And oh . . . how amazing and indescribably beautiful it was! It was so spectacular. And we couldn't have gone with more fun or tough people. I am still amazed that they did that! Amazing. It was such a fun trip. It was definitely one of the highlights of the year!