7 Natural Wonders of Triathlon

This past weekend, I took a break for some family fun at one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world in my very own backyard, The Grand Canyon.  It took several tries over the past 3 years to get accommodations at the bottom at the Phantom Ranch Resort.  This would be a wonderful way to spend time together with my family since we are all busy going our separate ways.  We would do something challenging to bring us closer together.  I have hiked around the Grand Canyon on several occasions, but never had the opportunity to sit at the bottom for more then an hour to enjoy the beauty and take it all in.  Well, it turned out there was little sitting and most of what was taken in was during our hikes down, around and back up over a 3 day period over about 30 miles.  We came, we hiked with packs on our backs, slept in historic cabins on bunk beds, prepared our dehydrated meals, listened to ranger talks, saw some wildlife, and enjoyed looking at a clear night sky lit up with stars.  We got to experience some physical and mental discomfort as the challenging terrain tested us in more then one way.  We were all quite sore from the trek down.  My calf muscles were quivering after the unforgiving 7 mile descent down the South Kaibab Trail.  All the stretching and rolling with a magical rock, motrin, and some Dr. Hoys and calf sleeves could not remove all the lactic acid away, so the next day we started on a recovery walk along the Bright Angel Creek up the North Kaibab Trail.  It was so beautiful and we knew there were some falls up ahead so we forged on not realizing that by the time we reached the falls, we had 5 miles more to return to our cabin at the Ranch.  I was certain I had to keep moving or my muscles were going to scream some more.  The soreness continued as we shuffled back home.  We walked another mile and back to the Boat Beach to enjoy a last dinner on the beach.  The final day, we stuffed our belongings back into our packs and started up the Bright Angel Trail.  It was about 10 miles of switch backs with the steepest section over the final 3 miles.  This was another day of mental training taking already sore legs (especially calves) and add a 22 lb. pack on the back and climb steps for the next 5 or 6 hours.  We all went at our own paces and regrouped at the rest areas.  I was able to stay focused and steady.  The grade and wearing a pack slow you down.  My muscles would shorten any time that I stopped.  Our steady pace helped us pass many other tourists.  Although we had every intention of doing more hiking to prepare our muscles for steep ascending and descending, our muscles were not ready for this intensity and duration of work, so it cost a few days of very sore muscles and a funny looking gait.  On our journey, we were passed by a small population of ultra runners doing Rim to Rim to Rim, some floated by with such ease and grace and others were crouched over and suffering.  The recovery this week brought back my memory of the Ironman Shuffle that you see athletes do the day after their race, but here is hoping that the duration is significantly less!  The trip was everything we hoped it to be except for the soreness.

I composed a list of 7 natural wonders of triathlon:
1.  An inexpensive high that lasts for hours and up to several days (and it is free)
2.  A large supportive community and a lot of best friends
3.  Many new adventures (both locally and traveling to destinations)
4.  Many medals that represent the many chapters in your journey
5.  Stepping outside of your comfort zone
6.  Dreaming the impossible
7.  Achieving the impossible:  BECOMING AN IRONMAN

We often return to the places that we love the most because our experience lasts for such a short amount of time and our memory fades quickly, so we go back again and again to visit and re-enact that feeling of wonder and amazement that we found the first time.  Each time we visit, we are overwhelmed.  Only those who have been to a Natural Wonder of the World or who have experienced a Natural Wonder of Triathlon understand the feeling of AWE that comes with it.  Of course the more physical you make the experience, the more you get to explore the depths of why that particular landmark or race earned its title of "Wonderment".  Those that look in from above can only see it from a distance and admire the beauty, but those that dig into the layers will become a part of something greater.  Find the greatness in the world around you, you will be glad you TRI-ed!