Training-- short runs

I've been asked lately what I'm doing to train for our upcoming running adventures, so here it is.

In June, some close family and friends of ours are embarking with us on a Grand Canyon trip to remember. We're hiking it rim to rim in one day. That's roughly 25 miles. It's 7000 feet down and 6000 feet back up the other side. It's crazy. My family (parents and siblings) has done this 3 other times in the last 10 years. Nate and I have only done this once before (I was pregnant all the other times), 10 years ago on the first ever attempt with my parents when we were dating. Well, kind of dating, we'd actually broken up for a couple weeks, but since the trip was planned we went together anyway. It was just the 2 of us with my parents, a romantic little trip for four, in which Nate had to share a bed with my father on the North Rim. Hilarious. It was also the trip we came to our senses on the trail, and got back together at the scenic Ribbon Falls. But I digress.

This time we have a bigger group going, and we've been planning and training for months. Nate and I decided that since we'd not have much hiking time to train because we're going so early in the summer, we'd better train all fall and winter with running. This consists of short runs to build up endurance, and long runs to test it.

My short runs are almost exclusively done in the Gulley near my house. Here is what it looks like:

 There are quite a few different trails down there, the one below is the bottom trail that travels the length of the bottom of the ravine (hence the original and obvious name) and runs from 200 or so East near the trax station clear up to 2300 East near Granite Park. It's a shady quiet and thin footpath, great for thinking, or worrying about serial killers if you're alone. I don't recommend going that one alone.

The others I like to take are the Mountain view trail (Pops and I call it the middle trail), The Sego Lily trail (Pops named it the "sisters" trail because of 3 hills he calls the 'sisters'), and the Top trail (I don't know it's official name).

Each run is either a 5, 6, or 7 mile loop just to keep my heart, lungs, and legs in good shape. It's the maintenance work, you might say, to keep my body running optimally. I do this 3 times a week, unless I'm working in a long run, then I only do it twice. It's gorgeous and challenging and I live for it. The long runs are a different story, but I'll post about our first one later. Care to join me? Just say the word.