May 2011

I can't believe it is already time for an update! The month of May started out with adventure and it ended with adventure!



Heather and I with some Florence Jailbirds!

 To recap, the first weekend in May, Bill officially wrapped up WTI with the official Graduation for the students. During this time, a girlfriend and I traveled to Florence, Arizona to compete in the Warrior Dash. Florence is among  one of Arizona's oldest founded towns and is nothing spectacular. In fact, it is known as the place where "the residents don't leave" as it's claim to fame are the prisons that are located here. However, outside of the prisons, it also accommodates wide open land, which only fosters the perfect place to hold an obstacle course and mud race!



Post Race

Both Heather and I did very well in our respective age groups. I placed 2nd in my age group out approximately 950 people and 4th overall for female.

Heather placed 13th in her age group out of approximately 670 people and 63rd overall for female.

We were certainly pleased with our results considering there were literally a couple of thousand females competing in the event and approximately 7,000 men and women competing in the event as a whole.

Following our finish, we enjoyed checking out the crazy costumes (my personal favorite was Colonel Sanders, pictured below--he even had a bucket of chicken that he was running with)  and our post race beer!

Colonel Sanders in the Mud Pit



Also, during this month, Bill and I were able to spend one of our weekends in Phoenix, Az visiting Bill's best friend, Sean,  from high school and his wife Alison. It had been seven years since the two had seen each other, so it was a nice reunion as we celebrated the event with margaritas by the pool and a dinner at an upscale seafood restaurant. I sure do miss my crabcakes, and we sure do look forward to our next visit with Sean and Alison!

We would also like to welcome home Bill's brother, Mike, as he has finally returned  from his 9 month deployment aboard the 26th MEU after leaving unexectedly early last August to assist with the Pakistan Earthquake relief efforts.We are glad that he has been reunited with his family and is home safe and sound. We look forward to catching up with him at some point once the dust settles...

Lastly, Bill and I were able to travel to the Grand Canyon over this past holiday weekend. We had an incredible time and there are no words to describe this natural wonder!!

Bill and I at Grand Canyon

We stayed in the small town of Tusayan, which was located just two miles outside of Grand Canyon National Park. It was an interesting little town as you could drive through it in less than a mile and was dedicated soley to the tourism of the Grand Canyon.



Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point

 Bill and I woke up early on Saturday morning and hiked a full 7 miles before we even got to the actual Grand Canyon. We were grateful to learn that once we got our park passes that we would get to utilize the shuttle services that the park offered!! We spent most of Saturday hiking the South Rim and looking out over the numerous scenic overlooks that were available. I was impressed with the fact that even though the Colorado River is responsible for the formation of the Grand Canyon, it was unable to be seen from the top of the Canyon. However, as Bill and I were walking along the South Rim, we learned of the Bright Angel Trail.

The Bright Angel Trail is the most highly trafficked trail of the Grand Canyon as it offers many options to hikers. For instance, it allows for day hikes and it also pushes on to the North Rim with opportunities for camping and restoration along the way. Since Bill and I did not bring camping gear, we chose to hike the longest day hike recommended, which was Plateau Point. Plateau Point hike was 12 miles round trip that reached an overlook facing the Colorado River. Though it sounds like a long hike, it was well worth the views!!



A view from Plateau Point



1/2 way down Bright Angel Trail

 It was recommended that one allow for 8-12 hours to complete this hike, but Bill and I were able to complete this hike in 6 hours and 45 minutes. We will be paying for this over the next few days...haha. This was a much different hike than most as we got to decend first versus climbing first. Therefore, we had to keep in mind that going down was optional and climbing back up was mandatory! Needless to say, the first 6 miles were a breeze, it was when we had to turn around and ascend over 3,000 feet of elevation to get back to the top that was painful! By the time we reached the top, we were ready to be done, but like I said the views were worth it and it was an awesome challenge!! Bill and I have both decided that we would love to go back sometime and bring our camping gear so we could make it to Phantom Ranch and/or do another overnight hike.

Following our long two days of hiking, Bill and I rewarded ourselves with a nice dinner at El  

      Tovar Restaurant overlooking the Canyon. It was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend and month!




El Tovar


Up next is the San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon next weekend.....!