I'm in: Pikes Peak Ascent and Grand Canyon

1: Grand Canyon Backpacking Trip

My request for a one week long backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon has been accepted. My trip will take place in late October unless I decide not to go.

2: Pikes Peak Ascent Competitive Entry

A few months ago, I randomly decided to apply for competitive entry into the Pikes Peak Ascent. On Thursday, I got an email from Matt Carpenter informing me that I was selected for free entry into the Race. This is good news but there are two problems:

1. I did not expect to get into the race. Therefore, I have not been training for a high altitude mountain run.

2. The race is in Colorado Springs. Where am I going to stay? and I have to get to Colorado Springs somehow.

3. The race is in 3 weeks. At least I only have to focus for 3 weeks instead of 3 months.

These are not huge problems so as soon as I got the email on Thursday, I made a plan. Here is how the last 3 days went in accordance to my plans:

Thursday Afternoon: Recieved email confirming entry into the race.
Thursday Evening: Ran my first workout in a month: 12 x 2.5 min hill
Friday Evening: Drove to Flagstaff, stopped and ran 50 minutes around Bill Williams Mountain in Williams, camped near Schultz Tank in Flag.
Saturday Morning: Completed the longest run of my life by time, 4:14:32.

My run this morning was EPIC. I completed a 20-25 mile-ish loop in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness which included a summit scramble of Humphrey's Peak, Arizona's Highest point (12,637ft). More to come on this bad boy tommorow when my headache goes away.