CANYON TRIP....

That's the Grand, of course. The Grand Canyon....an amazing place that never seems to stop the oohs and aahs by on-lookers. It never fails to make my heart pidder-padder and memories flow. Of course, this is the place where Jesse and I gave our hearts and souls to one another.

The School Group gathered at the Colorado River after crossing over to the north side.

This is the third year chaperoning a select group of 8th graders from Jesse's school to hike down Kaibab Trail to the river and back up Bright Angel in one day. Let me tell you....that's one heck of a day too. We started out early and the last ones made it out by 7:30 pm. That night we didn't have to worry about giggling and chatting echoing through the campsite but rather they were replaced by snores and moans. I mean, the next morning not a single person could walk properly without groaning from the muscle aches. Although it's a grueling hike with the soreness afterwards, Jesse and I look forward to this trip every year.

We hope that your Spring has come to fruition and we hope you are looking forward to the summer heat. Come visit us. We love visitors!

Jesse and Tracy on the Kaibab Trail heading down towards the river.

SHIPROCK HALF MARATHON

The Shiprock Marathon and Half-Marathon was held on May 5th in Shiprock, New Mexico. From where we live, it's about 25 miles over the mountains to the New Mexico - Arizona border. And from the border to the town of Shiprock it's almost exactly 26.2 miles. So, the marathon starts at the NM -AZ border and the half-marathon started 13.1 miles up Highway 13 adjacent to Shiprock itself. What a beautiful place to run and for Jesse this was his first road race of any kind. He decided to start out "big" with the half-marathon and kicked my butt!! It's no fair...I've trained for years at long distance running and I've entered many races including the NYC Marathon in 1996, the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in 2000 and the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon in 2001. Of course, it's been a long time since I've competed in any road race, but nevertheless, my husband finished ahead. I am soooo proud of him though. I could tell his excitement and adrenaline was pumping at the end of the race.....so I think I've got him hooked into running now. :) But, on the way home he talked about biking season so maybe I haven't totally convinced him of the running addiction. You can check out the results on the website:
http://www.ccrtiming.com/races/results/2007/07shiprock.htm

I actually got 2nd place in the Half Marathon for women overall. I won a beautiful handmade Navajo pottery, as you can see in the picture above. Jesse did awesome. He got 14th place for men overall and 15th place overall in the half marathon because there was only one female ahead of him. Jesse's friend, Tom, did very well in the full Marathon (I think he got 5th overall and 1st in his age group) and he treated himself to a good 'ole Navajo Taco afterwards.


The weather was crazy before the start of the race. It snowed where we lived and up over the mountains. Then it rained. When the race started the clouds began to break and the wind was at our backs. It stayed pretty nice throughout the race except for some dropping temperatures. Overall, the running weather, food and company were great! We hope to do it next year....right Jesse??