Marathoning out West

Jennifer and I made a goal of running 50 half marathons in all 50 states by the time we turn 50 years old. In order to do this we need to average about three a year to accomplish this. Jennifer got online and started looking to see if she could find any races that were close to each other so that we could try to combine races together into one trip. Turns out that she found three races all within 7 days of each other. Next all we had to get together was an itinerary and to book some hotels. 

Our flight left the day after Valentine's Day at 6 am so we got up around 4 in order to make it to the airport on time. We flew out to Las Vegas to begin our journey.

After picking up our rental car we had some time to explore so we went over to check out the Hoover Dam. We had tried to take the kids last year, but when we went by it was closed for the day. It was really impressive for how large it was and especially for how long ago it was built.

Saw this marker that told exactly where the state line was located. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to kiss my lady while she was in another state.

We took a walk across the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge to get a better view of the Hoover Dam.  

Wouldn't be a trip to Las Vegas if we didn't take the customary picture with this sign.

The next morning began our 1st race of the week, Saints and Sinners. This was a race run right outside of Vegas and it ran around Lake Mead. This was  a mostly downhill race. 

Pre race all smiles with this little rabbit statue.

Couldn't get a great picture of the view because I was trying to set a new personal record, but it was an amazing view. Lake Mead is absolutely beautiful.

This race was called Sinners and Saints. Along the trail they had 2 options at every hydration station. You could either choose the saint option of water and fruit or the sinner option of Gatorade and snacks like these jelly beans. They also had cinnamon rolls, donuts, oreos, and other tasty treats. I picked up all the sinner options because I have a sweet tooth. 

There were also all of these huge tunnels that we ran through too. The change from lightness to dark was a big strain on the eyes. It was a nice break from the direct sunlight though.

Glad we weren't running in June - September! Apparently this place gets really hot!

There were two finish lines. One was an inflatable saint and the other a sinner. You could choose which one to finish through and they would announce to the crowd which you picked. Jennifer and I both picked the saint side.

Well, we both set new personal records on this downhill run through the dessert. My time was 1:50 and Jennifer's was 2:03. 

We can check Nevada off the list. That was state number 6 for me and 5 for Jennifer. We grabbed a few snacks at the finish and then quickly headed over to the hotel to shower up and head towards our next destination.

Our next half marathon was the next morning right outside of Phoenix, Arizona. It was about a 5-6 hour drive and I wanted to try and make it to the expo so that we could have our race bibs. If we didn't make it in time then we would have to wake up even earlier to get the bibs. We made great time and reached the expo about 10 minutes before it was closed. At the expo we could barely walk after having been in the car for all that time. We knew that are bodies needed some rest so we just headed to the hotel to get some sleep.

We got up early to head out to Apache Junction for our 2nd half marathon in two days. Our bodies were sore all over. When we arrived at the parking lot I discovered that I had left my phone at the hotel and we didn't have time to go back and get it. That meant that I was going to run the 13.1 miles with no music or podcast.

 Both of us had trouble walking to the starting line. Jennifer mentioned that if we ran together that we could share her ear buds. So, we listened to the Hamilton soundtrack the entire race.

Jennifer captured this picture of me on the run.

It  was a lot of fun running and seeing all kinds of cactus all over the place.

It was a very difficult run for us, but we pushed forward together. I ran forward the last part of the race so that I could get a video of Jennifer crossing the finish line. The lost Dutchman was a beautiful course. It was an out and back, which means that we ran 6.5 miles out and then turned around and came back the same road.

After grabbing a shower and some lunch we headed out for our next adventure. We had seen online about a very popular outdoor tourist attraction, Camelback Mountain. From what we had read online it didn't seem like too difficult of a hike up to the top. Boy were we in for a treat!

A few little dirt paths led up to this. A literal side of a mountain with a fence. Thankfully there was the handrail to hold onto, especially later when we were on our way down.

Then the path turned into all these boulders. It really wouldn't have been that bad of a hike if we hadn't ran 2 half marathons the past two days. Jennifer was having trouble stepping up because her thighs were hurting so bad. We took it slow on the hike up to the top.

We were really happy to make it to the top!

The view was amazing. It was such a clear day and you could see for quite a distance.

My legs enjoyed the break at the top. Jennifer was scared to sit down for too long because she thought she might not be able to get up again.

Another view from the top!

I had a few people that commented on the Kentucky gear. Even met a few people that were students at UK during the hike. I would most definitely recommend this hike to anyone visiting Phoenix. I however would advise not to run 26.2 miles the two days before doing it.

We got some favorite fast food that you can only find on the west coast, In-and-Out Burger. It is very basic in that it just has burgers and fries, but they are so good! 

The next morning we got up early and started out on our journey to the next location on our trip, Monument Valley, Arizona. Well, I was completely surprised that about 50 miles outside of Phoenix it quickly turned to this on the interstate. Only one lane was cleared and it wasn't even that great. Many idiots were trying to pass in the snow covered lane. We even saw a couple of people that had slid off the road. 

Sad that I couldn't enjoy the snow covered scenery, but I had to keep my eyes and focus on staying on the road. I also listened to Kentucky Sports Radio to help me pass the time too.

Monument Valley from the visitors center. It was amazing to see in the snow. Before this trip I didn't even know it snowed in Arizona. 

After much debate we decided to take the car down into the valley for the 15 mile dirt road trip out to drive around the monuments.

Jennifer with the mitten.

Some of these rock formations looked like they could tumble down at any moment.

Jennifer made me pack this jacket. I was silly and thought that going out west meant that it was going to be warm. Glad that I listened to her.

One last picture in Monument Valley before heading out of the park.

We also found the spot where Forrest Gump stopped his cross country run.

The place where Forrest stopped running with his group of followers. We got there at the wrong time of day and it was hard to get a picture with us and the view without being too dark. So, we decided that we would come back the next morning when the sun was in the right position for the picture.

Had to get a selfie while we were there.

While out driving around we also found this rock formation that was called Mexican Hat. Its located in the town of Mexican Hat. I was just really surprised that they didn't call it Sombrero with today's cultural awareness.

View from the AirBnB that we had booked for the night. It was an amazing view and a cozy little house. There was no central heating in the house, so I had to build a fire to keep us warm during the night. 

The moon was so clear at night. We went out to see it in person before it fell behind the clouds. I also had to talk her into going back out when it got completely dark so that we could see the stars. It was amazing to see, but unable to get a picture with just my phone camera.

Glad that we had stopped the day before for a picture with the Forrest Gump spot. On this morning it was so foggy that you can barely see the monuments in the background.

From here we drove up to Utah to get to the next stop on the trip, Arches National Park. When we got there and paid the entrance fee to the park we walked into the visitor center to ask some questions. This is where we discovered that the park was officially closed because the roads were too dangerous for travel. We were really upset. This was going to throw a major wrench in our plans. We were told about some nearby arches outside the National Park that might be accessible. That was all it took for us to head out to try and find our first arch out west.

The trail was relatively flat. There was a little ladder that you had to climb at one point and then we were almost to the Corona Arch.

Amazing view of the Corona Arch. This was also a great first arch and it got us prepared for the terrain that we were going to be seeing all over the southern part of Utah.

We walked over to get a closer look of the arch. 

It is amazing that this is real. The weather has truly created some amazing things and arches are one of my new favorite things.It also amazes me how great a picture can be when taken on your phone, especially a panoramic one.

Both of us with Corona Arch in the background.

With all the hiking, running and driving that I had done over the past few days I was excited to find a little spot to lay down for a little rest.

We got back to our car and decided to head back over to Arches National Park to check back with any updates about the park opening back up. When we got there they said it was still unsure if the park would reopen again today at all. We were bummed out but we decided that we would look around the visitors center to find out more about the park and how there came to be so many arches in such a compact area. After looking around for about 15 minutes we spotted cars heading up the only road heading into the park. Jennifer and I literally ran out to the car to try and get in before they changed their minds and closed the gates again.

The first thing that we got to on the drive into the park was Balanced Rock. We didn't want to waste our time on the quick 0.3 mile hike over to the base of it, so a little roadside selfie would have to do.

The roads were cleared off, but the trails were not so much. We were just glad that someone had gone before us or we wouldn't have known at all where to go. 

Windows Arch. 

Double Arch.

From the inside of Double Arch looking out. This was one of my favorite arches that we saw.

Landscape Arch - this is really impressive because it is deceivingly long. From base to base it is as long as a football field!

My lady and I!

I found a nice area of fresh snow to tag it. JenJo used to be Jennifer's license's plate when she first started driving. 

Lastly we decided to hike up to Delicate Arch. It was a 3 mile round trip hike but we felt like we needed to see this one. This arch is actually the most famous one. It is the picture on the Utah license plate. This picture doesn't do it justice, but the path was really close to the edge in spots and with all the snow you couldn't even tell where the side started. It was especially bad when there was a group of people trying to walk past you.

We came around a corner and then looked up and there it was, Delicate Arch. 

There was a really steep incline on the walk over to the base of the arch. Jennifer decided that this was as close as she was going to get.

I saw too many people getting over closer to it, so I felt like I had to do it too.

This was as close as I was willing to get. What an amazing natural wonder.

On the drive out of the park we stopped again at balanced rock. The view in person was amazing with the moon coming up. I wish that a picture could have done it justice, but this doesn't even come close.

What an amazing day of hiking and seeing all kinds of amazing arches. I would recommend this park to anyone who likes the outdoors. There were hikes of many different lengths and varying difficulty. You can even see quite a few from the road. 

Our original plans were to head to Bryce Canyon the next day and explore before heading to Zion. However, the weather forecast showed that they could get anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow during this time. We had also read on the Bryce Canyon website that multiple trails were closed due to ice and snow already on them. We knew that we needed to get to Zion so we decided to cut out Bryce Canyon and ensure that we made it to our final race destination.

We made it to Zion National Park the next morning and we decided that we should try to get in a couple of hikes because we weren't sure we would even be able to get out of the hotel the next day if the forecasts were correct. We decided to try the hike to Angel's Landing, but only up to the point of Scout's Lookout! Here we are climbing the long, uphill, curvy, path.

This was a very strenuous climb up these hills. It is quite impressive looking down at it.

This was another series of switchbacks that were on the hike to Angel's Landing. They were called Walter's wiggles. Thankfully Jennifer had brought us traction devices for our shoes. Otherwise I would have been slipping and sliding all over the place trying to climb these.

View from Scout's Lookout was awesome.

From the top of Scout's Lookout.

Someday I might come back and hike Angel's Landing, but definitely not during the winter months. This sign talked about how dangerous the hike was and that 6 people had died since 2001. I had no intention of adding to that statistic.

This was the chain that you were supposed to hold onto to help you navigate to Angel's Landing. 

Another picture of the switchbacks that we climbed on Angel's Landing Trail. It was a much easier hike going downhill that it was on the way up.

We also went over to the short hike up to Weeping Rock. There were signs all over warning people about getting too close because when the sun warmed up then the icicles would all fall. For just the few minutes we stood and looked around there were tons of them that fell down. 

We also hiked the Lower Emerald Pool. It was another relatively short hike. There was just a little bit of a waterfall. 

I did get Jennifer close enough to a couple of icicles here so that we could get a quick picture.

Our last hike of the day came after we drove a mile through the inside of the mountain in a tunnel. Canyon Overlook Trail was a little more rugged than the other trails we had done for the day. You actually had to hike around on unpaved trail. Jennifer was slightly terrified about passing on this suspect bridge.

Jennifer was also terrified about these narrow passes where walking space was limited.

We spotted our first wildlife of the trip on this hike too. We saw about eight rams on the hike. Thankfully none of them attacked while we were walking by them.

While at the main overlook it started snowing. It was beautiful, but it really affected how much you could actually see. 

I thought this picture was really awesome of Jennifer. I truly am lucky to have this woman in my life.

We decided to get a picture with the park sign because we weren't sure if weather would work out for us to get back to the park.

The next day we slept in and waited to see what the weather really was going to do and how much snow there had been the night before. From where our hotel was in another city it didn't look that bad. We kept looking at updates on line to see if the park would remain closed for the whole day. Cabin fever struck around noon and we felt like we needed to get out and do something. Luckily the roads had cleared and found out that the park was going to open up in the afternoon.

We hiked another great trail, the Watchman Trail. It was another trail with no paved paths, which are my favorite.

I loved seeing snow on the cactus. It seems so weird to see a plant that thrives in the dessert with snow all over it.

View from the end of Watchman Trail.

Jennifer and I with all the fresh snow on the Watchman Trail.

Seeing all the fresh and untouched snow made me want to do a snow angel so bad. So, I finally gave in and made one.

Our last hike of the day we decided to hike the first part of the Narrows, called Riverside Walk. Along the path there was a huge rock wall that was full of icicles. There were a ton of people watching when we came by because a huge chunk had just fallen. So, I had to see one for myself. We waited about 20 minutes before giving up. We only got to see small chucks fall off.

The Narrows is a 4 mile hike in a stream. It is considered really dangerous because certain times of the year there can be flash flooding. I think it would be an awesome hike, but there was no way I could talk Jennifer into renting wet suits and making the trek.

Jennifer wanted to try and do another hike, but I tried to talk some reason into her. I thought it would be best if we went back to the hotel and rested again. The next morning we would be running our 3rd half marathon in just 7 days. So, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

We did stop for one last picture of Scout's Landing where we had hiked just a few days prior.

Race morning had arrived and boy was it cold! 11 degrees! Jennifer was freezing. We sat in the warm car as long as we thought was possible and then headed over to the frigid starting line. I even was nice enough to let Jennifer wear my hoodie that she was planning on tossing to the side once the race started. She actually wore it for the first 5 miles she later told me. I had also told Jennifer the night before that I didn't know if I would be able to run her pace. It is harder on my knees to jog than it is to run. She said she was ok with it, but I felt bad because I had told her that we would run this one together.

As ready as we will ever be for race number 3!

The only picture that I got of us running together for this race. My toes were so cold that I could barely feel my feet. I was glad that I didn't fall down. I told Jennifer I would see her in a little bit at the finish line and then I headed out.

The views with the sun coming up were beautiful. I was so thankful that I wore the sunglasses, because most of the race was run looking at the sun. It would have been much harder to see if I hadn't.

I felt really good for all the conditions and considering it was our 3rd race in a week. I finished in 2:08:20 which I thought was really good.After I finished the race I grabbed my medal and started walking back down the course to find Jennifer. I met her about a mile from the finish line. I jumped back in and started running with and encouraging her to finish. 

 I found out that I actually came in 344th place out of 2,186 runners that finished. I was really proud of Jennifer for pushing through. She had said that there was a couple of times she had really contemplated giving up and just walking. She finished with a time of 2:39:28 and came in 1,112 place. She finished ahead of almost half of the other runners. 

I love portrait mode on my camera phone. Here is a picture from the front of Zion National Park with my medal and the park in the background.

Jennifer and I were beat, tired, and now ready to get back home.

I came, saw, and conquered the 3 half marathons in just a seven day time period.

We showered and then got back on the road to Las Vegas so that we could catch our flight home. When we got to Vegas we couldn't think of anything in the city that we were adamant about doing so we decided to head back out to Red Rock Canyon to do a little bit of hiking. Apparently we couldn't get enough.

Again, I had no idea that snow was ever present in the desert, but in between the mountains where the sun didn't shine there was a ton of snow. 

Jennifer and I in Red Rock Canyon.

If you look closely in the center of the picture you can see a bright and sunny desert area. Just here in this little canyon was all the snow. I didn't come prepared and I was just wearing shorts and a thin race shirt. It did get a little chilly.

Another picture with both the snow and desert in it. 

We had about 5 hours to burn before heading to the airport, so I told Jennifer I wanted to see the fountain show at the Bellagio. So, we drove downtown on the strip, parked and walked to see the show and then headed out to the airport. Actually, we stopped one last time at In-n-Out Burger before our red eye flight home.

We couldn't wait to get home to see the kids. As soon as the plane landed we got our baggage and drove straight home. We had a special little girl that was waiting for us when we pulled into the drive. Landon was still asleep, but when he woke up later he was really happy to see us.

This was an amazing trip with Jennifer and we have a lot of great memories from our half marathons and hikes out west. I would love to go back sometime in the warmer weather and hike a few of those trails again. I can't wait to see which adventure Jennifer and I get into next. My state total reached 8 and Jennifer is right behind with 7. She is planning to catch up later this year when she runs the Chicago Half Marathon. Thanks for reading and God bless!