Got my 2nd Grand to Grand Stage Race buckle. This year was quite different than last year (2023), last year it was all fairly new to me, the terrain, the environment the difficulty. Last year I had never completed a stage race this long or let alone a race this long starting with a pack this heavy (around 21lbs on day 1). Prior to last years race I did spend some time training and adventuring in the in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah before the race, but doing that kind of thing was still new to me. I entered the 2023 G2G race with a lot of excitement, looking to experience the unknown, have an adventure and hoping only to finish. There were times leading up to the the 2024 race where I wasn’t sure why I was doing it again. The excitement and stoke were’t there like it was in 2023. That worried me because you have to have a strong and valid why to get this race done. I guess my main reason to come back a 2nd time was validation. This race is hard, between the relentless deep sand and the elevation gains and sometimes the heat, it tests you physically and mentally day after day and I really enjoy the test.  I haven’t completed another full stage race, so I can’t compare it, but talking to some my other competitors, they say it is harder than Marathon De Sable, and the Racing the Planet Races. Thankfully as the race went on, the enjoyment of the challenge increased, the other competitors excitement rubbed off on me and struggles brought the stoke back and my excitement level grew with each step and I was able push hard to the end. In the back of my mind I also wanted to improve on my time from 2023 and for 5 out of 6 stages I was able to do that. 

Some of my favorite images below

All images courtesy of Anastasia Wild

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The Race

For those that don’t know what the race is about, it is a 275km/171 mile race that is completed in 6 stages over 7 days. Stage 1 – 31+ miles, Stage 2 – 26. Miles. Stage 3 – 53 miles, Stage 4 – 26 miles, Stage 5 – 26 miles, and the final stage is about 8 miles. I completed the self-supported version, this means that you carry everything you need on your back, food, clothes, sleep system, etc and the organizers provide water (about every 6 miles) and a tent to sleep in each night. My pack weigh was around 21lbs at the start, the leaders normally have a pack weigh of around 15lbs on day 1. Grand to Grand offers a supported version where most of your gear is carried for you except for the daily essentials (water, snacks etc). The race is based out of the small town of Kanab in southern Utah. The town along with the local friends I have made and the surrounding scenery has made me fall in love with the area. The race course is in high desert northern Arizona and southern Utah. The race starts at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, goes by the Vermilion Cliffs and heads towards and through the rugged landscape around Kanab, Utah. 

Generally everyday went the same. We get a 6am reveille call to get up. Then we had 2 hours to get our gear packed up and have breakfast and get to the start line for an 8am start. For me the 50k and marathon days lasted 9-9.5 hours (generally the leader: Robert was less than 1/2 that LOL). After a long day out on the trail, get to camp and lie down with your feet up and have a recovery drink, after relaxing for a bit and spending some time sharing stories about the day with other competitors in the communal “Grand” tent until it was time to eat. I was usually in my tent and sleeping bag by 7-7:30 tired. I always spent a little time trying to clean myself up as much as possible before trying to get some sleep. One of the disadvantages of being slow is the lack of time you have to to try and keep your race clothes clean, dry and as fresh as possible like the others that come in hours before me. 

My basic race plan was to:

• Run as many downhills as possible. I was able to do this some of the first few stages and I ran quite a bit of the down hills on the short final stage
• Don’t worry about the whole race or stage. Take each stage in small bites and run from checkpoint to checkpoint. 
• Run into all the check points. Realistically I think I did this about a 3rd of the time. Sometimes I didn’t because the path to them wasn’t unable or I was just to damn tired.
• Not linger in the check points. I think I did a good job at this. I would only get water at checkpoints 1 & 2 everyday and not sit. Check point 3 to the end of the stage I would sit and get water, but I don’t think I ever spent more than 10 minutes (mostly 5-7 minutes) except for check point 6 of the long stage where I ate and relaxed for maybe 30 minutes. I avoided the pitfall of getting to comfortable.
• Run across the finish line at the end of everyday. I was able to do that about 50% of the time.
• My mantra for the week was: “sitting here doesn’t get me to the end any faster”

Stage 1 (30.8 miles/49.6 km): The race starts at the edge of the Grand Canyon (literally), its such a beautiful and mesmerizing place. It’s has to be one of the most beautiful start lines anywhere and definitely the most beautiful start line I have been to. As we head off from the start line the next 20 miles or so is down rugged forest roads across the high desert with zero shade. Fortunately we have checkpoints every 10k or so along the course to refill our bottles if nessary take a short break from the sun. But as we move away from the edge of the Grand Canyon we move closer to the Vermilion Cliffs and have them in view for the remainder of the day. The Vermillion Cliffs like the Grand Canyon don’t always look real, looks like a living painting as the shadows move across the landscape. Finally after about 20 miles we leave the forest road behind and start across the open desert for about another 10 miles. Now is the time to keep you eye to the ground and watch where you put your feet, we are now in cactus country and probable snake country too, but I didn’t see any snakes. We have one checkpoint left before we get to a more rugged hilly section before reaching camp 2. As a bonus about 2 miles from camp the trail takes us up a short steep cactus filled climb that is made more challenging by the fact we had already traveled 28 or 29 miles, but we are rewarded with a beautiful view of the camp, Vermilion Cliffs and the desert below. I reached camp in 9:39:13, 25th over all (17th male) in the self-supported category. I felt pretty good about that, I beat my time last year by about 15 minutes (9:57:23). Only 1 DNF.  It was a good start to a challenging week.

Stage 2 (26.9 miles/43.3 km): Waking up and watching the sunrise over the Vermilion Cliffs is pretty spectacular. This stage started with about 5k of rugged terrain with lots of cactus, similar to how stage 1 finished. The first checkpoint was at at about 5k and then we jumped on the Navajo trails and started a 1. Mile steep climb that gained about a 1000ft of elevation. The climb feels like 2 miles but for me it is just slow and steady, lots of breaks. Once the high point is reached the most difficult part of the day is over. There is still over 22 miles to go and a few short steep rugged climbs, but to me this is one of the more difficult climbs of the week. After reaching the top we are in the Kaibab National Forest and the scenery changes from desert to forest for a while. Lots of up and downs, some very steep and rugged. The day finishes with 6 miles of forest roads. And unlike last year we did not have to deal with the roads being overgrown with prickly Russian Thistle – thank you, thank you, thank you. I reached camp in 9:44:59 ahead of last year by 52 minutes (10:37:12) 17th males – self-supported. Only 1 DNF.

Stage 3 (The Long Stage, 53.2 miles/85.4 km): Ahh the long stage…..53+ mile of pure bliss and deep sand 🤣. The first 6 miles or so is pretty easy, all forest road slightly up hill. At about 2 or 3 miles a group of locals come out and cheer mostly the local runners on, but they cheer us all and I think it gives everyone a lift and puts a smile on everyones face. After the first checkpoint of the day the the challenges begin. We climb up almost a 1000ft up the Mansard Trail and then the deep sand begins. Its only about 10k to the next checkpoint, but it is all up hill and in deep sand. All the volunteers at the 1st checkpoint encourage you to take all the water you can, you should, the trail is hard and the temperature is warming up quickly. I drank all my water and still had about a mile to go. It was a long mile and the only time I came up short on water for the week. When I arrived at checkpoint 2, I quickly drank a few bottles of water and sat for a few minutes. This was the only time all week that I sat before checkpoint 3. But I didn’t linger, I topped the bottles off and keep moving. When I arrived a checkpoint 3 there were quite a few other there. Most of them I only saw at camp because there had been faster and ahead of me through the first 2 stages. The sun was hot and the temperature had risen quite a bit at that point of the day and it was starting to get to some of the others and some were looking pretty rough and by the end of the stage there were 12 DNF’s. I decided to get out of there and get moving, sitting there doesn’t get me to the end any faster. There is a really gnarly climb about 2 miles out of CP3 that I remembered from last year, really steep, but thankfully not to long. Once you are past the climb it is mostly up and down on jeep roads with a few steep sections in to Checkpoint 4 at Best Friends Animal Society. After leaving CP4 we climb out of a canyon and past the Angels Rest Pet Cemetery with its wind chimes singing. This is another location where some of the locals and staff of Best Friends come out and cheer there runners on. I was fortunate enough to see my friends Deena and her husband and get some encouragement to help me get through the long day. As I was moving through Best Friends I realized that I was ahead of last year. Last year I had to turn my headlamp and red flashing light on while in Best Friends, this year the sun was still up and was able to wait another hour or so before I had to turn them on. Going between Checkpoint 4 and Checkpoint 5 is when it got dark and became somewhat of a march. Just focused on keeping the legs moving, staying on the track and getting to CP5. Arrived a CP5, didn’t stay long because Checkpoint 6 is where the magic happens, but getting there isn’t easy. Nothing but a lot of deep sand and a dark night for almost 8 miles. I had 5 or 6 headlamps behind me pushing me along. To challenge myself and not loose focus I did my best to not let them catch me, but of course the young French women Severine did, as she always did. She was such a fast hiker and we passed each other many times throughout the week. I would pass her when she was stopped a checkpoint, but not to much time would pass and she would just cruise past me. I nicknamed here Roadrunner during the stage 1 and would go beep beep every time I saw her. Finally getting to Checkpoint 6 around midnight “The Promise Land” about 40 miles in where there was hot water to rehydrate a meal and rest for a little bit by the fire. I was looking forward to eating, but had to force myself to eat it. I was hungry, but the meal I had just didn’t sound or taste good. But food is energy and I still had 13 hard mile to go, so down the hatch it went. There is an opportunity to climb into a tent and grab a little sleep at CP6. But my plan was to keep moving if I could. Im not sure how long I stayed at CP6 maybe 30-45min, but it started getting busy and crowded and I was unable to relax so I grabbed my pack and headed for the mile or two to the start of the sand dunes. They were different than last year. The first one or two was very steep and high I had to use my hand instead of my poles. The dune section lasts 3-4 miles, so not to get overwhelmed and discourage I just kept moving stopping at the top only long enough to catch my breath and then get to the top of the next dune. While catching my breath I did take a moment to stop and enjoy the night sky. It was probable the best of the week for me, a crescent moon had risen in to a sky full of stars. It was impossible not to take a few moments and enjoy the beautiful sky. Finally got through the dunes, but it seemed to take forever to get to CP7, but I did finally arrive around 4:30am and I was happy that it was still dark. In 2023 I had teamed up with another runner at CP 6 who I will call “Sleeping Beauty” 🤣🤣. We crossed the dunes and she was exhausted and needed some sleep so we hung around CP7 for a few hours. This year I stayed just 10-15 minutes and kept going. Most of the rest of the day was a bit of a blur, head down just marching on. It was quite a pick me up to get to CP8 before the sun rose. That meant that I was way ahead of last year. The last 3 miles from CP8 to the finish is nothing but deep sand and more deep sand and then some deeper sand 😂. But 23:57:54 I was done with the long stage. I was over 4 hours faster than 2023 (28:17:52) and I was extremely pleased with that. It was time for rest day filled with naps and a little food. Oh and the bonus cold can of coke that Tess and Colin bring in for everyone later that day after the last runner arrived, tasted amazing! I was 15th place overall for male self-supported runners. Unfortunately the heat took a few runners out, there were 12 DNF during stage 3.

Stage 4 (26 miles/41.9 km): Stage 4 last year was my best stage. After this year I have no idea why and how, there was way more sand than I remembered and a lot more up hill than I remember. This was the only stage that I did slower than last year. I do have some great memories looking out across the landscape and seeing beautiful scenes right before me near the top of some climbs.  And of course passing through the Belly of the Dragon (which someone affectionally renamed the Dragons Butt Hole) is pretty cool followed by rope climb up the cliff. I finished in 9:29:16, about 18 minutes slower than 2023 (9:11:44). 2 more DNF after stage 4. The two had become friends and I was sad that they weren’t able to continue.

Stage 5 (26.3 miles/42.2 km): This stage has one of the highlights of the race, Peekaboo Slot Canyon. If I had to pick the best location on the week, it would be Peekaboo Slot Canyon and the Grand Canyon, can’t pick just one of them. We were fortunate enough that we enter the canyon from the top and worked our way down some big drops with the help of 2023 G2G Alum Mel Rader and other local Volunteer Search and Rescue Team that set up ladders so w can get to see the complete canyon from to to bottom. The colors, shadows and light rays change as we moved through the canyon just mesmerizing. It is just amazing!  When the sand ended on stage 5 around checkpoint 2 I felt like my rubber band got wand up tighter and tighter going through all that sand for the last few days and I let it go and I cruised in super power hike mode to checkpoint 3. Except for a few short technical sections, and a few steep road sections after checkpoint 3 it was pretty uneventful to the next camp. At the end of stage 5, I was 14th male in the unsupported category. I had a time of 8:57:36, I was surprisingly 1:47 minutes faster than 2023 (10:37:33)

Stage 6 (7.9 miles/12.7 km): Finally the home stretch and it’s just 8 miles….. After a week of 3 marathons, a 50k and a 53 mile day, 8 miles sounds like nothing. And I think we were all dreaming (at least I was) of just a smooth and easy downhill finish, but how could I be so foolish 🤣. I was able to use Colin’s name one last time in vain 🤣. The last stretch is a partial out and back on a hilly forest service road with 1200ft of elevation gain. But really wasn’t to bad after all knowing the end was close. I was still able to run the downhill potions and finis strong. When the finish line came into view there is a since a relief and a sadness knowing another amazing week is coming to an end. Stage 6 I got done in 2:10:28 about about 24 minutes fast (2:34:29)

So in the end I finished in 63:56:26, about 4:45 minutes faster than 2023 (68:41:44). I ended up in 14th place for male self-supported and 29th out of all the all the runners (support and self-supported). 56 runners started the week on stage 1 and 38 ultimately made it successfully to the finish line.

Below are some comments about what I used during the event and how it went.

Nutrition: For most part the food worked out pretty well. I brought Mountain House freeze dried meals for dinner and they were good. The only one Mountain House meal I didn’t enjoy was the one I had at a checkpoint during the long stage. But I think that had more todo with the circumstance than the meal. Breakfast I alternated each between some packaged oatmeal with blue berries and Holos Muesli and this worked out adding a little variety to each day. And of course a view cups of instant coffee every morning. 

During the day on the course I was aiming for a high carbohydrate intake of somewhere near 50-55 grams per hour to keep my energy level high. To do that I had Tailwind drink mix, Maurten Gels 160, Precision PF Chew, NÄAK Ultra Energy Salted Soup. The Tailwind worked perfectly. I brought a few different flavors of Tailwind including there naked unflavored version and never got tired of it. I would usually have Tailwind in one bottle and plain water in the other to avoid getting overwhelmed  by the taste and sweetness of the mix. The Maureen Gels also worked out, they are almost flavorless and have a thicker consistency similar to jello. I was able to consume them all week and wasn’t tired of them at the end of the week. The Precision PF Chew were ok earlier in the day, but as the week went on I found them harder to consume especially in the later part of the stage when it was hot and a little bit of dehydration had set in. The NÄAK Ultra Energy Salted Soup was pretty good, it was nice to have something different than Tailwind and I would usually have this as my lunch between checkpoint 3 and 4. But I did lose my appetite for the soup later in the week and ended up turning in what I had brought for the last few days. 

I did pretty well early in the week sticking to my plan and consuming a lot of carbohydrates for the first half of the week but struggled with it in the 2nd half. It was to hard to keep it up with the what I brought. By the end of the 4th stage I was just carrying extra nutrition that I wasn’t or couldn’t consume so I turned it in in to the race commissioner just to reduce my pack weight. 

The food portion of stage racing is one of the puzzle pieces that is so hard to figure out. It accounts for the majority of your pack weight at the start and is be one of the most important parts of the week that will determine success or failure. I will continue to look for and test different things and I attempt more stage races.

Gear: I made a few changes to my gear this year. I used basically the same Patagonia shirt, shorts  as last year. Below are the things I changed.

Shoes: This year I used Hoka Speedgoats (Gor-tex) instead of Hoka Challengers. I wore out a pair of Hoka Challengers this year training in New Mexico and Arizona in less than 2 months. I was pretty disappointed with that. I already had a pair of newishHoka Speedgoats so I started wearing them. The Hoka Speedgoats durability was just slightly better, but my feet did pretty well in them so that is what I stuck with. Knowing I would wear that pair of Speedgoats out I picked up another par that I would only train in occasionally and save them for the race.

Gaiters: In G2G 2023 I used Dirty Girl Gaiter throughout the race with Hoka Challengers (Gore-Tex). For the most part it kept the sand out my shoes. The problem was the sand got into the outer layer of the shoe and the Gore-Tex and added significant weight to the shoes. So this year I used the Dirty Girl Gaiters in the first 2 stages. Knowing the deep sand was coming in stages 3, 4, & 5 I used the RaidLight over the shoe desert gaiters. They are designed to cover the whole shoe and attach with velcro above the sole. The hardest part is attaching the velcro because it has to be sewn and glued on to last and it is difficult to find a cobbler that can do that. The last 2 years I have sewn my own on using an Ezy-Stitcher.

Pack: In 2023 I used the Ultimate direction Fastback 20 in a medium. But it felt to big hung uncomfortably on my back during the first half of the race, so this year I switched to a small and it felt much better. One of the things I didn’t like about the pack was the external storage. It is pretty limited on what you can reach when wearing the pack. So any extra nutrition or small bits had to be stored inside the pack and when I need something it was a bit of a process, removing the pack and opening it and finding what you needed and repacking it. After seeing other runners in HMDS and Raidlight packs with external storage I decided to try and attach some external storage to my pack. I found some a few different styles  from REI  and added them to the pack. It really worked out well. I still had the occasionally take to pack off to get more nutrition or headlamp, etc, but it was easy to access from the external storage I added and I could put the pack back on and keep moving. That was the best change I made this year.

Water Bottles: The race requires 1.5 liters of water capacity. You you don’t have to carry that much water, but you must have that much capacity. This year I opted to us 2 x 530ml soft flasks plus I carried another small soft flask to make up the volume difference. Last year I carried 2 x 750ml flask but the and the way they set in my pack I feel like the straws are poking me in the eye. There was only one instance during the week that I wish I had 1.5 lites of water (Stage 3 – Checkpoint 1 to 2). The only real downside is the soft flask can be harder to get back into the pack with the pack on and it’s harder to get any powdered nutrition mixed and dissolved. But I added a small pebble and to agitate it (Thanks Mel) and that helped. Overall the solf flasks were a good choice.

Sleeping Bag: In 2023 I used the Western Mountaineering Ultralight Sleeping Bag. It was ok, but we had a few night during the 2nd half of the week at higher elevation that I got pretty cold during the night and didn’t sleep well. This year I use a Sea to Summit Spark 15F Down Sleeping Bag and it worked out. But this year was warmer than last and the additional warmth really wasn’t needed.

Sleeping Pad: I have the Nemo Switchback Sleeping Pad and it sucks…., but is light and compact. I don’t have to worry about it getting punctured and deflating, which is a huge concern throughout the G2G course. 

Hiking Poles: For me these have become a required piece of equipment for all my runs and hikes, particularly in rugged terrain. This year I used the Black Diamond Distance Z Trekking Poles (Aluminum) and I was not that happy with them. The grips got sticky after 3-4 hours and parts of my hand turned black by the end of a stage. Last year I used the carbon version of the same poles and didn’t have a problem. Looking for a new option now.

Overall my food and equipment choices worked out without any major problems. I don’t think there is necessarily a perfect setup. I think part of the stage racing journey is finding what works best in training and then problem solving and dealing with the challenges that come up during the race and adapting to the situation.

If you have discovered stage racing and are looking for a challenging race to do, then you have found the race. Grand to Grand Ultra (G2G) is an amazing race to do whether you are competing for a podium spot or like me just want to challenge yourself and try something really really hard. You get to start at the edge of the Grand Canyon (literally) and race through different high desert environments (open desert, canyons, slot canyons, etc) with amazing views and camp locations along the way. But the people behind the scenes make all the difference, from race organizers Tess and Colin to all the amazing volunteers that push you along and help you make it to the end. I am sure I will be back for another (3rd) trip through the high desert.