First, we would like apologize for the lack of phone calls to our family and friends. We have not had service over the last few days and the phone cards we purchased turned out to either be a complete waste of money or have taken all our minutes on a mere three phone calls for a total of maybe 8 minutes. So much for 500 anytime minutes. We want everyone to know that we are in good company and doing fine.
We woke up early this morning, around 6:15, as the sun was already out. We were all kind of excited to see this because if we ever decide to get out early we will have the advantage of an early sun. After saying goodbye to Lolini's daughter, who caught the school bus, we packed up the car and drove back into town and to our starting point for the day. We left off at a local cafe and were all excited to grab breakfast here as well. I was the winner on the morning as I dominated "The Whole Thing" which consisted of two pancakes, two eggs, sausage, bacon, ham and hash browns. Durkin and Ken both got pancakes and Ken topped his off with blueberry syrup.
After breakfast we walked next door to the grocery store to stock up on Gatorade for the day. Ken and Matt both decided they also needed to purchase a pair of sunglasses for $2. Take my word when I tell you they look ridiculous. Ironically, Matt dropped his current running pair of glasses on the ground and stepped on them. He scratched the lenses pretty good and wasn't happy to say the least. I thought it was very funny that he bought a joke pair of glasses and seconds later destroyed his pride and joy. He tried running with the $2 pair for a while before realizing it was a big mistake and wore his scratched pair the rest of the day.
We were only traveling 27 miles today since Juwan offered to pick us up and house us for the night so we were in no real rush. He would not be able to get us until 3:30 so for the first 3 miles we walked in silence. I know personally I was day dreaming about a lot of things. I was picturing what it would be like that last week or that last day of our journey. I do not know what the guys were thinking about but I am sure it was something similar. Finally, around 9am we started to run. The morning went by fast and I was really enjoying the run. The scenery has just been amazing lately and today was no different. Off in the distance we could see huge plateau's and to our right there were giant Mesa. We could see where we drove last night and the steepness of the road we drove on. I could even see the small houses that stood on top.
With about 6 miles to go in the day we began to climb a huge hill that last for about 3 miles. It rose and rose as the road curled around the mesa giving us an incredible view of the valley below us and where we had just traveled from. On the left was nothing but sheer rock that climbed forever and to the right was a cliff that dropped off suddenly. There was a walkway on the far side which I ran on while taking pictures of everything. We will try and get those up soon. If we had more time they would be up tonight. About halfway up there was a traditional spring sticking out of the rock. We took a few minutes to check it out and enjoy the view and later found out from Juwan that the local village still uses it for ceremonies.
We reached the top and ran on flat land for a few miles before heading back down another steep hill. Before we left however we stopped at the cultural center to look around and get something to eat. This hour break really refreshed us and when we got running again we all felt amazing. We planned on getting picked up at 3:30 at mile marker 376 and the second we arrived Juwan pulled up in his truck. The timing could not have been any better.
On the way back to his house we talked to him about his cross country team at the high school. He is the assistance coach and it was great hearing what type of training and the different workouts the kids do. For those of you that do not know Hopi High is the current 18 time Arizona State Men's Cross Country Defending Champions. Led by the legendary coach Rick Baker this team is something to fear. I was amazed when I first heard how many consecutive titles they had won but after talking with Juwan and Rick I could see why.
Later in the night we had dinner with Juwan and his family as well as Rick and his. They made a delicious pasta dinner with traditional blue marbles or "pa-vel-piki" in Hopi. We all enjoyed the meal and the company was even better. We watched LeBron and the Cavs get crushed as we talked running for most of the night. Rick was a really interesting guy and we all enjoyed getting to know him. They have a track meet tomorrow which they may or may not be registered in. I guess they will find out when they arrive. Best of luck to Rick and all the Bruins for the rest of the season.
Juwan brought us over to the high school to make a few late late late night calls and update the website. As I said earlier, if we had more time we would have got some pictures up. Sorry about that. Tomorrow we are running another 27 mile and getting picked up by Juwan once again. We will be staying with his mother for the night and experiencing even more Native American Culture. I know personally I can't wait. This is the whole reason we decided to do this run in the first place.
Finally, we would like to congratulate our friend Mark Seigers for winning, in a very impressive fashion, his first 100K in a time of 8 hours and 16 minutes. Sorry we haven't been able to call you Mark. We have been trying almost daily. Keep up the monster work. We all love you.
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the lateness.
-Andy
PS: If you have a minute check out Juwan's website www.oraivifootrace.com and his yearly trail race.
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