Canyon de Chelly 55k

Runners from all over the world gathered together around the fire in the pre dawn morning, leaving an opening to the east so that the prayers could be directed toward the rising sun. We ate blue corn mush and drank Navajo tea while anxiously awaiting the start of the race. Just before the sun crested the horizon, Shaun father performed a blessing upon 1 male and 1 female runner to represent all the runners assembled to protect us on our journey. With a final countdown, we all yelled to the dawn to let the spirits know that we were there to honor them and to welcome the new day. And with that, we were off.

I could type pages and pages about my experience in the canyon, but instead I will only say that I immersed myself in beauty and enjoyed the company of all the peoples in the canyon that day. Raven and falcon watched us from above. Father sky and the cotton wood trees provided us with shade. I spied a secretive blue tailed skink, and shared a refreshing drink with horses. The canyon walls embraced us as the voices of the five fingered people rose and fell, reverberating off the walls. We ran through the canyon, then up and out to the rim to see how far we had come, before returning back to see it all again from the other side.

At the end of this amazing journey, we were greeted by Shaun at the finish line who welcomed us all back one by one and personally bestowed upon us our finishers necklaces and told us that we now had a home here, that we belonged, and would always be welcomed back with open arms.

While I chose not to take pictures there were so many other people who did, (including a film crew) so I knew the day was well documented. Please enjoy the pictures below, but know that I did not take any of these, however they had all been posted in the facebook group for sharing. I hope this blog has provided even the tiniest glimpse into this spectacular event and I hope that everyone feels inspired to visit this place, or maybe even try their luck and throw their name in for the lottery to run the cayon. I know that I will carry this day in my heart for years to come and I hope to come back and do it all again some day.