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Grand Canyon Run
El Cuatro
El Cuatro 168 Miles
I have always associated depression and addiction with weakness because I just didn’t understand until I did…....
Several years ago, I had reached my breaking point and found myself planning my own death. Even today, after telling this story countless times, I still have a hard time writing that sentence.
​Since then, I’ve learned that far from being an outlier, many people, suffer from the same afflictions I’ve been dealing with. And like me, refuse to call it depression. They refuse to classify it as mental illness, but rather dismiss it by saying things like, “I’m just tired,” “I’m just having a bad day,” “I’m just hungry,” or “I’ll get over it.”
The social taboos around depression and mental illness keep far too many people, like me, from recognizing the symptoms and having vital conversations that could help them manage the sickness in a healthy way.
From my own experiences, there are two major factors that play a role in how I manage my depression. First is the support of my wife, family, and friends. Having a strong community is essential.
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Secondly, running. The anguish, struggle, and battle of a long run makes me feel alive. Running reminds me that I am able to do hard things and overcome large obstacles. Running reminds me that I am a survivor.
I know that many people battling depression don’t have the community, support, or resources they need. They don’t know how good it feels to be outside, resisting the urge to quit and finding the strength they didn’t know they had.
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I want to help those struggling with depression to find a supportive community where they have access to the resources they need. The resources I needed.
It is for this purpose that I started Band2Gthr, weband2gthr.com, with my good friend and fellow runner Jordan Morrow. We want to change the way we think and talk about depression. We want to create a community where it is safe to openly talk about mental illness without fear of judgment or reproach. We want to provide people with the resources they need.
To help draw attention to the effects and symptoms of depression and give hope to those dealing with it, I’m going to run. A lot.
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To my knowledge, no one has completed a solo unsupported attempt of crossing the Grand Canyon eight times: R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R. Or in other words: a quadruple double-crossing. I am sure there is a VERY good reason why this has not been done, however, in 2018 Christof Teuscher completed a supported solo quadruple in 2 days 10 hours, and 10 minutes.
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A single north-to-south rim-to-rim crossing on the Kaibab trail is 21 miles long with about 6kft of elevation gain. Going the opposite way results in about 5kft of elevation gain only. 8 crossings (el cuatro) thus adds up to 177 miles with about 44,000ft of elevation gain. Elevation-gain-wise, that is roughly equivalent to climbing Mt Everest 4 times (from base camp). Distance-wise, it would be about 14 Everests.
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After reading about the Iron Cowboy, James Lawrence, I was intrigued and wanted to do the only thing I knew how to do, which is to run. I know it seems counterintuitive to do something like this to raise awareness for mental health, but I have always been drawn to ideas that many think are not possible or insane
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The Grand Canyon is clearly a competitive stomping ground, as you can see from the list of major crossing records below. A complete and up-to-date list of all Grand Canyon records can be found at https://fastestknowntime.com/route/grand-canyon-crossings-az.
I will continue to post about my training as well as more information about this event. I will be live streaming part of it and you will be able to track me !
The planned start is on Saturday, May 15, 2021, around 9 am. I will start/finish at the North Kaibab trailhead and follow the South/North Kaibab trail because that is the shortest and the traditional route for records. Note that tracking does not always work reliably in the canyon.
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Sponsor of the Grand Canyon run
