IBSADD

Listed in the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V -- currently in consultation, and not yet published, which is why you've never heard of it, doubters, and you know who you are!), it stands for Intervallic Black Sheep Adventurer Depressive Disorder. IBSADD is characterized by pervasive low mood, loss of interest/pleasure in the usual pleasurable activities, and an insatiable desire for powdered recovery drink stirred with a Nutter Butter ("Butter Nutter" if you're German), other people's french fries, and floppy hats. "Intervallic" because it persists strongly only in the period of time between two events:

1. The last Epic Black Sheep Adventure, which took place during the first week of August; and
2. The next Epic Black Sheep Adventure, to take place the first week of next August.

The interval stretches before me now at its longest. Too long to contemplate. Woe is me! I am consoled only by the fact that it will be shorter tomorrow, and even shorter the day after that. The pain will subside to a dull ache (assuming I don't asphyxiate on a Butter Nutter or that I haven't somehow misread the signs for a ruptured Appendix and end up dying on the way to the hospital or something). Anyway, this debilitating disorder is my excuse for not having posted about my trip until now.

Some Highlights

On the plane to Vegas, we got the Southwest flight attendant to do the safety demo with Courtenay's helmet on:Bryce was pretty damn cool...Riding through Zion National Park blew my mind...Hiking near sheer cliffs on the rest day, when I could hardly walk a straight line, was totally worth it...

...until I made it up past the switchbacks and got to the you'llneedtoholdontothesechainsforthispart section...At which point I was one of a very small number of the group who turned around.

I was not made to happily look over ledges. I get dizzy. Which is not good on ledges and such. Not good.

So anyway, there were spectacular storms with thunder and lightning, beautiful rainbows -- at one point leaving Marble Canyon, it was raining, yet sunny, so I said, "that means there must be a rainbow somewhere!' and Mark told us to turn around, and there it was. An entire rainbow. End to end. But of course my camera battery had died early that morning, so here:

And we drank lots of beer! In Utah! (Can't believe you were worried there'd be no beer.)
..hung out at the Grand Canyon's north rim on scary ledges and such, and then watched a storm roll in (afternoon storms are common this time of year, and they kept the unbearable heat out, which was great)...




















And took turns getting our Floppy Hat portraits taken by esteemed photojournalist C. Redis (and whoever took her photo...maybe the bear?), who appears suggestively below in pink:

And I won all the week's races except for one (of which I won the first stage, it must be noted), excluding all the people who didn't count on any particular day, and including all the other people who didn't know/care that we were racing.

And then I got home and (depressedly) ran 10.5 miles the other day like it was nothing. Because we'd been cycling, hiking, and sleeping at 10,000 feet!