It's been an interesting year at the office of Capital Region Psychological Services. Combined, its five therapists lost over 150 lbs in eight months; one of them gained a permanent, 0.025 ounce cardiac stent.

These fellas like to live life. They like adventure, introspection and being active. If you followed any one of them around for a week you'd learn they are as much alike as they are different. Having said that... and to no one's real surprise... another larger than life, cockamamie idea had been germinating at their office for a couple of months.

For several years, the Jogging LaBella Brothers had traversed various corners of the Grand Canyon with their ridge huggin' buddies. For years, Long Shots (now 63) had been running marathons from the Adirondack Mountains to Catalina. So, like peanut butter on jelly, the idea of running the Grand Canyon seemed to... well... go together.

OK. Let's get one thing straight. The wives of the Boys with things like LMSW, PhD and MD after their names weren't entirely onboard with this latest idea (yet). As for the Boys themselves... I Can Move Faster Then You Russ had some thoughts about how to complete the trip (running the Canyon; flying there and back) in 24 hours... Iron Al promised to consider a short exile into canyon life if he was allowed to jog carrying everyone's gear... Hockey Puck Mike swore he would go only on a dirt bike (which means he was out)... "g" was in (of course he has never run uphill)... and Long Shots was... well... convincingly taking the idea very seriously.

The History of How The Boys Started to Run Uphill Races -
2003 and the Race Up Mt. Washington (NH)

Mt. Washington is the tallest mountain on the east coast It's globally known for its erratic and harsh weather changes (any time of the day or year). It has an elevation gain of over 5000 feet on it's 7.5 mile toll road. Running this mountain race would be a bit challenging. What ever possessed Long Shots and his much younger son-in-law, Do-It-Dave, to enter this race in 2003 is beyond the thinking of most rationally minded folks. Unfortunately (?), they were first accepted into the race by lottery, and then informed by mail it was a mistake. In an effort to make amends, the Boys with Uphill Ambition were guaranteed shoe-ins for 2004 if they simply reapplied. They did. So, 2004 became the year for them to train to run ONLY up hill. From here... conversation about running a rim-to-rim-to-rim in the Grand Canyon became another likely challenge to consider.

2004 and "g's Decision to Run the Prospect Mt Race:
The Year of Outlandish Ideas for Running, Running ONLY Up Hill, Training and Losing Weight

Feeding off of each other's energy, the office Boys worked out regularly. They were losing pounds like kids lose pocket change. Collectively, they put so many miles on their sneakers that Asics opened a satellite store in their building. With the Mt. Washington race on the horizon for Long Shots and Do-It-Dave, the training frenzy became contagious.

The decision for "g" to run the Prospect Mt. Race in Lake George (5.67 miles; 1601 foot elevation gain) was an attempt to learn if he should ever (in his wildest dreams) consider running the Grand Canyon at some future time. For Long Shot's, running up Prospect MT was simply a training maneuver to warm-up for June's Mt. Washington race.

Congealing like fat on cold turkey soup, it seemed to make sense that if the idea of running the Grand Canyon was to have any real chance... at least for "g"... he'd first better try a little jaunt up a short peak... like, Prospect Mt. In terms of running the Grand Canyon, it was equally understood that while training to run up (out of the Canyon) was important, so was training to run down (into the Canyon).