Many people on the trail today.  I guess because Monday is a holiday, though not for us.  Lots of runners, or at least people running down (which happens to be of the worst things one can do for one's knees).  Time will tell if they run on the way out.

One unfortunate young woman with a huge backpack, a small day pack on her chest, and a tent and sleeping bag dangling from the aforementioned backpack.  Given five minutes I could have whittled her pack down at least 20 pounds.  One could feel sorry for her, except for the almost certainty that she shall abandon a lot of the stuff in the bottom. 

Thought a bit about the runner who beat the old rim-to-rim time.  It was just under four hours, and every time it was beat, the holder of the record, Al Cureton,  would go out and beat it again.  He insists that he is not a runner: just a very fast walker. 

However the record was broken, and both of them were in the newspaper.  Of course, running rim to rim in under four hours means that the runner

a) did not run into a mule train, or if he did, he didn't stop as hikers are supposed to. 

b) did not yield to uphill hikers (though what runners do, really?). 

c) took full advantage of the improved trail.  The North Kaibab used to vanish into a series of beaver dams about 4 miles upstream from Phantom Ranch, and it took even the most dedicated runner at least 10 minutes to thrash a way through.  It was rather amusing to sit beside the ponds and watch a runner confidently vanish into the shrubbery only to emerge, puzzled, and ask, "Isn't this the North Kaibab Trail?" 

A few years back a causeway was installed to protect the beavers, and coincidentally, to subtract about 10 minutes from every runner's time.  So I think Al's record stands, and I think of that every time a runner comes pounding through.