FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Tribune News Service) — For centuries the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks, which tower over the high desert of northern Arizona, have held sacred meaning for more than a dozen Native American tribes. To the Navajo “the summit that never melts” was a place where deities lived. For the Hopi, the mountains provided life-giving rain and spiritual sustenance while the Havasupai’s creation story is centered on the four peaks, which they believed were at the center of the earth.
The mountain tops are no less divine to some who live in their shadows today. For decades, endurance athletes have been making the pilgrimage to Flagstaff, at the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, to live and train in the rarefied air more than a mile and a quarter above sea level. And the results have been breathtaking. “For a distance runner, there’s no place in the world like Flagstaff,” said Matt Baxter, who broke New Zealand’s national indoor record at 5,000 meters after moving to Arizona.
Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/sports/2024-07-19/olympic-distance-runners-flagstaff-training-14536217.html
Source – Stars and Stripes
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