Muralistas and the Taos Gorge

Alright, I'm busy and was going to flake on a Friday post but I was goaded into it by one of my many readers.

Glance to your left there and you will see an image of the badass mural on Guadalupe St. I really enjoy Mexican-influenced Chicano-style murals, I wish I knew who the artist was. This mural is a particular favorite of mine with the Taos Gorge and the southern Colorado peaks on the right of the timeline. It says to me, 'where have you been, don't you want to come play?'. Conversely it tells me, 'it's alright if you're busy, we'll be here for another 100,000 years, there will be time'. I hope they never paint over this mural.

A few observations and notes for the weekend:

• Great issue of The Mountain Gazette out recently with a big snowy dog on the cover. It's the dog issue naturally. Lots of funny dog photos and dog inspired outdoors writing. There's also a giant photo advertisement for Shred White & Blue featuring the smiling couple of Justin Nyberg and Leah Gallant. Caught me off guard while I was flipping pages - wait, I know those people!..

• Sipapu is hosting the Black Diamond annual Telefest telemark Festival tomorrow and Sunday (Mar 12/13). There will be demos, clinics, tours, a race (with prizes including new skis), and a film screening. All events are free. The event coincides with spring break (spring what?) and the first annual Micro Brew Ski Week, specials, tastings, and giveaways all week. Telefest sounds cool if we had more snow, but micro-brew week might even that out some.

• Jacob over at the Santa Fe Trail Runner has a terrific post up this week not about which beers aid best in recovery, but rather about incorporating a pub crawl of area breweries into his trail marathon training. He bookends his weekend pub crawl with a long run to get used to training on tired legs and exhaustion. This marvel of a post includes illustrative photos and a listing of recommended beer selections as well as which ones to avoid. What a guy. Cheers to sacrificing the body for endurance training research. This would be a shoe-in for the running post of the week, but we'll have to go with this one which includes a photo of his new daughter Viola Ashley. Congrats man.

• And lastly, a video sent to me of the Cross Country Skiing World Championships in Norway this last week. The race is the men's sprint relay. First thing to notice, these guys are motoring at a comical speed. I was shocked at how fast these guys are moving, and in comparison how pathetically slow I am. Second thing to notice, there are tens of thousands of spectators howling at these racers from the sidelines. Why do they even bother holding the winter Olympic Games outside of northern Europe? That is their home. Are they too good for their home? The only guy I know in the race is Norway's anchor Petter Northug, the best skier on the planet and the guy that's going to deliver for the Norwegians. The Canucks apparently see things differently and ice these guys (and the Finns, and the Swedes, and the Ruskies) in front of a stunned home crowd. North America ftmfw. Incredible finish.

Be awesome this weekend.