Norteños at the New York City Marathon

Smyth - US Mountain Running Champ

The New York Marathon kinda got lost in the madness that was the World Series and election combo last week.

It was a fine race up front and a fantastic race for American athletes. US finishers took six of the first eleven places on the men's side, including former La Cueva High standout and UNM alum Shadrack Biwott in 5th (2:12:01), and Santa Fe based pro Patrick Smyth in 10th (2:16:34).

Biwott at NYC

Pat ran a minute faster at February's Olympic Marathon Trials, finishing 8th - 3 secs back of 7th place Shadrack Biwott. Seems to be a thing with these two. I'd think Shadrack ought to probably spring for the tab if they ever hang out. For what's its worth I raced Pat back in May and he got the best of me. We squared-up with a few hundred other runners at the Jemez Mountain Trail Run and the dude put me in his wake by an hour+ over a 13mi course. I'm going with a strategy of patience and I think I'll close the gap over another 15yrs when he doesn't see me coming.


On the women's side the Americans fared quite well again with three in the top ten, but I was mostly focused on gold medal triathlete and CPA Gwen Jorgensen in her first attempt at the distance. She faded to 14th overall, 6th American (2:41:01), however I'm going to imagine she had the tax liability on her winnings calc'ed out before crossing the line and that counts for something in my book.

Additional notes and connections: Molly Huddle finished 3rd overall (2:28:13), notable here because she was a college teammate of Smyth's at Notre Dame. Prior to Biwott's 5th place finish, fellow Oregon alum Ken Martin ran to a 2nd place finish in 1989 (2:09:38). Ken lived and trained in Santa Fe in the year(s) leading up to that performance. The best finish at NYC by a New Mexican local was of course Tony Sandoval, (2:12:12) for 6th overall in 1981. Tony passed over both Oregon and Notre Dame to run for Stanford.

Ken Martin in '89 besting Italy's Olympic gold medalist, Bordin

NYC Results - 2016

Related Posts:
 - New York's Incredible High Line Park (2013)
 - NYC Marathon - Race Report (2011)
 - New Mexicans at the Olympic Trials Marathon (2016)

Santa Fe's First Snow of the Season - 2016

Aspen Vista Trail - Sun. Nov 6
courtesy Eric Peters

The season's first snow arrived on the peaks one weekend past. Last year myself and the family were out of state at a wedding and this year I was in baseball euphoria after the Cubs win, but let's not let a timing issue keep us from adding the new data to the list. 

We've tracked the mountains' first snow fall each year back to 2010. This year's snow fell in the high-country on Sat. and Sun. of our last weather event (Nov 5th and 6th). From the many images of folks up running, biking, and skiing it looked like accumulations of up to 6"- 8" 

The date of this year's first snow is on the later end of our trend the last seven years. Weather reports are predicting a dry El Nino winter and my hope is that these calls are based in nonsense and professional incompetence. 

Moar snow plz. 



Related Posts:
 - Santa Fe's First Snow 2015 - Oct. 21st
 - SFe's First Snow 2014 - Oct. 21st
 - SFe's First Snow 2013 - Oct. 12th
 - SFe's First Snow 2012 - Nov. 16th
 - SFe's First Snow 2011 - Sep. 10th
 - SFe's First Snow 2010 - Nov. 10th