Craft Beer in New Mexico

This evening is the first annual Santa Fe Summer Brew at the Railyard Plaza. Sort of a follow-up on several successful area beer-garden events in the last few years presented by the New Mexico Brewers Guild (see: 2011's WinterBrew). Herman and I, and a few of our other traildog buddies plan to be there lingering about, sampling the merchandise as it were.

In a very timely article, New Yorker Magazine has compiled and published some interesting figures just this week about the meteoric growth of the craft beer industry over the last few years. There are currently 2,360 breweries (not including brew-pubs) in the U.S., up from just 79 in the 1980's. In a very cool interactive graph the magazine pulled together you can see that New Mexico is the home to 27 small brewer/bottlers, more than half of which will be at tonight's Summer Brew event. This collection of craft brewers ranks NM 26/50 states, and together they produced 48,000 barrels of hops flavored go-juice last year which ranks us 31/50 states. New Mexico's craft brewery to population ratio is even more impressive, 6.6 per 500,000 residents - which slots us 12th out of the 50 states.

Other interesting facts: The largest craft brewers by production are Sam Adams (Boston, MA), Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA), and New Belgium (Fort Collins, CO). A list of the 50 largest breweries by volume can be browsed in the click-through graphic.

Cool inter-active craft brewery figures by state. Disregard the unintentional focus on the state of Texas.

Related Posts:
  - Drink Beer - Support Local SF Trails
  - Santa Fe WinterBrew
  - New Belgium Brewery and Their Awesome Beer



View New Mexico Craft Beer in a larger map

2013 Corrida de los Locos - Race Report

Off the line - with horse and Smith & Wesson escort
copyright M. Mujynya, photo album at Smugmug.com

Distance: 5 miles
Location: Santa Fe, south hills

It's hard for me to turn down the opportunity to lace up for a cross-country race, so there I found myself this weekend competing at the annual Corrida de los Locos. I had decided to get out and race not because my training had been going well, but rather because there was no training and there hadn't been any for a few months now and so I reasoned to myself, 'this could be like training'. What better reason to get started? Get out there, mix it up, get the ball rolling for 2013.

Right, well true to any reasonable expectation my race was a classic crash and burn. I fidgeted around most of the way trying to find a comfortable pace knowing full well that I wouldn't find one. There was some fun bursts of racing though. Half mile in I realized I was in no-man's land, running in between the lead pack of five and a group several meters back. Not a great place to be, so I snapped out of it and got myself back onto the tail of the lead pack. From here I could see (or rather hear) that I was working harder than the other five combined. I lost contact over a series of rolling hills and was off the back. At least I was now free and clear of the chase group.

Myself and Herman in the opening stretch. All smiles when the legs are fresh.
copyright M. Mujynya, photo album at Smugmug.com

That first mile was passed in near six minutes, after which I clung dearly to the giant gap of nothing that opened before me over the next four miles. The result was a close approximation of the old high school sprint-and-fade. I was nearly caught from behind by a hard-charging Chad Thompson over the last third of the course which kept me driving on with an honest effort. There's little honor in suffering for several miles only to give it all away in site of the finish line.

All in all a fine day out on the llano, the sizeable Caja del Rio plateau looming to the west. Mike Rahmer took the overall in a time of 29:52, followed closely by Donovan Lucero. Noel Prandoni claimed the womens overall in 34:50, followed by Maureen Nowels in second. Full results can be found at the event webpage.

Overall	Finisher	Time
1	Mike Rahmer	29min 52sec
2	Donovan Lucero	30:12
3	Antonio Lopez	31:03
4	Mike Ehrmantraut	31:29
5	Chester Topple	32:02
6	Kevin Brennan	34:07
7	Chad Thompson	34:11
8	Ken Gordon	34:22
9	Noel Prandoni	34:50
10	Herman Agoyo	35:14
11	Russel Nowels	36:04
12	Zachary Montoya	36:20
13	Maureen Nowels	36:35
14	Richard Iverson	36:40
15	Steve Rogers	36:53
16	Elizabeth Lopez	37:19
17	David Garrett	37:28
18	Jeremy Yang	37:34
19	Tony Gallegos	37:59
20	Amy Gordon	38:19
21	Sheila Van Cuyk	38:31
22	Alden Hoskie	38:53
23	John Holton	39:14
24	Erin Sindewald	39:51
25	Tori Quintana	40:11
26	Ben Allison	40:28
27	John Caskey	40:43
28	Mark Dalten	40:49
29	Stephen Stout	40:50
30	Jan Bear	41:47

A bit more about this fine race and its twenty-eight years:  The first Corrida I ran was way back in 1991. I remember this because I had the shirt for years and years before the Desert Babe established a house rule that running shirts that date back to high school are to be retired. I remember that it was out north of town rather than it's current location and also that I ran in my track spikes that year because I reasoned that it would help in the snow (..and look cool). This was a very poorly thought out and painful decision. Yay for awkward running memories!! Share your own in the comments if you'd like.

Max has posted some terrific images of the race at SmugMug.com here. There's a few hundred action shots to browse, download, or order prints. It cost me $1.49 to download the images above. Revenue from the photos is directed to the Santa Fe Striders Running Club.

Related Links: 
 -  2011 Corrida Race Report
 -  2013 New Mexico Trail Racing Calendar



View Corrida de los Locos in a larger map

Santa Fe WinterBrew

Last night was the first annual Santa Fe WinterBrew, a craft beer festival featuring breweries from around the state in conjunction with the second annual Santa Fe Winter Fiesta. It’s a crying shame that I forgot the camera because this thing was freaking awesome.

Sid and I arrived at 630pm and stood in line for a half hour to get in, by then the commemorative pint glasses were long gone. I was told they had 570 glasses on hand and something like 1500 people showed up over the course of the evening. This was at the Farmer’s Market Pavilion, the place was past capacity at 630pm to allow anyone else in. Holy shitballs! Along with the breweries and beer we naturally saw a ton of people – Tom and Sheila, Palmer and Lanell, Scott Hussion and Tommy Olsen from the ‘hood, Kennedy and his new family, and Herman who was walking the queue outside handing out discount passes. I think just about everyone in town under the age of 40 had to have been there. I’d never seen anything like it. 

Packed the house - Santa Fe Farmer's Market Pavilion

Some recognition for our namesake High Desert Brewing out of Las Cruces who brew a fine Anniversary Ale IPA

Waiting to get in, Sid and I were sincerely concerned that the beer would run dry since the place was such a zoo. Thankfully it did not. We bought ourselves some pint glasses at the Blue Heron Brewing table and proceeded to sample just about all the stouts and porters brewed in the state of New Mexico. Most were outstanding. Chama River Brewing was exceptional. I tried a couple of Black IPAs - something I’d never heard of or even seen before - from the Santa Fe Brewing Co. and Tractor Brewing Co. out of Los Lunas. These were far and away the winning beers from where I was standing. Tom Anderson insisted that the Turtle Mountain Brewing IPA had no equal. I respect Tom but he was clearly misinformed. 

This event, without question needs to be repeated next year. And they need to double the size of the venue to fit everyone inside. Beer plus snow is an unstoppable combination, the lack of photos does not do it justice. Apparently there was an after-party at Second Street Railyard that must have been fun (and rowdy) as all hell. Sad to have missed it.

Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - 2011

Big Tesuque 2011, Hadji, Eric and Mike lead out the field

Big T baby! Alright, what a fun morning. We had a damn fine group up there on Saturday, terrific weather and a whole lot of blue sky and scenery. From the looks of the pre-race crowd I figured we'd have a larger than normal field of racers but in the end we were about even with previous years. This preserves the ratio of coffee and burritos per racer so no harm done.

Well, it was obvious from the time of the starter's instructions how this thing was going to play out. Bernard Langat had come up to run and was the de facto champion before the gun even sounded. Former champion and trail racing royalty Rachael Cuellar as well as three time Big Tesuque champ Mike Ehrmantraut were in the field so there were the likely women's champ and men's runner-up. Eric Peters was lined up, Joachim Marjon was there, mountain-runner Jacob Waltz, Antonio Lopez, the esteemed Dave Simpson, Matt Dreier, and my ghost from last year Andres Santiago of Flagstaff was back. I talked with ultra-runner Ruthanne Hamrick, Caldera marathon runner-up Whitney Dreier, Erin Sindewald, Mariam Browne, Liz Jaramillo-Lopez, and Erica Micander. Who else showed up to run? You never quite know who's lurking at the start of one of these things.

Dale, supervising registration - photos by Max Mujynya

As for myself, I'd been off my feet a bit coming into the week but had my eyes on crushing the ascent. The downhill section would have to be a wait-and-see type of deal. A steep and technical downhill of pain and uncertain footing was not really going to help with the foot injury I'd been nursing. Last year the descent destroyed me, pretty much ending my running for several months. Ok, well with the gun, off we went. I eased on up the trail and found myself toward the front without much effort. I ran for a bit near Rachael and thought she might just be taking it easy over the first section, but we hit the first mile in 8:22 so it seemed we were both moving well. Feeling good, I just hammered away with my choppy little climbing stride at what felt like 200rpms. After the first couple miles Rachael had set up 50m ahead of me, Joachim was another 80m or so beyond her. The gaps didn't seem to move much the rest of the way up.

Liz Jaramillo-Lopez and William Ek leading a pack of runners at mile 1 - photos by Max Mujynya

Here's one of myself on the escalator lined in gold - photos by Max Mujynya

I was trying to get in a hard workout for the first time in several weeks and for that reason never did glance back to see what was behind me. I know that someone bridged a gap and ran up on my heels at around mile 3. It rankled that I was running slow enough to be caught so I boosted my turnover for a few minutes and the footfalls were gone. It probably took some work for whomever it was to move up onto my hip, and then when he arrived and could get a bit of rest I pressed ahead. That had to have sucked badly for him. However it made me feel like badass Clubber Lang handing out a beating. That happy thought carried me to the top and past the now descending front-runners. Bernard came jogging past near the chairlift. Mike came by at the steep hairpin. Joachim closer to the towers, then Rachel right up near the turn-around.

Assorted wildlife

At the mountain edge my watch stopped at 55m30s, my best climb by 2min. Fantastic except that I didn't think I'd be ahead of so many people at this point. If I could help it I'd rather stay ahead of them all until the finish. Quite the dilemma I'd found myself in. It started to slip away from me fairly quickly though. I lost my legs around mile 8, they just didn't have the miles in them to control the fast decent and I wasn't very confident that they could prevent a stumble or fall. I had to focus pretty keenly on the footfalls and keeping my strides and pace under control. Soon after, Mike Rahmer out of Albuquerque came blazing by with a long powerful stride and just disappeared. I felt an unpleasant bonk coming on and stopped for several cups of gatorade at the water stop at mile 9.5. Jake Lawrence and Andres Santiago sped by together as I stood there like a rube. Back on the trail I closed the gap on those two over the next mile, and then Andres jetted away out of view. As the trail leveled out a bit in the last mile I was able to sprint a few of the flat sections without the worry of falling on my face. I closed pretty well on Jake but ran out of real estate, but so did the guy behind me which I figured had to be Waltz. It was Waltz.

Bernard on the descent - photos by Max Mujynya

Rachael a few places back in fourth - photos by Max Mujynya

Whitney Dreier with the aptly named Aspen Peak in the distance - photos by Max Mujynya

Ok, good showing. My foot seemed stable and wasn't all jacked-up. I hadn't fallen hard on a bunch of rocks which is a big plus, and I had climbed strongly and avoided a complete tank on the descent. That's a pretty good hand son, maybe a full house. Mile splits on the way up were something like: 1/ 8:22, 2/ 10:00, 3/ 10:00, 4/ 9:30, 5/ 9:20, 5.9/8:18, descent/ 37:00.

Seeing that Bernard finished in a fast - but not record fast - time of 1hr 21min I asked him if he had been running hard. "No, no," he said (he's been running the trail all summer and reportedly put up a 1hr13m run in that time). He was getting in a workout for upcoming pacing duties at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in two weeks. 81minutes on that trail is quick (the quickest time in the last 10yrs is 78min), and he took home some pottery and a certificate for a free pair of trail shoes from Alpine Sports. Joaquim Marjon moved into second on the downhill section, Mike Ehrmantraut finished third. Rachael ran away with her second women's title in roughly the same time she put up in 2009, 1hr 31min which is near the women's alltime record. The turn-around at the towers has moved a bit since the '09 race adding an extra minute to course times. She also received a trophy and free pair of trail shoes. Albuquerque's Stefanie Tierney held on for second, and Santa Fe's Whitney Dreier closed for third.

There were a number of falls in this year's race and the EMTs had their hands full. I know that Chris Chavez took a tumble, as did Kevin from Carlsbad, as did Vince Hesch, as did about a half a dozen others. No broken bones it seemed but possibly a few scrapes requiring stitches. Hope everyone was feeling a bit better the day after. 

Pete Fant did another standout job directing the event, his 14th straight year, and our fine sponsors provided support, race donations, and awards: Alpine Sports, San Francisco St. Bar & Grill, Santa Fe Screen Printers, Souder Miller Engineering and Survey, Paseo Pottery, The Santa Fe Striders, The Running Hub, Java Joes, and the Santa Fe Baking Company. Race proceeds, as always, benefit WINGS of America running club. Hope to see you all again next year.

Annie McCoy, Melissa Smith, & Mariam Johnston - photos by Max Mujynya

                                        Overall Results - Big Tesuque Trail Run 2011

Finish	Name	Time
1.	Bernard Langat,	1:21:39
2.	Joachim Marjon,	1:27:07
3.	Mike Ehrmantraut,	1:27:48
4.	Mike Rahmer,	1:30:45
5.	Rachael Cuellar (W1)	1:31:21
6.	Andres Santiago,	1:31:42
7.	Jake Lawrence,	1:32:22
8.	Kevin Brennan,	1:32:27
9.	Jacob Waltz,	1:32:49
10.	Hadji Corona	1:33:39
11.	Peter Vigneron	1:34:17
12.	Eric Peters	1:37:13
13.	Matt Dreier	1:38:24
14.	David Schoenwald	1:39:32
15.	Dale Hoskisson	1:40:00
16.	Antonio Lopez	1:40:46
17.	Kyle Dickmen	1:41:32
18.	Dave Simpson	1:41:41
19.	Robert Baker	1:42:06
20.	Vinnie Kelley	1:42:51
21.	Stefanie Tierney (W2)	1:42:54
22.	Herman Agoyo	1:43:11
23.	Chester Tepple	1:45:20
24.	Philippe Muller	1:46:51
25.	Jeremy Milligan	1:48:41
26.	Dan Tallon	1:49:19
27.	Alden Hoskie	1:51:01
28.	Brandon Johnson	1:51:05
29.	John Wilp	1:51:21
30.	Ty Lujan	1:51:39
31.	Whitney Dreier (W3)	1:52:17
32.	Jose Nava	1:52:50
33.	Laura McClellan	1:52:57
34.	Erin Sindewald	1:53:53
35.	Mariam Browne	1:53:58
36.	Shawn Edwards	1:54:00
37.	William Dearholt	1:54:23
38.	Vine Hesch	1:54:56
39.	Luke Washburn	1:55:56
40.	Ruthanne Hamrick	1:55:58

Full results and Max's photo albums can be found here

Waltz has his race report up here:
2011 Big Tesuque Trail Run

Last year's race report can be found here:
Big Tesuque - 2010






View Aspen Vista Trail (Big Tesuque Trail), Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Big Tesuque Trail Run Preview

Myself, the triple chair, and the valley below

It's that Big Tesuque time of year. A fine time. My initial try at a race preview was defeated by Comcast and their network of doom. I'm good for a second effort though. A quick look back then before writing up today's race report.

Herman and I got up on the trail at the end of August. It was beautiful. Don't think we saw many people up high but the trailhead was packed on our return. I think it was Herman's first time up on Aspen Vista which sounded ridiculous to me. I just don't believe you sir! A conversation about the strange lack of wildlife up there was followed by a deer sighting, a little family of grouse (ptarmigan) that scooted by, and then a noisy group of wild turkey hanging out in the trees. It snowed up there the following weekend.

Herman at the summit, with (l-r) Baldy, Deception Peak, and Penitente

New Mexico's highest outhouse, just below the towers (11,950ft). Reassuring to
know that that fellow stands guard up there just in case duty calls.

Good stuff. Well, we made it up there once again this last Sunday to make sure we were familiar with all the turns and rock-placements. No sign of the wildlife or the snow. We scouted the trail with a group of the Santa Fe Striders, Jim brought paint to spot and mark up the old mile markers stakes for Saturday's race. Chatted it up with Herman and Todd, Vinnie, Syd, Mariam, Sheila and her dog Kaya. We saw Vince Hesch up there on his way down. Made the summit in 1hr8min and down in 2hr which were the exact times Herman and I had done four weeks earlier. What are the odds of that happening? Pretty badass. Another nice day to be up in the Hills.

Striders crew hiding in a wind-shadow at the tower out-building

My man Uffe, originally from Denmark, rocking the minimalist gear at the summit. The guy is a seriously legit minimalist runner. He stood up there at the summit and gave us all grief about our weak-assed running shoes. Tough crowd.

Ok this was more a collection of recent Aspen Vista trail stories than a race preview. For a better preview head over to Jacob's writeup at SantaFeTrailRunner - Big Tesuque Trail Run Preview (9/25).

For last year's race report try:   
Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - Oct 2nd, 2010

For a list of recent top times, maps, and other stuff try here:
SF Striders - Big Tesuque Trail Run Page

random photo of wild turkeys

a grouse and its characteristic sinister disposition

View Big Tesuque Trail - Aspen Vista Trail in a larger map

Fall Racing Has Arrived - Santa Fe

Last week I'd wanted to post a few upcoming races. I procrastinated and now two of those races have come and gone. I figure I'll post them anyway along with race reports.

1.  So the Taos Up-and-Over 10K Trail Run was run Saturday. Kind of a new race, in its third year and really tough. The race is a good lead in to the major Fall trail events including Pikes Peak, Imogene, and Big Tesuque. Waltz was up there repping Santa Fe, and bettered his previous year finish with a fifth overall placing (his race report). Nicely done sir.

(Update 8/22) Looks like my pal Herman ran the race as well, finishing 18th, 10min back of Jacob. Herman tells me he ran off course at mile 4, had to climb back up to the junction, and ended up five places back. That pretty much bites on a course as tough as that one. 

  2.  Sunday was the inaugural running of the Pecos Giddy-Up. The folks out there put on a half-marathon, 10K, and 5K. I was excited about the half but apparently not excited enough to properly set my alarm. Race report follows below.

  3.  Coming up this weekend, Sat. Aug 20th is the 37th Annual Los Alamos Triathlon. I thought maybe I'd sneak into this since I didn't run the Santa Fe Triathlon in July, but it's not going to happen for me, (this might as well be my mantra for this summer's racing season).

  4.  The Old Santa Fe Trail Run 10K/5K is scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, Mon. Sep. 5^th Sun. Sep. 4th. A nice, heavily attended run starting and finishing at the State Capitol Bldg here in Santa Fe. The course runs out and back on Old Santa Fe Trail and is not a trail run. I may run this if I'm in town. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be in town though.

   5.  The inaugural Buffalo Thunder Half Marathon, 10K/5K  is scheduled for Sun. Sep. 18^th. This race ought to be great, a legitimate destination event right here in town. Top area runner Antonio Lopez, Joseph Karnes ('96 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier, and former Big Sur Marathon board member), and Pojoaque's Abraham Kosgei, have put this race together with a large budget, corporate sponsors, cash awards, billboard advertising, and the works. How can you not jump into this race just to say you ran the first year? I need this half-marathon as a tune-up for November so I'm in. Sign-up is $50 through 8/30. $60 afterward to race day.

   6.  The 26^th Annual Big Tesuque Trail Run is Sat. Oct. 1^st. This race is awesome and is Santa Fe's home trail running course. I will be there rocking face, re-telling unsubstantiated tales of glory, and re-living questionable brushes with death. This year my goal will be not to get beat down by 48yr old dudes from Los Alamos.

  7.  Lastly, Pajarito Trail Fest in Los Alamos. I don't know whether this race is planned to be on this year or not with the surrounding fire damage from Los Conchas. But if it's a go it is scheduled for the 8th and 9th of October.

Alright, regarding the above mentioned Pecos Giddy-Up:  I had planned to run the half, but woke up about thirty minutes late (or like an hour late). In a huff, I drove out there and managed to *just* get myself into the 10K. I actually missed the start by a couple minutes and watched everyone run by as I pinned my bib onto my shorts. Then, because I primarily wanted to know what kind of shape I'm in, I ran 300m back to the starting line, clicked the timer on my watch, and one-eighty-ed back onto the course to chase everyone down. I've been running tempos on the track so the speed and turnover over the first couple miles felt not-too-bad. Usually these things hurt like hell. I caught all but the top four guys by the turn-around at 5K. I had to involuntarily cut the turn-around short by about 20m because of a couple pissed off Pecos dogs that had determined that that extra 20m was to be invite only. 

The pace up till then felt hard but controlled and I eventually caught my friend Chris Chavez and chatted with him about next week's Pikes Peak Marathon. Chris is a regular on both the Sat. Pikes Ascent and the Sun. PPMarathon - which means he is a stone-cold badass. I was telling Chris that I don't know how he completes that annual double without getting hurt, let alone on the marathon descent itself. That thing is treacherous. As I was saying this I put my foot through the loop of my other set of shoelaces and abruptly disappeared from the conversation (poof!), eating pavement on a perfectly level, paved road. Well I recovered from that hiccup, fixed my damn laces, and then eventually hammered home the last mile for a 40min 5sec finish. That's five seconds short of my first sub 40min 10K in probably 10 years, (plus or minus 40meters).

What grated on me was that because I slept-in I was going to have to get out and put in another 12miles later in the afternoon to get in the equivalent of my Sunday long run. Thankfully Nunez agreed to swing by the house and tow me along for part of his long run. I don't know if a weird double like that is a smart or acceptable way to get in your weekly long run, but I can tell you that it made me reeeeally sore.

And with that, my current block of marathon training is in full effect.

Weekly training mileage:

61mi, with 3 workouts (including the 10K), 3 doubles, 1 rest day, and a long run of 12mi.

Previous week's mileage was;  69mi, with 2 workouts, 2 doubles, long runs of 12mi and 17mi.

Fall Marathon Training Log  

Related Post:  Fall Marathon Training I

Trail Running on Winsor - Santa Fe

Lower Winsor

Got in a run up at Winsor Trail this weekend, starting in blowing snow and finishing in a glowing pink sunset. My gimpy leg has been coming around and I've tentatively started running on it once again. I first tested it out on the Spur Trail with Herman a few weeks ago, and again with Antonio on Museum Hill and St. John's. Eh, I seemed to be fine but I could still feel the tendinitis sort of lingering, this after four months without any kind of running. I was walking with a limp back in October and sort of thought I was going to need surgery so I'm counting this as progress.

Storm in the hills above Tesuque

Mud not cooperating with an otherwise fine day

Mud and snow

I gotta keep the running to a minimum so what I figured I'd do to get in a decent outing was ride out to Bishop's Lodge/Winsor - run up along the trail and back - and ride home. My bike computer is smashed but it was 45min (~8mi) each way via the RailTrail and Bishop's Lodge Rd, and a very moderate half hour trail run up to the Chamisa Meadows and then back down.

It was cold as hell and the wind was blowing when I left the house. Snow was falling by the time I passed by SDC Mountain Works. Felt pretty tough riding up Bishop's Lodge Rd. and the views of the snow coming down in the foothills were a pleasant sight. The snow-mud combination near Bishop's Lodge suuuuhcked. Climbed a bit then changed into my running shoes and locked the bike up behind some trees. Up, up, up. Saw nobody up there of course.

The Big Tesuque in winter

Creek window

The Tesuque Creek stream crossings were bridged with ice which was pretty sweet, I guess it had been a while since the last time I was up there. The muffling effect of the snow made it so that all I could hear was the tumble of the stream, my breathing, and my footfalls. Returning down the trail, the clouds broke and revealed a sunset more spectacular than the run. It can be tough living in New Mexico.

Got a little snowy up there before the meadows

Sunset on cottonwoods

 Blue Corn Brewery Stout for recovery

Related Links
 - Trail Running Santa Fe Baldy and Three Peaks

 - Chamisa Trail
 - La Piedra Trail

View Winsor Trail w/ Rail Trail Approach in a larger map

Moonlight Skiing the Valles Caldera - Rescheduled

The Valles with better conditions and clearer skies

Tried to take advantage of the full moon this weekend with some moonlight skiing in the Valles Caldera. Ran into a couple unforseen problems - 1) The moon was obscured by clouds until after 9pm, 2) There was little skiable snow after a week of 60degree temps, 3) There was a howling wind storm. We did note a Nordic trailhead just east of the Valles on Highway 4 for future outings (conditional on a few winter storms). Christina and I bailed on the skiing/hiking and ended up at the Canyon Bar, notable because it's the first bar of any kind I've found in Los Alamos after a month of active searching. This place was awesome, a dive bar in the truest sense albeit with Sierra Nevada, Fat Tire, and Deschutes on tap.  Maybe not the place to grab a bite to eat though. After a beer we went down the road to the Los Alamos Sonic (possibly the best place to eat in L.A. aside from El Parasol), a must-stop for their hot fudge sundaes and onion rings.

Other notes from the weekend -

• I got out for my first run of the year on Saturday. Herman and I ran six miles out-and-back on the Spur Trail. The weather was great, there was some severe head-winds on a couple small stretches to test our strength. The legs feel sore in a way that swimming and biking can't replicate. It was very nice to be back out on the running trails although there was a bit of anxiety. Hopefully the body will cooperate and respond well.
• The Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon was held Saturday out in Grants. Colorado athletes stole the show with a 1-2-3 finish in the Men's solo division (3hr 33min won the overall), and 1-2 in the women's solo. Tamsen Schurman of El Prado held the last podium spot for New Mexico with a 4hr 55min finish good for third place.
• The US Indoor Track & Field Championships is being held in Albuquerque this coming weekend, not that you'd know that from any marketing or advertising or pretty much anything. I plan to be there at least for Sunday's events.
• I've been rocking to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones this week, but their videos suck badly. So I'll leave you with The Selecter who also knock out some high cadence tunes. These guys help me get my attitude straight if I find myself procrastinating before a workout. Rock more, procrastinate less.

Spur Trail Out and Back - Santa Fe

Santa Fe Spur Trail
Terrain:  Hardpack dirt and sand
Elevation:  6800' at trailhead, 200 ft of net climbing
Distance:  6 miles round trip

***

Ran the Spur Trail on Saturday with Herman.  A beautiful afternoon but a little windy.  Herman was coming from a professional conference, on a weekend.  The guy is dedicated. I had spent most of my morning in the yard, moving firewood under the portal and emptying the rain barrels for the winter.

Herman with Tetilla Peak on the horizon

Naturally our conversation turned to football, notably, how Oregon has risen through the ranks to be the number one college football team in the country.  It's one thing that their running program has the backing of Nike and Phil Knight, but now their football program does too. A real spectacle. Oregon was Stanford's only loss of the year which is upsetting to Herman.  Stanford destroyed Notre Dame in South Bend last month which is upsetting to myself.  Oregon even stole coach Vin Lananna from Stanford's storied cross-country programs.  Unseemly.

Looking west from the Rail Trail

This brought us around to a brighter subject, both UNM Lobos teams ran to Mountain West Regional Championships that morning, beating powerhouse Colorado, BYU, and Northern Arizona teams.  The wins follow one week after sweeping both Conference team titles. This we determined, was freaking amazing.  Santa Fean Shawna Winnegar ran on the women's squad as their seventh runner Sat.  There are several area runners on the men's side, none of whom suited up Saturday (Pecos' Victor Ortiz, the Pittman bros from Los Alamos, and Santa Fe's Luis Chavez who was battling injury this fall in a walk-on attempt).  Both teams are currently ranked fifth nationally going into Monday's (11/22) NCAA Championship race. 

After discussing the finer points of collegiate racing we ran on across some truly beautiful early winter landscapes.  The Spur Trail is built like a giant one lane road of glorious singletrack, one can just cruise along for long periods taking it all in.  Views stretch unbroken from the Sangre de Cristos to the Cerrillos mtns to the Sandias.

Starting from Richards Ave., the trail is just over 3mi to the Rail Trail, or just over 6mi for the round trip. For longer routes it's less than 2mi north to the Rabbit Rd trailhead from the Rail Trail junction or about 2mi south to the Nine Mile Rd. trailhead. A beautiful trail I think I'll need to ski a few times this winter.


Related Posts:
  - The Santa Fe Rail Trail
  - Arroyo Hondo Open Space
  - La Tierra Trails



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The Dale Ball Buster - Santa Fe, NM

Batman - followed by Herman and Chad Thompson

Sunday morning's Dale Ball Buster rumbled through the trails east of town free of incident.  The route circled the north Dale Ball Loop, then south on the east Dale Ball leg to the reservoirs, then up the north side of Picacho, up-and-over both Picacho and Atalaya mtns, and descending down to the St. John's arroyo. Distance of about 12.5 miles, the front group finished in about 2hr 15min although I don't know how hard they were hammering considering the cookie and gatorade stop along the way. 

Katie and Steve provide some last minute logistics

The New Balance crew was there with demo models - Gretel, Steve, & Craig

A cross-section of our somewhat costumed field

Thanks again to Steve and Katie for putting on the run and hosting the after-party.  Altogether we had a few missing faces but otherwise a regular who's-who of the local distance community.  The weather cooperated just long enough for the crowd to mill about and scarf down burgers and dogs provided by the Striders.  Prizes were given out by Wild Earth Guardians.

Our camera crapped-out at the finish line so with the exception of photos from the bbq, here's what we've got.

Photos:
 - Photo Album 1 - K. Brennan
 - Hadji Corona has a large photo album up here 
 - Jacob has a run report over at the Santa Fe Trail Runner here.

Related Posts:
  - Big Tesuque Trail Run - Race Report (10/2)
  - Pajarito Trail Fest - Jaguar XC Races
  - Pike's Peak Ascent - Race Report


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