La Luz Trail Run (2014) - Live Blog

The stairs of infinite sadness

La Luz, it's here once again. Now in its 49th year. Driving down with Leigland at 5am. A fair number of Santa Fe runners in the field this year which is something grand to look forward to.

The start list is no longer available, but when reading through it last week I recall Kris Houghton looks to defend his title up front. Simon Gutierrez is out, but Rickey Gates of Colorado is in. Gates is very good. Jesse Armijo and Dustin Martin look to be at the start as well. Jesse's back from injury; don't know much about Dustin's current status.

Erica Baron was originally wait-listed but I believe will be on the starting line. She is the one to beat in the women's field. Uncertain if Alexandra Darling will defend her title.

Additional pre-race comments were put up here.

We're going to use Twitter once again to post updates, photos, and results as the morning unfolds. The news feed below will capture traffic tagged with #laluztrailrun, anyone can post to the feed using the tag.

Bueno suerte y hasta la cumbre.

#laluztrailrun Tweets
Related Posts:
 - La Luz Start List 2014 - Pre race comments
 - La Luz Trail Run (2013) - Live Blog
 - La Luz Trail Run (2013) - Recap



View La Luz Trail Run - Albuquerque, NM in a larger map

La Luz Trail Run - Live Blog

Stairs of infinite sadness

I'll be out chasing fools up the La Luz Trail this Sunday. Getting after it by God. This being the granddaddy of New Mexico trail racing, the one with the greatest prestige and the one that boasts the literal chronological history of New Mexico's greatest champions. Happy to be a part of it once again. My current fitness foreshadows little but pain and humility - but a bit of grit, a stubborn will, a forced cadence and a barrage of ascending profanity - and I'm sure to show that mountain what time it is.

So I'm trying something different here. I thought it would be bad-as-hell to post updates, photos, and results as the race unfolds, so I rigged the Twitter feed below to capture traffic tagged with #laluztrailrun. In theory it ought to capture others' race observations and posted images too, something new compared with the usual race report, results list, or comment section activity. Make this badboy come alive I say. If it fails to do what it's designed to or if you're out-of-pocket on Sunday morning, you ought to be able to follow race updates here.

Race day favorites? Simon Gutierrez is on the entrants' list and aiming for a 12th title (yes, it feels awesome just to write that). Three time champ Kris Houghton will challenge. Dark horses are Ryan Fenton and Dustin Martin. There is actually a third champion on the men's starting list: One Anthony Sandoval of Los Alamos. He'll be re-tracing his victory and then course-record from 41 years ago, because the guy is a badass. Between them, these three own 30% of all men's La Luz titles over the last 49 years. The women's field appears to be wide open this year with the absence of Rachael Cuellar and Erica Baron. I'll highlight Vegas' Katrin Silva and Abq's Jean Herbert since these two can flat out climb.

Hasta Domingo.

Gutierrez' comical results page over at ultrasignup

2013 La Luz Trail Run

Tweets about "#laluztrailrun"

Related Posts:
- La Luz Trail Recap - 2013
- La Luz Registration Window Opens
- 2011 La Luz Results



View La Luz Trail Run - Albuquerque, NM 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

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

Pikes Peak Ascent Results - 2011

Big weekend in Manitou Springs. Results are in for today's Ascent, won by Mario Macias of Alamosa in 2:08:59. Albuquerque/Colorado Spring's Simon Gutierrez ran to a third place finish in 2hr18m. Crazy fast for any runner let alone the master's champion. The first New Mexican finisher I'm seeing is Andrew Hahn of Albuquerque in 113th, 3hr14m; Santa Fe's Matt Scarborough came through in 384th, 3hr49m; Meredith Schoenfeld finished 433rd, 3hr53m; and Chris Chavez came in at 587th, 4hr6m.

Live results for Sunday's Pikes Peak Marathon can be followed here:  "Almost Live" In-Progress Results

I'm heading out for a run in the hills, but was at Indian Market this morning and noticed this art market themed graffiti in an alley off Water St. A stylized native character with a paint can in hand, an horno billowing smoke, and an image I can't make out with an arrow head and dripping water. Decent street art and murals always get me fired up.




Related Post:   Pikes Peak Ascent - 2010 Race Report


ASCENT RESULTS - AUG 20, 2011

OVERALL
Place	Name		Sex	Age	Time	City	St
1	Mario	Macias	M	29	2:08:57	Alamosa,	CO
2	Tommy	Manning	M	35	2:15:43	Colorado Spgs	CO
3	Simon	Gutierrez	M	45	2:18:15	Colorado Spgs	CO
4	Jason	Delaney	M	31	2:20:03	Golden,	CO
5	Josh	Eberly	M	30	2:22:26	Gunnison,	CO
6	Rickey	Gates	M	30	2:22:58	Woody Creek	CO
7	Peter	Maksimow	M	32	2:27:24	Manitou Spring	CO
8	Jean	Pellissier	M	39	2:30:03	Saint Vincent	ITA
9	Alex	Nichols	M	26	2:32:04	Colorado Spgs	CO
10	Mark	Mayall	M	39	2:33:00	Maynard,	MA
11	Oscar	Roig	M	38	2:33:52	Lleida,	ESP
12	Kim	Dobson	F	27	2:34:07	Aurora,	CO
13	Chris	Grauch	M	38	2:34:40	Boulder,	CO
14	Oscar	Casal Mir	M	32	2:35:25		Andorra
15	Xavier	Martinez	M	37	2:36:57	Lleida,	ESP
16	Andy	Ames	M	48	2:37:45	Boulder,	CO
17	Mike	Kloser	M	51	2:38:56	Vail,	CO
18	Johannes	Rudolph	M	46	2:40:25	Boulder,	CO
19	Marc	Casal Mir	M	28	2:41:55		Andorra
20	Craig	Howie	M	34	2:42:33	Longmont,	CO
21	Martin	Mudry	M	24	2:42:35	University Hght	OH
22	Kraig	Koski	M	45	2:43:20	Longmont,	CO
23	Brad	Mitchell	M	41	2:47:42	Hailey,	ID
24	Stephen	Boedicker	M	24	2:47:51	Louisville,	KY
25	Cynthia	Arnold	F	27	2:48:21	Glenwood Spgs	CO
NEW MEXICO RESULTS
113	Andrew	Hahn	M	38	3:14:42	Albuquerque,	NM
227	Brad	Poole	M	41	3:32:39	Albuquerque,	NM
244	Gary	Toya	M	44	3:35:19	Jemez Pueblo	NM
284	Molly	Roberts	F	43	3:38:55	Albuquerque,	NM
287	Paul	Regalado	M	29	3:39:16	Alto,	NM
303	Mark	Crowley	M	55	3:41:54	Albuquerque,	NM
329	Jeff	Moore	M	41	3:44:34	Albuquerque,	NM
335	Paul	Yourick	M	52	3:45:06	Albuquerque,	NM
342	Bryan	Press	M	43	3:45:57	Albuquerque,	NM
365	Jan	Tarr	F	54	3:47:32	Socorro,	NM
384	Matthew	Scarborough	M	26	3:49:09	Santa Fe	NM
413	Julie	Lawrance	F	49	3:51:50	Albuquerque,	NM
433	Meredith	Schoenfeld	F	34	3:53:21	Santa Fe	NM
464	Nathan	Moody	M	35	3:56:06	Los Alamos	NM
479	Aimee	Hoyt	F	39	3:57:24	Placitas,	NM
480	Lisa	Duncan	F	30	3:57:26	Rio Rancho	NM
587	Chris	Chavez	M	52	4:06:47	Santa Fe	NM
624	Russell	Gysberg	M	49	4:09:02	Albuquerque,	NM
722	Andrea	Feucht	F	37	4:17:53	Cedar Crest	NM
732	Kathleen	Kamieniecki	F	48	4:19:13	Albuquerque,	NM
815	Bruce	Carlsten	M	53	4:25:27	Los Alamos	NM
840	Frederic	Moras	M	52	4:27:28	Ruidoso,	NM
869	Jay	Fenberg	M	64	4:29:17	Cloudcroft,	NM
872	Miki	Matsuo	F	41	4:29:25	Albuquerque,	NM
954	Eric	Schmierer	M	39	4:37:32	Los Alamos	NM
1114	Kristy	Ott-Meyer	F	53	4:52:30	Albuquerque,	NM
1135	Kevin	Flusche	M	39	4:55:11	Ruidoso,	NM
1145	Susan	Sanchez	F	41	4:56:37	Albuquerque,	NM
1148	Frederick	Maas	M	66	4:57:04	Santa Fe	NM
1162	James	Gurule	M	40	4:57:42	Penasco,	NM
1186	Kelsi	Felson	F	21	4:58:45	Santa Fe	NM
1232	Erin	Houchen-Farshchi	F	36	5:04:42	Los Alamos	NM
1252	Lynn	Umbreit	F	57	5:06:49	Albuquerque,	NM
1296	Annelise	Torgerson	F	42	5:10:20	Los Alamos	NM
1320	Ruth	Lopez	F	51	5:14:29	Albuquerque,	NM
1341	Arthur	Lopez	M	45	5:17:31	Albuquerque,	NM
1342	Stephanie	Lopez	F	41	5:17:32	Albuquerque,	NM
1357	Carrie	Haag	F	61	5:19:57	Santa Fe	NM
1370	Joseph	Whiteman	M	71	5:21:59	Las Vegas	NM
1453	Brandy	Benton	F	39	5:32:56	Las Vegas	NM
1528	Stephanie	Poole	F	37	5:47:29	Albuquerque,	NM
1679	Burton	Broxterman	M	76	6:18:04	Albuquerque,	NM
1690	Bruce	Petrie	M	63	6:22:18	Carlsbad,	NM

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

Santa Fe Century - Ride Report

North through the Galisteo Basin, Sangres on the horizon

Pedaled like a freaking demon on Sunday trying to get the road bike out to Cedar Crest and Stanley and back just so we could hoist a few cold ones at the Eldorado SF Brewing Company Tap Room. The annual Santa Fe Century is a helluva lot of fun but I'm not going to pretend like 100mi isn't a haul because it is. The mileage might actually be 103mi in total. I logged ~97mi because I met my riding group en route and got a late start by a few minutes. About the ride itself, I don't care how fit you are an event like this is going to ding you up a little bit, unless you're Todd who rides into work from Eldorado everyday and didn't really seem phased by the whole thing. I saw Todd for a total of about 9min. during this 6+ hr ride. The guy was killin' it. Or maybe I was doggin' it? No, not possible - I was killin' it too just at a slower velocity than guys that prepared properly for the ride.

Our crew was myself, John Lumley, Todd Schroeder, Byron Rudolph, and ringer Liz Sponagle. Liz rode along with us to the 75mi loop cutoff out on NM 14 then circled back to head to work. I rode this event for the first time back in '09 and had a great time. Lumley has ridden the thing for five or six consecutive years now and has the jerseys to prove it. Tons of people get out for this ride and the aid stations are stacked, plus the cost of entry is $26 so you can't really beat that. Back on my first ride I had a real piece of work with downtube shifters and squeaking gears but somehow made it through. This year I rode a Greg-Lemond-detailed Schwinn loaner bike and managed just fine. People with awesome bikes get kinda surly when you cruise past on a hand painted beaut all buckled into a CamelBack but that there is stealth technology at its finest.

Todd and John wasting sandwich eating time at one of the aid stations

The test that is Heartbreak Hill, up and over the Cerrillos Hills

Galisteo Village Church

Back to the ride then - what a ride! The guys came up with the ingenius idea of starting and ending in Eldorado this year to take advantage of the new Tap Room location. We pretty much talked about beer throughout the entire ride. Aid stations were at Madrid, Golden (before Heartbreak Hill), Cedar Crest, Stanley, and Galisteo. I guess there were stations in Eldorado and St. Vincent's but we didn't stop there. Unlike on some running adventure suffer-fest, on a bike tour there are aid stations stocked with unlimited peanut butter sandwiches and fig newtons and trail mix and orange wedges and gatorade refills to woof down that you actually finish the thing feeling rather full. I guarantee I gained weight during the day, very counter-intuitive.

Todd, John, and Byron showing some fatigue

John mashing gears

I didn't see as many familiar faces as I did in '09. It may have been the time we got on the road, perhaps we didn't mill about the aid stations for quite as long. The wind was a bit rough so maybe that dampened rider-to-rider conversation. I did meet a rider from Florida that told me she did her hill training back and forth on bridge ramps for hours a week to simulate the climbing. Nonetheless I saw her walking the bike up Heartbreak - oh the heartbreak. Gotta own that one to make it count I think. The steady climb up and over the Cerrillos hills beginning in the village of Cerrillos and ending on the top of Heartbreak (20mi?) was a bit of a grind. But after that it's flat and fast all the way to Galisteo baby.

Todd & wife Jenn canvassing the day's events at the Tap Room patio

John and Susan, post-ride, mid-pint

The timing of the Century was great in that it got me ready for Ride-to-Work Week (four out of five days sons!) and was my main training for this weekend's Cochiti 100MTB, part of the NM Endurance Series. Todd, Jim, Byron and I are planning to ride 67fmi of the 108mi course but I have little doubt that Cochiti is going to destroy me and most likely my one-foot-in-the-grave mountain bike. Gotta bust out the mad biking skills and defy the gods. 

For a listing of other area road rides try here - Santa Fe Area Cycling Routes
For better photos of the actual ride try this report here.

View Santa Fe Century Bike Tour - 103mi. in a larger map