Sandia Solstice Marathon

I have started a meet up group, called Sandia Trail Runners, and have about 20 people now. So far, I have run with three men and one woman...but only one at a time. I really hope to get some group runs going.

I had hoped to run a marathon distance before the end of the year.  I checked out the Sandia Crest trail, Trail 130. It looked perfect. Two distances are given for the entire length: 26.0 miles and 26.5 miles. I figured that was exactly 26.2 miles!






I posted it on the meet up site, set for December 22, one day into winter, one day AFTER the shortest day of the year. A solstice marathon. Run from south to north to help the sun find its way back to the northern hemisphere.


Two men were quite excited about doing it. One, Tyrone, had to back out because he wanted to spend time with his daughter. I get that!! That left me and Alberto. I figured Alberto would back out. I was wrong! He was totally into it.


Fast  forward to December 22 at 5:30 AM. Time to down some eggs and a tortilla and plenty of coffee. Throw a drop bag in the car (complete with a gallon of water and several trail bars) along with my Camelbak, phone, glasses (can't see my phone without my glasses), a couple of trail bars, Sadie's pack containing water and a bowl, and Sadie. Oh, and two beers and a bag of chips. You have to have a beer at the end of an epic run.

Logistics: This is a point to point run. There is one place with road access at the 16 mile mark. The plan was for Mary Ann and me to drive me to the northern terminus (40 minute drive), leave my truck (with the beer and chips...and dry clothes). Then Mary Ann would drive me to the southern terminus where I would meet up with Alberto. So far, so good. He showed up right on time and we were ready to go.Mary Ann then planned to go to the one place where the trail contacts a road. There, she would leave my drop bag. She would call me and let me know how to find it.

First problem: There was more snow than I thought there would be. No problem, we'll power through it. Phone call from Mary Ann at "the Crest." Did you leave the drop bag? Not yet, I got stuck in the snow. Waiting on AAA to come get me out. She had to wait 2.5 hours to get pulled out!!! It is now almost noon. She has been driving or waiting for the tow truck since 6:30 AM.



And where are Alberto and I? We've been on the trail for four hours and we have covered about 10 miles. No kidding!! At this rate there is no way we will finish in daylight. Two hours later, we are about 2 miles from the drop bag. It is time to decide: bail or tough it out? Run in the dark with only one headlight for the two of us or call Mary Ann and ask her to come pick us up? We've covered the hardest part of the route. We've climbed about 4000 feet and, once we hit the top, we'll have 10 miles to go, losing 4000 feet! Oh, what to do, what to do.

Three factors were weighing on my mind. 1) I thought my socks were wool...they were not. My feet had been numb for hours. 2) I thought I'd be going faster/harder so I dressed for exertion. I was under-dressed and the temperature was sure to drop as the sun went down. 3) we had seen mountain lion tracks. Not so sure I wanted to be in the dark with mountain lions around.

I called Mary Ann. She immediately said she could come get us. After all of her time on the road (and stuck in the snow), she was ready to come after us. She didn't make me ask. She is pretty wonderful. I informed Alberto that I had called the Calvary. He was disappointed, He really wanted to make the full crossing, as did I. But, sometimes you have to make the safe decision.


So, Mary Ann met us at the Crest. She schlepped us to Alberto's car at the southern terminus (with the heater blasting and sweat forming on her brow as my feet slowly began to thaw), schlepped me back to the northern terminus to get my truck.

Once home, she could watch the KU basketball game while eating a Papa Murphy's pizza. Sadie asked to go to her crate. I took a hot bath and drank my beer.

January 1: a 50K fat ass run in the foothills!!!

Tree Tag Mystery: Solved

Had a fun little run yesterday in the new snow of the Sandias. I met Mike at the trail head for the North Faulty, a trail unfamiliar to me. Mike was a great tour guide for the 6 mile out and back run. Before we started, he said that we would see some old trees tagged with metal IDs. He explained that someone (OK, I have absolutely no idea who these people are) had taken cores out of the trees to determine the approximate birth dates.

The snow was nice and fluffy, and made the footing rather precarious in places. Sadie ran like a crazy dog...thinking she had died and gone to heaven (or Wyoming?)! About half-way out, Mike stopped to point out a huge, gnarly pinon pine. We slipped and slid off the trail to get a better look. The tag said "Edward VI," 1550. WHOA! Way cool. A little farther down the hill was another one, "Bloody Mary," also from the mid 1500's. I can't even imagine what it was like here when these trees were saplings. 

 
With this information, I went back to look at my picture of the Hershey Chocolate Tree. The date on it was 1857. Guess who was born in 1857? Milton Hershey!!

My plan for running the Crest Trail on 12/22/12 will need to be revised. I expect the snow would present quite an obstacle to completion and threat to safety. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

Signing up for races....

Goals for 2013: I signed up for my first race of the year. May 25th, Jemez Mountain Run 50 miles. Let the training begin??

I've been trying to develop some running friends here in ABQ. I enjoy running alone but I also enjoy having running buds. I mean, Sadie is always there for me, ready to run whenever, wherever. But....well, she doesn't contribute much to the conversation, she never drives, and she can't join me for races. Therefore, I joined the Albuquerque Road Runners and the ABQ Girlfriends on the Run meetup.

I went to one trail run with the ARR and there was NO WAY I could keep up the the two men who showed up. The ABQ Girlfriends have tons of runs, but they are mostly on the road. Christy Dafter has been setting up trail runs every couple of weeks, and that is good but...I started a meetup called the Sandia Trail Runners.

Today Tyrone, Jessica and I ran the Pino Trail. It is a steep sucker, climbing 2800 feet in 4.7 miles (according to the map I have). Coming back down Tyrone and I were talking about how easy it is to wipe out on a trail like that and bragging about the fantastic spills we have taken. My theory is that if you talk about falling, you won't fall. Wrong. I splattered myself on the trail. I have bruises and scrapes that I cannot explain, including my left ankle, right ankle, ribs, right knee and my right arm (wrist to elbow). I called Mary Ann on my way home and told her, "Don't worry. There's a lot of blood, but the injuries are not at all serious," "Sadie or you? she asked. "Me." "OK, no problem. Come on home." Yes, she has told me if Sadie gets injured while running with me, I shouldn't bother coming home.

Hershey Chocolate Tree and the South Crest Trail

I planned a 15 mile run today on the South Crest Trail of the Sandias. The idea was to run the South Crest to Bart's trail, and then return on the Faulty Trail. Very simple.

Everything was going according to plans. Sadie and I were have a nice jaunt, heading up and up and up. We saw some spectacular views and were buffeted by the wind but only while on the crest. I passed the Embudito Trail junction, just as planned. While in the middle of some very large aspens and pines, I took a short break to eat a gel. One tree, right by the trail, had this tag on it. What does it mean?

Dang, I don't know. But I think it is an omen!!
My son and the grand kids live in Hershey, PA, home of Hershey chocolate. I was eating a chocolate gel, and 1954 is the year of my birth. It MUST mean something, right?

I continued on, wondering HOW FAR TO BART'S TRAIL. Surely I missed it. I MUST have missed it. It couldn't be that far, right? So, I turned around and headed back, figuring I should play it safe, since I was out of food and we had tickets to go see Lincoln this afternoon (I thought it was good. I definitely recommend it, even at 2:30.).

Got home and checked the map. I think I was within .1 mile of Bart's trail when I turned around. Turned out to be about 17 miles.

Feeling good about running. Love the Sandias. Unbelievable views! So much fun and it is still warm...speaking of which, I was in shorts and a short sleeved shirt. Passed some folks who had on hats, gloves, and down jackets. Will I become cold blooded if I live here long enough?

The new year is not that far away. With a new year, comes a new racing season. Amazingly, sign up for many summer trail runs starts soon after the new year. Which means....I need to figure out my racing schedule for 2013.
So many to choose from:
Definitely Jemez Mountain Runs in May
Perhaps Big Horn Scenic Trail Run in June or maybe the San Juan Solstice run. They're always on the same day.
Maybe the Mt. Taylor Quad in February (if I could ski, that is).
The Run Through Time in Salida in March?
Lots of choices in April....Desert Rat Trail Festival in Fruita or the Cheyenne Mountain Trail race in Colorado Springs or Cedro Peak right here in the Sandias of Albuquerque?
Obviously, developing my schedule requires a multi-variable data file complete with dates, distances, difficulty, price, and date that the entry opens. This is perhaps more work than I can deal with right now.

Why blog?

I can't quite figure out why people start up blogs. Readership is very low on most. I mean, who wants to waste their time reading about someone's boring life?

I decided to start this blog for me, as a chance to document stuff that is important to me.

Every now and then, I have a fun story to tell, but that is pretty rare. Usually, it is the same ole same ole.
I just returned from spending time with the grandkids. They make me feel old. They CALL me old. Well, Linus did anyway. He told me I was a nothing but a dusty ole gramma.

I guess I am a bit old, but I don't really think I'm dusty! However, this corresponded to my first year, since 1996, that I have not run at least one marathon. Usually I run multiple marathons per year. Sometimes I run 50 milers or even 100 milers. But not this year.

Surgery on my heel last January followed by a long, slow rehab. Back to running, but not up to marathon distance yet.

Guess I am just a dusty ole gramma!!

Saturday, November 24, post-black Friday

I  did not want to run tonight. After seeing Jessica and Josh off very early this morning, watching Ohio State beat Michigan, eating pizza with Adam and Mary Ann, I just wanted to nap, not run.

I finally dragged my dusty ole carcass out of the house, taking along both dogs and my head lamp. Headed straight up into the Sandias, managing to avoid the route that I took the other, the one evening that brought me to the edge of the homeless camp. Not that I have anything against homeless people, but I didn't want to go running into their space.

By the time I clambered over the boulders to the first ridge, the sun was down and the moon, not quite full, was up and it was time to turn around. Coming back down across the power lines, I thought I heard a deep, resonant, whooo whoooo. I stopped under the power line poles to listen. Yes, there it was again. I looked up to the top of the big pole and saw the outline of a great horned owl. It was too dark to see it well, but the "horns" were visible. After a moment, we headed on down the trail.Then I heard it call again, only this time the pitch was different. I turned back and saw that there were now TWO great horned owls.

Daylight had faded and I was trying to decide whether to use the headlamp. I decided to try to make it home without it. My reward: running through the moon shadows.

Pretty special evening.