Last Week in Santa Fe

It has been an eventful time here in Santa Fe, just me and the Hud. Today is Day 16 not smoking, running has never been better and we think this house is haunted

Not much to say on the not smoking - it has gone extremely well aside from minor sleep issues the first few days. It helps that it is over 90 degrees every day and I have a number of bets that I can / can't go 6 months; $500 cash, $100 bottle of whiskey, accelerated stock vesting at my start up, a night of drinking in Denver / Boulder and a Smoothie

Here are some pics of lightning from Sunday (night) and Monday (day)





A close-up of the above lightning



Lightning is almost horizontal to the right





The haunting. The other night I was hearing noises upstairs. I thought "WTF" and got up. The light was on upstairs - since Maureen left and I quit smoking no one goes up there. I quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed two knives, whistled for Hud and we ran upstairs. Nothing - except the ceiling fan was going full speed

A few days later I was on the phone with the start-up CEO, Gary, and I clearly heard a woman's voice about 15 feet behind me. I'm in rural Santa Fe - the house is on acreage. Gary asked if that was a side-effect of quitting smoking

Running has never been better. In the 6+ weeks since we returned to CO & NM (from the pain of Vancouver) I've averaged 31.4-miles per week with 1,701' elevation gain. My "friend" in Denver, however, sent me an e-mail today saying: "42-miles in 2.5 days"

Prick

In 24 days he's doing the Leadville 100 (100-miles with 15,600' elevation gain - must finish in 30 hours). I'll be pacing (you can have people run with you over the final 50-miles) from mile 50 to mile 60.5 (maybe 2,500' elevation gain over that stretch, Hagerman Pass). I'm pretty excited actually. His goal is 29.5-hours

Here are some pics of the trails about 5 minutes from the house here in Santa Fe. Built for mountain biking but open to all. Hud has had some good runs here too



















Another fun sunset

Strange Sunset

Last night I saw this from the upstairs porch



Looked rather bizarre so me and the Hud went outside to check it out

Kept zooming in - never seen anything like it but I did see other unique things as small storms came through







Hudson was not impressed

De Los Montoyas

De Los Montoyas is the street where miles and miles of trails are, just minutes from the house. Have been 8 times in the 4.5 days since finding out about them, 4 of them with Hudson

It's nice to have this tower as a landmark when out on the trails. Helped me out today



Nice view of the mountains. The fires are mostly contained but still not open to the public



Hudson loves to join - although the heat tires him out quickly



I think he enjoys the drive as much as anything, being on rural roads at slower speeds

Santa Fe Run Around

Took Hud to "Monsignor Patrick Smith Park" for the 6th time this week



20-minutes of sprints with his buddies and he is done



After dropping him at home I went out for a run. It was too late for the Rail Trail (sunburn) so ran around the streets of Santa Fe (shaded)

"Santa Fe Run Around" is actually the name of an annual race, which we did in 2010. Here is my race pic. HAHAHA! Look at me, all dressed in black. HAHAHA!



Today was a casual 6.8-mile run with maybe 450' of elevation gain. Elevation gain is needed since it's 49 days until the Breckenridge Half Marathon, with 3,011' of gain and peaking out at 12,475'

The start at St. John's College, a very cool sounding liberal arts college



Heading down Canyon Road - an old part of town that went from dirty booze and brothels to upscale arts. Both are good















Next on over to the Cross of the Martyrs (see the cross on the hill). Good views of the city and beyond on less hazy days





Randomly around downtown





Then final 1.5-miles uphill on the Santa Fe Trail





This guy is bigger than the lizards that run along side me on the Rail Trail

It's Hot

Here is the 10-day forecast. Where me and the Hud are staying, add 6 degrees



Tuesday was the last day we got rain. Soooooo close to having all those mountain running trails open (per the running store today), just need 1 or 2 more rains



The fires were still going Tuesday evening



And Wednesday evening



And Thursday evening



And Saturday afternoon



Hudson has been a champ. I was worried because he had no desire to run with me. I had a chat and he said "Dude, it's 92 degrees out. Leave me alone"

So we have gone to the shady park 5x this week at 6am when it's in the low-60s. He has played with maybe 10 different dogs running around off-leash before people start to wake up and call the cops



Even though the trails have been closed running has gone well. In the 2 weeks I've been here have gotten 61-miles in with about 2,700' of elevation above 7,000'. Some of the running has been pretty interesting, from the fancy art neighbourhoods to Route 66 to the Rail Trail

Still...bought some new trail shoes today in hopes that the next two weeks will be done in the much cooler, shaded and hilly Dale Ball trails



The food here is fun. I'm especially fond of Green Chiles



Also this week Maureen was able to replace one more thing lost in the fire last year - this apron



Two more weeks and then it's off to Fairplay, CO for Burro Days!

http://www.burrodays.com/index.htm