After 3 days in beautiful Red River, NM I am now back home. I'm now dealing with the unpacking and cleaning and putting away. The only thing missing is my little Emmster who has stayed the week with my brother in Las Cruces. They should be here tonight or early tomorrow in time for this years Socorro Chili Harvest Triathlon! I can't believe I have raced every single one of these for the past 15 years. In fact, it was the very first triathlon I ever raced. It doesn't feel that long but it sure does sound like along time!
Back to the last 3 days in Red River... It's a beautiful place that sits in NM high country at 8,600 feet elevation. We left for RR on Sunday and stopped in Albuquerque for some trail running along the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. We had some snacks and played some fun games at a nearby park. Socorro took 15 kids and there were about 50 kids total from 4 different schools. So playing these games was a great way to get the kids to have fun together. After lunch in Santa Fe we made it to RR and got ready for run no. 2. This one is called the tour de RR and that is basically what it is. That evening I was able to give 2 talks to the campers about motivation and I was able to use some of my own experiences to help relate and hopefully inspire these kids to be the best they can be.
Monday morning is the traditional long run for those campers who wish to tackle the mountain. We run 5.4 miles to the top of a mountain and back down. The highest elevation according to my Garmin was 10, 338 feet. Having the Garmin is great in the fact that I can look up the file I have from last year and I was happy to see that I got to the top about 4 minutes faster this year compared to last. It felt easier and quicker so I am glad to see I am in better shape.
After a good lunch and nice nap I was able to get out for a mountain bike ride during the kids free time. I returned in just enough time to run the pre-race course with the kids when I finished. The race course is half single track and half road course that the kids race on the following day. There is even a very cold stream crossing!
On Tuesday morning we have the King and Queen of the Mountain run and I opted out of this one. I chose to drive out to the turnaround point and cheer the campers on. Socorro was well represented in the race as we had the 1st and 3rd female finishers and the 3rd male finisher. I think we did great considering we were by far the smallest school attending.
If there could be a bad part it was that our bus broke down in Questa, just 12 miles outside of RR on the way home. We were stranded there until a bus from Los Lunas could make the trip to pick us up. We made the best of it and now I am home and rested and ready to train my last days of summer away and race the hometown race this Saturday. I feel like the race this weekend will be a stage of my training complete. School (work) and cross country will be in full swing and I know I will be challenged to get in my own workouts. I have no idea how things will go but I will just need to figure it out as I go and take it one day at a time. Only 65 more days left before Kona!
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