About my blog
Welcome to my trail running site. I enjoy being on the trail where I can take in nature and clear my mind. I prefer running in the mountains, but anywhere rural will do. In years past, I have completed four 100 mile trail races and many other ultramarathons. I spend countless hours running in the Franklin Mountains and the surrounding desert in far West Texas, which I call my church. My little Mexican hairless dog, Taz tags along sometimes. I am slowing down in my old age and am mostly running 50K trail races these days.
I’m shivering uncontrollably with thousands of others as we wait for the opening ceremony of the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, NM. I mistakenly relied on the weather report this morning figuring I’d be warm enough. Usually I pack a few extra layers in my bag, but thought heat would be more of an issue today. I wander around the soccer field and stumble upon a few of my fellow Team Red, White and Blue members and some Run El Paso Club friends. We huddle together and share the misery while waiting for the race to start.
The sun is just barely up when I arrive at the base of the Organ Mountains in Las Cruces, NM to run the Sierra Vista Trail 50K. After I pick up my bib number I sit in my warm car and read the morning paper. Shouldn’t I be stretching, warming up or otherwise preparing to run to the next town and back? Nah, I’ll warm up in the first 5 miles.
With Spring finally in the air, I’ve been out on the trail testing out my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 point and shoot camera. I chose this make and model because it has a powerful optical zoom (20X) for a point and shoot, yet is small enough for me to take on my running adventures. Some day I’d like to get a professional camera with plenty of fancy lenses, but that would require ample time to learn how to use it not to mention plenty of money. Therefore I’ll put that hobby off until I’m too feeble to run.
