Franklin Mountains Trail 100K

When you greet an old friend on the trail during these disease ridden times, is it best to do a fist bump, hand shake or high five? We’ll try to answer this as we run the Franklin Mountains 100K today (and night) put on by Trail Racing Over Texas. This race, held in the Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso, TX, usually welcomes runners with a big dose of weather. Cold, hot or wind, but mostly wind —the West Texas kind. Porta-potty tipping over wind! These mountains  create their own energy, channeling the gusts down their slopes, through the accordion folds of the mountain chain.

Well, after many years, we finally have some good weather for the race today, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier to finish. There’s still the jagged rocks, steep climbs and pointy vegetation to contend with; not to mention the waiting around, shivering at the start line. It’s about 40 degrees as I sit in the dark, but should get up to 75 later with skin burning sun and little humidity.

West Texas wind!

The race starts on the west side of the Franklins with a conga line of people climbing the steep Upper Sunset Ridge, a 1.5 mile shin dagger (lechuguilla) lined trail with broken slabs of rock and grueling high steps. I use my trekking poles to help push myself up the scarp and follow the trail of headlamps snaking their way up the mountain. The downhill parts are equally as tough because the rocks underfoot make running almost impossible. I start with my jacket on but, in no time, I’m hot and sweaty even though it’s still dark and cold. 

Tortugas “A” Mountain 24 Hour Run

So, I did a thing. One I’ve never done before. I ran the Tortugas “A” Mountain 24 hour run in Las Cruces, NM a few weeks ago. I’ve never run a 24 hour race before because most of them are usually run on a track or short loop course. The idea is to run for 24 hours to rack up as many miles as you can. Running on a track for a day and night never really appealed to me, but this race was on a four mile trail around “A” Mountain. Well, I decided to give it a try and since I had recently celebrated my 58th birthday I set a goal to run one mile for each year on the planet. 

Organ Mountains as seen from "A" Mountain

The race was sponsored by the Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance who maintain the trails in this area and also organize the Sierra Vista Trail Runs. This race, however, was run "fat ass" style, “No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps”. We started on Friday evening at 6pm going clockwise around the mountain and reversed direction on each completed loop. Runner wrote the time they finished each lap on a board posted at the start/finish area.

Tortugas Mountain as seen from the Organs

Mt Taylor 50K 2021

 The muffled sound of a hundred feet padding the rocky dirt road, a whiff of dust stirred up from the forest floor and the disorienting ovals of light from runners’ headlamps greet me at the beginning of the Mt Taylor 50K in Grants, NM. I carefully scan the road for rocks lest I break my ankle in the first half mile of the race. Mt Taylor (11,306’) or Tsoodził is a sacred mountain to the Navajo and marks the southern boundary of their homeland. According to the website NavajoPeople,

“[Tsoodził ] is important in the Blessing Side ceremonies and the Enemy Side Ceremony. Mount Taylor was once the home of Yé’iitsoh (Chief of the Enemy Gods).
Once the sun is up, sunrays are all around and Mount Taylor is adorned with sunlight.

After thinking about what you want to do for the day, you start to plan your activities…Thoughts such as, “We want to progress,” grow from small plans to large plans and Mount Taylor has the power to satisfy that wish.”

View from Mt Taylor elev. 11,302

My hope is that Mt Taylor will be kind to me today and allow me to progress up her steep slopes and to safely return to the race finish line. I’m barely awake and simply keep my mind focused on the path. I share the trail with about 150 other hearty runners, but I stay in the back of the pack and pace my self. Before long the road becomes steep and I shift into power hike mode to conserve as much energy as possible. I expect my journey to last about 9 hours.

Cloudcroft Ultra 53K

A weird urge came over me one evening and I thought to myself, I wonder if there are any local road races this month. This was really strange, because I haven’t run a road race in years; hadn’t even considered it. So anyway, I jumped on the internet to search for races in New Mexico and West Texas and the first thing that popped up was the Cloudcroft Ultra Trail Race coming up in a few weeks. This race is usually held in May and I had no idea it was moved to August because I have, for the most part, turned off social media, news, TV, etc and have been happily living like a hermit while running in the Franklin Mountains.

Well, I was very excited about this gem, because I had recently done some training runs on the Rim Trail in Cloudcroft, NM to get ready for the Mt Taylor 50K next month. So, here I am at the start of the Cloudcroft 53K in the Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln National Forest. According to the race website, “The Rim Trail was the first U.S. Forest Service Trail in New Mexico to be designated as a National Recreation Trail. It is a combination of old Indian paths, railroad grades, homestead trails and logging routes linked together by newer sections built in the 1960’s and beyond.” The course is an out-and-back between 8000’-9500’ elevation with a lollypop loop. 

Bull Creek Run

I’m literally running in the Bull Creek! I started exploring this stream, in Austin Texas, early this morning since it will get up to the high 90s later today. Bull Creek District Park is a popular area for wading during the hot months so I was sure to start early before the crowds arrive. So far I have seen no one. I started running the trail on the northern end of the park on Old Spicewood Springs Rd on the south bank of the stream.

One of many waterfalls on Bull Creek

The trail was hard to follow in places because people have worn a lot of side trails down to the creek looking for swimming holes. I didn’t have a map and have never been here before so I just followed the most well trodden and widest path through the woods. In about a mile the trail lead me into a tangle of overgrowth and brambles. What gives! I wandered around looking for a better route and came to the creek. I went along the stream climbing up and down dirt hills and came to a steep bluff. This can’t be the way.

Stream crossing

A New Personal Trainer

I hired a new personal trainer a few months ago because my old one was getting kind of old and grumpy. He has been coaching me for around 13 years and seemed like he was becoming lazy in his old age. (He’s 74 years old.) The last thing you want in a personal trainer is laziness. I need someone who’s going to show up on time and bring a lot of vibrancy to my runs. 

Moonset over Mt Riley and Cox in New Mexico

Ever since I moved to El Paso about 12 years ago, I have been running about five days a week on our local trails at the base of the Franklin Mountains. My coach and I usually cover between 5-7 miles on weekdays. On weekends, I run the Franklin Mountains State Park or travel to the Organ Mountains up the road in Las Cruces, NM to do my long runs. My personal trainer has been helping me achieve my goals for all these years so I felt guilty about giving him the boot. We’ve had a lot of grand adventures together as you can see by reading other posts from my site.

A full moon illuminating an early morning run.

Sadly, he started to oversleep more often and wasn’t waking me up at the designated time in the morning for my run. Therefore, I went with a younger, more energetic lady with fewer miles on her. Junie B is up and raring to go at 5am licking me in my ear to wake me. Tail wagging, she follows me everywhere in the morning whether I like it or not. She even accompanies me into the bathroom while I take care of my pre-run business (for better or worse). She doesn’t let up for even a second until we are out the door and onto the trail. No wonder I rarely miss a day of training.

Baylor Peak, Organ Mountains

Last  month I ran the Baylor Pass and Pine Tree Loop trails in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in Las Cruces, NM. This is a challenging route that takes you over Baylor Pass (6400’) and down to Aguirre Springs Campground for a total roundtrip of 12 miles. From the campground, you can run the Pine Tree Loop which adds an extra 4 miles and takes you up to almost 6900’. The trail takes you high onto the eastern slopes of the mountains where you have spectacular views of the angular peaks of the Organ Needles with Ponderosa pines towering above you.

Read: Baylor Canyon and Pine Tree Trail

Organ Mountains

Every time I run this trail I ponder tackling Baylor Peak (7721’) which can be reached by following a side trail from the pass itself. This one has been on my bucket list for many years so I decided to return on a January day to give it try. I read up on the route and learned that there is a bit of route finding and scrambling to get all the way to the summit so I had some trepidation before beginning.