What was your time? That was the question I was most asked after finishing the Sierra Vista Trail 100K two years ago right before the Great Pandemic of 2020 shut everything down. Well, my time was 256,003,967,220 instants, which was about 4,266,732,787 moments. How do I know? Because, a wise old sage has said that there are 6,400,099,180 moments in each day. One moment is equal to 65 instants and there are 60 moments in one finger snap. I wrote about being time in this post following the race in 2020. I ponder what my time might be this year as I embark on another Sierra Vista Trail 100K. What is time anyway?
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| Robledo Mts |
About 15 runners are shivering, here at the start of the race at 6:00am. There will be many more 50K and 1/2 marathon runners on the trail later this morning. I am very grateful for the opportunity to spend the day and evening on this beautiful trail in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in Las Cruces, NM.
The course is an out-and-back that runs south almost to the Texas border with one short loop at the beginning. Once the runners get under way, I hang back and make sure to pace myself carefully. There’s a chill in the air, but the wind hasn’t picked up yet. This is the windy season in the Desert Southwest with frequent days of blowing dust and red flag warnings.