Running in the Snow

Yesterday I got to run in the snow for the first time in over two years. I was excited to see the old trails and get a nice long solid run in while tromping through the fresh white powder. I was shooting for at least 90 minutes of running but after a mile the snow got old and it was downhill (or in terms of running, uphill) from there.

The sweats I was wearing quickly caked up with ice and began melting through my cloths. My old Mizuno shoes were also collecting hard ice packs in the hollowed out heel cup and made running difficult. It was like running with a golf ball on my heel. Every few minutes I had to keep stopping to dig the ice out so pretty soon my fingers were numb. After a half hour of hoping things would improve, and seeing that they weren't, I had had enough and turned around.

I have come to realize that I have been spoiled in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is always sunny and at least 60 degrees most of the time. Cold is tolerable with the right clothing but the minute moisture is factored into the equation... BRRR!!! I don't know how the people of the Inland Northwest do this winter thing but they are good.

The Mile

A couple of weeks ago I went ahead and made some public remarks about my running goals for this up coming spring. The first goal on my list was to best my mile PR set all the way back in high school when I was 17. It is a lofty goal to reach yes, but it can be done. The idea for today's workout was to go out and race a mile solo (unless you count Brianne who had the watch) and see just what sort of performance I could muster.

Running the first lap I made an important mental point to not go out too fast because I was racing solo. So, naturally, I went out too fast. By the 800m mark I was beginning to feel like a cooked turkey. The last two laps were nothing less than torturous but manageable. Although the time was decent, I definitely did not break any records.

Since this is the very end of the fall semester it marks the perfect transition point to start preparing for the spring season ahead. I will be heading back to Spokane, WA soon for a short break and will gradually start my LSD regime. LSD = Long Slow Distance (not what you think). Miles right now are important and a smart way to keep yourself injury free later down the road (no pun intended). At least in theory. Then maybe in six to eight weeks time, break out the strength exercises and hills. Finally after all of that work come the intervals. Hopefully my motivation lasts and the next semester will be kind to me.

Until next time, run happy.

Feeling Good on the Run

I have taken a couple of days off from running. It wasn't something I really wanted, but I had to. This is finals week at NMSU and things, like always, get pretty hairy around this time. I was doing a fairly good job of keeping up on my running consistency but sometimes life just forces you to take another direction. I read and hear about all other graduate students who still stay fully involved with triathlon and continue to preform well. I keep wondering just how this is possible. I have tried working things out in my head as well as on paper and my findings are always the same. There just isn't enough time. Either that or I must be the most inefficient and dumbest graduate student ever... or an over achiever. Maybe I need to learn to say "no" more.

Anyway I took a few days off from running and it was killing me. I feel so antsy and nervous when I sit on my ass all day. After getting scolded again for forgetting an important meeting I needed to do something. I came straight home, put on my running shoes and zipped out the door. It felt wonderful to feel the fresh air in my face and leave my cell phone at home. Besides the wind feeling good in my face, my legs felt good too. Real good. After those two days off I must have been experiencing a little mini peak. Any runner knows the feeling I think. Your legs just seem to be spinning around nice and fluid like and you realize you have probably been running 5:30 mile pace for the last 20 minutes. Yes it was nice to finally get the feeling again. And it was nice to just plain feel again too. Thanks good run!

More Plants From Big Bend National Park

Echinocereus triglochidatus, Claret Cup Cactus.

Jatropha dioca, Leather Stem. An alien looking plant that reminds me of a miniature Baobab tree.

Cylendropuntia leptpcaulis, Christmas Cactus.

Euphorbia antisyphilitica, Candelilla. Long ago wax used to be extracted from this plant.

Nicotiana glauca, Tree Tobacco.

Opuntia rufida, Blind Prickly Pear Cactus.

Coryphantha echinus, a new cactus find for me. This species grows mostly in Mexico.

Opuntia macrocentra, Black Spine Prickly Pear.

Opuntia violacea, Purple Prickly Pear.

Echinocereus viridiflorus, Rainbow Cactus.

Ferocactus haematacanthus, Turks Head Cactus. This is a species of barrel cactus I have never seen before.

You Know, I Miss Swimming

Last week I watched our NMSU Triathlon team take on the NMSU lifeguard team in a game of water polo. To be honest, I thought the game would be a lost effort. There was positively no way we could beat the lifeguards in a water polo match, but we did! We won! After Thanksgiving break we played them again. This time the match was rough. In the first half we were evenly matched. In the second half the big-macho-overly-aggressive and pumped-up-with-way-to-much-testosterone-for-an-intramural-coed-water-polo-game lifeguards pulled away for the win. Yeah I was a little frustrated.

Watching this game did not get me excited for a rematch water polo game. However, what watching this game did for me was to remind me how much I actually did miss swimming. I look at myself in the mirror now and I can't believe just how much my body physiology has changed since June. I am weak and I am getting weaker. At least my upper body.

I always seem to reach a point where I say to myself, "Okay, that is enough, I'm getting slightly tired and bored of this now and it is just not motivating anymore." What I think I am referring to is running. The minute it get easy for me I seem to loose interest. But that is the whole point right? When the effort becomes easy you start getting good (better).

I think, even though this blog entry has completely derailed from where I intended it to go, I should just spell out my goals for my rediscovered running passion.

1. Break my high school mile PR (aka: 4:20)
2. Run a 33:00 10K
3. Run a solid half marathon (~1:15)
4. Run a solid marathon without bonking.

So there you have it. With luck, after posting these goals and making them public, my mind will remain sharp and focused on these new goals. Never mind those silly water polo games. Even though I miss triathlon dearly, I feel it is important to return to my original strength and build on things from there.

Big Bend National Park

I have been incredibly excited to share this wonderful trip Brianne and I had at Big Bend National Park over most of the Thanksgiving Day break. Ever since leaving our campsite yesterday morning I have been trying to work out in my head just what I would like to share. Like always I want to share everything and post every picture but that is just not possible. Instead I will just give some of the major highlights.

Brianne and I left Las Cruces early Sunday morning and arrived in Big Bend mid day. I was ironically still grumpy from having to do my room mates dishes yet again since they left a pile in the sink and didn't think to do them before they left for break. But that is not what I am here to talk about. I was sadly grumpy upon arrival to Big Bend and it was starting to wear on Brianne. We both just wanted to figure out just what the heck we were doing and how to obtain a one night back country permit. I nervously approached the front desk and proceeded to mumble awkward incoherent sentence fragments to the park ranger asking for a back country permit when in actuality, I hadn't really thought about where it was I wanted to go. I left the main office looking for Brianne and to discuss where exactly we wanted to go. Brianne, the observant one, found the back country permit office and we sat down together with a strange, overly polite, young, ranger lady to plan our trip. After a briefing of the hazards and a detailed explanation of how to take a poo in the woods, we were set for four fantastic days in the park.



Cooking pancakes for breakfast the first morning in Big Bend.


I accidentally stumbled upon this rare cactus, the Nipple Cactus (Mammillaria heydera) while looking at some Lechuguilla Agave. The main portion of the plant grows mostly underground and only the very top flat portion of the plant is photosynthetic.


We spent the first two nights in Pine Canyon at the base of the Chisos Mountains. We were the last camp on the primitive road so our privacy was at a premium. The first evening we ran up the primitive dirt road into the canyon. It was a short run but it felt good to get out and stretch our legs. Darkness approached quickly and before we knew it (like 5:30) it was bed time. I was worried the nights would be very cold because this is after all late November. But the desert was not yet ready for winter and the nights stayed very mild. A gentle desert breeze blew all night and Brianne and I watched the sun set and the full moon rise in total silence. It has been a long time since I have heard total silence.

Day two and our plan was to hike all the way up Pine Canyon to the dry waterfall. The hike began in the warm high desert grasslands and progressed through a smorgasbord of unique plants found no where else in the world. We passed the Drooping Junipers (Juniperis flaccida), Texas Madrones (Arbutus xalapensis), and finally at the end of the trail we were among the Bigtooth Maples (Acer grandidentatum). The park had not seen not a drop of water in over two months so it was no surprise the waterfall was dry.



Here I am inspecting a Harvard Agave (Agave havardiana) in Pine Canyon.


Later that day, after a brief nap, Brianne and I made our way down from the mild grasslands into the hot dry Chihuahuan Desert to see the Rio Grande river. There in the low desert, more unique plants greeted us as well as Illegal Mexicans trying to sell us worthless hiking stick and "souvenirs". Man, we can never catch a break, even in the most isolated place in the lower 48 states people try to sell you crap. Anyway, we were there to see the Boquillas Canyon and do a little run. It was a little disappointing but that's likely due to the fact that everywhere you turned the people from Mexico where shouting at us from across the river or trying to get us to buy their worthless crap. It's such a discouraging culture sometimes.



Here I am inspecting one of my favorite plants, an Ocotillo (Fouqueria splendens). In times of drought they lose their leaves, however, their stems remain slightly green and are still able to photosynthesize despite the drought going on around them.


One of my favorite cacti is the Blue Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus horizonthalonius). They have a deep bluish-green flesh with large bright pink flowers.


This was a new cactus find for me. It is the Devil's Cholla Cactus (Grusonia kunzei). It formed low mats on the desert floor and looked like tufts of grass from a distance.


Day three was the "big day". Brianne and I would be hiking deep into the High Chisos Mountains to the Southeast Rim which falls away some 5,000 feet to the desert floor. We would be sleeping there, on the ridge, which was situated at an elevation of 7,400 feet. We took only enough water to last us through the night and little food which consisted of 4 Clif Bars and 2 cans of beans. Our gear consisted of sleeping bags, tent, warm jacket, warm pants, hat and gloves. That was it. I was sure we would freeze but ironically it wasn't the cold that was our biggest fear, it was the mountain lions.



Brianne sitting on the edge of the south east rim of the Chisos Mountains admiring the view. On a clear day you can see 250 miles.


I definitely didn't win any fashion points while hiking.


I was positive the mountain lions would leave us alone but Brianne was spooked beyond belief once the sun set. I tried to stay calm and assure her that mountain lions don't just come plowing through your tent in the middle of the night to rip you apart... That was until I heard the noise outside.

We both were dead silent, straining to hear it again. My heart was beating fast and hard and Brianne's eyes were as big as golf balls. Yes, there was definitely something out there and it was getting closer. When it was just yards from the tent I shouted "Hey!" In an attempt to scare it away with a "booming" human voice (that I don't have). It didn't scare. "Oh no!" I thought, "It had to be a mountain lion not afraid of humans." My heart was still pounding hard and I thought about reaching for my knife but slowly reached for the head lamp instead. I shined it outside the little tent window expecting to see a drooling lion looking right back at me. But what I saw was even worse. I saw nothing. A minute later Brianne whispered to me that we should put our bags (that were in the tent) into the bear box 20 feet away. I'm like "WHAT!?!" There is something hungry out there and you want me to just waltz out of the tent, completely vulnerable, and casually put this food in the box. She just smiled.

So now I am psyching myself up, getting ready to dash out of the tent with the back packs. The moment comes and I open the door and step outside fully expecting to get tackled from behind but instead, I am greeted to a family of small deer. What the...? They were not even remotely startled by my presence, and in fact, I felt better because if a family of deer were so calm then there must be no mountain lions. Yay! Now we can finally calm down and go to sleep.

Now it is day four and our last camp will be in the Ocotillo Grove in the low Chihuahuan Desert. Temperatures there were probably in the mid to upper 80's but as long as you stayed out of the direct sun it was rather pleasant. Still, the upper 80's in late November is pretty weird for me. Later we drove down to Santa Elena Canyon to poke around. Again I found some great photo opportunities and some more great plants. I ran into a strange member of the Tobacco family called the Tree Tobacco (Nicoiana glauca) and saw the only member of the Pineapple Family or Bromeliaceae growing in this part of the country. I'll be the first to admit that seeing a wild bromeliad for the first time was pretty exciting.



The Texas False-Agave (Hechtia texensis) is not an agave but a member of the pineapple or bromeliad family.


Santa Elena Canyon was amazing. Note the three small kayakers.


The final morning I rose early and was treated to one last great sunrise. As corny as it sounds it was as if Big Bend knew I was leaving and in its farewell, gave me one last present. For the next 20 minutes in complete silence and beauty I watched the sky turn all the shades of blue to pink to orange to red. But like all great things it came to an end. Brianne and I then loaded up the truck and proceeded back to El Paso and ultimately home to Las Cruces.



The final sunrise in Big Bend National Park as seen from our campsite in Ocotillo Grove.

Big Bend for Thanksgiving

It is only 3 more days until Brianne and I venture deep into the most remote corner of the lower 48 states. We are going to Big Bend National Park! Yeah! I am pretty excited to take a break from work/school and even more excited to go somewhere I have never been. Yesterday I bought a sleeping bag and a backpack (turns out it was the wrong one and I will have to go back and replace it). All we need now is some food and water, and maybe some warm clothes. Big Bend is in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert but the nights still get pretty cold. Big Bend also has more cacti species than any other area in the United States, even Saguaro National Park. (Cacti nerd alert.)

Concerning our traveling Brianne and I are kind of weird because we both agreed that this trip will be more fun and feel more like an adventure if we barely get by meaning, we will bring only the bare essentials. Food, water, warm cloths, tent, etc...) That sounded pretty fun initially but unless Adam gets his cup of coffee there will likely be utter confusion and drowsiness associated with simple daily activities such as tying his shoe.

Never the less, I am still excited and I will be sure to carry my camera and take some photos at every opportunity. After Big Bend (if we are still alive) we will have a Thanksgiving dinner graciously provided by Brianne's Dad and family.

I guess that just about wraps up this quick little time line. So if you don't hear from me in a week or two I am probably still stick in Big Bend having an adventure.