A break in New Mexico

It has been 4 or 5 years since I have been in Albuquerque so when I found out I had to be here this week I planned a half day just to go hike in the Sandias which is something I have done every trip out here. Usually I hike to the peak but this time I decided to get adventurous and it paid off. I pushed myself a bit and tried some new routes that I never would have tried before. So rather than just hiking I ended up doing a bit of hiking, some scrambling and a good bit of bouldering. The bouldering was the most heart racing as it meant pushing (well in this case pulling) myself. I tried some 20 and 30 foot boulders and had a blast. A few scratches etc but nothing major.

For some perspective Sandia Peak is over 5300 ft above Albuquerque which puts it at over 10,600 feet elevation. Normally I would do the peak but this time I stopped somewhere just shy of 10,000 ft and then scrambled back down through one of the canyons - which was as hair raising as some of the bouldering. The picture on the left was one of the routes I came down.

There is a lot of cool stuff that you can see - some of the other pics are self explanatory - well the eagle got way too close for comfort. I suspect I was near a nest. The cactus above was one I found on the lower trail.

It was a fun 3 hours. Looking forward to a productive week as well.

.... cu

Race Day ...... updated

It has been a good week ..... I had very productive meetings in Miami with one of our partners and I look forward to working more with them. They were also very hospitable and we had a couple of good nights of Italian and Spanish food - with a couple of drinks ;-)

After the meetings I stayed in Miami for an extra night to see a good friend and had a fabulous time. Good company, good food, a nice exhibit at a local art center and a Duck Boat ride around the South Beach area that was a blast. It was a busy weekend as I flew back late Saturday knowing that I had the Leesburg 10K that I was running at 7:30 Sunday. A half hour delay meant I did not get to sleep until almost 1 AM.

The race itself was good - picked up my registration stuff in the AM and then had like 30 minutes to warm up and hydrate before the race. The weather was nice - high 60's - low 70's. It was a good crowd - over 1600 runners. This being my first running race I did not know where to start in the pack so I tried around the center. Slow getting started because of the crowd but eventually I was passing people left and right and very few passing me on the outbound leg. After the 1/2 way turn around no one passed me and I even had a couple of guys comment on my pace - which was nice :-) Not real fast - ran the 10K in 51:00 (at least I think that is what the clock said) Official time - 50:13 so a 8:05 pace. Ended up finishing 198/670 that ran the 10K; 25/102 in my age group and they also did a first timers group where I was 3rd of 42. Kris and Sam were at the finish line to hear the announcer say how I kicked it on at the end - a guy tried to pass me in the last 20m and I was having no part of that - so I sprinted to the end and got in just ahead :-) After the race myself and the girls grabbed some breakfast.

Now I get to play catch-up until later this afternoon when myself and the girls go to see Batman in I-MAX with the Barnes' men. Looking forward to seeing that movie :-)

cu ......