Because Being Ordinary Is Boring: Las Cruces

Showing posts with label Las Cruces. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Sierra Vista 50K (Race Recap)

Las Cruces, NM

Saturday, March 1

Weather - Sunny and warm

A later addition to my race schedule, this race was selected because it was a good time of year for a last "big mileage" weekend before Arizona Monster, the race itself was inexpensive, and flights/travel was going to be very minimal.

The race began at 7 and it was suggested that we arrive early as we would have to park on the road to walk in. We got up at 5 and got ready. It was nice that we didn't also have to pack up all our stuff since we were staying at the same place after the race.

We left on time, around 5:45 with the plan of arriving just after 6:00. When we first arrived there were only a half dozen cars parked along the road. The parking lot volunteers said that we did, in fact, need to walk to the trail head to get our bibs. It was a bit of a longer walk than expected, probably close to 10 minutes? I used the bathroom and we got our bibs/race shirts. It was going to be a beautiful (sunny and hot) day:

When we got back closer to the car the volunteers told us that we could actually move our car and drive in to get a closer spot, so we did. Got everything ready to go and then I headed to the start area because I wanted to use the bathroom one more time before we started.

I had initially thought I would bring my smaller UltrAspire vest as the Zygos seemed like it would be overkill, but last minute I figured I would bring my bigger pack since I would be using it for all my races over the summer anyway.

The race began right on time, and with less than 40 of us, Ben and I started towards the back. I hadn't done any real research on this one, and figured that with "only" a couple thousand feet of gain it would be a nice day in warmer weather and nothing crazy would happen.

Well, the race started with an out and back from the trailhead to the road that we had driven in on. This was designed to prevent bottlenecking as almost the entire course was on single track. We were definitely going to be in the back for the whole race. Once we turned around to head back to the trail head there were only a couple of people behind us. We ran through the start/finish and headed up the first climb of the day. I think we both realized pretty quick that this race was going to be more difficult than we thought. I managed to pick an Arizona (rocky) trail in New Mexico!

We had both started out with gloves on, and I believe I actually kept them on for at least the first few miles, as is evidenced by one of our early race photos.

Photo: Amanda Babicke / Lobo Photo

I had also decided that I would start with arm sleeves since it had been a little chilly when we started, and since it was also supposed to be full sun, to help prevent getting burned. The terrain made running more challenging than we expected it would be and it was disheartening to see such a slow pace.

It warmed up pretty quick and we hit the first aid station. I don't remember much other than there was a dog that didn't want to be pet and I grabbed some watermelon. Temperature was starting to heat up and we were basically alone! We could see a couple people in front of us, but once I stopped to for a minute to pee, we didn't see them again.

I can't remember how far into the race we were, but at some point I caught my toe on a rock and went flying. I was surprised I didn't actually hurt myself or scrape myself up more because all the weight was on my hands. That jarred me into running a lot more cautiously as well.

We were expecting a second aid station, but it turned out to just be a jug in the middle of nowhere - good to know for the way back so we could plan. The next actual aid station was maybe 10 miles in. We were told there would only be a water drop after that before the turn around. The water drop seemed to come up pretty fast, and we were optimist when we hit a salt flats area that was really pretty runnable. It took almost until we turned around that I realized we would have to overshoot the halfway distance because of the out/back we had done at the start. We both forgot to put on sunscreen and there was not a lot of food options, nor ice, which was disappointing. I think we grabbed some gummies and cold water, but that was it. We headed out for the back half, and when I realized I had forgotten the sunscreen I pulled out my Patagonia Airshed so at least my arms and neck would be covered and protected. It was not as hot as I expected and every once in a while we got a breeze that was quite nice! At the first water stop I remembered to ask for sunscreen, and thankfully they had some. I put it on my legs and face but opted to keep my long sleeve and hood on.

We passed one guy in this section, and never did see him again.

Somehow, the entire way back felt like one big climb. We were both hot and tired and we had headphones in to try and motivate us. While it didn't seem to take too long to get to the water drop, it seemed like an eternity before we got to the aid station. Miles 20-27 seemed like they were never going to end. We grabbed water from the unmanned water station and it was surprisingly not that warm - even though it was nearly 80 degrees and the jugs had been in the sun all day. At some point my right hand snagged one of the bazillion stabby things on the side of the trail and it cut my hand open pretty good. Once it stopped bleeding I just put some water on it. (I'm writing this race report almost 2 weeks later and it took about 10 days before it stopped cracking open and bleeding!!)

Things were going very very very very slow. Ben and I made the decision that I would go on ahead and we would just see each other at the finish. He caught up briefly at the last aid station. I was feeling pretty good, so I took off. I have to say that I didn't recognize any of the section after the last aid station - were we even here?? Approaching a very steep climb (that I didn't recall) and I saw someone ahead of me that looked to be in pretty bad shape. I was able to pass him and asked him if he needed anything, and his answer was "just for this to be done." Same... Thankfully it was almost all downhill to the finish and I was able to run pretty well in. So happy to be done!!

Photo: Amanda Babicke / Lobo Photo

It was an absolute ghost town at the finish. Considering I was about 90 minutes under cutoff, there were about 2 other runners, the timing guy, the photographer and her dog, and two volunteers. That's it. I got some coke and sat down in a chair under the tent to wait for Ben. He also managed to pass the guy that I had and was only about 8-9 minutes behind me.

Photo: Amanda Babicke / Lobo Photo

Our finisher award was a wooden(ish) cutout - no ribbon or anything, kind of like a small plaque? This was a very small, grassroots event, so it was fine.

Official Time - 8:35:48

Overall Place - 30/37

Gender Place - 12/13 (OA winner was female, and was 45 minutes ahead of second place?!)

Thoughts

Very inexpensive! I signed up mid December and it was $88 after taxes/fees. They also "require" a pair of shoes for a donation. I saw that on UltraSignup, but then it was never mentioned in any of the pre-race emails and we had to ask about it at packet pick up.
Definitely plan on being self sufficient for food! I am not that picky, but honestly all they had was snacky type stuff (chips & sugar) - nothing of real caloric density. I had some of my own food but I didn't eat much as I lose my appetite when it's hot.
Aid stations had cold water, but no ice, which was disappointing since it was really warm and exposed.
I didn't have cell service for most of this course.
The race had a gpx available and it was nice to have, although honestly not necessary. Even being alone out there we didn't have to question where the course went.
Got a few free on course and finish line pictures, which is always nice!
Did not see any "native" wildlife, but saw dogs at every aid station, which was lovely. As for vegetation, holy cow, so many cacti and stabby bushes. Really had to be careful on this course.
If you are looking for a hot, rocky and exposed course, this is for you!!

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Week in Review (February 25 - March 3)

Tuesday (15,764 steps) - Peloton and walked Olive before going to work in the office. StairMaster and a strength training at lunch.

Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Handmaid's Tale.

Wednesday (15,433 steps) - I actually got up early to do my run before work. I hate having to do this, but I had a specific workout to do, did NOT want to do the treadmill again, and I really can't do stuff after work AND eat at a reasonable time. So. Up at 5 or something to do this. It wasn't a horrible workout, just a warm up and 10 x 30 second hill sprints. I guess it was pretty out and I didn't have to stress about it all day.

Olive walk when I got home and Handmaid's Tale.

Thursday (11,036 steps) - Work from home! Did a very easy Peloton ride before logging in for the day. Went to Costco to pick up my new reading/computer classes (not bad that I didn't need any vision correction for 9 years post Lasik).

Didn't have a run on schedule, so I took Olive for a long walk, thankfully the weather has been very nice this week! Did a quick row session, some pilates, and finally started packing for our next race!!

Friday (14,717 steps) - Tried to sleep in, but we are just old people and can't, apparently. Lounged around a bit, finished packing. Had breakfast, Ben went to pick up Dutch Bros. Took Olive for a short walk and then we had to tag team down to Golden to drop Ariel's car off so she would be able to come home for the weekend and hang out with Olive. We had planned on parking about 2 hours before our flight. Which we did. Then the problems started. First, it took over 20 minutes to get picked up by the bus at the lot to get taken to the airport. By the time we got dropped off, it was another 25 minutes! Our flight was at 5, and now it was already 3:45 (the lot is only about a 5 minute drive). The security lines had consistently said 5-9 minutes waiting. Well the new security took us over 30 minutes. All the general boarding was down to ONE line with TSA. And THEN my bag got flagged! I told Ben to run for the gate since we were well past the boarding time. When I got to the gate we were on the very last boarding call - 5 minutes until the doors closed. WTF... and we don't even check bags?? It was a headache. At least the flight was very quick - a little over an hour, and I watched Yellowjackets.

Thankfully we landed a few minutes early and getting the rental car was quick and easy. It was about a 45 minute drive from the El Paso airport to Las Cruces area, and I spent a lot of the drive looking for a brewery with food. We picked a place called Little Toad in the downtown area. It was... ok. There was a live band and the patio was full, but it also smelled of cigarette smoke, was loud and the beer was pretty terrible.

The food was decent though, which helped.

Made a quick stop at Walmart to get breakfast for the morning. We had planned on watching tv before bed but we couldn't get any channels to come in (we would find out in the morning that "due to construction" they only get 4-5 local channels.

Saturday (72,669 steps) - Sierra Vista 50k!

We talked to a guy at the finish line and asked about "better" breweries. He recommended Ice Box, so that's where we headed for a late lunch/early dinner.

The beer was halfway decent and the pizza was absolutely incredible!

We also sat next to a couple older guys who were super chatty and told us all sorts of fun facts about Las Cruces. We were both exhausted, and went to bed pretty early.

Sunday (11,451 steps) - We had an afternoon flight, but we still woke up relatively early. Got breakfast in the lobby before packing and heading out. We found a "trail" outside of town where we went for a walk before we started the drive back towards El Paso.

I picked another "trail" (solely because of the name "Lost Cow") for a second walk. It was hot and windy and we didn't go too far because it was sandy/rocky and we were both wearing our crocs.

We went to DeadBeach Brewery for lunch. It was a really cute spot, decent beer and the food was delicious.

One of the employees recommended that we check out Dead Perezidents for their award-winning IPA on the way out of town. It was pretty good also.

We got to the airport crazy early, but we had also wanted to be at our final destination in plenty of time. Security was a breeze, but our flight was delayed, then we had the same issue of waiting for almost a half hour for a shuttle back to the car. It was just before midnight before we got home.

Monday (19,085 steps) - Work from home, thankfully.