On my training calendar was 20 miles, and I didn't want to do it running back and forth on a crowded bosque trail, sharing it with weekenders cyclists pedaling 5 mph with no helmets, families walking 4 abreast, or roller-bladers and YES I am just that kind of snobby.
If I have to run 20 miles, I want my own section of trail.
We headed out with a trail map to do all this at 10,000 feet. It was beautiful.
We even saw the magic mountain cows of San Pedro Parks.
What the map didn't tell us was that on July 31, 2010, about 70% of the trail we chose would be under water.
At first, I was all dainty, hopping from rock to rock to avoid getting the feetsies wet...but after several hours and several marshy, swampy meadows, it was clear to me that we were running down and up a stream with occasional dry areas.
I just stomped through each wet area.
For about half the run, Baboo appeared to be working diligently to stay 50 yards ahead of me - I would speed up and try to catch him, but as soon as I started running he would head off at a dead sprint until he was nearly out of sight.
He said it was because his knee hurt when he tried to run as slow as me. Or something.
Anyway, he was able to take lots of pictures of me, and the run, and he fully redeemed himself with a talent of which, before now, I was unaware.
Now, because the trail was interrupted with so many marsh/swamp/meadow areas, it was the case that either the trail had been completely overgrown since the last time people used it, or more likely, people saw the wet marsh/swamp/meadow and turned back.
Either way, there were vast areas of unmarked areas that interrupted the trail, and you couldn't see where it picked up on the other side, and we're all spoiled by races in that we expect either flags or a corner marshal: there were neither.
I had my very own Marine land navigation specialist - all to myself!
It's amazing to think that I would be surprised 11 years into our relationship, but there it was: he didn't just take us straight across large, unmarked, untrailed areas, he led us precisely to where the other end of the trail was. With a map.
Don't get me wrong; I can read a map, and I can follow the sun...but I'm not sure I could be as precise as he was.
He also specialized in driving vehicles over rugged terrain, so I just sit back and relax when we bounce along the graveled roads of NM.
and picks awesome places to run. Where I can have my very own trail.
and no, he's still taken. And so am I.
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