March 21, 2018 – Chili Pepper Series Day 1 – Las Cruces, NM

I first came to Las Cruces, NM, in October of 2014. At that time, Clint and Hanne Burleson put on a Day of the Dead series of races, the “day” stretching into a full week of running. They’ve since sold their Mainly Marathons business to two great brothers who carry on the multi-day events around the country… but Hanne and Clint have kept their New Mexico events under the banner of Dead Running… and they are expanding to offer a few other themed races throughout the year. 2018 sees the inaugural Chili Pepper series, a four day event that is using the same loop-de-loop course I remember so well from back in the day.

So here I am back at La Llorona Park, running 12 loops each day to hit 26.2 miles. It’s a path that runs parallel to the Rio Grande… and atypically for this part of New Mexico, there’s actually water in the riverbed at the moment. Usually it’s a dry gulch of dirt and sand in these parts. So that’s a unique treat.

Returning to running, I’m relieved to say that my back and ribs hurt about the same as when I wasn’t running… so there’s just a dull, throbbing discomfort but not a stabbing pain or anything. A friend of mine who knew I was hurting asked what I was at on a scale of 1 to 10. I shrugged and said a 3. I think that’s fair.

What was especially tough today though were my legs. And maybe “tough” isn’t the right phrasing. What was especially wobbly today were my legs. They got used to propping themselves up on an ottoman or coffee table as I lounged about on the couch. They therefore weren’t really “mileage ready” to log 26.2 today… and so we’ll see how they do with 52.4, 78.6, 104.8 or the bonus Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon I’m doing on Sunday. Ask me how the legs are after the five day total of 131 miles.

In the meantime, today’s results were 3:35:12. It was chilly at the start, somewhere in the high 40s but minimal wind. I had a throwaway sweatshirt that I kept meaning to toss after each loop… but each time as I made the turnaround I seemed to be hit in the face with a burst of wind. And so each time I thought to myself, “well, next loop for sure I’ll toss this shirt…” And without fail each time I’d hit the black cone marking the turnaround, the unofficial mascot of Clint and Hanne’s races, and I’d be hit with that same wind tunnel effect for the 1.1 miles back and think, “well, next loop for sure…”