Santa Fe Thunder

There is nothing better than spending a weekend with running friends.....even if the race you are meeting up for hasn't been trained for. Whoops. Last Thursday D and I drove the five hours south to Santa Fe to our bnb Casa Pacifica where we met up with my friends Karen and Michelle. The bnb was great because it meant having our own kitchen and Michelle likes to cook and we all like to eat what she cooks. It is a beautiful relationship!

It was so great to see Karen and Michelle. The hardest part about moving is being far away from the friends you have have made. We spent two days exploring near the Santa Fe plaza, hitting up breweries and wine tastings and eating delicious food. On Saturday we were able to hit up the farmer's market which was in walking distance of our bnb. 

On Saturday we also drove out to the Buffalo Thunder Casino to get our race numbers. The expo was small and besides numbers and t-shirts there was not much going on. I spent the day telling myself I would be fine and that the race was downhill, over and over and over again. I was hopeful that positive talk would make up for my lack of training. The longest run I had done in preparation was an 8 miler weeks ago. 

 Race day dawned early and we drove to the casino to board the buses for the start line. This race was very well organized. We did hear about one bus whose bus driver did not know how to get to the start line but they still made it. It was chilly race morning but was tolerable once we got moving and stayed a nice temperature throughout. I think if it had gotten any warmer it would have been uncomfortable since much of the race had no shade and lots of sun. My goal was to try to keep up with Karen. I was nervous about my shins just exploding out of my legs with all the downhill and not being trained so I held back a bit on the downhill and that seemed to workout okay since I never felt too sore while running. The course is downhill, except for the first two miles which were a fairly steep uphill, just climbed and climbed and climbed. Overall the course was really nice. It was scenic, the aid stations were great, there was some entertainment with belly dancers and drummers including an amazing drumming batman.

Karen and I powered through to about a 2:40 finish. I really enjoyed running with her. I think races are about 110% more fun to run with friends. I would recommend this half. It would be a great course to PR on, training would also help with that whole PR thing. Plus Santa Fe is a nice city to visit. Overall it was a great weekend and the best part was hanging with Karen and Michelle. Running friends are the best. I can't wait till we come up with our next adventure!