It is Wednesday now, and I am finally getting over the craziness that was the La Luz Trail Run. David and I travelled to Albuquerque to run in this with several other people from Amarillo. Several people we were with had run this before, but David and I were novices.
In 2001, Trail Running magazine named La Luz as one of the twelve most grueling trail races in the United States. The course begins with a 1.8-mile stretch of mountain road at an elevation of 6,100 feet, and is followed by 7.2 miles of dirt single-track trail. The rock slide portion of the trail begins at approximately mile five, and includes several large boulders that block the trail. The race finishes at Sandia Peak, which has an elevation of 10,678 feet. 
Did you read that??? I said ROCK SLIDE!! This was the craziest thing I have ever done. The 1.8 - mile portion of road is a mountain road; i.e., winding and steep. When you finally get to the trail, you still have 7.2 miles to go, and lots and lots of elevation to gain. The first 4 or 5 miles is not too bad, but once those are done, the rock slide begins. It is literally a trail of loose rocks and boulders. Needless to say, I did much less running here and much more walking and climbing.
Did you read that??? I said ROCK SLIDE!! This was the craziest thing I have ever done. The 1.8 - mile portion of road is a mountain road; i.e., winding and steep. When you finally get to the trail, you still have 7.2 miles to go, and lots and lots of elevation to gain. The first 4 or 5 miles is not too bad, but once those are done, the rock slide begins. It is literally a trail of loose rocks and boulders. Needless to say, I did much less running here and much more walking and climbing. When I finally made it to the last mile, I thought to myself, "I can run a mile in my sleep." However, the thin air obviously made me delusional, because I typically do not run an entire mile straight up hill. Nor do I climb a flight of stairs at the end of a 9-mile run. I literally had to talk to myself out loud during this last mile to tell myself to pick up my feet and keep moving.
Now that I have had a few days to let the race events sink in, I realize that this race was a great mental toughness exercise. There were runners on the trail who said that this is comparable to a marathon, so finishing the race definitely gives me some confidence that I can endure and finish something that is very difficult, as I am sure the marathon will be.
I finished the race with a time of 2:38:19, and David finished with a 2:44:27. Will we do it again next year? I guess that depends on whether our decision-making skills improve between now and then....
1 comment:
Your blog is so cute! Keep up the training! You're an inspiration!
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