La Luz

Headed down to Albuquerque on Sunday after running the GoG10M and had planned on tackling a La Luz roundtrip while I was down there. After running the 10 miler on Sunday and then sitting in a car for near 6 hours almost immediately after that, I was a little sore for the remainder of Sunday and into Monday. I started feeling well enough Monday afternoon and made a trip to the store to get some fuel for the trip.

My alarm never went off Tuesday morning and I woke up about 75 minutes later than I wanted to. It was still plenty early but I almost talked myself into going back to sleep. However, I somehow dragged my happy ass out of the bed and hurried to get dressed and pack all the stuff I needed. I think I finally hit the the trailhead around 7:15. I didn't have the required $3 to pay to park at the trailhead so I decided to chance it after scrounging change in my wife's car turned up fruitless.

I started up and was running every other switchback for the first couple miles up the first face of the mountain. Once the trail turned into the first canyon, I settled into a quick pace as the trail is relatively tame until the last couple miles. It was pretty lonely, to be expected for a Tuesday, as I only passed 3 people on the way up and was passed by a couple of runners with about a mile to go. As I came into the canyon at the bottom of the Rockslide area, I stopped for a minute to stretch and dig a Powerbar out of my bag. I started my way up the Rockslide and was good for about the first half of it. The top half really slowed me down and I felt pretty beat until I saw the split for the Sandia Crest trail. The sign read 0.6 miles to the crest but it felt more like 1.6. That final section is pretty steep in parts but worth the pain for the views at the top.

Finally, about 2:50 after I started I was at the Crest parking lot. I snapped a few pics and then hit the viewing deck from the Crest house. I didn't hang around long before heading back down. I realized just how steep the Crest spur is on the way down as it was difficult to sustain a controlled run without feeling out of control. The Rockslide is just as difficult going down as it is coming up with the unsure footing and jagged rocks dominating the trail. Once at the bottom of the Rockslide, it was an easy run through the majority of the sections to get back to the trailhead. When I hit the last ridge, the heat really kicked up and I could really feel the 14ish miles taking its toll on my legs. I kept moving and made it back to the trailhead about 1:45 after leaving the crest house.

I would have liked to reached the summit close to 2:30 but I am definitely stoked about getting over 14 miles in with no injuries, aside from a sweet sunburn on my dome, to speak of.