New year, same me! Still scrolling through my favorite website of all time, runningintheusa.com and looking for quick weekend races. I’m trying to stay within driving distance nowadays. This new race sprang up out of nowhere…the inaugural Las Cruces marathon, half, 10K, and 5K. Since it was the first race, we obviously had to go check it out!
By the time we decided to register for it, all spots had been sold out. I gave the race director a call and he told us to check back in with him the night before the race at packet pickup to see if there were still spots available. We headed to Las Cruces for a quick two-night trip. We ended up snagging two 10K registrations!
I forgot to look at the weather reports and it was hovering just below 40* F. Thankfully we had some neck gaiters that doubled as ear muffs. We picked up some gloves, and the race director sold us a discounted long sleeved pullover.
The morning of the race was cool and windy. It was perfect conditions for running, if you liked running in the cold. I didn’t mind it too much since I was running and staying warm. The race started and ended on the Field of Dreams running track in Las Cruces, which was a really nice touch. Erik even ran me in on my last lap 🙂
The race was a simple out and back for the 5K, 10K, and half marathon. The full marathon was a a loop of the half marathon. On the 5K and 10K loop I did not see any aid stations. I always carry my own nutrition and hydration but I know a lot of other people struggled on the course because of it. Hopefully in follow up years there will be enough volunteers and staff to handle those. There was plenty of on-course police offers to keep runners safe from traffic, which was really great. The course was only partially closed, but I suppose when the race gets larger they may need to figure something else out.
I haven’t done any meaningful running for a few months now, since before my laparoscopy. It was definitely hard, but in terms of timing I did better here (1:35:54) than my 10K in October (1:42:28). My September 10K wasn’t too far off either (1:34:40). Since half marathons will probably be off for this coming year, perhaps I can get more comfortable focusing on my 5K and 10K distances. When I first started running, that’s really where I saw most of my results anyway.
Overall, I look forward to running it again next year!
Amara in Training 