Day Two

The night had been relatively restful except the crazy roosters that began crowing at 3 a.m.  We went back to the kitchen and began learning peoples names; Lorna &Steve from Durango, Tyler handsome wary and a chef from Winter Park, Tony with enough jet black hair for three scalps, Sam a beauty from Las Vegas, Jack & Shawn a father/son team from England and Nicole a sweet beauty who was in the canyon to study indigenous culture. They worked together in the kitchen like old friends or family silently assessing all newcomers. Gary decided to check out the Guadalupe loop along the river and across the bridge and up river to town.  Celeste put on her big girl pants and walked to town alone, finding her worry for naught as she mimed Spanish to a woman with the biggest   poinsettia she had seen. Later in the day we packed school supplies with a group of Mas Locos in the Presidencia all working and laughing with each other. Meeting the guys from Luna sandals sponsors of the race. There are really over 400 kids in the kids’ race so the origami horses will be handed out at the schools with the supplies. Over to Mama Tita’s for a plate of beans and rice.  We have learned she serves vegetarian food and has sliding scale especially when Papa Tita is running till.

Day one in the canyon

Gary the ghostwriter here, bringing you up to date.

Planes, trains and a Nissan van maybe loaded to capacity with 12 people and gear. Down the road that is legend to Urique and on down the road to Entres Amigos and Keith’s great place. The first smell Celeste picked up was jasmine right from the tree and the tour began Keith showing us campsites and the one with the lemon tree was chosen.  The place has an awesome garden and communal kitchen where we began meeting other runners and their families. We learned quickly not to ask what people did for a living-THEY RUN. How they make money isn’t the point .a pleasant change of outlook for both of us. Set up tent under that lemon tree and check where the stars came out in Urique.

HE MADE IT!
the race was incredible, full of good friends and great times.  Gary's time was a little over 14 hours, not bad at all according to the young men who befriended us.  There are a hundred stories to tell but alas I fell and broke my arm...a story of its own.  Surgery is tuesday so hopefully i will be on the mend soon and able to fill you in!

The Journey Begins

Today Gary moved the horses, we moved the car, which is loaded with most of our baggage.  We have been packing, repacking and weighing the bags and I think we are good to go.

The last 6 weeks have been more blizzard than good weather.  It is a lot like the winters here twenty years ago but with some modifications; twenty years ago the road wasn’t kept open so fewer people lived here and no one worked in Laramie.   Since then winters have been milder, more people have moved in and the ones who have lived here have… well gotten older.  Additionally since the road is plowed more winter tourists use the it without a second thought about getting stuck.  February… This is the month that tries one’s soul here.  Everything takes longer; the snow loses its beauty as you posthole through the crust and tweak ligaments and muscles.  Yesterday the road closed, the county won’t plow it until the wind stops.  We decided to try and get the car out by pulling it with the truck only to find a truck and trailer with snowmobiles jackknifed in a drift and abandoned.  The weather was dreadful and it looked like we would have to drive through the canyon to leave versus the mile and a half to our usual highway.  The wind-chill was below zero and we still had to move the horses, walking them as everyone’s horse trailers are buried.  It felt dismal.

But I have to reflect on how supportive friends have been; my last day at work the custodian stopped by with money ‘For Gary’ he said hurriedly before racing away, and a secretary dropped off more ‘for a great meal there’.  People at the shops downtown wished us well and I had to find a larger bag to carry all the school supplies donated.  The race has opened our eyes to how many caring people we know. And while Gary felt uncomfortable with people's interest initially, now he is grateful and amazed.  

Today two neighbors called, concerned about us getting the car out to go to Denver.  They offered to snowblow a corridor for us or to tow the car if that didn’t work.  Again, they wished us well and did the final check to make sure all the animals were cared for. 

Tonight the house is quiet; we are packed, we only need to drop the dog off tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Colorado then to the race.  Internet is sketchy in the canyon so I don’t know how much I can write there.  The race is March 2^nd and you can find info on the UltraCB.com page.  God willing we will be back with tales of our adventure and photos to share.  But thanks to all of you who have made Gary’s dream birthday happen.

50 at 60

The race is coming up quickly, and the snow is coming down faster.  March 2^nd is the race in Urique, with temperatures of high 80’s and mid 90’s, if past year’s weather is a good predictor.  We are packing bags, no need to worry about wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts here, last week the thermometer said -22 and some days it didn’t make it about zero. It doesn’t sound like we will need our Stiegers and long johns there…

Gary turns 60 on March 7^th, just a few days after the race.  When he began to talk about the race, when it was still just a pipedream, he would laugh and say ‘wouldn’t it be something to run 50 miles when I turn 60?’  Slowly that crazy idea has manifested itself into much more than just a passing thought.  A book, a chance meeting with an old friend-now a running coach, support and encouragement from friends have all woven a foundation under the dream.

As to be expected the snow has put a damper on Gary’s training.  ‘It is what it is’, Bob the coach says ‘we just have to go with the idea that we have been training up to this point’.  This weekend brought at least another two feet of snow although the wind was a constant 30-40 mph so it was hard to measure.  The road is drifted closed again with a number of vehicles, trucks and snowmachines alike, stuck and abandoned like toys of a naughty child.  There are no tracks for Gary to run in.  The snow is deep enough that we cannot leave the horses here to be fed by a neighbor, they need to be somewhere with access to water.  I am becoming a little panicked by the idea of going to a country where our grasp of the language is paltry at best and Gary running in weather a hundred degrees warmer that we have been dealing with the last week.

And Gary?  He is the optimistic one now. He’s out today on snowshoes, as close to training as he is going to get today.  50 at 60…

Note the fence in this photo taken a couple of weeks ago versus the fence, or lack of one in the photo today (above).

Caballitos

I have volunteered for the Corrida de Los Cabaillitos, the children’s race two days before the Caballo Blanco ultra.  Look at the photos that Luis Escobar has taken and I bet you would too.  There is a boy running with gigantic strides in a bright red blouse and a smile of satisfaction.  The children who race the 5k all get a bag of school supplies.  I have sent out a few requests to departments on campus and the response has been incredible, so incredible I fear my luggage my consist of a few changes of underwear and the rest will be crayons, pencils and pens.  And the caballitos.  I thought it would be fun to fold some origami ponies to put in the bags as well I mean how many children could there be?  I figured that 100 ponies would be plenty.  Wrong.  If the numbers on the Caballo pages are correct the number is more like 400.  YIKES!  I have been folding like crazy but my Stitch and Bitch crew have come to my aid…sort of.  They are an incredible group of women and I would wish such good friends for you.  Barb offered her home and lunch, Dot brought wine and muffins, Joyce brought home-made cookies.  It was a great afternoon, everyone tried hard and we made a few more ponies, drank wine and laughed together.  In the end there was an assembly line of sorts; Maureen was good at the first folds, Barb had the head and tail folds, Joyce made the whole horse and Dot filled in where needed.  During the folding we talked about the race, Joyce offered to watch the horses, Barb offered Kaycee a place, Dot offered her camera.  They wanted to know more about the people and the place.  And they took paper home to build more ponies.  Current count?  200 and folding.

Gary was down with a pulled muscle and of course there was that winter weather thing.  Yesterday he was back running and it seems the pulled muscle is responding well to the workout.  He is like a horse, keeping him confined can be worse than letting him run…so to speak.  He ran about 6 miles. Today it is too cold, with the temperature hovering around zero.