El Paso Puzzler

With a race coming up, I decided it might be time to get back to blogging.

On Saturday January 19, 2013 I will be running the marathon at the El Paso Puzzler Endurance Weekend, which takes place in the Franklin Mountains. It bills itself as the toughest race in Texas, and the tagline is "leaving you in pieces." Excellent. Check out the elevation profile and you will see that this is not exaggeration.

A section of the Old Tin Mine Road, one of the trails traversed by the marathon course

In case you didn't suffer enough running the trail marathon or half on Saturday, there is a mountain bike race the following day: your choice of 50, 35, or 13 miles. And incidentally, I know someone crazy awesome enough to do this. My dad will be completing an event they have dubbed "Half Mad;" the half-marathon and 35 mile mountain bike race. I am so excited he is coming out here to participate in this awesomeness, and I can't wait to cheer for him on Sunday during the bike race!

I wasn't sure until recently whether I would choose to run the half or the full marathon, but I completed a 15 miler last week with relative ease, so I have decided to go for the full. Which means I have a few LONG training runs coming up. Wish me luck!