Crazy Amy Strikes Again!

“You know, I really need to find another Ultra trail race to get motivated to run again,” my best friend and running cohort mentioned back in June. 

[For those of you who are new to this email and blog, I’ve been writing about Crazy Amy and my running adventures for years on this channel. Crazy Amy and I have trained for and run several Ultra distance races and many half marathons and 5K races over the past decade. An “ultra” race is any distance longer than a marathon.]

Crazy Amy always knows how to plant the seed of an idea in my brain without being obvious about it. She’s always saying stuff like, “Hey, we should do this race.” I sometimes emphatically say no but somehow as the race gets closer, I cave and think, “What the heck! Sounds like fun. Let’s do it!”

This time, having moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico earlier this Summer and wanting to show Amy our new digs out here anyway, I started searching for an Ultra distance trail race in New Mexico for us to run. Amy could visit and we would continue training this summer (independently of course) to stay in shape. Win-win!

I found a 55K Ultra trail race in Cuba, New Mexico on November 1^st. Score!

Next up, Amy casually mentions that we should find ourselves some “B” races leading up to the Main Event. “B” races are shorter distance races that fall in line with your training schedule for the main race you are training for.

A quick search of races in and around Santa Fe turned up a smorgasbord to choose from. Not wanting to choose just one race, plus my tendency to go all-in on a challenge, I registered for not one, but FIVE “B” races leading up to the Deadman’s Peak Ultra. Hey, I’d be training anyway so what’s the difference if I’m running in a race or running in the neighborhood?

Then, Crazy Amy hit me with the coup de grâce on our last phone call. 

“You know, it would be a shame to let all of this training go to waste after our 55K. You should find another race in Mexico while you’re there this winter.”

[Yes, Andrew and I are still spending our winters in Mexico too!]

Sigh. Amy had a good point. I hate starting over to get back into shape after a long hiatus.

So, off to the computer I went to search for cool races in Mexico.

OMG! My search almost immediately turned up the Caballo Blanco Copper Canyon Ultra Trail Races on March 1^st.

I was (and still am) obsessed with the main characters described in the “ultimate” running motivation book, “Born to Run”, by Christopher McDougall. Caballo Blanco was an American ultrarunner who moved to Mexico’s Copper Canyon and lived, ran and became friends with the Tarahumara indigenous people (also known as the Rarámuri). He is just one of the really cool characters described in the book.

The Copper Canyon Caballo Blanco Ultra is now an annual race event promoting the Rarámuri running culture that was founded by Caballo Blanco.

It was a long shot, but I “pulled a Crazy Amy” and casually mentioned the race to my son who has been globetrotting for the past year. I know he loves a hard physical and mental challenge plus he would be visiting us in Mexico this winter. I honestly didn’t hold out much hope about his interest in the race, though. We haven’t run a race together since he was in middle school.

Lo and behold, the next day I awoke to a text from him that said, “Let’s do it. I talked to some friends who have read “Born to Run” and they think it would be really cool!” Aaah, the power of a suggestion coming from someone other than your mother. LOL

With multiple race distances to choose from, we settled on the marathon distance. Between the altitude, technical terrain, and elevation gain, we decided the 100 mile and 100K distances might be a tad much for us! 

On the other hand, if you’re gonna travel that distance to a race in a remote part of Mexico (which will entail two plane rides and a seven hour bus ride to get there), it better be worthwhile and a half marathon was just not going to cut it. Ha ha

So much for a relaxing start to retirement, huh?

And I have Crazy Amy to thank for that!

Kristen “Maybe Not ‘Born to Run’ but Definitely Up for the Challenge” Marks

Founder of My Pink Lawyer® and Attorney Emeritus

Now splitting her time between New Mexico & Old Mexico

P.S. Having moved to another state, Andrew and I now need to update our estate plans with a local attorney. I am not licensed in New Mexico and no doubt the inheritance laws are different here. But I’m not going to dabble with it myself and possibly screw up our estate plans inadvertently. So, after asking around for trusted estate planning referrals, we have an upcoming appointment with our new estate planning attorney!