In my own backyard...

June 8, 2010 -- Some of the best 'twisted travels' can be in your own backyard. This morning with friends we left the house here in Los Lunas at 4:30a.m. to run and greet the sun just 30 miles away just south of the Laguna reservation.

Celebrating our friends 18th birthday we ran for about 1.5 miles down the dirt roads to the cliffs of lava tubes and arroyos.

My running buddy and I commented that this was the perfect adventure after having run to Tome hill yesterday and still feeling the effects on our knees and calves. Bolder hopping works muscles in new ways and the stretching and climbing felt good on sore muscles.

Soon we would discover long forgotten petroglyphs on the canyon walls. Finding sacred and ancient symbols has become a fetish for me and I'm not sure I will ever tire of discovering a new panel.

Different time periods seemed to be displayed on the canyon walls beginning with ancient and then the more modern Spanish colonial glyphs represented by warriors and missions. 

Even the molted skin of a snake in the brush proved an exciting discovery.

As the trains from the BNSF rolled down the adjacent tracks the silence of the morning proved that the new day was now upon us.

What an incredible way to begin the day.

Running in Los Lunas

Since living in Los Lunas, I've had the pleasure of running about three times a week with a great friend.

Almost down to a routine, I'm up at 6:15am, get dressed and drive across our small town to meet my friend at 6:30am.



In the beginning, our run is quite and cold as we take off in the dark and run south along a dirt road running parallel to a small canal.

Soon shapes emerge from the shadows and life begins to awake. The sounds of roosters and barking dogs begin to greet us but usually they are ignored as we are lost in conversation.



We reach the halfway point at a dairy where the cows are aloof and not willing to engage in humoring our pontifications and conversation. This particular morning the only interest in me is from a curious bovine with one horn who is ready for her close-up.



Heading north we can gauge whether we are ahead of schedule or behind as the Rail Runner morning train passes us on our left just as we reach the municipal building.



The fall colors "pop" as the sun as the sun greets the earth but it will be another couple of hours before the dew evaporates from the fields. By now I'm ready to stop from exhaustion- admittedly, it's hard to keep pace with my long legged running partner. Another half a mile and we end up in the driveway where we began.



It will be another 10 or 15 minutes before I head back home, usually the conversations last longer than the actual run. These are mornings to be remembered.

What a beautiful way to welcome a new day.