See the Canyons Broken by Cloud.

 So, remember how I'm posting my favorite bike rides? Well, now I want to add my favorite runs too...But the kind where I move my feet, not the kind where I have digestive problems. Lucky you.

Since I was a kid, I have always tried to run everywhere I went, so I will have PLENTY of material for this.

This photo makes it look like John is on a cliff, but he's really about a foot of the ground.

A year ago today, John and I were getting ready to head to the Southwest after work. Would that it were the same today. Sigh.

John is not the best about deciding things, but he's pretty agreeable to what I decide, so I went through a million "best of" sites and found all of the places I wanted to go in the Southwest and all the things I wanted to do. I know John's emphasis is always riding and running, so I found all kinds of cool places to do those two things. He is REALLY good at figuring out directions and logistics (not my strong suit) and so it turns out, we make a pretty damn good team when it comes to planning vacations.

During our trip, I knew we would only have a little bit of time before we left Santa Fe and headed to Phoenix. I wanted to find some national park or forest that would take our breath away, but wouldn't be a terrible drive. A guy who works near me and whose daughter went to school with mine, told me about Tent Rocks. It's a newer park on a reservation. I Googled it and the photos I saw were amazing...And it was on the way from Santa Fe to Albuquerque and wouldn't take us far out of our way. Double bonus.

I am a HUGE tree hugger.

Our plan was to do a trail run through the park. Last Winter I was in piss poor shape. I was about 8 lbs heavier than I am this year and I didn't do much physical activity except CX country skiing, which, I did a lot of but it doesn't seem to get me in the kind of shape running does. So, I was a little hesitant about keeping up with John on a rugged trail run. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. The minute we got on the trail, we realized there wouldn't be a ton of running done. The scenery and views were so jaw dropping that we stopped every couple of minutes to take photos and try not to fall off a cliff, while being distracted by all the beauty.


We actually did run a few miles there while ogling at the same time- a new skill set for me. If you ever get to New Mexico, definitely go to Tent Rocks, whether you run or just ogle. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.