Training Log Archive: TomN

Up in a balloon this morning. Piloted by a friend of my sister's, we launched just after sunrise in a field just 5 minutes from where she lives. There were probably 20 other balloons and crews all rolling out, inflating, and sailing away.

Gently lifting off the ground in a basket is a sublime experience, with a strong sense of magic about it. There is total silence at 1000 feet, except for the intermittent blasts of the heater. Coming down in a spiny desert in a 10 mph wind is neither gentle nor sublime, but it had to be done.

We landed in the exact spot where I had just run yesterday morning, and the chase truck arrived a few minutes later. With the balloon still inflated, we had dragged the gondola over to the road. The primary goal in deflating was to keep the balloon off the numerous chollas and lined up in the dirt roadbed. Getting it all stuffed back in the truck was physical work.

I knew the way back, having just been out there, and I went for a run afterwards, into the desert for a second helping.

I ran out into the desert behind my sister's house on the western edge of Albuquerque. The maps show it neatly subdivided into streets and lots, but in reality it's a wasteland crisscrossed by a complex network of ATV tracks, with a serious "Breaking Bad" vibe. There's garbage everywhere. Household stuff, bags of trash, uncountable numbers of old tires. Where did it all come from?

In Albuquerque for a few days. I ran a loop on the Embudito trail. Up the northern canyon rim to the top (finally the sun), then back along the canyon floor. The trail was a little hard to follow, and I backtracked a couple of times. Then there was a little bit of route finding on the way back in the bottom of the canyon itself. This is actually a bushwhack, but well traveled. Very pretty. Lots of desert flowers blooming on account of recent rain, and there was running water in the canyon.

Morning run in the neighborhood. I felt like a lurching bag of cement, but a guy I know who was out walking his dog complimented me on my form.

Still can't navigate in this park. There must have been a magnetic anomaly between 2 and 3. No matter where I started from, I always ended up at the road.

Red - Splits