PrintSocial – Abiquiu Print and Run Weekend!

This is a special for the Santa Fe Striders and any of my hiking buddies, August 3rd and 4th.

I began PrintSocial in NYC as is an exchange between two or three people during the process of making an editioned linoleum print. It is an idea I dreamed up after having to move my studio to my home. It served many purposed but the two primary ones are: I always wanted to have a printshop and invite people to come and make a print – thus I play the role of a print publisher on a tiny scale. Now I have a phat studio in the high desert of Abiquiu, New Mexico and I can invite a whole group of folks to  print.

DETAILS – Print
No experience necessary. You do not need to be an artist. In fact not being an artist is a plus.
It is free. I will provide all materials.
It will take 3-6 hours to draw, carve and print your image.
You must like dogs and you are welcome to bring your’s.
Of course kids, spouses are also welcome. Let me know if your children are
under 10 so that I can get the appropriate carving tools for them.

PRINT DETAILS
You will carve a 4″ x 6″ block and print it on 9″ x 12″ cotton paper, one color. You can make an edition of 5 and I ask you to leave one at the studio for archive purposes.

You can draw directly onto your  linoleum plate or you can bring a photo, drawing, any image and transfer it to your plate. The only real planning you need to do is know what you want your image to be and that you will make is 4″ x 6″ and print onto 9″ x 12″  paper. I will teach you the rest. No, you do not need to know how to draw – trust me!

DETAILS – Run
On Sunday we will do long run in and around  Ghost Ranch along the Continental Divide.  Eric, your long run coordinator will provide these details.

Swim
How about a swim in Abiquiu Lake after our run on Sunday? Depending on when you come Saturday you could also go then.

LOGISTICS
Sleeping
This is a two day event so everyone is welcome and encouraged to camp out. My house is small, but there is a loft  and floor space for those who want to be inside, especially those with young children. The flat ground level roof offers a great spot to sleep under the starts. I can offer up my tent and there are 2 acres of land to pitch a tent. Abiquiu Lake is just a few miles away if you want to camp at the lake. I am rural but I do have running water, electricity and DSL. Bodes is 6 miles away, but it is best to bring everything you want.

Food
Please bring food and drink to share. I will make a number of quiches for Sunday morning.

Art Supplies
All art supplies are provided but if you have materials you would like to try out, please bring them.

Entertainment
Outdoor movie screening with fresh popcorn after dark and any entertainment you wish to share.

Important Notice
Don’t feel you have to run a ton of miles or any miles; hikers, walkers, bikers, swimming, or relaxers are all welcome. But please let me know you are coming so that I buy enough art supplies. You do not have to stay overnight, if you want to come for just one of the two days, you are more than welcome.

RSVP to hilary@hilarylorenz.com

Questions – just ask

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The running and hiking extravaganzas of the week.

My hike for this week was in Taos. I met my ABQ friend Tom in Espanola at 7:00am for the drive up to the Ski Basin. We began at the Gavilan trail #60, it is about 1.5 miles before the ski basin, it is short, only 2.43 miles, but you gain 2,000 ft in those 2 miles from 8,881 feet of elevation to 11,205 feet of elevation. From there we went to Columbine Trail over to Gold Hill, wandered around on top the mountains before coming back down over the Long Trail. My last hike with Tom was a fast 20 milers, this one I am not sure how long it was, but we walked for 8 solid hours which equals about 16 to 17 miles.

After coming back to Abiquiu we ate at the famous El Farolitos in El Rito. I ran into four other friends  and we decided to take a night hike in Plaza Blanca, the Badlands of New Mexico. Walking around Plaza Blanca with only the moonlight was really cool. We took no lights  and wandered around  until about 11:00pm.

The next day I went to Santa Fe to meet up with the running group. I ran on my own Saturday morning extra early because I was helping time a race in town. It was pretty awesome, 217 people showed up, it was free with lots of great prizes. It made me want to race. I met my friend Joan who is in from NYC and we spend the days at galleries.

This morning the gang was running up Santa Fe Baldy, (12,622 ft) a 14 mile out and back run beginning at the Ski Basin. I hiked this last weekend. When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt kind of sad for no particular reason. But perhaps because I only have 26 days left, or because I hardly saw my dogs yesterday or maybe because I really just wanted to do laundry, I did not go. I took the dogs to the park at 6am until 7:30 met a really nice woman there and made a plans for her to bring her dog up to Abiquiu Lake, so it was a nice morning.

Now I feel sad that I missed the run, I just want to do everything. I love being outside and while I miss NYC, I will miss the mountains even more.

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Dale Ball Training Run

warning: gross road rash wipe out photos at the end

The Dale Ball Trails are probably the most popular trails in Santa Fe. Less than 3 miles from downtown, the high altitude trail system covers over 40 miles. On Sunday I went with a group of friends on a 5 hour training run in preparation to run the Grand Canyon R2R2R in October.  I will not be joining them in AZ because it is the same weekend at the Abiquiu Studio Tour . I am excited to participate in open  studio again.

The plan was 20 miles at an average of 15:00 per mile which sounds very slow, but with 2,000 ft climbs and running between 7,000 and 9,000ft of altitude it is far harder than you think. Also this pace would more closely mimic what it would be like running  48 miles in the Grand Canyon. Since I am running the JFK50 in November it was a great training run for me.

I slept poorly the night before because I was worried about how it would go. Last Sunday I ended up in Urgent Care on a 12 mile run, but this week I overhauled my diet and planned my nutrition. I would be taking in about 200 calories per hour with papaya, honey gels, raisins and Gadorade.  I ate every three – four miles and it made all the difference. I learned from one of my SFStrider Buddies, how to alternate power walk  with running  on the steep uphills so as to not over fatigue running muscles and to keep walking muscles fast and strong.  I also learned when and why one should powerwalk vs.  run  even when the strides are tiny. This was a great bunch of very experienced trail runners to go with.

With 3.5 miles to go, we refueled at the cars and I already felt  satisfied. I could have quit or kept going, but I decided to finish it out. The last bit felt really good, we got to a nice downhill stretch and I bombed down the hill stretching my legs out to run as fast as I could, until, BAM, I hit a rock, went flying headfirst down the hill, tucking my head so I did not knock myself out, jackknifed my body and rolled into a ball. Two guys came running down behind me, and it occurred to me that I need to say, “I am OK, I just need to lay here a minute, it burns.” My whole left side took the hit.

My arm from elbow to wrist was filled with gravel and scratched all the way down.

My left hip, has a dinner plate sized mess of bruises and cuts, my should is all gashed up, and my hand has a small hole in the palm.

There was just under 2 miles to go and though I could bail or finish. I got to the bail point and was doing just fine so I finished it out and felt great. We all whooped it up at the end and I think everyone was really happy.

I quickly showered and got ready  to go the Folk Art Market.  As I walked to the entrance of the market, I noticed a woman watching me, she made her way over, with an opening line about my trail rash. Turns out some good abrasions are great for picking up women.

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Altitude, learning every day.

I have been back in  New Mexico  for 36 days and I just learned something new, the hard way.

After three summers I thought I had it figured out, but after a debilitating run in Frijoles Canyon Trail from Ponderosa campground in Bandelier  that I was not recovering from, I went to see a doc, who gave me  a good scolding and taught me something new about altitude.

I was pretty confident in what I was doing  this summer so I upped my running with the Santa Fe Striders to a 10-miler on the rail trail Saturday morning (7,000 ft) and a 10-14 mile run Sunday in the mountains, (9,500 to 13,000 ft). (about 50% of my weekly mileage in 2 days) After 5 weeks of these back to back runs plus my weekly running in Abiquiu,  4-6 miles each run as it is usually 90+ degrees, I figured things would get easier as I got stronger or they would fall apart. The runs did not get easier but they did not totally fall apart either.

I did crashed and burn on a 12 mile run yesterday, it was just under 3,000 ft of elevation gain, easy compared to our other runs, and without going into details here is what I learned about exercise and altitude:

1. Even if you think you are acclimatized and are living at altitude, stress, dehydrating and weather conditions can still cause altitude sickness.

2. Altitude sickness does not always come with a headache, it can be dizziness, a choking feeling, not being able to breathe, high HR, confusion, nausea.

3.  If you have an almost imperceptible heart murmur seen only on an echocardiogram, it can become “significant” at altitude with dehydration and over exertion and even felt in your pulse.

4. Your diet would be 70% carbohydrates with 200 to 300 grams more than at sea level.

5. One cannot  eat or ( in my case not eat) the same way at altitude as sea level. In NYC I think nothing of getting up in the morning, eating nothing, running 10 miles, maybe grabbing a bagel later. In fact I will often doing “glycogen depleting runs” of even 15-18 miles without any food and then only water. My mornings in SF of not eating before a run makes 10 miles feels like I am dragging a dead horse behind me.

6. And lastly, drinking a gallon of water a day could be great, but don’t drink distilled water  if you don’t eat salt. You will wash away all your electrolytes and that ain’t fun.

Today  is nice and cool I am trying to resist running. I have already consumed, 15 g of protein, 90 g of carbohydrate, in three small meals all before 10:00am. The best I have done all summer and one more cool thing I can obsess about.

Signing off from the Land of Enchantment.

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