April 8-9, 2000. The Rio Grande River, between Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Trying to continue the tradition of monthly training event, Ries hosted the April training weekend on the Rio Grande River with Mike from Wolf White Water Rafting. Jan, Don, Ries, and Cindy all participated in this adventure of two person canoeing on the Rio Grande. By the end of the weekend, our canoe skills were much improved but only one person was in the water no matter which canoe he was in, this is a little suspicious. It was great fun; Cindy, Don and Ries did a great job body surfing one of the rapids. Thank you Ries for arranging this event!

April 15-16, 2000. Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, MO. For this race Team Santa Fe members included Walter and Jan on one team and Elise as part of another team. Rogaine stands for Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation & Endurance. These types of events were first developed in the early 1970's. The race area covered about 50 square kilometers with about 55 checkpoints to be found all with various point values from 10 to 60. Maps were given out at 8AM Saturday morning and the race beginning at 10AM ending at 10AM on Sunday. If you were not back at the start by race end points were deducted from your total, 10 points per minute and at 11AM your score returned to zero.

Thus, there is strategy for this race. Walter and I got off to a slow start and by dark were 6miles from the start with out adequate night-lights. We headed back to the HH (start), retooled, rested and ate then headed back out at about 2AM Sunday. Elise joined us for this loop as her team had encountered some health problems and dropped out. This loop went very well our night navigation was fairly good but slow due to very heavy underbrush. We finished this loop at about 8AM and were planning to head out again for a short loop but the rains came and we wimped out. The rain started to come down harder and harder until the water was pouring through the roof of the HH (tent). We decided to shower and head for home. It was a great race with very difficult navigation and we all felt that we had learned a lot and are ready to try again. Walter and I finished between 10th and 15th in the open division.

Barb Dutrow and Carl Gable. Boston, MA. 4/17/2000. The 104th running of the Boston Marathon was held April 17, 2000. With 17,813 qualified runners (11,442 men and 6,371 women), it was the second largest field in the history of the event. (Each runner must qualify with a specific time to be allowed official entry into the marathon.) Team Santa Fe Member Carl Gable and Barb Dutrow took part in the event.

The race began with a perfect running temperature of 47, but with north/northeast headwinds of 13mph (gusts reported to 27mph) which dropped the wind-chill to 26F at the start. Just for perspective, two F-15 jets flew over the start of the race and the official promptly announced, "THEY will be at the finish in FOUR minutes!" (We would make it 3+ hours later!) Skies were cloudy with the sun peaking through intermittently for the first 1.5 hrs. Then the wind picked up and temperatures dropped (most of the injuries this year were due to hypothermia). After sitting around for nearly three hours at the race start, my feet were numb and feeling did not return until about mile 4! I hit one mile at 6:47 and thought, oh the mile marker must be wrong, NOT; this is BOSTON...best slow down. By mile 10, I finally took my gloves off.... the temperatures dropped my hands chilled again being soaked during grabs at water stations and by the wind. By mile 19, there was no longer any feeling in my hands so I wasted time trying to get my gloves on... not easy with numb hands!

The crowds are incredible. Despite the chilly temperatures, over one-million spectators were lining the route! Apparently, the Boston Marathon the largest spectator sport in the US (only the SuperBowl has more, and those folks are on their fannies watching TV)! The girls at Wesley were shouting their lungs out (you can hear them for miles!) and scantily clad in spite of the chilly temperatures! In Newton, the beginning of the hills (from mile 16-21) crowds were totally covering the medians and at Heartbreak Hill (mile 20), they were so thick you could barely find the road! Cowbells and shouts motivated you up the largest hill in the course. You cannot falter because the onlookers are in your face yelling at you to keep going, and they do not even know who you are! It is such an EVENT. We survived! In addition, totally enjoyed being part of this EVENT. It is so incredibly well organized, the 10's of thousands of volunteers make sure everything works according to plan. The phenomenal support of the local communities and the spectators make this event like nothing else. Boston is amazing, highly recommended.

This was Carl Gable's first official Boston marathon, finishing in 3:34:12. This was Dutrow's third official Boston marathon. She finished in 3:16:12, 3:30 faster than last year despite the headwinds, and placed 40th Masters woman. Runners: 17,813 entrants, (11,442 men and 6,371 women). Carl Gable finished in 3:34:12, 2305 Masters men; 6000 overall men; 7106/18,000 entered.

Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM 4/29-30/2000. The weekend began Saturday morning at 7:30 with a 45 mile Mountain Bike ride wondering through the mountains east of Santa Fe. The ride included topping out on Atalya Mountain, running the Chamisa Trail, part of the Windsor Trail and finally the Borrego Trail. We finished at about 5:45 PM. Along for the ride were Cindy, Todd, Don, Jonathan and Jan. After a well-needed dinner at Pepper’s and some rest, we headed to Tieras, NM to begin the route across the Sandia Mountains from south to north.

We left Santa Fe at 5 AM and began the hike at 7 AM. Along for the 30-mile adventure were Ries, Cindy, Don, Jonathan, Kim and Jan. We finished the route after nine and one-half hours. The trail ended in Tunnel Springs just outside of Placitas, NM at about 4:30 PM. Both days all participants carried about 25-30 pounds of gear in their backpacks. We worked on bike skills, bike towing and human towing during the weekend besides discussing gear and up coming races. Welcome, George Broome I joined the team around the end of March as a support person. My passion is cycling and on Sunday, April 9th, I rode the 100-mile Ride for the Roses, sponsored by Lance Armstrong, in Austin, Texas. This ride is a benefit to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation. I completed the 100 miles in just less than six hours riding time. I am also training for my first attempt to do the Leadville Trail 100 "Race Across the Sky" on August 12th which is a mountain bike race in Leadville, CO. On May 21st I will do the Santa Fe Century as a member of the Leukemia Team.