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On a cool Sunday morning, Eric Peters runs up a mountain incline near the Dale Ball Trails, steadily planting his feet between loose rocks. I lag behind, my lungs struggling to process the thin air. I notice my stride and breath shorten simultaneously until I eventually succumb to a walk.
At a clearing with a view, Peters pauses to wait for me and four other runners. "Don't forget to stop and look around," he says with a smile. Earlier, we had taken a break to say hi to a red-winged blackbird.
Peters, a soft-spoken marathoner with a slim build, moved to Albuquerque two decades ago to train for the 1996 Olympic trials.
"There are no mountains in Kansas City," he explains. Although he finished a respectable 29th with a time of 2:21 (an average of 5 minutes and 23 seconds per mile), he didn't make the team. But he never left New Mexico, eventually moving to Santa Fe and taking a job with the state's Air Quality Bureau.
These days, Peters is run coordinator for the Santa Fe Striders, a club that meets four days a week for track workouts (Tuesday), tempo runs (Thursday), long runs (Saturday), and trail runs (Sunday). Membership costs $20 a year per family. Most of the proceeds go to covering the group's insurance. The club, established in 1978, also sponsors a youth running program and helps area nonprofits mark courses and time fundraising runs.
Boutique fitness a la SoulCycle or Zumba reigns supreme, but running never went out of style. And you can't do much better than running in Santa Fe. At 7,000 feet, the elevation is oppressive for newcomers such as myself. After moving here from sea level earlier this year, I couldn't run for more than a few minutes without stopping and calling it a day, despite a looming marathon I had already signed up for prior to accepting a job with this paper. But over time, most bodies will acclimate to low oxygen levels. A barrier becomes a blessing. Ask any one of the elite runners who trains in Santa Fe, including Caroline Rotich, 2015 Boston Marathon champion.
My first workout with the Striders falls on a Tuesday, which means intervals on Santa Fe High School's running track. When I pull up to the parking lot, about 20 people, including Peters, an elementary school student and at least two septuagenarians, are already stretching or jogging warmup laps. Water bottles are scattered on the infield around an LED racing clock.
"Okay, line up!" announces Jim Owens, club president. We run a mile, take a break. Then half a mile. Then a few quarter-miles. Between intervals, I ask my workout companions why they came out today.
Trevor Kusiak, a receptionist at BODY of Santa Fe, moved here from Boston with his wife in 2010 for a "lifestyle change." A runner since high school, Kusiak joined the club within two months of his arrival and has since been trying to talk his wife into following.
Jeannie Hart joined the club after taking an intro class at the Running Hub, but not without some trepidation. "I'm shy," she says, "and I didn't believe they would tolerate a slow person." She has been a member for four years.
Before our last quarter-mile, Owens calls everybody to the starting line for weekly announcements. He asks first-timers to introduce themselves, and the group applauds for each of us.
The Santa Fe Striders meet four days a week. Visit santafestriders.org for more information, including a race schedule.
Santa Fe Reporter