Deva Khalsa theorizes that as people feel like the economy, the country and their lives are spiraling out of control, they want to take charge of one of the few things they can dictate entirely: What goes into their bodies.

But adventure racing enthusiasts don’t want the sport’s image as one of multiday, nonstop globe-trotting marathons—think Survivor producer Mark Burnett’s 10-day Eco-Challenge—to scare away more casual outdoorsmen from trying out the sport and, in the process, taking advantage of New Mexico’s beautiful natural surroundings.

If you happen to get lost in the Santa Fe area, chances are members of local volunteer search and rescue teams Santa Fe Search and Rescue Group and Atalaya Search & Rescue—two of many organizations throughout the state, including the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s posse, mounted on horseback, that may also be dispatched—will come after you. Chances are, they’ll find you.

As the coaches, competitors and students at the New Mexico Fencing Foundation will tell you, today’s fencing derives from one long-ago practice: the gentlemanly fight to the death.

I joined a strength-training class at Undisputed Fitness, a jujitsu and kickboxing gym in West Alameda’s Solona Shopping Center, thinking I’d get back in shape. With some previous mixed martial arts training under my belt, I assumed I could handle it. I was wrong.

“lt’s like riding a bike—you never forget.” There are so many situations applicable to this oft-repeated pearl of wisdom—sex, serial killing, soufflés—but I would never guess skateboarding.

Advice for athletes looking for the grandest options in gearing up.

Forget tradition: Fitness is not something to be embraced every January after a month-long pig-out. How about getting fit—or fitter—while having a good time, testing your endurance and strength, and learning something new? How about working out because you love it?

Central to break dancing in Santa Fe is the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. That’s where 3HC: Holyfaith, one of the best breaking crews in New Mexico, practices. That is, unless a full-court basketball game breaks out, in which case they have to move. From the margins of society, b-boying has moved to the margins of a basketball court.

Ice caps may melt, empires may crumble, but so long as a wall is standing, a handballer will be there, whacking the hell out of a little blue ball.