Las Cruces Marathon — Muffins, Miles & One More Lesson Learned 🏁
Old Habits Die Hard — Starting the Year With Another Marathon
Las Cruces Marathon — January 3, New Mexico
My 123rd Marathon
Some races start with months of planning.
This one started with a long Friday drive, a pizza mistake, and a chocolate muffin at mile 22.
🚗 The Trip Down
Our longtime running buddy Daniel rolled into Rio Rancho early Friday morning after a 7-hour drive from Colorado in his 4Runner. We gave him about 30 minutes to decompress — then loaded up Becky’s Porsche Macan (yes, with CoolCarGuy.com stickers) and drove another 3.5 hours south to Las Cruces.
Palm trees. Warmer weather. Another race weekend.
📦 Packet Pickup (Calling It an “Expo” Is Generous)
We made it to packet pickup just before shutdown. About four tables total.
I grabbed another VisitLasCruces.com guide — the same one I picked up when I ran this race last year.
Low-key. No hype. Just runners.
🍕 Pre-Race Decisions Were… Questionable
We checked into Home2 Suites, grabbed pizza at Lorenzo’s Italian, then closed down a Starbucks playing cards.
Pro tip (that I ignored):
Pasta > Pizza the night before a marathon.
I knew better. I still did it.
⏰ Race Morning Strategy
Up at 6:00 AM.
Met Daniel at 6:30 AM.
Becky and I took the 7:00 AM early start (which the race allows — super cool), while Daniel stuck with the 8:00 AM start to chase an age-group placement.
He missed the podium by that much — 4th place at 64 years old — and was not a happy camper. At 106 marathons, he’s still chasing his younger self.
The early start worked perfectly:
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Becky ran the Half Marathon
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I ran the Full
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We ran the first 7 miles together
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She turned back, I kept going
Smooth. Simple. No stress.
🏃 The Half vs. The Full
Half Marathon:
Honestly? This is the better race.
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Out-and-back on the Rio Grande Trail
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Flat
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Scenic
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Simple
Becky ran 2:19:42, easy pace, no pressure.
Marathon:
Different animal.
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Flat and fast — but mentally tougher
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Long stretches on sloped roads
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Traffic flying by
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Farm equipment, ATVs, trucks
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Almost zero crowd support
And this matters:
👉 Water and Gatorade only. No gels. No snacks. No fuel.
If this is your first marathon — plan accordingly.
🧁 The Muffin That Saved My Race
By mile 22, I was cooked.
No breakfast.
Bad dinner choice.
Running on fumes.
At an aid station, a volunteer asked:
“Do you need anything?”
I said:
“You don’t have anything to eat… do you?”
He pulled out a box of giant chocolate muffins and said:
“We’re about to throw these away.”
I grabbed one and took off.
Chocolate everywhere.
Hands. Face. Shirt.
I looked like a rejected extra from Willy Wonka — but that muffin saved my race.
⏱️ How It Played Out
I passed Daniel around mile 15 (me heading to 16, him near 12).
He made up ground fast.
Finish times:
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Me: 4:47:45
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Daniel: Finished about 30 minutes ahead
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Becky: Already showered, Starbucks chai latte down, eating a biscochito and waiting for us
Classic.
👟 Why Running Is Always About People
At the finish, I talked with a young guy who had just run his first marathon. Shoes off. Blood through the socks. Family there. Sitting in the shade trying to process what he’d just done.
I asked him:
“So… you gonna run another one?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you like it?”
“Yeah… I actually did.”
I told him most people are either one-and-done — or they come back for more punishment.
That’s one of the best parts of running.
You meet people from every walk of life — first-timers, veterans, half-marathoners, even folks running the 4.7-mile racehonoring New Mexico as the 47th state.
Watching people accomplish something they set out to do never gets old.
🌵 Another Night at the Crosses
We stayed an extra night in Las Cruces and grabbed an early dinner at Rudy’s BBQ — brisket tastes even better when your legs are trashed.
I’ll admit it: I didn’t train enough for this one. Only one 18-mile run. Even after 123 marathons, you can’t cheat a marathon.
We learned our lesson from past years and didn’t drive home that night. Instead, we played cards in the hotel lobby and watched the 49ers get beat up by the Seahawks.
The next morning, Starbucks again. Met a realtor buddy and looked at a house I’ll probably talk about later on Housing Freak (spoiler: even expensive custom homes cut corners).
Then it was back to Rio Rancho — Texas Roadhouse for dinner, Daniel crashing at our place, Becky catching an early flight to Billings for work, and me hanging out with the cats writing this story.
Daniel headed back to Colorado for the 7-hour drive this morning — no snow in either state, which felt like a small miracle in January.
🧠 Lessons (That I’ll Probably Forget Again)
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Eat better the night before
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Eat something before the race
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Know your aid stations
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January 3rd is too soon after New Year’s
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The Half Marathon here is the smarter play
Overall?
Las Cruces is a solid race — flat, friendly, well-run — but the Full demands preparation.
Those Sauconys I wore?
They’re getting tossed over the telephone line for a while.
🏝️ Why This Story Lives on RunnerFreak
This isn’t about medals or placements.
It’s about the moments you remember — and laugh about later.
On Runner Freak, stories like this don’t disappear into social feeds or vanish when a race website goes offline.
They become permanent parking spots on the Island — where race weekends, mistakes, and muffins live on.
If you’ve got a running story, it belongs here.
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You don’t need to win.
You just need a story worth placing.
And here’s the best part — you don’t even have to be a runner.
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Maybe you’ve got that family member who puked at the finish chasing Boston.
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We’re all running the same race called life.