DCF 2013 Winter web

Winter 2013-14

Free, Take me home

Living It, Loving It, and Skating It Albuquerque, New Mexico

Duke City Fit Winter 2013-14 Rio Pueblo

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Winter 2013-14

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Duke City Fit

10 Years ?

From the Publisher Ken Orth

With this issue of Duke City Fit we are venturing into our tenth year of publication! To get that into perspective, if it were a dog born in the same year that we started up, he’d be nigh unto seventy in doggie years. That would be an old, darn dog.

He would probably be sleeping over there by the fireplace, curled up and twitching in his dreams as he chases that dastardly neighborhood squirrel who is always taunting him from the top of the wall.

Duke City Fit was born over Memorial Day weekend of 2004. You might want to think back about where you were and what you were doing on that fateful weekend in 2004.

Good luck with that.

But if you check my wife’s journal/diary, you’ll find that our family was up near Boulder, Colorado on the Lake of the Pines, barbecuing steaks and paddling kayaks and generally being decadently licentious.

Decadently licentious?

No, not really, but it rather sounds like the way one should be on a long holiday weekend outside of Boulder, doesn’t it?

Jennifer is her daughter, Mark’s brother. She, too, ran a kid’s paper. Boulder County Kids. And in fact, she had helped Mark start up his kid’s paper back in Nebraska. Kind of a family thing. They both had years of experience and expertise in the newspaper business. They were going to help me start up a paper in Albuquerque.

It was news to them.

But what Grandma Jean wanted, Grandma Jean got.

Over the course of the rest of the weekend we discussed the ideas and decided upon a “health and fitness” paper. It was Albuquerque after all… outdoor capital of the southwest. I returned to ABQ with an old hand-me-down Mac desktop computer and some aged software odds-and-ends.

And a six-pack of Avalanche Ale. A newspaper was born. Kicking and screaming.

It was not an easy birth. For a taste of what it was like, you should try selling ads for a newspaper that doesn’t even exist yet. The process is called “cold-calling”. It was horrifying. I hated it. It scared me, and there were a number of times there in the beginning when I’d nervously dial a number and then quickly hang up when it started ringing because I just couldn’t do it.

Coward.

“What do you know about health and fitness?” my brother would sarcastically ask me. “And for that matter, what do you know about running a newspaper?”

He was just a bundle of enthusiasm, that guy.

“Nothing and nothing,” I answered honestly. “But I’ll figure it out.”

Winter 2004 - Our first issue.

A portent of things to come, our name came out purple instead of sky blue.

that first issue. And every issue since. VanGuard Printing.

They held my hand and straightened out so many of my mistakes and got me through that first one with no small amount of effort.

It was, truly, like watching a baby being born, though my wife and even my two sons might disagree with that.

It’s a metaphor, okay?

It turns out there is a huge difference between what you see on a computer screen as you draw it up and what actually appears on a page of newsprint. A profound difference. That sky that looked so blue and beautiful on the monitor comes out purple on newsprint.

“Hey…. hey… why is this sky so purple? It’s not supposed to be purple.”

“You’re wallowing,” Grandma Jean said to me.

And the skin tones… oh my goodness… they’d turn “Oh come on,” I thought. I WAS drinking a rather out either yellow or red. Half the people looked seriously cheap beer. PBR. But I don’t really think that qualifies as jaundiced and the other half looked sunburned. “wallowing”, does it?

Then I had to talk businesses into carrying this paper Actually, she wasn’t referring to my beer. Or, for that thing in their lobbies or waiting rooms or in a rack out matter, to any of my other licentious behaviors of the front.

It wasn’t as bad as cold-calling, at least I had a weekend. She was referring to the fact that I was, at the product to show them.

But it was pretty bad. time, unemployed.

“Here, leave me a copy and I’ll show it to the doctor,” I “When Richard was unemployed for a while, he The first issue came out in the Winter of 2004. It was pretty heard over and over again from receptionists who wanted wallowed,” she lectured me, all Grandma-like. Richard darn ugly. I didn’t know about pixels and resolution and nothing to do with another magazine they’d have to was her ex-husband, now deceased. He’d started up a font sizes and color formats. straighten up or throw away at the end of the day. successful Print Shop after his brief wallowing period.

“CMYK, what is that?”

Arrrggggh…

“When Mark was unemployed,” she continued lecturing, Heck, I couldn’t But we got it out. Somehow. We learned from “he wallowed.” even figure out how our mistakes and we corrected them and people Mark is her son. Her’s and Richard’s. He was one of to draw a perfectly seemed to like the paper. Our goal was to write my bestest buddies back in our high school days. After his horizontal straight stories that would be fun to read. And to have wallowing period, he’d started a Kid’s Newspaper up there line. I had to eyeball pictures where the sky was blue and the faces in Nebraska and was still running it these dozen years later. it, and hope for the were pink.

“They both wallowed. And you’re wallowing now. And best. With these Is that asking too much? you’ve got to pull out of it. And I’ll tell you how you’re aging eyeballs.

The second issue was better than the first. And going to do it. You’re going to start up a newspaper and But there were the third was better than the second. We kept Mark is going to help you do it. Mark and Jennifer. And people who had raising the bar. At one point I started wondering that is that.” faith in me and in whether it was realistic that we could continue to “And for God’s sake, stop drinking that cheap beer. Get the paper… not make each issue better than the one before it. yourself a bottle of that Avalanche Ale out of the cooler and the least of which Yes, we can. start looking the part of an up-and-coming entrepreneur.” were the people Somewhere along the line I wrote a story about Well no, she didn’t really say that part about the beer. at the print shop sore feet. It was about “plantar fasciitis”. (Go ahead That’s poetic license. And an aging memory. And anyway, that produced and say it out loud… plan-ter fash-ee-eye-tuss…

Grandma Jean wouldn’t really mind that I threw it in there it’ll make you smile). as long as it added to the effect of the story.

I interviewed Albuquerque’s leading podiatrist and I took ten pages of notes and I wrote a story about sore feet.

Editor@dukecityfit.com Who wants to read a story about sore feet? Not (505) 291-0070 me. In fact, who wants to write it?

Spring 2006 - First Issue after we Editor: Ken Orth Copy Editor: P Joan Orth, RN Printed by Vanguard Printing What I learned was, I had to take the “fun to had a major computer crash with no Duke City Fit is solely owned and published by Duke City Fit, LLC. It is published backups. We lost everything 12 days read” part of our goal seriously. I had to make a quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Copyright © 2013 by Duke City before we were to go to press. We story about sore feet fun to read. I discovered in Fit. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or in whole without written permission is prohibited. Opinions and expressions of fact within articles are those of the author and learned a valuable lesson then about that process that for me, in order for it to be fun to are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. Specifically, the editor and publisher having backups. are not liable for actions taken in response to any article. Readers are encouraged to read, it had to be fun to write. use common sense and consult with a professional before attempting any potentially In this photo, the karate master from The guy who ran the coffee shop at Page One harmful activity. the “dojo” was not happy with the Duke City Fit encourages your submission of articles, photographs, comments, critiBookstore, where I wrote most of my stories, cisms, and ideas. All submissions will be considered for publication. Recommended student’s poor form and didn’t want article length is 800 to 1200 words. We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials. told me he could often tell how good a story was to use the pic. “That’s kinda the point, Materials will not be returned. Advertising is accepted at the discretion of the publisher. going to be by watching me as I wrote it. If I was isn’t it?”

I reasoned.

“He’s a student.”

Duke City Fit is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Our mailing address: laughing at my own words, or I got tears in my Duke City Fit, 3801 Big Bend NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

Duke City Fit

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Duke City Fit eyes, he knew it “would be a good one.”

There is “a good one” in this issue. At least by his old standards. It brought a tear to my eye. Perhaps it’ll do the same when you read it. If so, maybe you’d send us an email or give us a call to let us know. This is a test.

The fact of the matter is, that many of these stories seem to write themselves.

I, we, this paper… are just a conduit of some kind through which the stories find their way onto paper. I have heard it said that humans were actually created by mosquitoes in order to get stagnant water into more places. Sometimes I wonder if we weren’t created in order to get stories turned into the written word.

And to feed mosquitoes.

In terms of health and fitness and fun stories, this truly is an Enchanted Land in which we find ourselves. This New Mexico place. This Albuquerque place.

This High Desert place.

Stories abound. And we here at Duke City Fit have been privileged… honored… to be able to siphon some of them out of the aether and lay them down in the simple shades of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

For ten years.

That is nearly a lifetime in doggy years.

And a few hundred generations of mosquitoes.

But our goal has remained constant.

To be fun and to be healthy. And isn’t it grand that the two can overlap so much in this wondrous place?

Winter 2013-14

So, Happy Holidays to you! Perhaps you, too, can give the gift of a story this year. A fun story. Just pluck one out of the air and tell it with a chuckle in your voice or a tear in your eye.

Like the one in my eye right now.

It must be a good one.

Winter 2006 We’d figured out how to keep the sky blue instead of purple. In fact, we were so advanced that we were able to use photoshop to lower the soccer ball a bit down into the picture.It was actually up and out of the frame. Is that so wrong? The ball would have gotten there eventually, anyway.

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Duke City Fit “Keep close to nature’s heart ... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. “ John Muir

White Mesa Winter in the Ojito Wilderness

Isabel Bearman-Bucher White Mesa of the Ojito Wilderness is a small part of an ancient, rugged and remote New Mexico landscape. Maybe 200 million years ago, reds, greens and rust silts were deposited by a great river system. One hundred fifty million years ago, an immense ocean covered the whole southwest. A couple of hundred years ago, paltry, in earth time, Puebloan, Navajo and Hispanic cultures tried to scratch out a living in this Ojito. In 2005, its ll,000 acres of now water-starved beauty was named a US wilderness. To geologists, from all over the world, it’s an outstanding museum of layers that tells a rich and detailed story.

At first sight, it doesn’t seem like much, but when the car is parked, and the foot is put on a track, it begins to unfold when the hiker develops “new eyes” to see ravines, mushroom rocks, jumbles of geology, sheer drop-offs, and “Anticlines.” These are the area’s hallmark - steep, eroded ridges going mostly north and south. Stated simply, if you put the tips of your fingers together and form a tent, you get the picture.

My long-time generous consultant for this column, UNM Geology Professor, Dr. Gary Smith, likens “Anticlines” to pushing a throw-rug up against a wall.

The resulting ridges which resulted from the Earth’s plates butting up against each other, is what happened millions of years ago, telling its story in the rich colors of each heaved internal belly, patiently eroded through the eons slowly divulging rusts, beige, chocolate, blue greens and white.

As the waters went away, Gypsum, a white mineral made when water was mixed with sea salts like calcium, was left covering parts of this mesa. Now dry, the Ojito twisted, turned, rose, coiled, spit and blew from vent holes in the volcanic field that surrounds it.

It became home to rare dinosaurs, and huge trees.

If you’ve been to the Albuquerque Natural History Museum you may have seen the longest dinosaur ever found, Seismosaurus, wired together in all its 150-million-year-old splendor. It was found in the Ojito. Supposedly there’s still remnants of dinosaur eggs to be found.

As one walks, there are ancient petrified trees...

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of total quiet; it offers peace, which holds the hand of solitude.

Animals wander in the barely possible biolandscape; mountain lion, antelope, mule deer, elk, lizards and reptiles make it home; hoodoos enduring their badges throughout time - stones upon their shoulders.

fossils, which become visible after years, in the layers of this beautiful strange place. Tough plants and flowers insist on living here in warm times; crows, hawks, swifts and swallows soar in the NM winter blue.

It takes time to understand that the surroundings are more important than the trivial humans who come to wander it for an infinitesimal speck of time.

It knows nothing much about the ease of water or rising sap, the changing of the seasons; it’s a place

DIARY OF AN OJITO DAY Got to get out of town. Got to get some solitude.

Unwind. Unplug. It is the best holiday present to give to yourself.

Ojito knows solitude. Take me to you oh, noble big out-there. Leave Albuquerque behind.

We’re heading northwest from Bernalillo on 550.

White Mesa stands out, frosted white. The left onto Cabezon Road makes the van, that was probably previously owned by Elvis, shake rattle and roll loose windows add their own skitter beat to what reminds me of a traveling net ton of empty cans.

A couple of miles in, at a Y, we make another left and it spreads out, the Ojito. Ridges rise, vast prairie stretches with its beige winter coat.

A lone hawk soars, hoping for breakfast below.

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I’m taking a big breath now, letting go, neck quits grabbing, shoulders relax, I’m rock’n rollin’ in harmony with the Elvismobile.

Almost five miles in, there’s a dive down into the Ojito belly, and the sign “White Mesa Bike Trails Parking Lot” appears.

Hikers are welcome too, of course, as sixteen of us boot up, strap on packs, find hiking sticks. We gather, taking a moment for a group photo opportunity, and then it’s an up on the two-track that says “Junction 11.”

The trail is well marked, not difficult. In maybe a third of a mile, we’ve breasted the escarpment and I’m floating over the great canyon view. The land has split its skin, pushing up ridges, joining to the purple of the Nacimiento Range that stretches its hand towards the Jemez.

Only the Rio Guadalupe and Rio de las Vacas separate them now, in this time. But maybe millions of years back, they may have been one. “Nacimiento” ... “ birth,” “origin,” “beginning.” Yes. Wonderful words of long-ago Spanish.

We now united 16 are all propped against a million years of evolution, eating lunch in the shade of a rock shelf.

The landscape folds down to the west.

Everywhere I see sculpture, everywhere I see beauty and balance.

Mr. Chocolate Man shares his Hersheys. Afternoon sees clouds gathering, wind picking up. Walking the edge of the White Mesa Trail, a cloud forms the perfect picture I once saw as a child from 1945 Hiroshima, Japan.

My heart twists, remembering, casting no blame, and then, the perfection of what is in front of me, takes me to it, and whispers, “this ... see this.” I do.

Winter 2013-14

Our group stands on the top of a bluff whose color is total rust from seeped deposits. A short down and around finds great sandstone layers of an Anticline and along its fold, fractures formed in the rock as it was born.

We’re heading back now, doing a loop. A magnificent, fat multi green and brown Collared Lizard sits on a rock - the perfect picture chance. Shutters click, people take turns; it shows no nerves at all.

A couple of bikers hump and jump by, gears singing, and we part on the side, smiling and waving. Down trail someone with a huge sense of humor has placed a sign that reads: FINAL FRONTIER STAY ON THE TRAIL. We laugh, make Spock Star Trek finger gestures, and march on.

Back at the Elvismobile, we toss boots for Crocks, drink water, grab the last of a snack, settle in, and drift off on the ride home - relaxed, petted, mothered, happy, replaying the beauty of the Ojito.

Thank you, wilderness.

HIKE SPECS:

5.5 miles give or take 5,800 feet elevation One hour drive time At the biker parking lot - find maps Trail is well marked

GETTING THERE:

Albuquerque - North on 1-25 Exit Bernalillo on US 550 20.9 miles, Left on Cabezon Rd 2 miles - take the left at the Y in the road 4.5 miles - first big downhill look for Biker Parking Lot sign

Rio Rancho 896-4700 909 36th Place SE

Albuquerque HighDesertBicycles.com

842-8260 8110 Louisiana NE

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Check Engine

Bone Cartilage Synovial

Membrane Fluid

Cartilage Bone

Ken Orth with Dr. Michael James

Here’s how it started, innocently enough. I was driving a truck, periodically, through the night, from Albuquerque to Farmington and back.

Don’t ask.

It was an enjoyable enough drive, though, for the most part. Very little traffic and lots of stars. Occasionally I’d catch a fleeting glimpse of some kind of wildlife… coyotes, elk… even a Great Horned Owl once.

I’d crank up the stereo and sing to my heart’s content for the 3-hour drive up there. Sometimes, until I was too hoarse to carry on.

Other times, I’d simply enjoy the monotonous drone of the diesel engine in the moonlight, and use it as a white noise background to help me contemplate life, liberty, and the pursuit of worthwhile stories.

But something strange started popping up there in the middle of the night across the empty badlands of northwest New Mexico. About an hour or two in, I started noticing an unusual minor pain in my right shoulder. It wasn’t a big pain. It was just enough that I noticed it.

I’d flex my shoulder around and rub it and wonder just what in the heck it was. I hadn’t done anything to it. Not that I could recall. It was weird.

I was able to ignore it, though, and slough it off, more or less. I’d forget about it because it only really showed itself on those driving over-nighters. It was no big deal.

I reckon that somewhere along in those few months, when I was ignoring the pains… when I was effectively sticking my fingers in my ears and going “la, la , la… I can’t hear you”… somewhere along in there the universe decided that since I wasn’t paying attention enough, it would maybe send a signal that was a little less subtle.

I woke up one night at home (a non-driving night), with a pain in my knee.

Say what?

A pain in my knee? What in the heck is that all about? I hadn’t been playing much soccer, certainly not that day. I hadn’t hurt my knee. I hadn’t done anything to that darn knee. So why is it giving me crap?

Admittedly, it wasn’t a ginormous pain. It didn’t throb or make me wince or cry out or anything. It was just there and it was enough to drag me out of whatever dreamland I had been in. But that is a big enough deal in itself.

When you get to be a certain age, sleep kinda becomes an important thing.

Sacred and fleeting.

Anyway, it pissed me off a bit to be awakened. So I slugged down a few ibuprofens and got back to my regularly scheduled program.

Sleep.

But it happened again a few nights later. And again. It was like Mother Nature was tapping me on the forehead. It was like the cosmos was flashing the “check engine” light on my dash and I was ignoring it. I was disconnecting the car battery with a few ibuprofens until the dash light stayed off, and then I took off driving again like nothing had happened.

Stupid.

The light always came back on again. In the middle of the night. I can be incredibly dense sometimes.

Finally though, I started putting 2 and 2 together. (I think maybe I got 5, but at least I was beginning to do the math).

I was getting older and I was getting some early signs of arthritis. In the shoulder and in the knee. And now that you mention it, also in the joints of the middle finger of my right hand. That’s the finger that I had jammed so many times over the years playing a soccer goalie.

It was my bird-flipping finger, not that I flipped birds too much anymore.

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Or stopped rocketing hard soccer shots at close range. So why in the heck did that finger hurt?

Arthritis?

Arthritis is basically a pain in the joints. It is also a pain in the… well, it is a pain somewhere else, but that is metaphorical and we’ll leave that alone for now. It is a pain in the joints and it can be brought about for several different reasons.

The most common of these, and the one generally associated with older age, is called osteo-arthritis. Simply put, it is caused by wear and tear on the joint, or joints, in question. There is cartilage in there, on the end of the bones, that is supposed to prevent bone rubbing on bone. And there is some liquid in there, called synovial fluid, that is supposed to lubricate the joint for the same reason.

Osteo-arthritis pain is caused by defects in one or the other of these… the cartilage or the lubrication. Or both.

This is what we would have called “a bummer” back in the day. Or possibly “not groovy”. Of course, at that time, we didn’t really think we’d live long enough to ever experience it ourselves so I guess it didn’t really matter that much. Except when we were visiting with grandma and she was loudly informing everybody that a storm must be coming because her joints were hurting.

Be that as it may, this was me now, not grandma, feeling arthritically bummed and ungroovy, when fate decided to toss me a wee bone. Metaphorically, that is. It was rather like I was driving my life around in an old beat-up Pinto with the check-engine light flashing away when suddenly, there, right before my eyes, was a brightly lit repair shop. Open and ready for business and with a trusted, old mechanic standing there waving at me.

The old mechanic, who is actually not a mechanic at all, but a doctor, was Dr Michael James. He is a naturopath type doctor. He is also an herbologist. He has a number of herbal formulas he has created, tested, and perfected over the years that are effective treatment for a number of ailments.

Like “Hay Asz”, for example. For allergies. That formula is actually how I came to know him years ago. It literally changed my life. For the better. It relieved and eliminated the crushing burden of allergy symptoms that was ruining my life. And it was instrumental in curing my son of his asthma.

“We don’t say that herbs ‘cure’ anything,” Dr James would tell me. “The herbs just help the body to cure itself.”

I was, I am, a believer. I had seen and experienced the evidence for myself.

In fact, the reason I was meeting up with the good doctor was to talk about doing another “Hay Asz” story. But one thing led to another and suddenly we were talking about my relatively new arthritis symptoms. It was the right place at the right time.

The reason for the pain, he says, is that the joint is not healthy. There is a membrane around each joint that holds a lubricating fluid. The fluid is there so that when the joints move they don’t grind against each other. It is somewhat like the oil in your car. If you have clean oil and enough of it, things run smoothly.

But if that oil starts getting gritty and dirty, or runs low, the parts start wearing.

That is where the arthritis pain comes from. (The check engine light is on.)

This comes about because our diets do not include enough of the nutrients that our bodies need for proper joint health. The lubricant, the synovial fluid, becomes gritty. The membrane that holds it there wears thin and may leak.

Joint pain.

Dr James informed me that he has an herbal formula that will supply the necessary nutrients and will help the body replenish the fluid and rebuild the membrane. He calls his Formula “Arth Rite”. Get on it.

Now, I want you to know that I am a natural skeptic. If this had been presented to me by anybody other than Dr James, I would have probably

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RIDE • SKI • BOARD tossed it off as snake-oil. Or as some kind of pain killer or something.

And I know enough to know that I don’t just want to use a pain killer. Not of any kind. Not herbal or pharmaceutical. That just masks the pain, like putting masking tape over the light on the dash. I want to get at the problem and remedy it if I can. I want to rejuvenate and restore.

So I got on it. I got some of those Arth Rite capsules and I followed his recommended daily dosages, which started high, and I waited to see what would happen.

And I waited.

Nothing happened.

Actually, that WAS what happened. Nothing. It took me a little while to realize that I was no longer waking up in the night with knee pain. It wasn’t happening. And I wasn’t flexing my darn shoulder around in the truck cab out there on 550 past Cuba wondering what was going on.

I’d flex my knee in the morning and realize there was nothing there. No pain.

Hallelujah.

Groovy.

I was delighted. So much so that I decided to get back into soccer. Hell, I wasn’t too old to play soccer. I called the

Winter 2013-14

league and signed up again after about a 4 year hiatus. And never one to be shy about things, I jumped in with both feet and got onto 2 teams… an over50 league on Wednesday nights and a coed team on Sundays. Let the fun begin.

Fatefully enough, another thing occurred at just about that same time. I ran out of my original supply of Arth Rite. Being the skeptic that I am, and apparently not overly intelligent, I rather lackadaisically decided that I would go on without them.

Perhaps the pains were going away by themselves, anyway, I thought. Or, perhaps I was over whatever it was.

Also, truthfully, it was not real easy to get more of the capsules. It is not like you can pick them up at your local 24-hour pharmacy. I get mine over in Rio Rancho, and Lord knows, I don’t want to drive all the way over there unless I absolutely have to.

Anyway, the two things happened

nearly simultaneously… I stopped the herbal capsules and I started playing soccer.

Perhaps the discerning reader can see where this storyline is going.

Yes, the pains came back. With a vengeance. Now admittedly, some of them (many of them), were associated with the normal wear and tear of playing soccer. Aching muscles. Stiff neck.

Busted lip. But, when I started waking up in the night with the knee pain again, I realized that I might have made a bit of a mistake.

But, look, I can learn. I’m not a total idiot. (Perhaps we should conduct a poll on that?)

I got me forth to the Evergreen Herbal Market over in beautiful Rio Rancho and got myself a double supply of those wondrous Arth Rite capsules. I started back up on the beginner heavy dosage again.

What I can tell you is that it seemed to take a little longer to get myself back to that blessed ”nothing” state again. Particularly in the knee. Of course, there were certain soccerly extenuating circumstances, but it did get progressively, noticeably better as the soccer season went on, and by season’s end I was pretty much back to my painfree self. Except for that time I got kicked in the head. A goalie’s life ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The point is, though, that early arthritic problems can apparently be overcome.

I got up the other morning and I actually

felt like dancing. And I don’t dance. But that day I glided across the hardwood floor in my stocking feet (yeah, I wore socks to bed… you got a problem with that?) and I reveled a little bit in the fact that I didn’t have any pains anywhere.

Not in the shoulder. Not in the knee. Not in the finger.

Not in the lip.

It was a good day to be alive.

The full line of Dr. James’ formulas, including Arth Rite & Hay Asz, are available for purchase at his new Training Facility located at: 4545 McLeod Rd NE, Ste E Albuquerque, NM 87109.

888-388-4413 Also offered there are free classes and training as well as full blown seminars on topics ranging from herbal remedies, child & infant care, weight loss, cooking… all drug free.

The knowledgeable staff is there Monday thru Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm, to answer your questions and help you achieve success with your goals. Naturally.

Or, you can order online at: www.DrugFreeHelpStore.com Receive 10% off your entire purchase by using code DCFW (courtesy of Duke City Fit)

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Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle The POWER of LOVE for Living Dynamically!!!

You are probably wondering why I chose LOVE as my focus for Living Dynamically this issue. Especially when considering that many of you are already thinking about your New Year’s resolutions and the changes that you would like the New Year to bring.

Truth be told, I could have easily chosen one of the usual HOT topics for a New Year’s related article. Probably, that would have made writing this article a walk in the park compared to what I am about to embark on. But hey, I am not known to be one for taking the easy way out either.

I am honored and humbled to share with you, that this is my 10th Dynamic Fitness Lifestyle, Winter Issue, New Year-ish article that I have had the pleasure of writing for Duke City Fit...What a blessing! On behalf of myself and our readers I’d like to say “Thank you to Ken Orth for 10 great years!”

Now with that said, I must also say that after writing 9 articles on the usual New Year HOT topics… “Been there, done that!”

And I know darn well that you have probably heard it all… weight loss secrets, the perfect workout, this pill and that powder for life changing results, etc. etc. Not in Duke City Fit, of course, because we try to be more informative and forthright. So here we go… Wish me luck!

I chose LOVE as my topic for Living Dynamically in 2014. I chose it because I wholeheartedly believe that Love truly is one of the major dynamics that encourages our clients to experience the kind of overall results that they are achieving. Who knows if this articles goes as well I as I hope, then many of you will find that my Dynamic perspective on LOVE is exactly what you need to help you make this New Year exceptionally successful. Especially in comparison to New Year’s Resolutions of years past!

I would also like it to be known that the information that I am about to share with you comes from years of coaching individuals to achieve goals of various kinds and from gathering data about this. Data that pertains to modifying behavioral thought patterns; thought patterns that are necessary for becoming mentally, physically, and spiritually fit.

As you know, Love is an emotion… A powerful emotion of affection and fondness. Love is said to be a virtue that represents human kindness, compassion, affection, unselfish loyalty and genuine concern for the good of others.

You can finish a pleasurable meal and say “That was absolutely amazing, I really love Italian food and I just can’t wait to enjoy another meal like that again!” We generally take that type of affection with a grain of salt… Sometimes quite literally!

There is the love that we are to have for our children and grandchildren. The relationship between parents and children should be very special, unlike no other. Unfortunately, it is not always like that. Mothers and fathers mean the world to their children because they rely on them for everything from nurturing to feeding to providing shelter and other basic necessities.

The best of parents consistently make sacrifices in life to give the best to their children.

I have the fondest memories of my mother. How she sang like an angel to me. She shared stories of her upbringing and told me how my grandparents struggled to make ends meet during the “Great Depression.” And how they never went without because my grandfather did whatever needed to be done to put food on the table.

I can remember how she beamed like a school girl in love as she told how her and my father met, and how it was love at first sight.

I can even remember how beautiful she looked as she prepared holiday meals and baked Christmas cookies. Her love for her family showed affectionately as she took care of our home. She constantly worked hard, yet she never complained. Now I am blessed to be married to a beautiful woman with very similar qualities. I can only hope that you also experienced the warmth that can only come from attentive and loving parents.

Unfortunately, love is sometimes accused of provoking people to do horrible things. When someone kills and they say it was acted out in the name of love, I promise you that love in the true sense was never involved. Love is best expressed by exercising patience and offering kindness and compassion. Love is also demonstrated by doing what you know is the right thing to do, even when you just plain don’t want to do it. Love is walking away when you don’t

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want to because it is best for the other person. Love is allowing the one that you Love, to Love someone else. Even if it means breaking one’s own heart.

We would hope that love would also have the best of intentions for creating intimacy. And a passionate desire for romance.A romance that stimulates sexual desire, that yearns for completeness, and unselfishly focusses on the overall satisfaction of one’s lover.

There is also platonic Love that defines friendship. When I was a young man, guys never told each other that they loved one another. Today it is nothing to hear young people say “I love you man” in a cool kind of way. These are generally innocent tokens of gratitude for one’s trust and the commitment to being a part of a greater purpose in one’s life. I personally think it’s wonderful that some guys can be open with their feeling in a platonic and innocent way to one another. Young people today need to feel like they belong.

A healthy perspective on self-love seems to be the hardest love for many to grasp. Some people think more of themselves than they probably should, while many are quite down on themselves for mistakes in the past... like allowing themselves to gain weight and/or become out of shape. Then, when they finally get up the courage to do something about it, they find that they are constantly fighting the urge to self-sabotage.

It is hard to love others if you can’t love and respect yourself.

Here are some ways that you can begin to develop a healthy love for yourself that will soon be spreading to those around you like wildfire.

• Think positive thoughts. Use affirmations to train your mind to become more positive. Put a wrist band on your right wrist. When you’re participating in self-abuse of any form, snap the band as a reminder to change your thinking right there and then.

• Forgive yourself. Learn from your mistakes and go forward.

Use this affirmation, “I forgive myself for judging myself for __________” (fill in the blank i.e.: gaining weight, quitting 7th grade Spanish, not going to medical school, etc.)

• Become emotionally honest with yourself. STOP numbing your feelings. Shopping, eating, and drinking are examples of avoiding uncomfortable emotions like anger, sadness and pain.

Mindfully breathe your way through your feelings and emotions.

Think about what you are doing while you are doing it.

• Be patient with yourself. Let go of urgency and fear. Relax and transform from striving to thriving. Trust in yourself, do good work, and reward yourself accordingly.

• Allow yourself to enjoy life-enhancing activities.

Exercise consistently. Discover healthy foods that are good for you. Turn off technology for a day and spend time doing things that make you feel alive.

• Realize your potential. Love yourself enough to believe in the limitless opportunities available to you.

Take action and create a beautiful life for yourself.

• Live appreciatively. Train your heart to be grateful.

Appreciate your talents, beauty, and brilliance. Love your imperfect self while being grateful for the abundant blessings you have received.

• Respect yourself. Don’t participate in activities that bring you down. Don’t allow toxic people in your life.

Love everyone, but be sensitive to who you allow into your life.

• Work on personal and spiritual development. Be willing to surrender and grow. Life is a journey. We are here to learn and love on a deeper level. Take baby steps and remember that one healthy step at a time is real progress.

• Discover the power of fun. Self-love requires time to relax, play, and create face-to-face interaction with others. Our fastpaced world places so much emphasis on goal setting and competitive craziness that it doesn’t leave much room for play.

Make room for play. A very wise man once said, “The opposite of play isn’t work, it’s depression.”

In closing I would just simply like to encourage you to take better care of yourself while showing lots of love to those you come in contact with in the upcoming year. If you do, I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at where you are come December 2014. I have worked with many people over the years that suffered from PTSD due to everything from sexual abuse to military experiences and aside from eating a clean healthy diet and physical exercise… smiles, hugs and encouragement seemed to go further in aiding their quests to become mentally, physically and spiritually fit.

Remember, we never know what battle the other person is fighting… Until next time, I wish you a Merry Fitness and a Healthy New Year!

Dwain Kindelberger has been a Personal Trainer since 1981. He is a graduate of The National Academy of Sports Medicine, and is the owner of Designer Bodies Exclusive Personal Training and Nutrition Management Center.

Visit us on the web at

www.designerbodies.com

The information contained in this article is not meant to treat, diagnose or cure any ailments or diseases. Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program.

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Duke City Fit

A Thousand Words Ken Orth

That picture of an ice skater on the cover of this newspaper... it’s a photograph. It’s just a photograph.

From the point of view of the photographer, it is just another in a long line of subject matters. It is a juxtaposition of lenses and shutter speeds and aperture settings that are all brought together, somehow, into a singular representation.

It is a one-page color story with no words.

“One picture,” he’ll tell you, “is worth a thousand words.”

And perhaps you’ll believe it. Perhaps he believes it.

It is just a photograph. But to the editor who selects it to go on the cover of his little baby, it is something more. It becomes its own self. It is a cover shot.

It is the front line representation of the publication, like a teller in a bank or the store front of an up and coming restaurant. It is the face of your work.

It is a sales pitch. A hint of something more. It is a dangling minnow on a hook, a squirming worm. It is a lure, a promise, a hope.

It is a photograph. To the readers, the casual passersby… it is a moment frozen in time. On ice, as it were. It is frozen there in that rack or on that shelf for a few months, until it is eventually replaced by another frozen moment.

Of a muddied rugby player or a mountain climber or something. It is another image in a cascade of images that never seems to end. Images with which we are inundated, gluttonized, and saturated until we pass them by with hardly a second glance.

“Oh that’s nice. An ice skater.”

Turn the page.

It is a photograph, indeed. But it doesn’t tell the story properly. Not at all. It is like you opened the book at Chapter 21 and started reading there at the point where the landing had already been safely made.

But it leaves out that little girl of 5, so many years ago, who saw a figure skater practicing and wanted to be like that. Who grabbed her momma’s hand and dragged her over there to the other side of the rink where there were no hockey players with sticks and anger and whistles… over to where it was graceful, gliding beauty.

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Duke City Fit

“I want to wear that,” she said of the figure skater’s elegant costume.

And her momma squeezed her hand and smiled and said she could do that.

She could do that.

A dream was born that day in the twinkling eyes of a 5-year-old girl. If you look real closely at that cover photo and squint your eyes a bit, you may be able to see that little girl. She is there. She’s smiling and her eyes are twinkling.

Can you see her?

It is but a photograph. It skips the hours… the days… the years of long, hard practices. That little girl was not content to simply learn to skate and wear a pretty outfit. She loved to skate. It was a calling. It was the perfect feel of a perfect blade carving a perfectly parabolic arch in the rock hard ice. It was gracefulness and precision combined. It was beauty and tenacity and bruises and smiles and an aching yearning to always do it better.

She was driven, was that little girl. At 8, 9, 10 she had to compete. She had to see if she could do it more perfectly than you. Or you. Or you. As seen by the unforgiving eyes of the scowling judges… busily taking notes and whispering to each other in the frosty shadows of the bleachers.

There are levels of skating, she learned soon enough, like the belts in karate. There are distinct levels that must be attained… achieved… fought for.

Tested for.

With prescribed, pre-ordained moves and routines that must be executed perfectly, she took those tests.

And with the proper demeanor. It is not enough that the

Winter 2013-14

moves of the “tango” be exact, the timing exquisite, and the gliding immaculate… for it is, after all, a “tango”. Presentation matters. Tangos are angry and snappy.

So wipe that smile off your face.

Save it for another time. A “waltz” routine, perhaps, when you are meant to strive to look like a princess.

Or maybe, save it for that spectacular moment when you finally achieve that next level. When the scowling judges finally grant you passage to that bronze plateau.

Or the silver. And the mother, she smiles back from the stands, with tears in her eyes, and she wonders where her little girl has gone.

And that little girl wonders, too. Sometimes. Little no more. The long, long hours and the days at the rink.

The bumps and the bruises and the broken bones and the knee surgery. And the pain, the near constant pain.

In the feet. The knees. The hips.

It is the jumps. The ice is hard and unforgiving. The take-off knee gets strained and the landing knee gets pounded. All of the skaters at this level feel the pain, though that is little comfort. Shared misery. Painful camaraderie. One skates through it. One perseveres.

One smiles.

Do you see it in that frozen photograph? In the thousands of hours that it took to achieve that perfect form? They are there in the smile of a 5-year-old as seen in the eyes of one who has achieved the highest level one can achieve in figure skating, the Gold Level.

One who has attained that lofty plateau, nearly alone here in the Duke City… one of only 6 who have ever gotten there.

No wonder she smiles.

But it is a photograph, too, of a teacher and a coach.

Of one who only yesterday longed to wear that outfit, and now teaches skating to other little dreamers.

To a 4-year-old who longs to skate “like you”. To a 70-year-old who thinks it’s “about time” to get this done. They have their own smiles, enigmatic and proud. They have their own fans in the stands.

She was pushed into this teaching/coaching role, was our frozen figure skater, a little earlier than she had planned. HER coach, her teacher, her mentor… her friend over all these many years of practices, achievements and pain… her teacher passed on this last year.

One perseveres through pain. That is a lesson of advanced figure skating.

So she assumed the role. It had always been presumed that she would do so one day.

One day.

That day arrived much too soon.

But there you go.

You make the landing and you smile through the pain. And you carve another perfectly parabolic curve.

Her aim… perhaps you can see it in her eyes… is to land one of those jumps in an ice show. Disney On Ice would be nice. And there are others. She’ll have an undergraduate degree from UNM by the time you are reading this, and she’ll be ready for that next jump.

Yes, it is a photograph. Just a photograph. But it contains much more than a thousand words. It contains a thousand hours, a thousand dreams.

Her name is Chelsea. She is an ice skater.

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Duke City Fit Dr. Jason Karp

Strategies for Marathon Training

Dr. Jason Karp is a nationally-recognized running and fitness expert, 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, and owner of Run-Fit. Jason has more than 200 articles published in international running, coaching, and fitness magazines. He is the author of five books, including Running for Women and Running a Marathon For Dummies. For his popular training programs and an autographed copy of his books, go to Run-Fit.com.

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When it comes to running a marathon, there’s more than one way to train. However, there are ways to train and then there are smart ways to train. Training must be systematic and progressive.

Systematic means that the training isn’t arbitrary, with a smattering of workouts here and there; that it doesn’t include abrupt changes in mileage or intensity; and that each cycle of training builds on what came before so that the entire program is seamless. Progressive means that the training stress increases over time—the weekly mileage gets higher, the long runs get longer, and the workouts get faster. I’ve seen many runners run the same five-mile route day after day.

Humans, and especially runners, are creatures of habit. They do the same thing over and over again, and, while they may not always expect a different result, they certainly hope for one. To improve your fitness and performance, your training must be progressive.

To train smart, you need to optimize your training and train at more effective levels of effort to get the best results. Smart training sets you up for success. Although you can achieve running success through many different paths, you can also train incorrectly. For example, one of the biggest mistakes runners make is thinking that to run faster in races, they need to run faster in workouts. So they run their workouts faster than their current fitness level dictates. I once coached a college runner who ran 19 minutes for 5K and told me she wanted to be trained like a 17:30 5K runner. So I told her to run a 17:30 5K and then I’d train her like a 17:30 5K runner.

Races, which tell you your current level of fitness, dictate your training pace, not the other way around. As a marathon runner, you don’t do workouts to practice running faster.

You do workouts to improve the physiological characteristics that enable you to run farther and hold a faster pace for longer. Think of an assembly line: If you want to make more products, increasing the number of workers (physiological characteristics) so you have more assembly lines to do the work is a better strategy than increasing the speed at which the assembly line workers work. The goal of training is to obtain the greatest benefit while incurring the least amount of stress, so you should run as slow as you can to obtain the workout’s desired goal. Running faster than you need to only increases fatigue without any extra benefit.

Because the marathon is aerobic—that is, the activity requires that your muscles use oxygen— your training should focus on your body’s ability to use more oxygen. For most people, the key is the weekly mileage and long runs. Unless you’re an advanced runner with years of running behind you, your marathon training program shouldn’t include a lot of interval training—periods of faster

running interspersed with short recovery intervals.

Initially, your main focus is to become as aerobically developed as possible to improve your endurance.

As an experienced runner who wants to get better, your training matures, growing from a basic outline of mileage and long runs to more mileage, tempo runs that train you to hold a faster aerobic pace, and interval training to boost your speed. You progress from higher volume and lower intensity to lower volume and higher intensity, although you must always pay attention to the volume of training given the importance of mileage for the marathon.

If this sounds complicated, you’re right, it is. Even if you’ve run a marathon before, it can be daunting.

No plan is ingrained in stone. You must always leave room for adjustment based on things like how much time you have to train, how much recovery you need, how fatigued you are, and so on. For women, the ever-changing hormonal environment and menstrual cycle issues also come into play, so a woman’s program should always be open to change.

Training is complicated, sure, but some basic concepts underlie a solid marathon training program. Here are a few basic, but very important, points of training: Respect the distance. Twenty-six miles is a long way to run. Respect the distance by preparing adequately for it. Don’t take a nonchalant approach to the marathon. Confidence comes from being prepared, so prepare yourself.

Run a lot. There’s no way around the fact that running a marathon requires a lot of preparation.

Although you don’t have to run more than 100 miles per week like the best marathon runners in the world, you still have to run a lot. Training is the key to running the marathon successfully. You must run at least a few times during the week in addition to your long run on the weekend.

Run long. You need to do many long runs to prepare for the marathon. Your longest run should fall somewhere between 20 and 24 miles, or three to three and a half hours, whichever comes first.

If you’re an advanced runner, you may run longer than 24 miles before the marathon.

Mix up your paces. If you run slow all the time, you’ll just become a slow runner. Train using the whole continuum of paces, from very slow to very fast to enhance both your endurance and your speed.

Balance training with recovery. All of the adaptations you make that enable you to run farther and faster occur when you’re not running, so take recovery as seriously as you take your training.

As you train for your marathon, take a few risks, and gain strength and momentum from your running to help you see those risks through.

Remember that while there may be a chance of failing, people take risks because the chance of failing makes success taste even sweeter.

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Duke City Fit Demand Soars For Relief of Severe Neck and Back Pain!

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Winter 2013-14

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"Seasons Ch You Need N

From "The Beach" at the base of granite, there are those who w to form or the winds to blow.

hange, and So Did I Not Wonder Why..."

Purgatory, to a niche amongst the beargrass and watch and wait. For the snows to fall or cocoons All in good time, my friend. All in good time.

T

Duke City Fit

hree Gun Springs Trail Ken Orth

It heads almost due north

up a long, wide, ever-narrowing canyon way down on the south end of the Sandias. The trailhead is out of a dirt parking lot on a dirt road that is found by winding one’s way through a part of the little village of Carnuel.

Carnuel, rather loosely called a village, is the gathering of houses, ranchettes, and farmyards on the northern side of I-40 as it heads east out of Albuquerque and into Tijeras Canyon.

Tijeras Canyon, of course, is the dividing line between the Sandia Mountains to the north and the Manzano Mountains to the south.

The Three Gun Springs Trail heads up and away from the canyon and from the interstate that traverses it. And from the Manzanos. As it climbs up into its own canyon it offers many, many wonderful views back down onto and into those not insignificant landmarks. Views, I might add, that are uniquely Three Gun Springs. Views that cannot be had from anywhere else, save a Sky 7 chopper perhaps, and even that would pale in comparison, I think, if for no other reason than the audio you’d get. That repetitive whump, whump, whump would make for a poor soundtrack for the hazy serenity of the Manzano vistas.

No, far better to have the soft plunk-pad of hiking boots in arroyo gravel, or the gently whistling breezes through the pine needles and the yucca leaves. Or the occasional raucous cry of a startled, belligerent piñon jay from its apparently safe haven amidst the pointy spines of big old cholla.

“Tough guy,” I murmur to the jay. My hiking buddy, Gibson, turns around on the trail ahead of me.

“What?” he asks.

“Oh nothing… I was just talking to that piñon jay over there.”

He looks at me quizzically, and then over at the jay, and then I think it begins to dawn on him that this is going to be an interesting hike indeed.

We both look at the jay, over in the cholla, and the jay stares back at us with jet black eyes that seem to be weighing the relative merits/dangers/opportunities presented by these two human interlopers. He begins to bob a bit then, does the jay bird, amidst the chollic shadows and dappled light, and it causes his brilliant blue plumage to oscillate and refract, slightly iridescent in the angled sunlight. I wonder if this display is intentional. It is pretty impressive.

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“Cool tough guy,” I say.

He squawks and launches himself out of the cholla and on up the canyon, squawking all the way. Squawking and fluttering and generally making everyone aware of his indignant departure.

“Way to make friends and influence people,” Gibson says as we turn and resume our up-canyon march. “Or birds.”

“You know, he may be laying in wait, in ambush, somewhere up this canyon,” I say. “He and his bird buddies.”

“I can see the story now… attack of the killer jays.”

We’re smiling then as we continue up the gently rising, narrowing canyon. The sun is warm on our backs, though the outside temperature is rather cool and brisk.

That warm sunlight is actually part of the reason we are here.

On this trail. At this time of year. This south-facing canyon, open as it is, catches the full rays of the sun all morning and into the afternoon. During the summer months, that fact is to the trail’s detriment. It is just too hot.

But here, now, in the wintery months with the sun much lower in the south, it is darn near perfect for a leisurely hike. It feels wonderfully warm on our backs… and we have to stop and turn now and again to feel its warm tingle on our faces and arms. It is almost magical.

The lower sun, the angle of its rays, has another impact upon our appreciation of this trail. A visual one. The sun, southerly as it is now, casts longer, starker shadows than it does in the summertime. And from a different direction. This has a profound effect upon the way we see things in this canyon, particularly the granite cliffs all around us. The glaring edges and the dark shadows have changed the faces, the images there.

To our right, the east, a cliff face becomes a hand. A huge granite hand. It is obvious to us, with its four fingers and a thumb, as if it is shoving itself up and out of the gravelly desert canyon floor. A hand in the sand, scattering massive boulders around like pebbles in its wake.

We stare at it and the shadows that make it up, and I wonder if it would even be visible in the perpendicular rays of the summer sun. I think perhaps not.

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It is the hand of winter, then. Soon, sometime, it will be dusted with a wintery coat of powdered sugar. A thin coating that is destined to be gone by midday… unless, that is, the clouds hang heavy and the sun is forced into a temporary retreat. In which case, I suppose, absent the slanting rays, the hand wouldn’t be visible anyway, dusted or not.

As it is, when we reach the northern end of the canyon and begin the rugged, switch-backing ascent, the hand has disappeared, becoming just another cliff wall amongst a host of cliff walls towering above us… jagged, ragged, and mean.

Impenetrable. Fortress like.

“Awesome,” Gibson murmurs as we stop at the end of one of the switchbacks to stare straight at the massive structures looming over us.

“Awesome.”

The trail up is… well… up. It is a steep staircase with no stairs. Or crumbling stairs in millennial disrepair. We traverse rocks and gravel and granite slabs and exposed roots. Ever upward. One foot after another.

Break time. Even in the cooler temperatures we begin to overheat on the long uphill climb. I shed my outer layer sweatshirt and my hat to avoid sweating too much. And we stop often, not really to rest, we claim, but to enjoy the views.

And what views they are. From these heights, and even more spectacularly from the top, the scene to the south is beyond compare. The Manzanos stretch out… roll out… off into infinity.

As far as our mortal eyes can see. The crisp, clean wintertime air affords us a longer view than does the dusty hazy stuff of summer. But even so, the really distant mountaintops are hazed a bit by the few particulates in the air compounded over a hundred miles.

It is a painting. A renaissance masterpiece. Perhaps it was hung there by that “Hand of Winter”. Hung there beneath that sparkling diamond that is the winter sun. It is surreal and dreamlike. We cannot help but stand and stare. We have our lunch there, in a clearing at the top, facing south and saying little. What is there to say?

The clearing is a trail junction and contains a signpost with rather ambiguous arrows, names, and numbers. Without a map, it would be a bit confusing. Fortunately we have said map, and at least one of us has been over this trail before. Three trails join up here: The Three Gun Springs trail, up which we came; The Oso Pass Trail which continues on northward toward the crest some 20 miles away; and the Embudo Trail which descends to the west coming out at Indian School Road.

Continued on Page 21 - Just turn the page

31st Annual Mt Taylor Quadrathlon

New Mexico’s Premier Winter Event February 15, 2014

Grants, NM

MtTaylorQuadrathlon

www.mttaylorquad.org

“The Quad” is a 43-mile race to the top and back down of 11,301 foot Mt Taylor. Start out at 6,500 feet biking 13 miles out of town and up into the ponderosa pines. Run 5 miles on gravel turning to snowpack.

Cross-country ski 2 miles, including the infamous “heartbreak hill”.

Top it out with 1 mile to the top on snowshoes. The race is only half over. Now reverse the events and make the 21 miles back down!

Do it solo. Do it as a team.

Do it because you can.

Winter 2013-14

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Duke City Fit

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www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit

Three Gun Springs Trail Continued from Previous Page

It is this latter trail, the Embudo, that we intend to take down. If we can find it.

This clearing, open and exposed as it is, has suffered more than its share of weatherly abuse. It is beaten and bare, and as such the trail to the west is not immediately apparent. We have to dig around a little bit to find where it drops off through the trees.

Running water has disheveled it a bit, and we have to make sure we are actually on a trail and not just a spot where water has carved a new channel in its mad downhill rush.

As it turns out, this is a continual problem on the downhill trek of the Embudo Trail, especially near the top and especially at sharp switchback turns where the rushing waters have decided not to follow the original trailmaker’s plans. More than once we have to stop and retrace our steps back up to find the actual trail. This is not a good trail to blindly follow a dog or an inattentive hiking buddy.

The truth is, though, in the end, there is not much chance of getting lost on this downhill trail. After descending down around a small peak and onto a saddle that separates the Embudo Canyon from the Three Guns canyon, there is nowhere to go but down and out. It all funnels out to the Indian School trail head.

However, it is probably better to stay on the trail, if you can, than to bushwhack through the brambles and the bushes where a rabbit couldn’t go.

The views from the Embudo are to the west and the southwest. They run from Mount Taylor, 75 miles away, over the vast expanse of the Duke City below the blackened line of the escarpment and the west mesa, all the way down to the sunport runways and the South Valley.

It is alive and kicking on this side, and unlike the relative quiet of the Three Guns Canyon, there is a constant, grinding, noisy hum over here. Like machinery. Or jets, or cars. Or all of the above thrown into an urban blender and cast up into these foothills to reverberate and echo off the sides of the huge, granite-lined amphitheater.

While there is no doubt that we are descending towards civilization, it is a spectacularly scenic, rugged way to do it.

It is an entirely different kind of canyon from that which we ascended. It is much more lush. There are more bushes, trees, and grasses. There are even groves of deciduous trees down there in the bottom where a stream runs most of the year.

It is also a canyon of monoliths. Of monumental granite structures that appear at once to be both random and planned.

There are chaotic, but intentionally so, as if they were thrown out there like dice. Like a complex and gnarly game of marbles played by the Gods. A game that has not yet come to its conclusion. A game whose outcome has yet to be decided.

We take a short little side trail to visit one of the more impressive of the structures. It

Winter 2013-14

is comprised of perhaps a dozen massive granite boulders. It is not a pile. It is a structure. It is a work of art. It stands alone in a prominent spot in the middle of the Grand Embudo Amphitheater and it might as well have a sign on it that says “Come check me out.”

And this exhibit in this gallery is not under glass, nor marked with a sign that says “do not touch.” This is an exploratorium where you can get up close and personal. This is a place where you can climb on the artwork and peer into the recesses and feel the ancient power. The earth put this here, in ways and for reasons that are beyond understanding.

We walk away from it a little more somberly. Reluctantly. Glancing back at it now and again as if to ensure ourselves that it is still there. Or maybe to see if it is following us.

Naw, that’s silly.

We go down now through a small section of the canyon that burned a year or two ago. The chollas stand like dead sentinels, propped up somehow… tall, skeletal, and blackened. Dead. But the rest of the desert flora has sprung back up around them in a wild profusion of shapes and colors. Like kids on a playground with a few grumpy old teachers yelling at ‘em to stop doing that.

Down further, along the stream bed amid the cottonwood trees, we wind our way through a riparian oasis. It has ferns and reeds and the ground is often mushy underfoot. The whole thing narrows down and empties through a skinny little slot canyon, perhaps 50 feet across, if that. An old cement dam or dike clings to existence there, its uphill side filled to the very brim with the debris of decades. The downhill side leaks a dribble of water through an old pipe down near its base.

Past that, and we are out. Down and around a big old holding basin with its newer dam, and then around a water storage tank. The trailhead, a parking lot, and there’s the old Jeep CJ7 we left there earlier, like an old dog waiting for its master to return.

“We made it,” I exclaim.

To whom I am speaking is not clear… the jeep or my buddy.

It doesn’t matter. We made it, and we are better for having done it.

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The Three Guns Springs Trail is found by taking old highway 66, now 333 at the east end of Central, east into Tijeras Canyon parallel to I-40. Turn left (north) into Carnuel at the little “Monticello” sign. This is 4 miles from the intersection of Central and Tramway.

Once you are up into the subdivision, you must jog left on one of the roads about a quartermile to the north-south road on the west end. Sempre Verde Drive.

Take this north to where it begins to curve east. There is a gravel road turnoff to the north that goes directly to the trailhead parking lot.

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Dr Elaine

Duke City Fit Duke City Fit

Athletes and Sleep

I woke up this morning feeling absolutely wonderful. I slept for nine hours, had a couple of dreams and woke up with a smile ready to greet the day. There is just nothing better than a great sleep. And there is nothing worse than not sleeping well or thinking that you don’t need much sleep. It seems that the older you are the more willing you are to sleep, but research is suggesting more and more that the amount and quality of sleep that you get effects many aspects of your life. So even young adults should be napping in the afternoon and catching much more sleep than they think they might need.

Athletes, both the weekend variety and the professional type think about the fuel that they put into their bodies and their conditioning, but they seldom give much thought to the amount of sleep that they are getting. We don’t think much about sleep unless we are not getting enough. When I was in graduate school sleep was a hot topic. We were delineating the types of sleep and brain patterns that were associated with each one.

Theta waves and REM sleep were the things that we were researching and mapping.

Now we are less concerned with defining sleep and more with what it means to the rest of our life. I was speaking with one of our local sleep doctors and he prompted me to start looking at the research for the young athletes and dedicated work out folks that I see in

my clinic. He has done some research on sleep deprivation, increasing sleep requirements and improving the quality of sleep. Some athletes experience episodes of sleep apnea that can greatly diminish their endurance and performance. With a few simple fixes, athletic performance can improve greatly.

About.com reports that athletic performance is affected by the amount and quality of the sleep that the athlete is getting. A Stanford sleep researcher, Cheryl Mah, has been studying sleep and athletic performance for years. One study that she published in 2009 followed the Stanford women’s tennis team for five weeks. The athletes were asked to try to get at least ten hours of sleep per night. The tennis players who got the extra sleep ran faster sprints and their tennis shots were more accurate.

Mah’s research was groundbreaking in the field of sleep and athletic performance. She recognized that researchers knew that athletic performance was diminished by sleep deprivation, but she wondered if athletic performance could be improved if sleep times were increased. What she found was that even as little as twenty hours of sleep deprivation begins to take a toll on athletic performance especially in power or skill sports.

The research also suggests that getting extra sleep over a period of several weeks can have an effect on mood, performance and effectiveness in competition. Mah’s recent research has shown that you can get safe and legal HGH just by sleeping more.

Her research is revolutionizing how the athletes at Stanford are training. They are taking daytime naps and sleeping at least ten hours per night.

How many college students do you know that sleep ten hours per night? If it will do this for athletic performance, what effect might it have on academic performance?

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Even the Livestrong website is writing about the research on sleep and athletic performance.

Livestrong emphasizes the effect of sleep on reaction time.

Researchers Hans Van Dongen, PhD. And David Dinges, Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania found that even the loss of one hour of sleep per night created what they called a “sleep debt”. Reaction time is critical for everything from quick movements to catching a ball in sports. Sustained attention or the ability to focus on a given activity is affected by sleep deprivation. This interference can develop with sustained sleep deprivation or again with sleep debt accumulated over time.

Recovery time is something that many athletes are aware that they need. Athletes are

used to having to work out in one area and then allow it to rest. But I think that sometimes we are not aware that sleep is the most important part of the recovery time.

Lack of sleep will delay healing and remodeling of the muscle tissue. You won’t accomplish what you are trying to accomplish if you define your recovery time by the number of hours off only and don’t take into consideration the sleep that your body will require to fully utilize your work outs and training.

While we still don’t understand sleep completely we do know that some of our genes act like internal clocks and release hormones in sync with our circadian rhythms.

These releases are activated by darkness and light and they alternate over a 24 hour cycle. Interfering with these circadian rhythms especially by not getting enough sleep will diminish our metabolism of glucose which is our energy source, and our cortisol levels which cause stress increases.

In addition, sleeping for long stretches is naturally anabolic (the phase of metabolism in which simple substances are synthesized into the complex materials of living tissue). During deep sleep, our bodies release growth hormone which is the substance that creates the healing of muscle tissue. It also promotes the growth of muscle and bone. So sleep helps athletes in two ways. It boosts areas of performance that require high levels of cognitive skills like hand-eye coordination and reaction time, and it assists in recovery from tough games and workouts.

Sleep experts recommend seven to nine hours of daily sleep for adults and nine to ten hours for adolescents and teens. You can estimate your own needs by experimenting over a few weeks. If you fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed and wake up without an alarm, you are probably getting the right amount of sleep. If you fall asleep immediately upon hitting the pillow and always need an alarm to wake up, you are probably sleep deprived.

Sleep is not the most exciting thing to think about when you are training for an athletic event, but as you can see it may be one of the most important. The next Olympians will be sleeping nine to ten hours per night, not the five to seven that most young adults think they need. If you need help with your sleep habits, your chiropractor may be able to help. Proper alignment and relaxed muscles are important for good sleep hygiene. There are nutritional supplements that can assist in the sleep process also. If you have questions or want further information about sleep and its connection to great athletic performance, give me a call at my office. In the meantime here are a few quick tips that you can implement into your training strategies.

• Get on a regular schedule. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.

• When you travel, give yourself time to acclimate.

If you’re traveling for an athletic competition, it’s a good idea to get there a few days early. That way, your body can adjust and you have time to get on a normal sleep schedule.

• Avoid sleep medication. Bio feedback, deep breathing and even certain nutritional supplements are a better alternative.

• Reduce alcohol and caffeine. These are sleep interrupters that you don’t want in your precompetition routine.

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Winter 2013-14

23

S wiss What?

Duke City Fit

Ken Orth

Swiss Chard, You Nincompoop

I was in my neighborhood Sprouts Farmers Market a while back doing my regular foraging for fresh, good-looking produce when one of the employees I was chatting with mentioned, “The Swiss Chard looks really good today... a brand new batch we just got in.”

I looked at her like she’d just told me about the kumquats of Madagascar or something. I don’t know anything about kumquats and I don’t know anything about swiss chard. To the best of my knowledge, I had never tasted, cooked, or even looked at swiss chard.

But I dutifully walked over with her and we checked out the chard. It did look good. It looked healthy and colorful.

“What do you do with this stuff?” I asked. “Boil it or steam it like spinach?”

“Exactly,” she said. “Or sautee it in olive oil.

That’s what I like to do.”

There were variously colored bunches . She picked out one of Rainbow Chard, which is to say, several different colors in one bunch, and handed it to me.

“Why not?” I muttered, and added it to my basket.

I made it for lunch when I got home that day.

I peeled the leaves off the stems and chopped ‘em up. I sauteed it in olive oil with a few sliced mushrooms, some garlic, and some red bell pepper.

It was delicious. Not as strong as spinach and a little sweeter. It didn’t “melt down” as much as spinach does.

I kept tasting it right out of the frying pan and I ended up eating it all out of the pan, never bothering to move it to a plate.

Since that first time, about a year ago, I have sauteed different chards a number of times with a number of differing additives. Mushroom, garlic, pepper, onion, lemon juice, black pepper. I believe I like Rainbow chard best, with just a bit of garlic.

And maybe sauteed in coconut oil rather than olive, but that’s nearly a dead heat.

Upon study, I have found that chard is amazingly healthful. Which is good, but is not enough reason to eat it if I don’t like it. Fortunately I do.

So does my wife. Which has led me to buy two bunches now, whenever I get it. One bunch yields about a cup, cooked, I would guess, and that is about what I like to eat in one sitting, though quite often I’m not sitting... it still often never makes it to the plate. What can I say?

So, the moral of the story is to not be as afraid of trying new things as I was. Particularly if that new thing is Swiss Chard. Give it a shot. But be careful tasting it from the pan.

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Sauteed Swiss Chard Ingredients: 1 bunch of Swiss Chard 2 TBS of olive oil or coconut oil 1 clove of garlic, chopped fine Optional: Salt and pepper to taste Sliced mushrooms Chopped red bell pepper Lemon juice 1) Rinse the chard leaves, but do not soak 2) Peel the leaves off of the big fat stems up about 1/3 of the way up the leaf. Discard the fat stems, or save them for another recipe (chopped and boiled or steamed into pasta dishes) 3) Slice the leaves into 1” wide strips ACROSS the small stems that are still in the leaves. (So there aren’t long lengths of stem).

4) Heat the oil and the garlic (and/or other optional ingredients) in a fairly large pan with a domed lid over medium high heat.

5) Add the chard and then toss with the oil a few times to distribute the oil and garlic 6) Put the lid on and let it simmer/sautee for about 5 minutes 7) Flip the whole thing over in the pan, put the lid back on, and give it another 4 or 5 minutes.

Nutritional Information Excellent source of Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Magnesium, Manganese, & Iron Very good source of Fiber, Calcium, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, & Protein Chard has simply not been studied as much as other leafy vegetables like spinach, in terms of its health effects.

But there is little doubt that it has several benefits. It is high in antioxidants, is an anti-inflammatory, and helps to regulate blood sugar. It is great for bone support.

8) Taste it. Sparingly. Too tough?, Cook a little longer.

Too tasty? Too bad. You’ve got to hang onto it and get itto the serving bowl or plate. Good luck with that.

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Duke City Fit

Winter 2013-14

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Duke City Fit

Don’t LookSme l l a Gift Horse in the Mouth Karl Thomas & Ken Orth

Seeings how

my wife is from Kentucky and I’ve spent more than a little time in the rolling hills of the Bluegrass State, I consider myself somewhat of an expert intermediate advanced beginner on the subject of thoroughbreds and horse racing and parimutuel wagering. Her grandfather, Sherwood, had a box near the finish line at Churchill Downs (which is the American horse racing mecca). He and I spent a few springtime afternoons discussing the finer points of horse racing while sipping on some of Kentucky’s finest.

He hated the Kentucky Derby. That day was one of the very few during the racing season when he refused to go to the track. Too many knuckleheads, out-of-towners, and debutante celebrities laying down huge chunks of money without even the faintest idea of what they were doing... it simply threw the betting odds into shambles. A bunch of dang foreigners were screwing up his favorite pastime.

Anyway, even though he hated the Derby, he was willing, occasionally, to share with me his thoughts about the horses and the jockeys and the trainers.

“If all else fails, wander on down to the paddock before the race and actually look at the horses. Some people believe that if you see a horse take a dump prior to a race, that’s the one to bet on... he’ll be carrying a lighter load. Knuckleheads. But at least it’s something, which is more than can be said for what most of those damn fools are betting on.”

Those discussions with my wife’s grandpa, and those lazy springtime afternoons in Kentucky, were nearly three decades ago now, but to this day, when I have the rare occasion to make it to the track, I still always go down to the paddock prior to the race to check out the horses. I do not subscribe to the horse-dump theory, but there is something reassuring, laced with bits of tradition and emotion, that lures me down to watch the contestants prior to their race. It is just something I do.

I give you this

short racing story only as a preamble. It merely sets the stage for the wanderings of my mind as the actual tale unfolds.

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And that tale is this...

I met up with my health food guru, Karl Thomas, a while back. He is the long-time, but now former owner of BK’s Health Pantry, and we have semi-regular meet-ups where we discuss all things health. Usually over lunch.

“Bad breath,” he said to me.

“Excuse me?”

“Halitosis. You know, bad breath. That is what we are going to talk about today.”

Immediately I’m thinking, You’ve got to be kidding me.

“We can’t do a story on bad breath, Karl. C’mon. What’s it gonna be, two paragraphs and a stick of Dentyne?”

“No, no, no” he calmly replied in his smiling, I’ve-got-asecret kind of way. I’ve learned to recognize that smile.

“Look, for example, suppose we discuss the idea that bad breath... especially chronic bad breath... is an indicator of less-than-optimal athletic performance?”

It took me a minute to digest this.

“So what are you saying?,” I asked. The word incredulous might be used here, were we so inclined, to describe the goofy look on my face as I stared across the table at him.

The thing is, contrary to what advertising would have us believe, which is that bad breath is caused by germs and bacteria in the mouth, most of the time this is actually not the case. In fact, it’s true only about 20% of the time. And if you’re talking chronic bad breath, it’s even much lower than that.

The fact of the matter is, that for people who exercise reasonable dental hygiene, bad breath is far, far more likely to have its origins in places other than the mouth.

“And where would that be?” I asked, ever the straight man.

That would be from the stomach, bowels, and colon.

We all know, or we should know, that there is a lot going on down there. Our body, our gut, is busily extracting all of the nutrients it can find out of the junk that we stuff into it. There are all kinds of bacteria and enzymes doing the things that bacteria and enzymes do to break down the foods.

Unfortunately, sometimes, that system gets out of whack. Then bacteria and acids start running amuck, as it were, and they start producing yeast and fungus in

the gut which in turn start producing by-products.

Toxic by-products. Toxins. Among other undesirable features, these toxins can be pretty odoriferous. They work their way into our breath and no amount of mints can take care of them.

“Okay, I’ll buy that,” I said. “The little ecosystem in the stomach and intestines...”

“And the colon,” he added. “...And the colon,” I continued. “The little system in the gut goes haywire, starts producing nasty gases, and the end result is that we have somebody with BAD breath. But what does that ...”

“That system being out-of-whack, as you put it, “ he interrupted, “Usually has something to do with the body’s pH. The system gets too acidic. Too many refined sugars and flours and not enough vegetables.

You can easily check it out with a simple little pH strip tester. You give me a person with bad breath, and I’ll give you a person who tests as too acidic.”

I stared at him for a moment. As usual when we talked, things were moving pretty fast.

“All right, all right,” I said finally. “I’m with you, kind of, on the overly acidic system... and the fungus and the toxins and maybe even the bad breath, but just what the heck does any of that have to do with athletic performance?”

He smiled that enigmatic smile again. I felt like the bumbling sidekick, Watson, staring open-mouthed at his friend Sherlock Holmes who was about to lay it all open before everybody.

“Elementary, my dear editor,” I half expected him to say.

“It’s simple, really,” he said. “If your body suddenly, or not so suddenly, has extra toxins in it, what do you suppose it’s going to do about it?”

“Fight ‘em,” I responded in my most Watson-like, British way. “We will fight them on the beaches. We will nevah surrender. Nevah. Pip pip, cheerio, and all that.”

Now it was his turn to stare at me for a few seconds.

He is only somewhat accustomed to my unusual eccentricities. Finally he spoke again.

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit “Fight them! Exactly. And if your immune system, through the lymphatics, is having to kick up a war against internal invaders, then it has got to be getting the resources for that battle from somewhere. What it has to do is divert those resources, limited as they might already be, from other things that they might normally be doing. Instead, it’s got to throw them at those poisonous intruders.”

“And those other things...” I interjected.

“And those other things would be those things that good athletes require of their body, like rebuilding muscle tissue, breaking down uric acid in the joints, and generally getting the body ready for its next contest. In a nutshell, you’re pulling resources away from making yourself a better athlete and throwing them instead at fighting fungus in your gut.”

“Additionally, you might surmise that a runner with bad breath might not be eating correctly.”

“So let me get this straight,” I said. “Bad breath may be only a symptom, then... a symptom of something bad that might be going on inside. It’s kinda like the “check engine” light coming on in your car. It’s an indicator that all is not well under the hood.”

“You got it,” he replied. “So suppose we were talking to some runners before a big race and we noticed that one of them had particularly bad breath. Knowing what you know, what do you suppose this might do to the odds you’re formulating of him winning that race?”

It was at that very moment, my friends, that my Kentucky flashback occurred. While Karl dug into his plate of corned beef hash and over-easy eggs, my mind wandered down memory lane to springtime in the bluegrass and the pre-race hoopla and the horses in the paddock. I thought about the signs of a horse’s impending great race. It brought a smile to my face.

“Yeah,” I said to Karl, “And suppose that runner not only has halitosis, but he runs over and hits the porta-potty right before the race. What do ya suppose that’d do to the bookies?”

Karl again had to take a short break and gaze at me in consternation. I think he was considering jotting down the name of a good therapist for me. So I took a little time and explained to him all about the cantankerous grandpa and the paddocks and the horse dumps... he smiled along with me.

Then he pulled out a business card and jotted down the name of a good therapist.

No, he didn’t really.

What he actually did was talk for a while about some of the things one might think about and do concerning bad breath.

First off, it can be, though many times it is not, related to conditions in the mouth.

And as we mentioned, regular dental hygiene is the critical thing here. Brushing, flossing, perhaps a tongue scraper (yeast can build up on the tongue). Morning breath shouldn’t be happening unless you sleep with your mouth open, which dries it out and makes it easier for bacteria to grow. Similarly, mouthwash, though it does kill germs, may also dry out the mouth and make it a friendlier environment for bacteria.

Winter 2013-14

But by far the more common cause of bad breath has to do with the imbalances in the gut... too many refined sugars and flours and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. In the long run, correcting this is the direction you need to take. Starting now.

In the short term, however, there are some other possibilities... and they do not include mint tablets, gums, or sprays which simply mask the symptoms, temporarily and inadequately at best, like a heavy dose of perfume.

The better solution is to attack the problem at its source. For this, acidophilus may be just the ticket. It can be gotten in several different forms.

(Acidophilus is the name for a number of bacteria which help in human digestion.

Most commonly among foods, it is found in yogurt. It helps protect against harmful bacteria, produces a number of chemicals which aid in digestion, and lowers the pH.) Karl tells me that if he is talking with someone in the store and encounters some nasty breath, he’ll often gently recommend that they try out one of his acidophilus tables. Chew and swallow. Its effects will be apparent within about 15 to 20 minutes.

But, he says, the powdered form is more effective. You simply dissolve it in water, swish, and swallow. It pushes the bacteria back down and begins the rebalancing down below.

In the long term, getting the gut back into balance is what you should strive for.

There are two things, in addition to to eating a proper diet, that Karl recommends in this regard.

One is to have an annual or semi-annual cleansing of the colon. The purpose of this is to remove all of the “gunk” that has built up inside it over time. There are several ways ... from an easy regimen of tablets or teas that may take up to 30 days to accomplish their ends, to an actual “colon cleanse” done by a specialist that is over and done within 30 minutes.

Either way, the idea is similar to a neighborhood improvement project... you want to clean out the dilapidated buildings and the meth houses. But very much like a bad neighborhood that has been torn down, the undesirable elements will move right back in unless some steps are taken to build it back up correctly.

In this case, in the colon, that rebuilding can be done with some serious additions of acidophilus. Karl recommends a 5 day regimen to get the “hood” lookin “good”.

That would be about a half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of the powder twice a day, morning and night (or about 5 capsules twice a day) for the full 5 days. This should reestablish things properly.

As always, our suggestion is to discuss this with a health specialist to figure out a plan that fits your specific situation.

Also, as always, this paper does not encourage nor endorse placing wagers on horses, be they pre-evaluated or not. Nor on runners or athletes of any ilk, especially if they appear to be over-doing it on the breath mints. And most assuredly, we would highly discourage anyone from attempting to smell the breath of a quarter horse prior to a race.

It could be dangerous.

And it just doesn’t look right.

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27

Uncle Uncle KC’s KC’s Corner Corner

Duke City Fit

Wintertime Blues

All righty, it’s wintertime and the livin’ is easy. Cold, but easy.

Perhaps you, like me and mine, get a little lazy in the wintertime. It is way too easy to sit inside and stare at the tube. Fortunately, we here at Duke City Fit are on the case, finding a few things to get out and do in and around the Duke City. Some may even be new to you. Way to go, Uncle KC. Let’s have at it...

First off, don’t rule out hiking just because it is cold or snowy. We have two hikes in this very issue that are both quite suitable for winter hiking. The Three Gun Springs Trail out of Carnuel (story, page 18), and The White Mesa Trails off of 550 west of Bernalillo (story, page 6). Winter hiking can be a real joy, particularly when there is a fresh layer of snow on the ground.

If and when I wake up to discover a 6” dusting of snow and a sunny sky, I throw on my layers and my good hiking boots and traipse on up one of the arroyos in the foothills east of Tramway. There will be fresh tracks there, from animals that I actually was unaware are out and about. And the snow and icicles on the chollas and yuccas seem so… so… strange.

On more snowless days, biking, blading, and/or walking some of our MANY paved trails is a good option. And don’t worry, if you haven’t a good bike, there are a couple places that rent them. You might want to rent one even if you have a bike, to try out some better options.

Like disc brakes or a road/trail hybrid. Routes and Rentals is down near Old Town and High Desert Bicycles has 2 locations, Rio Rancho and Paseo at Louisiana Go try out a spanking new bike. Take your ride down the paved Bosque Trail, which is a 16-mile tour alongside the river without any street crossings. Or the Diversion Channel Trail from UNM to The Balloon Fiesta Park. Both are VERY cool.

But say, what can be more wintertime than ice skating? Even here in the high desert, we have a spectacular ice arena. The Outpost Ice Arena, on Tramway near the flashing stop sign turnoff to the Tram, just before The County Line restaurant, is a one-of-a-kind place.

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It has two rinks connected by side ice surfaces that can actually be used for curling. Curling? Note that the Winter Olympics are on tap for February, so when you are watching them with friends and the curling highlights come on, you can impress them by saying, “I have skated on one of those curling sheets.” That you even know it is called a curling sheet should be impressive, too. See our story about an ice skater on page 12.

What about bowling, huh? When was the last time you went bowling? We’ve got an honest-to-goodness little neighborhood bowling center up in the Northeast Heights that ALWAYS has open bowling. Sandia Bowl, off of Juan Tabo just south of Candelaria. They have a great snack bar and a neighborhhood Pub where everybody will soon know your name. Check out their ad for for discounts.

Thinking about going to a gym? Albuquerque has one of the originals. The Liberty Gym. It has been around longer than any gym in the Duke City. Heck, it IS the Duke City. It is an original. It has a pedigree. Doug, who owns and operates Liberty, is a native who cut his gym teeth out there in California in the birthplace of gyms on Venice Beach. You know… Ahhhnold the Shwarzinator. Doug came back, won the “Mr. New Mexico” title, and started up Liberty Gym. It has evolved since then into the premier training ground for doing the things we do here… hiking, biking, skiing…

Speaking of skiing, the two ski areas we are endorsing because we know these guys, and we love to ski at both of them, are Angel Fire and Durango Mountain Resort. Angel Fire is smaller and closer to home (about 3 hours). It is New Mexico with a Texas flavor… some great powder runs through the trees and good boarding, too. Durango Mountain Resort is the big time. Whatever you like in skiing/boarding, they have it. Including “The Beach” at the bottom, for sitting and taking it all in. See the photo on page 17 in the center spread.

Within the community of Duke City Fit, we also have a couple of slightly off-center workout possibilities that might intrigue you.

Bikram’s Yoga, the “hot” yoga is one of those.

It is an offshoot of “hatha”, or posing yoga. It was developed in India as an inexpensive way to provide relief to chronic disease and health problems. It has spread widely throughout the United States and its many practitioners swear by its rejuvenating and health-inducing benefits. It is simple enough for a beginner or an oldster (I was both when I tackled it), but can be endlessly complex and difficult for regulars.

It does involve sweating, as that is part of its method and what makes it so effective. You will come away from it with a new appreciation for what your body is capable of. My wife absolutely loves it.

The other “off-center” workout involves “gyrotonic” machines in a Pilates style workout. Momentum Studio is the place.

It uses specially designed and built machines to put muscles and joints

through specific, controlled, smooth motions. Often, most often, the workouts are geared toward certain athletic requirements of the participant… bikers, runners, dancers. Much of the concept is to get the repetitive motions of whatever sport or athletic endeavor into their most productive, proficient, and efficient state. It’s a smooth way to improve, and you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t think of this before.

Wait, wait, wait… I know… let’s go rock climbing.

Stone Age Climbing Gym is the biggest darn rock climbing gym in the southwest. Slip on the shoes, get yourself into a harness, and go for the gusto. There is a rare, powerful sense of achievement when you can work your way to that spot up there. It’s fingers and toes and keeping yourself centered. That’s all.

If you are a runner or a walker, or you just stand around a lot, or if you have sore feet… there’s a shoe

www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit store for you. Heart and Sole Sports should be on your list of places to visit. Take along your old shoes and let ‘em put you on the treadmill and figure out just what it is your feet need. And beyond that, if the owner, Stan, is there, have him show you the prototype he helped design of the cleats worn by Carl Lewis when he set all those world records. Or his running shoe “heel” patent. The place is a veritable museum and you can spend some interesting time going over the illustrated history of running shoes. Be careful though, it’s easier to get Stan talking than it is to get him to stop.

There are some days, perhaps more of them in the winter than any other time of year, when there is nothing more fundamentally appealing than curling up with a good book. And I know the place for a good book. Page One Bookstore is currently at Juan Tabo and Montgomery in the NE Heights, but they are moving to new digs up in the Mountain Run shopping center after the holidays. Call them to see if they’ve moved yet, then go and browse.

Page One has been around since I was a whippersnapper, and that’s a long time. Find one of those new authors or books you’ve heard about, or dig into the old standbys… Kurt Vonnegut… or, or… is John Irving still writing or should I just grab an old copy of “Cider House Rules”? And that’s one of the great things about Page One… the new and the used books are together, intermingled on the shelves. It is wonderful.

And finally, perhaps something a bit out of the ordinary… how about some planting? There are actually some plants and shrubs that should go in in the wintertime. Try the Alameda Greenhouse at 4th and Alameda. It’s not actually “a” greenhouse, it’s a bunch of greenhouses. It’s an arboretum. It’s a plant museum. It’s a wonderfully warm, fragrant, moist, pungent trip into and through new life. Healthy and vibrant and so very much alive. Even in the wintertime. Say hello to whoever is at the counter, tell ‘em you love Duke City Fit and you want to look around, then do so. Wander. If you’re there before Christmas, see if you can figure out how many different hues of poinsettias there are. Before the season is over more than 10,000 poinsettias plants will have gone out those doors. Grab a tree or a shrub and get to work in the yard with your hands, you can thank me later.

That’s it then… the Duke City Fit Guide to alleviating winter sloth. The astute observer might notice that the businesses I’ve referenced herein are also frequent advertisers in this publication. That is not by accident. Not everybody gets to have an ad in Duke City Fit. We pursue, and try to maintain advertising by businesses that we know and trust. More importantly, places that are owned and operated by people who are honorable and respectful of quality, value, and performance.

Now get out there and get cracking. The winter will be gone before you know it.

Here’s Your Wintertime To-Do List Hiking

Three Gun Springs Trail White Mesa Bike Trails

Story, Page 18 Story, Page 6

Biking

Routes and Rentals High Desert Bicycles

Ice Skating

Outpost Ice Arenas

Bowling

Sandia Bowl

Gyms & Studios

Liberty Gym Momentum Studio Bikram’s Yoga Stone Age Climbing Gym

Skiing/Boarding

Angel Fire Resort Durango Mountain Resort

Odds and Ends

Ad, Page 29 Ad, Page 7

856-7595

Ad, Page 13

293-5675

Ad, Page 30

884-8012 296-4080 296-9642 341-2016

Ad, Page 29 Ad, Page 5 Ad, Page 21 Ad, Page 31

800-906-7001 505-837-9400

Page One Bookstore

Alameda Greenhouse

Heart and Sole Sports Transcendence Sports Massage

Winter 2013-14

933-5667 842-8260

294-2026 898-3562 884-5300 249-6305

Ad, Page 23 Ad, Page 3 Ad, Page 25 Ad, Page 25 Ad, Back Cover Ad, Page 27

2401 Jefferson NE • Albuquerque, NM 87111 (505) 884-8012 • www.libertygym.com 29

Duke City Fit

Calendar of Events

December January February

2013-2014

Events in red require pre-registration Ongoing Yoga With a View, $15 ($5 first time), 9-10:30am every Sunday morning, Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors NW, Yoga in a beautiful setting Info: 897-8831 Qigong in the Park, Saturdays & Sundays 9-10am: every Saturday at Altura Park located at Hannett and Morningside NE, Every Sunday at 11am at Washington Middle School Park; Qigong practice for all, Loretta 681-1924 qigonginthepark.com Rio Grande Nature Center Bird Walks, Free, 9am, Saturdays & Sundays, join a naturalist for a quiet bird walk, preregister, 344-7240

Los Poblanos Fields Community Farm, Free, City of Albuquerque, 6804 4th St NW, 345-4580 Tower Skate Park, Free, City of Albuquerque , 7am-11pm, 86th & Tower on west side, brand new state of the art skate park Botanical Gardens River of Lights, A Holiday Light Festival since 1997, $8 adults & $4 kids, 6-9pm, walk-thru dazzling light display, 2601 Central NW, runs through Dec 30, 768-2000

NM Volunteers for the Outdoors, Save a trail in the NM outdoors, learn new skills with cool tools and “rub shoulders” with forest rangers. Enjoy the camaraderie of new friends and be part of preserving outdoor recreation by helping to build and maintain a wide variety of trails.

884-1991 www.nmvfo.org

December 19 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Free Day, 5-8:30pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free evening at the museum!

Do a lot of walking. 243-7255 www.cabq.gov/museum

Open Bowling Specials Tuesdays: All you can bowl, $5, 1-5pm Wednesdays: Games $1, Shoes $1, 1-5pm

December 13 Jingle Bell Run/Walk, 5K run/walk to benefit arthritis foundation, 6:30pm, tie bells to your shoelaces, at Old Town Plaza, www.kintera.org/faf/home/

December 14 Thundersticks & Coats of Iron: Coronado’s Impact, 1-3pm, Free, Open Space Visitor Center 6500 Coors NW, Archaeologist Matt Schmader reveal evidence New Mexico Touring Society Bike Rides, of Coronado from the “village of the marked rocks”, Kim Selving 897-8831 join together with other recreational bikers of all ages for daily planned rides, Classical Holiday Concert, Free, 237-9700 nmts.org 7-8:30pm, by City of ABQ in San Felipe Church 303 Romero St in Old Town, Water Exercise Classes, Weekdays, performing Mexican Piano Music of the $2.50, City of ABQ Indoor Pools at 19th Century as well as holiday classics, Valley Pool 761-4086; West Mesa James DeChamplon Aquatic Center 836-8718, Morn & 505-768-3561 evening classes

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December 15 Wolf Meet and Greet, Wangai wolf fund, Free, 12:30-3pm, up close and personal with these beautiful animals, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, Kim Selving 897-8831

December 16 Full Moon Run by Heart n Sole Sports, Free, 7:00pm, Kit Carson Park 1744 Kit Carson Ave NW HnS info: 884-7653

Calvary Skate Park, Free, 9am-10pm, 4001 Osuna NE, Parent must sign waiver, bladers & skateboarders only, adjacent game room, 344-0880 x201, ww.calvarysk8park.org

Rio Grande Nature Center Nature Walks, Free, 1pm Sundays, an insightful nature tour of the bosque, preregister, 344-7240 High Desert Bicycles Group Ride, Free, 9-10:30am every Saturday, 909 36th Place SE in Rio Rancho, bring bike (or rent one) & join the group, 896-4700

December 14 & 21 City of ABQ Learn to Ski & Snowboard, youths age 11-17 discounted packages including lifts, lessons, & transportation to Sipapu contact 768-5328 www.nmxsports.org

New Year’s Eve Party

Entertainment • Drink Specials Hors d’ouvres • Free Champagne Toast at Midnite

Live Comedy in the Lounge December 21st

Open Bowling All the Time !

Sandia Bowl 293-5675

11342 Lexington NE Albuquerque, NM 87112

www.sandiabowlabq.com www.dukecityfit.com

Duke City Fit December 19 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240 December 21 Farolito Trail of Lights, 5K run/walk, 5pm, 9th annual holiday favorite, at SW Indian Polytechnic Institute, www.irunfit.org

January 16 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Free Day, 5-8:30pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free evening at the museum!

Do a lot of walking. 243-7255 www.cabq.gov/museum

January 17-18 Albuquerque Aquarium Overnighter, $30, 6-30pm to 8am next day, Sleep next to the sharks at the ABQ BioPark Aquarium! Learn about ocean species and their Open Space Volunteer Orientation, Free, fascinating nighttime behavior, 10am-12:30pm, Trail Watch and AdoptEducation Clerk at (505) 848-7180 An-Open-Space training, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors NW, January 18 pre-register 897-8865 12th Annual Sandia Mountain Snowshoe Race, 10am, $30, iconic Winter Solstice Mandala Creation, Free, event, 3.2 mile traverse from the Crest 10am-noon, Participate in creating 20’ thru Cibola National Forest, proceeds go cosmic diagram that reminds us of our to the Friends of the Sandia Mountains relation to the infinite, Open Space Visi- for preservation and maintenance of trails tor Center, 6500 Coors NW, pre-register Register: www.sandiasnowshoe.com 897-8831 Pajama People Pizza Run,12:30pm, $29, December 21 Albuquerque Academy Loop, proceeds Winter Solstice, shortest day of the year, go to support Youth Mentoring Programs the sun is directly over the tropic of at First Nations Community Healthsource Capricorn in the southern hemishpere, www.pjrun.com days will be getting longer from here on out January 25 Polar Bear Winter Dash, $30, 9am, Albuquerque Academy - park at Hoffmantown Church, benefitting New Mexico Voices for Children www.active.com

January 1 Egg Nog Jog 2014,12 noon, $25 includes t-shirt ($15 no shirt) , 5K run/ walk, noncompetitive iconic annual Albuquerque event, on Grecian just west of 4th Street, contact Alan Overmier 321--2171 January 11 Winter Bird & Bat Festival, Free ($3 Parking), 10am-4pm, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, Shows/ crafts/walks/animals, 344-7240 January 14 Snowshoeing Basics, Free 6-7:30pm, REI Clinic Room 1550 Mercantile Ave NE, the appropriate selection of gear as well as the basics on what you need and where to go, 247-1191 January 15 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240 Full Moon Run by Heart n Sole Sports, Free, 7:00pm, Kit Carson Park 1744 Kit Carson Ave NW HnS info: 884-7653

Winter 2013-14

February 14 Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240

February 2 Superbowl “Touchdown for the Homeless” 10K/5K Run, 11am, $25, Valley High School, celebrate the big day & back in time for the game, www.irunfit. org

Full Moon Run by Heart n Sole Sports, Free, 7:00pm, Kit Carson Park 1744 Kit Carson Ave NW HnS info: 884-7653 February 15 31st Annual Mt Taylor Quadrathlon, Grants, NM, See ad pg 19, New Mexico’s premier winter sports event, www.mttaylorquad.org

Great Backyard Bird Count at Tingley Beach, Free, 8am-12 noon, Tingley Beach 1800 Tingley Drive SW, Meet up at Tingley Beach with your binoculars and join the nation-wide Great Backyard Bird Count, contact: BioPark Education February 9 Sweetheart Run 2014 10K/5K, 9am, $25, at 505-848-7180 a loving run along the Rio Grande, go to February 16 active.com & key in “Sweetheart Run” Great Backyard Bird Count at the Bo299-3521 tanic Garden, Free, 8am-12 noon, ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden 2601 Central February 13 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, NW, Grab your binoculars and head to the Botanic Garden for the second day Free Day, 5-8:30pm, 2000 Mountain Road NW, A free evening at the museum! of the nation-wide Great Backyard Bird Count, contact: BioPark Education at Do a lot of walking. 243-7255 505-848-7180 www.cabq.gov/museum February 8 2014 Cupid’s Chase, 10am, $30, Balloon Fiesta Park, to benefit Community Options, www.comop.org/cupidschase

February 23 Kids’ Fishing Fair at Tingley Beach, Free, 10am-2pm, Tingley Beach 1800 Tingley Drive SW, Children, ages 4-12, are invited to learn all about fishing by visiting fun and interactive Discovery Stations contact 768-2000 March 1 Albuquerque 5K Zombie Run, 10am, $45, Rio Grande State Park 2901 Candelaria Rd, Runners try to outwit hungry zombies en route to the finish line www.active.com March 15 Blacklight Run, $30 (if paid before 12/25, $60 thereafter), 7:30pm, blacklights & glowpowder along the course, Balloon Fiesta Park, www.blacklightrun.com March 16 Shamrock Shuffle, 10K/5K, 8:30am, Rio Rancho aquatic Center, go to active.com & key in “Shamrock Shuffle” www.irunfit.org Twilight Hike on a Full Moon Night, Free ($3 Parking), Dusk, tentative date Call for time & date, Rio Grande Nature Center 2901 Candelaria NW, 344-7240

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2817 San Mateo NE

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884-5300

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heartnsolesports.com

0 0 0 2 e c n i S u Yo g n i v S er Before

After

Our Fit Will Help Fix Your Gait All of our staff is personally trained by a professional gait analysis expert. Always fitting you in the proper footwear.

Guaranteed!

“Everyday Footwear” at Heart & Sole We now carry the finest in casual, comfortable, functional footwear from top makers like Chaco, Keen, and Sanita. We take the same care to get you the perfect fit in casual footwear that we have always taken with our athletic shoes.

Everyday footware that is not only incredibly comfortable, but good for your feet!

Rated Among Top 10 Running Stores in America. Again!

The Running Network and Footwear Intelligence have honored Heart & Sole Sports as a Top 10 best rated running store in the entire United States and Canada ! Six years in a row! Our customer’s faith and confidence in our services has made this happen. We thank you.

New Mexico’s #1 Running Company