Happy Birthday, You Little Puppy in My Pocket!

Megan-I hope you had a great day today!

Blue Punch Buggie, No Punch Backs!

Love you

Being out in Portland was a very enjoyable vacation! Liz and Jim kept us very entertained and well fed. The kids had a blast playing at the house, having slinky races down the stairs, salon, the zoo, chinese jump rope, going to gymnastics, and the favorite...the pool with the water slide and vortex. Emma really loves to play dress up too! She could definealty play that all day. So, Liz and I joined in...and Megan too which does not happen that often...she is more of a Puppy in My Pocket girl! Thank you very much Liz and Jim for having has at your home. I loved visiting with you both and being around your family. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get out there... I promise it won't be that long again! I love you guys.

This year Emma and Megan decided to be characters from Scooby Doo. However, post people weren't quite sure who Emma was!! But they sure did have fun.

Socorro XC in the News Read All About It

In just its second year of existence, the Socorro High School cross country team has shown that it is the team to beat in District 3-3A.

The Socorro boys team won its first district championship with a 32-point score and the girls team finished second in district with 44 points. Host team Cobre finished second on the boys side with 39 points and first on the girls side with 30 points.

Socorro didn't have the fastest individual, but three Warriors trailed Cobre's Xavier DeLaTorre to give Socorro a definitive edge. Senior Trey Thunborg led Socorro with his second-place finish in 18:39, Owen Azevedo was third in 19:03 and Dylan Gallegos took fourth in 19:13. Socorro also had runners finish in 10th and 13th place. "We were able to win district despite missing two of our normal top-five boys," coach Steven Montoya wrote in an e-mail to the Chieftain. "Winning district was our goal since last season when we finished fifth. There was no secret pill for our success, just consistent hard work over time."

Tim Abeyta was knocked down in the race by a runner from another school and didn't score, according to Montoya, and Sierra Cahall was out sick.

"I am obviously very proud of the way the kids ran, especially after Tim went down. Isiah Vigil and (Raul) Contreras stepped it up to make sure we won the title," said Montoya. "They ran with a lot of heart."

Gallegos, Azevedo and Thunborg were chosen for the All-District team and Thunborg was also honored by Montoya as Socorro's Runner of the Week. Montoya was picked as the district's Coach of the Year.

Socorro had the top two runners of the meet, DamiAna Contreras in 21:39 and Dayna Guerro in 22:51, and both were selected as All-District runners.

This season was the first that Socorro had enough girls to field a team for cross country, and the second-place finish makes them eligible to run at the state meet.

Socorro only had five girls run at district, the minimum for a team, since some runners are dual athletes who chose to play with the soccer team in the first-round state playoff game against Santa Fe Prep.

"Last year, we only had two girls running so this is just as huge of an improvement as the boys," said Montoya. "Going from two to five girls is more than doubling but next year, we need to double again to around 10 girls. Having that many would definitely put less stress on the girls and ease the transition to varsity."

Socorro did have individuals run at the state meet in 2008, but this is the first year either the boys or girls team will run as a team. The cross country state championships will be held at Rio Rancho High School on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Class 3A girls will run at 9:25 a.m., and the Class 3A boys race at 11:35 a.m.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

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Last Wednesday, Emma, Grace, and I flew out to Portland to visit my sister Liz and her family for Halloween. It was Fall Break in Socorro so we decided to take advantage of the time off. Unfortunately, Steven had his district Cross Country meet and could not join us. The girls did

really well on the plane...a quick 2.5 hour flight. Emma has enjoyed playing with her cousins and Grace got to meet everyone for the first time. Here are some pictures from our trip. I will post more later.

The Pumpkin Patch

Happy Halloween!

Ran a 5k this morning dressed up with some clothes I wore in college at Tech. I knew saving them was a good idea. Have a great weekend!

2009 SOMA 1/2 Ironman Triathlon

So last weekend I raced a half ironman triathlon in Tempe, Arizona. I run a lot with the kids but I haven't been doing any swimming or biking since about the end of June to be honest. I ended up doing alright! I improved my time from last year by 10 minutes (10 minute un-improvement on the bike and 20 minute improvement on the run) and bettered my time from the half I raced in June. Final splits were :36 for the swim, 2:43 for the bike, and 1:50 for the run. Total time was 5:13. I finished 23rd out of 92 in my age group and 173rd out of 598 male finishers. Also to note I was chicked, cougared, geezered and probably chubbed too. It's OK, I'm OK with it, I really am. Really. I'm Ohhh Kaayyyyy. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me! My PR for this distance is 4:43 set BM (before marriage) in 2002. I applied for sponsorship from Trisports.com for the 2010 season and if I somehow get accepted on the team I think I will put forth some real effort into lowering that time. Right now, I got a XC team to work with and state is next weekend!