Pre-marathon in New Mexico

So it's a bit belated now, but I'm finally getting around to puttin up some pictures from my big trip to New Mexico for the marathon.  I took about a million pictures before and during the race.  These probably won't be quite so exciting for anyone who sees this kind of scenery regularly and lives near mountains, but for a Dallas-dweller, mountains were very exciting for me.

Exciting, but at the same time, not necessarily something you get excited to see as you drive toward a marathon!  I'm a pancake-flat marathon kind of girl.  Ah well, I was expecting it.  The mountains, the terrain, and to a lesser extent, the distance, were all elements of this race for which I felt under-prepared.  But I did know that I was ready for the weight -- I trained with 35 pounds for almost all of my exercise (except boot camp) for months. 

Anyway, the marathon post will follow, but first, some of the pre-race photos.  Unfortunately, they are out of order, but I'll try to explain them anyway. 

Patriot missile, found at the White Sands Missile Range Museum: 

Mountains!  Taken from the car, very close to where the marathon was:

Eeee!  A little dog in a woman's purse while I was in line at Subway, so tiny:

Fairly self-explanatory if you can read the plaque, at the White Sands Missile Range Museum:

This sign didn't make me happy -- it was at the New Mexico Welcome Center, so still many miles away from where the marathon was held:

Sorry I didn't zoom better, a car picture of the sign as you enter White Sands Missile Range:

A little stop along the road that cuts through White Sands Missile Range, you can see the pretty yellow flowers that were everywhere in the background (and some hills that look deceptively small):

The Veterans Monument in Las Cruces, containing a summary of all major conflicts and for later ones, a list of all soldiers from the area: 

Kind of disturbing -- but hard to see -- a feed lot that was along the highway, tons of cows all standing in the mud and most of them were all packed in together -- might have made me a vegetarian if I wasn't already: 

Just an example of one of the display plaques at the White Sands Missile Range Museum, with a disappointing typo that should have been caught by spellcheck, if not a proofreader before it was engraved on metal and mounted -- what is this world coming to?:

Getting to White Sands National Monument: 

Another missile on display at the White Sands Missile Range Museum

More feedlots along the highway, shows better how tightly packed the poor cows were: 

Clearly just a car photo taken in shock and awe of the mountains: 

Finally, a good pic, White Sands National Monument, beautiful soft white beachy sand in the middle of nowhere: 

At the White Sands Missile Range Museum, they're listening...

A better panorama of the many missiles on display at the White Sands Missile Range Museum, many of the more colorful and interesting ones are from the early 50s, when we were doing lots of experimenting about what worked and how:

The marathon was on the other side of these distinctive mountains.  They're called the Organ Mountains because they look like organ pipes:

Another shot of the overall display at the White Sands Missile Range Museum: 

Driving inside the White Sands National Monument: 

More mountains, heading up over the pass; Las Cruces was on one side, White Sands Missile Range (and the marathon) was on the other side: 

Because there are lots of Spanish-speakers in El Paso! (taken at the airport): 

Las Cruces Veterans Monument:

There you have it!  A marathon race report with photos will be coming too.