The New York City Marathon has its Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and the Boston Marathon has what Eastern flatlanders call Heartbreak Hill. But only the Jemez Pueblo half-marathon can boast of galloping horses and a rattlesnake, in the same year.

The year was 1996. The horses, riderless and numbering somewhere between 6 and 10, came roaring across the course at about mile 1 1/2. Loud shouts from alert runners who saw them coming prevented other runners, less tuned into the outside world, from being trampled. The rattlesnake was spotted by an Albuquerque-area runner, Beth Davenport, also a half-marathoner.

Opportunities for viewing wildlife apparently are limitless in connection with the Jemez Pueblo race. A few years ago, Strider Danica Girard and her husband, Jim, camped at Fenton Lake, in the Jemez Mountains, the night before the race. They spotted -- and eluded, you might say -- a bear with two cubs.

Not only that, but early the next morning, they heard outside their tent a loud but unrecognizable animal sound. The sound, which they have never identified, stopped when they turned on a flashlight inside their tent.

The pueblo event includes a 5K as well as a half-marathon. This year, the races will be on August 24.

The course is dirt, which is usually dry. But as Mike Guttman and other Striders can attest, the course can be muddy in spots if it has rained. Along the unique course, runners pass corn fields and irrigation ditches and can see the nearby spectacular red rocks.

The start of the races can be delayed a bit. In this regard, the race is a sharp contrast to another nifty summer race of about the same length, the Los Alamos Mini-Marathon. Entry forms for the Los Alamos race make it absolutely clear that the race wll start at "7:30 a.m. SHARP."

A couple of years ago, though, the Los Alamos start was put off 5 or 10 minutes. Rumor has it that only quick action by a race volunteer prevented the race organizer from leaping off the Los Alamos gorge bridge.

(To digress a little, it might be pointed ot that while Los Alamos scientists have been lavishly praised for exploding the first atom bomb that long-ago July morning, they have never received due credit for setting it off on time.)

The Jemez Pueblo races are friendly events, and the prizes are handmade at the pueblo. For particulars, and an entry form, runners may call the pueblo at 834-7359.

August 1997