You can run at 7000 ft and sleep at 9500 ft

With an altitude tent you can sleep at 12000 feet. I've heard a rumor that OAC uses one in boulder.

Taos is a beautiful town though.

the town of taos is at about 7000' right? are there many options to rent places that are in the 8000-9500' range?

with a population of less than 7000, i think that may be one of the biggest drawbacks for a lot of people, though others might prefer it

flagstaff has an avg of 266 sunny days per year, taos has an avg of 300 which is about the same Big Bear usually expects per year.

is there an outdoor track in taos?

Im sold. Dumping my whole life and moving to Taos

There have been many world class runners that sleep and train at sea level.

F*** 9500 feet bro. Just live in Denver and go sit on top of a 14er reading emails like Seth Demoor. Check mate haters.

You'll never be happier. Probably.

Yes you can rent at 8-9k ft. It helps if you come to Taos during shoulder season or summer. But I know of people that rent year round at that altitude. You can also just hike up to a Yurt or camp, lots of National Forest around. You can live off-grid, live in a school bus, there are many ways to live if you don't have a sugar daddy to pay your bills. Picking up part-time work is possible, especially if you actually show up sober to work, that puts you in the top 5% of the local workforce. The highschool just built a new track. The trails are primo. Town limit sign claims elevation of 6969 ft but it varies.

I feel like it would be an amazing place for altitude camp and I am biased but it's also an amazing place to live year round.

Are you a New Mexico resident? If so, okay. For a sea level person, greater risk of injuries. Less oxygen means a sea level person will recover more slowly. Minor aches and minor strains are more likely to turn into injuries, sea level person at higher elevation. What you described seems like a good plan for someone born and raised above 4000 ft. elevation.

What’s rent and cost of living there?

I’ve been most places in the southwest and often daydreamed about where the best place to train would be. Flagstaff is hard to beat, especially if you can get access to the NAU indoor a time or two per month during winter.

I think what sets it apart are the roads and trails. Being a plateau it is more rolling and not pure alpine trail running like other altitude spots. in the winter that doesn’t matter as as but the sun does clear some of the dirt roads. Also Flag is on the interstate and it is so easy to get back to the Desert.

I believe Frank Shorter trained in northern New Mexico.

Huh huh huh huh

Heh heh hmm heh hmm heh heh hmm

it's still not obvious that the best place to train just so happens to be where the fastest people in the world are from? kenya and ethiopia dominate for a reason: altitude, endless dirt roads/trails and moderate weather for much of the year

being closer to the equator is a big advantage due to the consistent year-round sun

taos sounds like it has good short-term potential, but is likely to sparsely populated and if 95% are alcoholics that's not gonna be a place many people want to live of course

9500 is too high.

Taos/Santa Fe are heavy hitting art communities.
Taos has a real ski mtn + skimo.
Architecture & Food

I’ve made the trip by car from San Antonio to Leadville Colorado numerous times over the last several years. Taos is always on our itinerary for a stop.

my friends and I have often said it would be a great base of operations for a runner or group!!

Interesting. I can think of a different reason.

The premise behind live high, train low is to train at an elevation that doesn't negatively impact high intensity performance (like how pro groups in Flagstaff travel to Camp Verde that has an elevation of 3000 to do workouts). Also, there's really not much difference between living at 7000ft and 9500ft elevation as there is diminishing returns when it comes to altitude adaptation.

In terms of job availability and resources, it would probably be better to just live in Santa Fe (elevation of 7100ft).

95% alcoholics? Lol, not really. Maybe 25% and there are a lot of people who are substance free.

We do have a rift valley like Kenya.