I'm entertaining this too. We live in Santa Fe, as the job situation is much better. I lived in El Paso for several years and really liked it. I have family in Las Cruces.
walking/running, biking, golfing, gardening, learning new things...
Bear in mind that it does freeze sometimes in LC in winter. Also, in summer it gets crazy hot for long periods. Gardening creates high water bills as the system is tiered to conserve water. It's considerably wetter in Santa Fe, but still high desert, and we paid 50% higher water bills when we attempted raised vegetable beds. It did not turn out to be worth it. If you like cacti and desert succulents, they're definitely the best thing to grow.
"It's a dry heat" doesn't matter for biking, running, or golfing. They rate summer days based on how fast exposed skin will burn. I have seen it at 5 minutes. The Sun can be
brutal.
Touring gearing for bikes highly recommended since it's in the mountains.
We are introverts, but fully aware that we will need to join groups to integrate in a new community. My husband is in Rotary and hopes to continue in retirement. We've always worked and lived around colleges -- so we like going to lectures, classes, book readings, and the occasional sporting event (why we're looking at University towns.) Being part of a church community is important to us -- we're liberal Protestants (Lutheran). Our politics are left of center. I love having access to great libraries, farmers markets, and an airport for travel.
El Paso airport is relatively near (45 minutes) and pleasant. Free wifi, never a long security wait. We would usually arrive 30 minutes early and have plenty of time to catch a flight. Don't know on farmer's markets in LC. Was not a thing in El Paso. There is one in Santa Fe. Libraries are not the best in general in New Mexico (low population, low budget), but one of the best used bookstores ever has multiple branches in LC: "COAS my bookstore." They buy and do trade credit.
There are a several Lutheran churches in LC. It's a pretty small town and probably 99% Catholic.
EDIT: removed a bit on politics. It strikes me as a little weird here, would probably be considered a pinko commie myself.
Ciudad Juarez is directly across the border from El Paso and is a great place to go. There are some amazing restaurants. Rincon de Yucateca has better Yucatan food than can be found in Cancun. Burritos Crisostomo is known worldwide (and they opened one in El Paso now). The Kentucky Club is a historic bar (Hemingway drank there, among others). I really miss J-town. You could meet people from all over Latin America. I used to go even during the height of the cartel problems, and it never felt dangerous. Things have calmed down a lot since then.
New Mexican food is distinct and you develop a taste for things that are not available anywhere else. Northern Mexican food is also widely available. I wouldn't call either particularly healthy, though.
My favorite LC restaurants: La Posta (in old Mesilla, which is just outside downtown), Chope's (La Mesa, which is about 20 minutes toward El Paso). There are a ton more, I can't think of names though. All inexpensive.
I would recommend learning at least some Spanish. In LC and EP you will meet a lot of people who don't speak English.
There are some weird translation things that are fun. You "get down from" a car. You "land up" at a place. Every soft drink is a Coke: "You want a Coke? What kind?"
A positive thing is that when you speak broken Spanish in LC, EP, or Cd Juarez, people are positive about it; they appreciate even crappy attempts and help. If your pronunciation is bad or there are better words, people support you to get better.