Month: November 2006

Tuesday Long Run

Aren’t long runs supposed to be on the weekend?

My tennis partner had to postpone our game from this morning to the weekend. So we are set to play Saturday morning. That left Tuesday morning free to run. I put in 7.38 miles this morning at a pace of 11:15 per mile. Nothing blindingly fast, but my longest run since my half marathon.

I was disappointed with something I discovered today though. About 3 miles into the run I was just about wiped out. I decided to try and make it to the 3.5 mile mark where there was a store that I could buy a Coke at. I was feeling really wiped out. I had pretty much started working out an exit plan to make it back home without finishing the run. It would still have been over a 5 mile run just to get home from there.

I sat on the curb and listened to TWiT on my iPod and sucked on my Coke bottle. Because of the time change, the sun was up a bit higher and I know that was having an affect on me. After I finished my seven minute Coke break, I started running again. First came the burping for a block or so and then the energy boost. I had to run about a half mile just to get to where I could make the cutoff and go home. By the time I got there I decided to go on to a different cut off. Well, that continued until the fastest way back home was the way I had planned to run for the day. I got home and felt great.

So, why do I say I was disappointed? I have been haunted since my half marathon because of a deviation in my plan. I really did not run that well in the half and know I could have done better. The deviation was that I did not stop for a Coke during the half. My plan was to stop around 4.5 miles in and get a Coke. Since I have no gels or sports beans available, I had trained with Cokes to provide the energy boost I needed. But, I deviated from that plan during the race. Today confirmed to me that I would have done much better had I stopped for a Coke as planned. I did not think it would make that much difference on race day. But now I know it would have.

Evening run

I am trying to get some running in during the evenings. Though I am not an evening exerciser, I have fallen into about 3 hours of extra time in the evenings. I have about an hour and a half on Monday and Friday nights now that I did not use to have free. When my son goes to chess class, I used to go with him. But now I have found a park nearby his chess class that is great for running. There are several people there running at night and it is somewhat well lighted.

Last Friday I ran there and got soaked from the rain. Normally it would be from sweat, so I figured it was no big deal. But because of that, I really was not motivated to run a long run on Saturday with rain soaked shoes. So I bowed out of the Saturday run.

Tonight I ran some intervals at the track. They have a very nice 400 meter dirt track at this park. There are no lane markings, but for my purposes, it is fine.

If you have Google Earth you can copy and paste these coordinates into your search bar and it will show you my new park I have found. 20.975291 N, 89.656806 W

New Consulate Dedication

Today the US Consulate in Mérida (where we live) moved into their new building. I have not been able to get any information on the old building other than it is old. One local told me this last weekend that she thinks the old building has been used by the Consulate for 50 years or so. But one of the new Consulate officers told me that he thinks the old one was only about 15 years old. I tend to believe the local lady more since she has lived here all of her life and the officer has only been here about 6 months.

It was an honor to be there. The reason we were invited to the dedication ceremony (other than we are US citizens) was so that our son could sing the Star Spangled Banner with a group of US children. It was very enjoyable to be part of the event and to be able to feel like we were part of something special. The US Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza was present at the event. We were able to meet him and chat just a bit. He is a good man, if for no other reason than he is from Texas.

The US Marine Corps sent two young men to be the honor guard for the event. They did a great job in representing the Corps as they raised the flag at this historic occasion. One was from North Carolina and the other from Colorado. They were between 20 and 22 years old based on how long they have been in the Marines. They are both stationed at the US Embassy in Mexico City. Though I thanked them for their time and being there for us today, I regret that I did not take the time to express my appreciation for their service to my country by serving in the military. I don’t think our service men and women hear it often enough. They should be proud to serve, which I am sure they are. But they should also be encouraged by the public for the service and protection that they give to keep us free.

Hopefully I will have a picture to include in here soon. We were not allowed to take our cameras in to the event. Though, had we arrived an hour late like most people, we would probably have been able to have the camera. Though normally prohibited, there were many who had cameras. We got there on time and the security guards had not yet been told that it was OK to allow cameras. We have some friends that will be sending us a few pictures. I also might be able to snag a picture or two off of the newspaper’s website tomorrow.

The wisdom of a 2 year old

Me bobbing for apples.Me bobbing for apples.We had an activity at the church tonight with the Deaf. Since we work with mostly a younger congregation, we played kids/teenage/young people games.

We played paint ball. Without the paint…or guns…or masks…well, maybe it was not so much like paint ball. We used aluminum balls and set up chairs and obstacles to play capture the flag. We also played basketball without a ball. But we at least had baskets. Or, plastic buckets. That is at least similar to basketball. The ball was a beanbag. Whoever had the ball could not move, but the others could. You just pass the bag2 year old bobbing for apples from one team member to another. It got a bit violent, but fun.

The final game was bobbing for apples. I have not played that since I was a kid. It is much easier to play now that my mouth is bigger. (No snide remarks please). All the boys got very much into the game. None of the girls played, except my daughter. She wanted to get an apple so badly. As soon as someone would finish she would act like she was going to stick her head in. When we finally told her it was her turn to get an apple, she just reached in with one hand and had it in a jiffy. All without getting her head wet. Then she looked at all of us with our soaked faces and shirts as if to say, “silly boys, it is a lot less trouble to just use your hands.”

Missionary Talks Episode 2 is up

Check out the next installment of the podcast, Missionary Talks. This is the conclusion to the interview with Gary Layne from Guadalajara, Mexico.

If you are not sure what a podcast is, I wrote a bit of an explanation of what they are and how you can get started listening to them. Also, there is a page at the Missionary Talks website that tells how you can help promote the podcast and help it to grow.

Anyone can write a review at iTunes. It is a bit early for that in that you don’t know much about the show. But if you like the format up to this point, you are welcome to review us there or on your own website/blog. Don’t forget to vote for the show at Podcast Alley.