The Half Marathon

I did great!

After mile 10 I just really ran out of juice. I ran fine, a little off of my goal pace. I had wanted to run 10 minute miles. That was a little unrealistic, but a goal none the less. I ended up with a final pace of 11:20 per mile. I guess I did not get the rest that I needed the few days before the race. We had been running around trying to get a move going. Paint, load boxes, drive across town a million times. All of that led to a severe deficit in the rest department. Though I never felt like I pushed myself in the cardiovascular or pulmonary areas of my physiology, I just hit a point where my body did not want to go any more. Like I had used up my batteries.

But, I was still happy with the result of finishing it. My final time was 2 hours 29 minutes exactly. So now I have a goal for my next half.

Only 2 injuries. I guess my feet did not like the shoes for that distance. Though I have only logged 200 miles on these shoes, they were pretty worn before I started running in them. One of my toes will probably lose its nail soon. I am not sure why, but it was like my foot was suddenly 2 inches longer and I was banging against the front of the shoe for quite a bit of the race. And, on the same foot, I have a spot where my shoe rubbed a bruise on my ankle. It took 4 days before I could put those shoes on again without serious pain.

Then the move. Wow, what an event. Not so bad if that is all you are doing. But training, race and move has just worn me out. I think now, one week later, I am finally catching up on my sleep. I have been getting several more hours of sleep this week than normal. I just cannot stay up too long at night, my body is crying for rest. Getting better now.

Coast to Coast

I have just read about a book called Coast to Coast. It is the story of a group of friends who try to break a 25 year old running record. A relay race of 2,730 miles from the Pacific Ocean near San Diego to Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis. They beat the previous record by almost 2 full days!

This run was done in November of 2004, but the book is just now coming out. It is published through Lulu, an on line, on demand publishing company.

The reason I am blogging about it is 2 fold. One, I have entered a drawing for a free copy of the book if I write about it. Secondly, I really would like to get my hands on a book printed by Lulu. I am very curious to see their quality.

I am the most important person in the world!

Ever run into anyone with that attitude? Of course we all have. This week gave two great examples of that.

We had made arrangements with a person that was supposed to come get some stuff out of the house we are renting. He has been saying he would come for 4 months. I called him Saturday and we arranged a Tuesday, 10:00 am time. We don’t currently live in the house but are starting to move stuff over there. So, we made a special trip to be there at 10:00. At 11:00 that morning, I got a text message from him saying that the truck they had borrowed would not be available until 2:30 in the afternoon, so he would be there then.

Whatever happened to calling before the appointment to cancel? I messaged him back and said that 2:30 would not work as all of our afternoons were filled except Friday. I heard nothing back from him. So here I sit on Thursday night (after messaging him to check to see if he is showing up on Friday) expecting to get a phone call from him Friday afternoon, probably around 5:00, asking me why I am not at the house to let him in.

The second incident happened today when a taxi pulled into the lane of oncoming traffic because he felt like he needed to be ahead of the 7 cars in front of him. By doing so he blocked people from being able to pull into that street, which then blocked the people that he would have been behind from being able to pull out. So because one man felt like he was more important than everyone else, he made the situation worse and probably delayed his ability to reach his destination much longer than if he would have just waited.

As I was writing this, I thought of several more examples from this week, but I will stop at these two.

Proverbs 22:1

I was teaching a class yesterday using this verse which says: A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. In a nutshell it means that a good reputation is better than a boatload of money. It does not say that you can’t be rich and have a good reputation. But that you should not trade the good name for the money.

What I got from this after thinking about it some was this. If you believe this verse and practice it, it says certain things about you. You are honest. You are a hard worker. You obey the authority placed over you.

No thief believes and practices this verse. Liars don’t believe and practice this. Nor lazy people.

There are companies that have lots of money, but horrible reputations. They get there by being liars and thieves. But those who have good reputations can also have the money.

It is never right to sacrifice on the alter of money and riches a good name or reputation.

Wandering around Mexico City

Ten hour layovers can be fun, especially around Mexico City. The downside is when the layover is from 8 at night to 6 in the morning. I jumped into the METRO system after depositing my bags in a secure locker at the airport. I asked around for something interesting to see. Immediately I was pointed to the Red Light district and the bars. Neither of which I wanted anything to do with.

Then it was recommended that I try the Garibaldi stop. That is where I found close to 200 mariachi playing their music in hopes that someone would drive by and hire them. That was fun. I called my wife from there and let her listen to some of the music with me.

Then I hit Bellas Arte. A section of the Centro Historico where there are some amazing buildings with some of the most beautiful architecture.

Back to the METRO and on to the airport. Problem was the METRO stops running shortly after mid-night. I got within one stop of the airport and got kicked out. Taxi time. Not sure what you have heard about the taxis in Mexico City, but basically they are to be avoided at all costs–especially at night!

No choice. I took the taxi and lived to write about it.