String Quartet

Tonight I had a unique and wonderful experience. One of the retired couples I have met through the English library here in town hosted a string quartet concert in their house this evening.

The quartet is made up of a British and a Polish violinist, a Chech Republic violist, and a Russian cellist. They played Joseph Haydn‘s “The Seven Last Words of Christ.” It is a very somber, heavy piece. It ends with the musical scene of Christ’s resurrection and an earthquake. Very powerful.

I had never thought about someone hosting a group like this in their home. The quartet is made up of musicians from the Mérida Symphony Orchestra.

2 Hour Run!

I am coming to crunch time on my half marathon training. I needed to do a 10 mile run last week. For a new runner (less than 3 months), that is not something you do very fast. To help me slow down, I decided to run for 2 hours instead of for 10 miles. The 2 hour run put me at just under 11 miles. So I accomplished my goal and did not feel as though I needed to run fast.

This is the third really long run I have done. I did a 1 hour 20 minute run one week. The next week 1 hour 35 minutes and then the 2 hours this week. That goes against what the guidelines say. You should never add more than 10% to the time or distance from the week before. But, as a newbie, I feel compelled to break the rules a bit.

Half marathon distance is 13.1 miles. I will not actually be running a race. I will be running the same day as the Indy Mini is run, which is May 6.

Now the runs will taper to be shorter and I will have easier weeks giving my body the rest it needs to run the distance. Mentally I feel prepared since my goal is to run the half in 2 hours and 10 to 20 minutes. I ran almost that long this week and know that just a few more minutes longer is absolutely possible.

5 1/2 hours in line!

I went to get my new license plates today. When I got there I had about an hour before my first appointment of the day. That should have been plenty of time, right? Not even close. The line had about 150 in it. It took over an hour just to get into the door of the building. To my dismay, once I got in the building there was another line of 75 people! At least it was air conditioned inside.

Another hour or so in there. Finally I got to the main desk. Whew! Come to find out, all of that waiting was just to get me to the person that checks and makes sure I have everything. He checked off all of my documents and then I was ready to sit and wait in another line so they could record my information. Another hour.

My number was called and the nice lady took my information and filled in the required paperwork. What next? Sit down and wait until it was time to make sure all the numbers (VIN, engine block, firewall) were correctly recorded. My name was called and I got to get out of the building long enough to walk the 3 blocks to bring my car in for the inspection. Surely that would be towards the end of my wait. Nope.

“Sit down and wait for your name to be called.” So I sat for another long period of time. Finally my name was called again. This time to go sit in the room where I had to pay my $120 for the privilege of waiting. I got called up to the register to pay. Now it should be about over, I hoped. One final waiting period and I was finally out of there in 5 1/2 hours.

I had taken a book, but when I went to have the car checked to see if the numbers were correct, I left the book in the car thinking I was just about done.

This is typical here. Whatever time it would take you to do anything back home, expect it to take many, many times longer here. I was telling a friend about my plight this evening and he congratulated me for getting through the process so quickly. It took him 8 hours to do his! Something is broken here.

5 Km Race

I met my former land lady Emilia at the phone company this week. We were both there having a nice wait in line. At least it was air conditioned inside since it was 97 degrees outside. She told me about a 5 Km race that was being run this weekend. I got the bug and had to give it a shot.

I saw Emilia at the registration tables before the start of the race. She and I chatted and actually started the race together. She has been running for 15 years, so I felt no need to beat her. But secretly, I really wanted to. We were not at all together for the first half of the race. I knew she was behind me, but I was not sure how far behind.

She caught me at the half way mark. We chatted a bit and she encouraged me through the rough part. She kept pushing me. When we got down to the last few blocks she was really trying to get me to move along. I was saving what little I had left for the final block and a half. I started to pull away then. I crossed the finish line just a few seconds before she did.

Looking back now, I believe she let me beat her. She has been doing this for 15 years and had nothing to prove. For me, this was only my second road race. Whether she let me win or not, I probably won’t ever know, but it made me feel great. Thanks Emilia!

I turned in a time of 30:42. I was 20th out of 25 in my category. But I was not last. I felt great all day.

“Dad, you are a champion runner!”

My son just blurted that out today at lunch. Not sure where it came from or why. He is 8 years old. I just laughed and said that I was pretty good (pat myself on the back), but to be a champion, that implies that you have won something.

Then I said. The only thing I have won as a runner is a bit of confidence. Some self esteem. Stronger muscles. Physical endurance.

On second thought, son, you are right. I am a champion runner.