Missionary Talks 24: Sherry Rovirosa

This interview with Sherry Rovirosa is a little late in coming in that I missed the last 2 Mondays with a new interview. I had hoped to have it up this last Monday, but we did not get a chance to sit down and talk until Tuesday morning. Because I knew she was packing up the family right now to move to the field, we really focused on what kinds of things are an issue for her at this time. Particularly as a mother. It was very insightful and I think can be helpful to others who will be packing up to head to the mission field in the future.

We recorded this in the living room with cars going by outside plus my 2 kids playing and banging around. I was able to edit most of the extraneous noise out, but not all of it. The sound quality starts off a bit rough, but then settles down afterwards. That is typical of my interviews though.

Enjoy!

First six miles on the new shoes

Yesterday I ran my 5K loop. It was a pretty good pace for someone who oNew Balance 857verdid his long run on Saturday. The shoes were very comfortable.

They felt light. The Nikes I had been running in for the past 460 miles have always felt heavy. I compared them with my old shoes and they felt about the same just by feel. But when wearing them, they always felt heavy. I think I now know why. These New Balance 857s are very wide. I bought 11.5 EEEE. They were actually wide enough for my feet. And, they feel light. Again, I compared them to my Nikes and they feel about the same in my hands. So it must just be that because they are not tight across the toes, they feel lighter.

They also felt a bit rigid from heel to toe. They are a stability shoe. I presume that this is the cause of the stiff (ish) feeling to them. It seems that they are keeping my feet from rolling to the inside of my foot as I pass through my step from heel (or mid-foot) to toe. I assume that is a good thing.

Both of these aspects were noticeable enough that I felt them and were surprised by them again this morning as I ran my next 3 miles in them.

I plan another short run tomorrow in them. I will take Thursday off. They Friday I will do a 6+ mile run in them. That should be enough information for me to know how I like them. I doubt I will be sending them back though. My friend that brought them down is leaving Saturday morning. So the possibility of exchanging them for any reason leaves with him.

My Thought Spot 06: Talking on the Run

Here is a fun episode for you. I did a full blown run cast. The only part of this done in the studio was the editing. If there are horrible mistakes in it, I blame it on my poor memory while trying to run and talk at the same time. If it is spectacularly lucid and understandable, then I give my strong memory credit while talking on the run.

It was funny that I originally started out this episode saying that it would be a short show. I edited that part out since it ended up being my longest show to date I think.

Show Notes:

Got the new shoes!

I will run with the new New Balance 857s tomorrow. I am excited about it. That is assuming that my legs will let me run. I did an 8 mile run yesterday (I had a blast by the way). I have not run further than 6 miles in quite a few weeks and I have not been having very high mileage weeks recently. I definitely broke the 10% rule which says you should not add more than 10% of your previous week’s mileage to this week’s mileage (or time).

I added 200% to this week over the week before. And 100% over the previous two weeks. Um, a bit too much. My legs are quite sore today.

But, I will run in my new shoes tomorrow. Even if it is just around the block.

Visa renewal submitted

I finally got my visa paperwork in today. I have been working on it for about a month. I had to wait for some letters to arrive. Then I had to make an insane number of copies of inane stuff. I took in 130 pages of copies today along with some original documents. And this is just for a renewal!

We have used a lawyer in the past for this process. I guess the copy bill is what she was charging me $300 for. I was not aware that all this stuff that I have submitted in the past had to be copied twice. That includes every page of our passports. Since my wife and son’s passports are brand new (less than 2 weeks old) that means there are something like 17 pages completely blank. What a waste.

But, it is done. Now we wait for a month and call them to see if the visas are back. They undoubtedly will not be. Then we call in another month and so on. Then, when it is time to renew them again next year, we might get them back to start the process over.

If, however, we have to leave the country while our paperwork is in Mexico City and not in our possession, we get to pay $25 each for the privilege of leaving the country. We happen to have a couple of trips planned in late June and July. We hope the visas are back by then.