My final long run was Monday morning, on the second day of my vacation in Mexico. I set an alarm, plotted a route, and went to bed early. Then I got up on time, dressed, put on sunblock and set out by 7am.
Unfortunately, I got lost. I was supposed to run around road loop called the “Playacar”, and instead ended up in a sort of vacation home subdivision of the same name. I went for a great run down a road called the Bahia del Espiritu Sanctu. My run was still 5.4 miles; after my detour, I was at only an hour of running by my designated stop point, so I turned around and tacked another 10 minutes on by running up and down the tourist walking-only section of 5th avenue where I had started. Near the end of my run the sun was up and I could feel the heat on my face, which I was beginning to suspect had been missed in the sunblock application.
Still, I ran. And while you I’ve-got-running-in-my-blood runner types may think “Oh, you were on vacation! What a great time to run!”, for me it was a real struggle to get out the door. I even came back for 30 minutes on a treadmill on Wednesday.
At this point, the Turkey Trot is just days away, and either I’m going to make it in 1:18:13 or I’m not. I will run 30 minutes tomorrow to keep my legs loose, and maybe to experience cold again.
Wisely and Slow 
Don,
In response to your recent post heading referring to Mexican miles…….
Indeed, they are longer!
The closer you get to the equator, the longer the miles are.
Conversly, polar miles are very short.
The same is not true of kilometers, however. As they say, ” a pint is a pound the world around”, the same holds true for kilo-anything.
You are destined for a 10 kilometer smack-down just days away.
You’ve paid your dues, been honest and earnest in your training, and your results will reflect that.
(And if they don’t, I will consider pulling my sponsorship!)
Best advice right now:
1) enjoy the next couple of days of rest, with some light stretching and maybe a little walking (and shopping?)
2) enjoy the race. Smile while you run; it will really distract runners around you. They will let you pass!
3) keep the head-cam focused!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Paul
It’s that kind of crack navigational insights that makes the US Air Force the power that they are!
I’ll try the smiling thing, but I fear it might come across more “maniac” than “cheerful”; perhaps that’s the objective?
Head-cam is a no go (can’t see using the extra weight for that when I could be allocating that to cookies & candy canes from the stations along the way) but my wife will be posting pictures and sending tweets about my progress during the big event.
Thanks for all your words along the way, and as I just alluded to in my most recent post, the adventure isn’t nearly over. I may try to con your sons into running a half marathon with me (well, far in front of me, maybe picking up something to eat to meet me at the finish with) sometime next year.