Vacation Recap

I had a great time con mi madre in Mexico for my "bachelorette party." We spent a day driving to and touring Chichen Itza where I was crammed between two Spanish brothers that didn't speak any English. It was awesome. I took several years of Spanish and now basically know nothing. I kept asking the traditional questions that you learn your first week in Spanish class (Where are you from? How old are you? How much for these bananas?). I did well enough to learn that one of them had run the Seville Marathon and wants to run New York and London and his ex-girlfriend runs professionally. So I guess I'm not that bad but who knows what I sounded like to them. Running is the international language, no?

I kept up with running pretty well while I was there - the only day I deviated was for my 6 miler on the day we toured C. Itza. It took much longer than I anticiapted (13 hours total) and by the time I got home was beat. I tacked on 5 miles to the next day's run and did 10.

Below are some fragmented notes from the paper journal I kept during the trip; my apologies on tense deviations and general blabbiness. Remember this log is mostly for my record:

• Wednesday - off day for travel
• Thursday - Today´s run was in Mexico! Weather was hot and I started at 10 am. The first 2 miles were easy and I struggled thru the tempo miles...7:25 and 7:45. The heat started getting to me. The last two miles were really tough and I could not go slow enough to get my heart rate down. It kind of sucked at the end. I ended up feeling really crappy for the rest of the day including now and think its dehydration. I am trying to chug, but basically have thrown everything up that I´ve eaten and nothing sounds good! I will do my best to get healthy for tomorrow...6 miles easy w-some 30 second spurts thrown in. Hasta luego! TOTAL MILES = 6.07 (8:50 avg/176 HR)
  
• Friday - More heat today but the run was slow so that was nice. I had to run sooo slow to keep my HR down. I actually had to stop a couple of times. How do people do it in this heat? Seriously. I brought a bottle of water with me this time which helped. Then I drank a huge mango smoothie afterward. I got sick yesterday so played it smarter today. No margarita post-run and plenty of food before and after. I suck. But i´m getting tan...! TOTAL MILES = 6 (9:19 avg/172 HR)
• Saturday - this was my beach run/open water swim day. Ahhh, so much to say about this as it was quite interesting. I have NO idea how far I ran, but did so for 25 minutes barefoot on the beach. Let´s just say that beach running is awkward! I had fun though, except I didn´t do the full workout. The reason is because I´m a total pussy. I felt really weird in the water and apprehensive. I was supposed to do 5 sets of run-swim but only did 2. I got a massage today which was great! Only $25 for an hour! I might do one again before I leave because...why not? But back to the beach running - I have no business trotting around on the shoreline Baywatch-style, but I actually felt great once I got in the groove. I had on my 2-piece fun bather, then added my speedo top over it to combat bounciness. I knew I would never see any of those people again so it was awesome to just go with the flow and crank out the run. I felt strong and healthy and not as tired on beach runs in past years. Yay! TOTALS = who knows?
  
• Sunday - nada
  
• Monday - Perfect running weather in the low 70s and a little drizzle. The sun came out right after too! TOTAL MILES = 10 miles (8:40/164 bpm)
  
• Tuesday - off day for travel

I spend some good time on the beach although I never really felt like I was in the sun the whole day. I read a book (The Orchid Thief) and got an hour-long $25 massage on the beach. I slept approx 9 hours + every night. I relaxed and "bonded" with my mom. It was fun, but I am so glad to be home.

The last night I hung out with the Georgetown Boys Rugby Team. Yes, I said boys. Commentary from that 20 minute experience as follows:

a. I am ten years older than you
b. I am engaged
c. The words "So, what are you and your mom drinking?" have never been uttered to me before and never shall be again.

They were sweet and having a great time though....kids.

Then I was roofed and got kidnapped.

(Sorry about the lack of pics - I'm lazy and will have them up sometime later.)