What The Heck Was I THINKING?

A little over 4 weeks. This is the time i have to train for that half marathon I've signed up for. Less than 2 weeks away from it now, i'm really start to wonder what was i thinking when i said i was in. I mean seriously?

I hate running, i'm exhausted, not a single muscle of my body doesn't hurt and I've gained 4 kilos in 2 weeks. Talking about motivation :(

I only run half hour every morning. And to be honest, i'm actually surprise I've been that good at keeping it up. The motivation i mean. Getting out of bed at 6am is the worse. If i were to listen to myself, i wouldn't step out and stay in bed for an extra hour. But i want to do this. And i want it bad. I want to prove Dear Beloved that i'm gonna finish that shit, and more important, prove myself i can do it. If i set my mind to it, i can do it. And my mind has been set on the finishing line for as long as i remember. 

I run 30 minutes a day, every day of the week. And i still bike to work every day. 20 minutes to get there, 20 minutes to come back.

The running is hard for me cuz I've never run before. Until now, I've never managed to breathe efficiently enough to keep going. I was out of breath in no time, drowning with no air. But i found my rhythm and i'm using my inhaler before the run and it's been going great. It's my body that's screaming like crazy. It's my legs that cant seem to take it. I'm not even out of breath when i make it back home. But my legs are shaking like leaves in the wind, i can barely stand and it's a bit scary. But damn, it feels good.

While i was away on my trip last week, i still managed to run every morning. And for the first time in my life, i actually experienced lactic acids and i puked. It was liberating. It was like reaching the physical limits of your body but still telling it: screw you, i'm doing this whether you want it or not. 

And this has been my motivation. Where i run in the morning, it goes uphill. It's awful, it's painful and i feel like i'm dying a little inside. In 2 weeks, at this exact time of the day, i'll be home, back from that half marathon that i'll have finished just a few hours prior.

I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna show them all who the bloody hell i am.

I'm gonna do it because i want to.

I'm gonna do it because i can.

Treasures of the Yucatan

After a year and half of running that tour from backstage, i finally got a chance to hop on the Trafalgar trip called Treasures of the Yucatan.

Trafalgar is a company that offers touristic circuits around the world, for a determined period of time. Mostly for an older crowd. I affectionately call them "mis viejitos" (my little old people).

The trip was going to last for a week and it was honestly, a great week. Travelling with an older crowd is more my thing than with some spring-breakers who only think about boozing and partying. Been there, done that, i'm up to other stuff now.

And obviously, i was the youngest of them all. Most of them were my parents age, some of them  could have actually be my grand-parents! But culture and ruins was on the program and i had a total blast.

So instead of describing everything i did for a week, i'd rather show off and put the pictures of the highlights of my "vacations" (technically, it was work).

At the top of the pyramid of Ek Balam

Under the arch of Ek Balam

Strolling Campeche's streets

Enjoying beautiful Edzna

Eating cochinita Pibil :P

Admiring the beauty of Uxmal from the top of the pyramid

Taking a dip in Sotuta de Peon's cenote!

And finally making it to Coba (and all the way to the top of the pyramid ... barefoot!)

And that is without talking (or bragging) about the flamingos of Celestun, our cooking class with a Maya family, our city tour of Merida, the hotels we stayed in, the visit of Chichen Itza and all the amazing people i got to hang out with ...

It was awesome. You should all go take that trip!

I'm Gonna Run A Marathon! (But My Dogs Ain't)

Well, it's not a marathon, it's actually HALF one but i thought it'd be more catchy for the title!! 

A few days ago, the accountant of the company i work for sent us an email saying that he wanted to gather people to run the half marathon of Vallarta on November 4th. After thinking about it for a minute, i remembered "running a triathlon" was on my bucket list and i thought, well close enough, i should do it.

So i answered his email with one sentence: I'M IN.

And everybody kinda was expecting me to say that and everybody started cheering and the accountant smiled and showed me the run we'd have to do and damn it's 21 km!

When i told the news to Dear Beloved, he wasn't half as excited as i were. He was even pretty unpleasant, telling me we were insane to do this, we'd hurt ourselves, we'll never finish it, even him could not finish it and had i signed him up as well? And i was like, what? You're scowling me for telling you i just signed up for a half marathon and now you're asking me if i signed you up for it too? Of course i haven't. Well sign me up he said. 

Men are weird.

So here we are, that very same evening, on our way to go buy proper running shoes, and out of nowhere, in the car, i got lectured (again) about this whole half marathon thingy. I'll pass on the details cuz i'd get pissed off again but hey, i'm not trying to make the Olympic team, i can abandon if needed, i wont get shot or fined if i do so and i'm excited at the idea that i'm actually going to have the chance to do this. So drop it, keep your negativity and help me chose the proper shoes.

And he did.

And so the training began. We took the dogs with us the following morning and i managed to run, without getting out of breath (that's definitely a first for me) for about 25 minutes. On the second day, the dogs weren't having any of it and they were like, is that a joke? 2 days in a row it's not funny anymore. I basically had to DRAG Lola for the last 10 minutes of the run and it's definitely no fun. I was kinda looking forward to run that half marathon with our dogs. I believe it's not gonna happen.

Well, too bad for them. I'm gonna do this and i'll keep all the laurels for myself!