Sunday, August 26, 2007

Time flies


It's interesting how time flies. I had not realized it had been over three weeks since I last posted. It all began one day when I received an email from my brother who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico. He tells me that it is time I make amends with the one who provided the seed to create me. You see my father and I have not been in the best of terms for two decades now. Suffice it to say that he was not a good father... to me.

Lo and behold, my current employer went ahead and granted me a leave. So five days after receiving that ominous email I was on my way across the pond to good ol' GDL. The anxiety and what not had kept me from sleeping well for a few days. I did not even run for a whole week. I did try one day and all I managed was 1:17... no, not one hour and 17 minutes, but one minute and 17 seconds; after 77 seconds I stopped and turned around as I just did not feel like running.

Unfortunately there are very few places to run in GDL (the code for the airport in Guadalajara) so not much running opportunities there. I did get to run nine miles in the center of town; you see the powers-that-be close one main street (Juarez) and allow only bicyclists and runners (albeit I saw very few runners out there) to encourage locals to exercise.

Since my dad was released from the hospital just five days after I arrived, I was able to do more running, but nothing worth mentioning, just that I did run 46 miles last week and that I lost quite of bit of fitness in just one week.

As for the estranged relationship with my dad, it remains the same. It is a bit late for me to pretend that nothing happened. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no ill feelings towards him. I did once; for a long time. But I forgave him and went on with my life. However, I just cannot pretend to respect him, much less love him. So why come? I think I came more for my brother who has begged me to mend our relationship... and so it goes.

P.S. A huge congratulations to Lorena Ochoa who looks in good shape to capture her third straight tittle. Which makes me realize that as proud as I am to be an American, I cannot fully let go of the fact that I was born in GDL and often root for Mexico. Go figure.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Boulder or Sands?


I started pondering where I was going to live once my sabbatical is over. Now, if I am going to pay rent, why not own, right? As y'all know, it's not as simple as it seems to my ridiculously shallow mind [not true, I am neither ridiculous, nor shallow] I considered living in the big apple but my limited research told me that it was too expensive, that I could not afford to live there. On to the left coast you say... Los Angeles has always been good to me and its weather is unbeatable. But home prices are overpriced... not to mention the prices have peaked, and if I were to buy now I would be buying high... an obvious no-no.

Knowing that Texas has a great running community suggested I look to Austin as a potential alternative. After all, Lance Armstrong lives there. Who knows, I may even get to run with the guy. Right. Austin was looking really good when I happened to browse the NY Times real estate section where they profiled three properties for $100K in different parts of the country. And what did they have? They had one in Boulder, Colorado. That particular property was not where I would want to live so I followed the link to Colorado homes and looked through several other properties.

Being a wanna-be artist, [and I use this term very loosely, as I have very little, if any, talent] I have always been enamored of lofts; I just love the open space. Lo and behold I found what I would consider the perfect living space. It is a condo/loft with just under 1000 sf. and what's best, I can afford it ;-) It was built in 2004 so it is fairly new and is close to trails and what not. Everything I would ever want in a place to live. As soon as I get to see the rest of the property, which I am sure I will like, I will make an offer... and who knows, maybe by late next month, I will be owning it. Wish me luck as such transaction from overseas does not lend itself to be a painless effort.

On other news, I was saddened to learn that one of my favorite bloggers has decided to make her blog 'for invited readers only' and I am not one of the selected few. And so it goes.

Since I think of this blog as a 'running' blog I have to include how my training for CIM is going. My mileage has dropped to the low 40s the last three weeks but I intend on getting it back to the 50s beginning this week. Next week I will attempt to run three three quality efforts: speed-dork, tempo and the always necessary long run.

Happy blogging.