Auntie Em Goes Running

Day off of running. We did the usual two hours of yoga, and then some trekking in the mountains. Beautiful country, but the air quality is sooooo bad. I will run long tomorrow morning, against many challenges. I have headlamp and face mask, and will hope for no bad dogs or lethal motorcycles. Route will be rather boring, since many roads are not really runnable.

Long in the mountain town of Sapa.  Almost killed by guard dogs at the beginning in the pitch darkness, but was spared, and completed what turned out to be a rather unusual run.  Grabbed what was left from the breakfast buffet at the hotel, and went STRAIGHT to a 2 hour yoga class.  Tiring, but really felt soooo good.  Did some hiking in the afternoon to a small village nearby in the mountains.  Beautiful country and beautiful people here.  If only there was not so much hemp and rice burning, my lungs and throat would be happier.  I fear I am losing my voice.

Long day!  Overnight train back to Hanoi, where I changed at a restaurant near the train station, and used the Google Earth App on the I pad to identify a small lake I could run around.  I pad gave me walking directions; it was only a mile away!  I did 30 easy and returned to the restaurant.  We bussed to a remote valley, where we biked to our new home in a small village.  The bike ride was a couple of hours, but only 16 miles, as we were in an "all paces" group.  We moved in, i did a quick tempo run for 45 minutes, exploring my new 'hood, and then we did 1.5 hours of yoga.