Kind of hard to arrange, but got it done! A 20 miler in Peru. Warmed up 2.25 miles in the hotel fitness center, used los servicios, then hit the road. .91 miles to the location where the Peru runners club meets. It looked kind of like a race start, a blown up Nike start/finish arch, gatorade. There were 100-200 runners there. This is the most impressive club I have seen. I talked to a few people, including Gonzalo, the president of the club and the guy who invited us to the club long run. He was so kind and accommodating. We started almost like a race, but there were a couple of older guys setting the pace in black shirts, and no one pushed the pace. These miles are with the group: First mile 9:57 -- I am panicing, I won't have the patience or time to do a long run at that pace. Mile 2 9:11, much better, but at the end of this mile we pass my hotel!!!! I am considering dropping off the group and hitting the treadmill for another 16 miles. I hope that the dropping pace will continue and I stick to the group, telling myself a 9 min pace would be ok. I think the Ensign article that I read about patience last night was a preparation for this run. Mile 3 9:00, so close to going under! Mile 4 8:53, Mile 5 7:47, now we are talking, people are now pushing the pace and moved beyond those pacers. Mile 6 7:09, at this point there is a group trying to pull away. Gonzalo tells everyone to slow, to let the fast guys go, he tells me the guys will go 6:30, I am faced with whether to go with the fast guys and go marathon pace, or to pull back, and I don't know what pace the slower group will go. What do you think I chose??? The fast guys of course. Mile 7 6:39, Mile 8 6:37, we get back to where we started, two guys pull off, now it is just me and Vladmir, a 2:30 runner. He is Peruvian with light eyes and a Russian name -- he said he doesn't know why his name is Russian. Anyway, he starts putting on more heat: Mile 9 6:22. I tell him I need to pull back to more like 7:00 pace, he said that's what he's supposed to be doing, so he goes a little easier on me. So kind of him. The remainder miles: 6:41, 6:56, 7:04, 7:00, 6:35, 6:36, 6:43, now on my own, 7:46. Then I go on the hotel treadmill for one mile, 7:33. I met Gonzalo's wife, Susan, at the end. She is an expat, nice to talk with her. Gonzalo later called me at my hotel, wanting to arrange to drop me off a peru runners t-shirt. Wow, how cool is that. Other things to mention about this group is that there were pictures taken along the way, there was a person in a car with a camera. I asked if this was normal, and they said yes, they have a magazine, I tried to tuck behind other runners while we were running since this isn't my club. After the run, they took a picture of me and Gonzalo and the designer of a poster showing 100 years of running (people are dressed up in running garb from different decades in the poster). So I might be in their magazine after all, in a picture after 19 miles of running, I'm sure I'll look great ;D Nap, then core workout, pool running with ---intervals, just 15 minutes, to help shake out the long run and to use my pool running belt--wouldn't want to bring it just to neglect the thing. Another awesome day in running camp (I mean my Peru trip). Next week I'll have more downtime, but it will be a much needed cut back week. No biggie.
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