TR Iceland

TRIP REPORT
ICELAND
6/17 – 6/25/01

Vio vonum ao pessi upplifum veroi per skemmtileg og gagnleg.
(We hope this experience/story will be fun and useful to you.)

If you will recall from my previous trip report from Liechtenstein that was part of this journey, we had just spent a week at my sister’s place in Windsor and are now on our way to Iceland.

Where is Iceland? Good question. Iceland is a volcanic island that lies about 1900 kms northwest of London, England and about 700 kms east of Greenland. The northernmost point of Iceland is just a few miles below the Arctic Circle. The island is 103,000 square miles with an average elevation of 500m above sea level. More than 60% of the island is wasteland that is uninhabitable and 11% of the island is covered by glaciers. Vatnajokull is the largest glacier in Europe covering 8,300 square kms.
Iceland has a population of 280,000 of which 175,000 live in the greater Reykjavik area and the remainder live in small towns and villages spread along the 4,970 kms of coastline. The language is Icelandic (Gooan Daginn – Good Morning; Bae – Bye) but most of the Icelanders speak excellent English and communications was not a problem.
The currency is the Icelandic Krona ( ISK). Fortunately for us the ISK had fallen more than 20% in value in the past six months and the exchange rate was approximately 100 ISK per $US. This made conversion and understanding how expensive everything was real easy but more about that later.

We flew into the international airport at Keflavik, which is located on a small peninsula, about 50 kms west of the capital city of Reykjavik. As we drove into the city my first impressions were: “this reminds me of Hawaii with all the lava flows and volcanic ash and at the same time of the Canadian Arctic because of the desolate and harsh terrain with very little vegetation”. After one week on the island this was still the best and simplest description. And as we approached the Reykjavik, the city reminded me of a larger version of Nanasivik on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic – and I wouldn’t want to live in either place! Unbeknownst to us it was Independence Day (June 17) in Iceland and there were lots of festivities going on in the big city. So after checking into our hotel –a nice 4-star Radisson a few blocks off the city center - we walked over to the city center to check out the action. The first thing that we discovered was that we had not packed properly! The locals were wearing overcoats and ski jackets and all we had were light summer jackets? The second thing we discovered was that we would have to live with it because everything is very, very expensive in Iceland. A few examples: hotels in Reykjavik- $200+ per night; in the smaller villages - only $140+ per night; meals – chicken entrée-$30, lamb -$35, beef - $40; the best bet was fish –from $15 for the fish of the day to $25 for salmon. Fortunately we love fish and they had lots of varieties, it was always fresh and they know how to cook it since it is the staple of the country. We only saw vegetables (except potatoes) once with a meal because they can only be grown in greenhouses and are too expensive. Anything that has to be imported is outrageously expensive. We went to a mall in Reykjavik to look for a light nylon sports jacket because I thought that I might need one for the marathon and had not packed one. I found one on sale for $70! Decided that I would just buy a large green garbage bag instead!
But we did find one small pleasant surprise on prices – beer and wine were cheaper than we had been told to expect. A beer cost $5 to $7 in a pub or restaurant and wine was $6 to $9 per glass. And remember these prices were 20% higher just six months ago!

But let’s get back to the city center and Independence Day. We had missed the parade and most of the festivities but there were still people milling around, playing arcade games and eating at food stalls set up in the square. As I mentioned before it was cold with a light drizzle so we found a pub and enjoyed our first ‘fish of the day’. Later we strolled around the city before heading back to the hotel around 9pm in broad daylight since it was summer in the Arctic. The following morning we planned to do a city tour so I woke early (6am) and set out for a run along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. I was wearing shorts, long-sleeve T-shirt and gloves which brought some strange looks from the locals who were wearing jogging suits or ski jackets. I soon discovered why when the sunshine gave way to rain and then changed to sleet all in the matter of a few minutes. I was starting to worry about what to expect during the marathon that would be run at night?

Reykjavik is situated on a peninsula and the downtown area is small so it doesn’t take long to do a city tour but we did see the following tourist attractions. The Perlan or Pearl, a dome structure built on a hill overlooking the city contains six –one million-gallon tanks to store geothermal hot water to heat the city. Geothermal water averaging 185 degrees F is pumped to all the homes and buildings for heat and hot water. Some homes then use the water to heat their pools and also run it through pipes under their driveway to keep it snow and ice-free. The average home pays $300 per year for all the hot water and heat they need! The only thing in Iceland that is cheap! Then we went to the Laugardalur pool, the largest outdoor swimming pool in the city and country. It is of course heated with geothermal water and is open year round since the hot water is free. The pool is surrounded by hot tubs that the Icelanders use as social meeting places to discuss politics, work, etc. And Californians thought that this was their invention? We drove by the Hofoi House where Reagan and Gorbachev met to end the Cold War on our way to the Asmundur Sveinsson Museum. The museum is set up in the former home and studio of Iceland’s most famous artist and sculpture. There were a few more sites such as city hall and parliament but we easily covered the whole city in two hours.

What do we do now? We had planned to stay two days in Reykjavik and we have seen the city in the first morning? Off to the tourist/information center to determine what else we can see and do. They were very helpful as usual. One question we needed answered was “how long would it take to drive to Lake Myvatn on the southern route”. We wanted to drive to Lake Myvatn along the south coast and return along the north coast. The answer was “two days along the south route and one day along the north”. This fit our plans perfectly and still gave us two more days to explore the city and surrounding area. No problem since one of the most famous tours in Iceland is the ‘Golden Circle’ a 250km circle around Reykjavik that takes in several famous tourist sites. Normally this tour costs about $55 per person but we had rented a car from Hertz and they gave us a CD and map that allowed us to do the tour by ourselves at our own pace with narration and directions on the CD – a great idea. We visited Hverageroi, a ‘flowering’ town of greenhouses heated by geothermal energy where all the vegetables and flowers are grown for the island. Other sites on the tour were: Kerio, a huge volcanic crater with a beautiful lake; Skalholt, a small historic village that was once the religious and cultural center of Iceland; Faxi Falls, a small isolated water falls and Gullfoss, Iceland’s most famous and picturesque waterfall; Geysir, a geothermal area with several active geysirs, the two biggest are Strokkur and the Great Geysir; and Pingvellir National Park that contains the site used by Iceland’s Parliament from 930 through 1798. The park also contains Lake Pingvellir, Iceland’s largest lake and the Great Atlantic Rift that runs through Iceland where the North American and European Teutonic Plates collide. There were some interesting canyons that looked just like the earth was being torn apart. On the way back we stopped to see some Icelandic horses. They are descendants of horses imported by the Vikings thousands of years ago and have become indigent to Iceland and unique since it has been illegal to import horses for several hundreds of years.
Upon returning to Reykjavik we decided to visit the ‘Blue Lagoon’, another famous tourist and local attraction. The Blue lagoon is a unique wonder of nature, a pool of pure mineral-rich geothermal seawater in the middle of a lava field in the Reykjanes peninsula. An algae grows and dies in the hot (160 F) seawater that gives it a brilliant blue color and is supposed to be good for healing psoriasis and other skin ailments? For only $8 you can spend all day soaking in this huge hot tub!

After one more night and ‘fish of the day’ dinner in Reykjavik we are ready to depart on our journey around the island. There is only one national highway in Iceland – Hwy # 1 that follows the coastline completely around the country. It is a narrow two-lane road that is paved most of the way although there are several hundred kms that are unpaved. On the south coast it follows the Atlantic coastline on glacial or alluvial plains that range from zero to one mile in width. Since we are heading east the Atlantic Ocean is always on our right and volcanic mountains and Glaciers are on our left. The mountains typically rise sharply and there are hundreds of waterfalls cascading down to the ocean. After stopping and taking pictures of the first dozen or so I became immune to them except to note “there is another spectacular waterfall”! We also noted several old Icelandic houses on the south coast. Up until fifty years ago, the Icelanders lived in houses constructed of stone and sod with only a few pieces of driftwood since trees and wood are very scarce on the island. Now all the homes are built with concrete and there are only a few examples of the old homes left.
The alluvial plains along the south coast are mostly fertile and we did see some dairy cattle, horses and thousands of sheep. We passed through the tiny village of Vik, population 300, that is the southernmost village in Iceland. It is noted for its beautiful black sand beach. Although it was a sunny and balmy 68 F, I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to swim there? Next we skirted for several hundred kms around Vatnajokull Glacier and passed many areas where the glacier almost reached the ocean. At one particular site called Jokulsarlon the glacier is calving into a glacial stream only a few hundred meters from the ocean and the icebergs are spectacular in color and form. Reminded me of Antarctica.
We then continued on to the small village of Hofn that represented the halfway point to Lake Myvatn. Hofn was located on a small peninsula that provided spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and Vatnajokull Glacier. But there were only two B&Bs and two cafes and it was only 4pm so we decided to forge on to Egilsstadir, the largest town in East Iceland. This turned out to be one of those good and bad decisions. The bad was that I had already driven for seven hours and had another three hours to Egilsstadir over some of the worst roads in Iceland. Hwy # 1 became a dirt road as it turned inland at Hofn and climbed up and over two mountain ranges. The roads up the mountains were steep, narrow, wet and had no guardrails. One mistake or slip and you wouldn’t stop for 2,000 feet! I was so concerned that I drove on the wrong side of the road and hugged the mountain all the way up – thankfully there was no traffic on the roads. As we crested the first volcanic mountain we found ourselves in a huge volcanic crater that stretched for over 50 kms. To make the road/highway they had just graded a path through the red volcanic dust. Talk about desolate! Fortunately I had lots of gas because I quickly learned not to let the gas get below half a tank. You could go for 100+ kms easily before finding civilization and gas again! As we descended the second mountain range towards Egilsstadir the terrain started to turn green with sparse vegetation and also lots of sheep. There were no fences in this area and as we would crest the many ‘blind haeds’ (blind hills) we would find sheep grazing on the side of the road or laying in the middle of the road. “Lean on the horn, slam on the breaks, swerve and hope you missed them”! I damn near killed a dozen sheep. Can’t understand why they are so expensive on the menu – there are millions of the damn animals and hundreds must get killed every day? But the good was that at about 7pm we reached Egilsstadir and had that boring and dangerous section of Hwy #1 behind us!

We overnighted in Egilsstadir, the largest town in East Iceland; population 1600. But it had three hotels and five cafes/restaurants. We ate at the hotel and enjoyed a fine ‘meal of the day’ – a three course dinner that included roast pork for only $22! The following morning we continued on towards Lake Myvatn. Since it was only a three-hour drive we detoured into Jokulsargljufur National Park to view Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall, which measures 45m high and 100m across. Then we backtracked to Hwy #1 and continued on towards Lake Myvatn. The Lake Myvatn (pronounced mee –va) region offers a wide spectrum of geological formations since it lies on an active volcanic belt where eruptions are frequent, most recently in 1984. We stopped at Viti, a huge explosion crater with a lake near the volcano Mt. Krafla and again at Namafjall that has hot springs, boiling mud pools and hissing steam vents. I was going to throw Nicole into a boiling mud pool as a sacrifice to the lava gods but she promised to actually support me on the upcoming marathon so I decided to keep her around for a few days. We could always drive back after the marathon if she didn’t keep her promise.

Finally we arrived in Lake Myvatn. Lake Myvatn is the 4th largest lake in Iceland and frequent lava flows have left the lake very irregular in shape, with many islets and rock formations in it. There are only two small villages on the lake and the marathon host hotel was located in Reykjahlio. We checked into the hotel and then made our way to the tourist office that was located in the school for the summer. The lake region is a tourist attraction only for the summer months and offers some of the warmest weather in the country. My concerns about cold weather for the marathon were needless as the weather was sunny and a pleasant 68 F. At the tourist center we learned more details about the race and also that my buddy from London (the same one who ran Liechtenstein with me) had already arrived and was looking for us. When I discovered that the nearest government liquor/beer store was 100kms away, they helped me by asking a local hotel manager (who was also a sponsor of the marathon) to sell me a few bottles of beer. He agreed to do so even though it was illegal. Of course he charged me bar prices so it cost me $20 for four beer! But I state this as an example of how friendly the Icelandic people are. We also asked the information office if there was any place to access the Internet. There was not but they offered us access to their own computer and refused to accept any payment – nice people!

Next we hunted down our friend from London and then decided that the three of us should do some more sightseeing in the region. We visited the Grenjadarstadur Folk Museum in Laufas, an old stone and turf homestead that was built in 1876 and lived in until 1949. Boy those early Icelanders must have been tough because the only source of heat in the huge home was the kitchen that was located in a separate wing. The following morning the three of us drove to North Iceland to the small fishing village of Husavik, which is a picturesque village on the Denmark Strait/ Arctic Ocean. From there we headed east looking for Puffin nesting grounds in the cliffs on our way back to Jokulsargljufur National Park. We wanted to visit Asbyrgi, a natural horseshoe-shaped rock canyon with walls up to 100m high. We decided to take a shortcut back to Lake Myvatn via Detifoss and Namafjall over a road that was better suited to a 4X4 and made for an exciting ride for about 50kms. But we finally returned to Lake Myvatn in the mid-afternoon to allow us time to rest up for the marathon that evening/night. First we needed to pick up our race package and get any last minute details. And some interesting details they were! Such as: Lake Myvatn means ‘water of the midges’ because of the zillions of midges that infest the area in the summer. Midges are somewhat like a fly or mosquito. Some bite but mostly they just bother the hell out of you by buzzing around and flying into any open orifice. They get really bad in warm weather like we were enjoying and were worse around the lake. And the marathon course was a loop around the lake! We were advised to buy head nets to keep them away from our face during the race. I bought one but was not looking forward to running 26 miles with that thing on my head! Secondly the weather would still be sunny and warm at the 9pm start but it would cool off by the finish. Great –what the hell do we wear? Let’s wait till the start to make that decision. One other little wrinkle. Since the loop around the lake was only 36kms we would be bussed back 6kms from the finish line to the start line which meant waiting along the lake with all the midges. We also learned that there were only 42 runners and two foreigners not from Iceland. Yes, you guessed it. Tad and I were the token outsiders!
But now it was time for a short nap as I was going to be running at a time when I am normally sleeping.

8pm – Friday, June 22nd! Tad and I drive to the finish line to catch the bus back to the start line. The sun is still shining brightly and the temperature is in the low 50s and fortunately a strong wind has come up that keeps the midges at bay. We decide to wear shorts and T-shirt and carry gloves and our head net with us in case they are needed later in the race. At 9:05pm a gun goes off and we are away. With the strong head wind I decide to tuck in behind a young local runner and draft off him. He’s running faster than I want to run but I feel that I will save energy by drafting. By the time we cross the finish line for the first time the pecking order of the race has already been established! I continue to draft off the youngster until the course changes direction at 10kms and then I let him go. I run alone from that point although I can see at least 3 runners about ½ mile ahead of me. As I approach our hotel at the 27km mark at 11:15 pm I notice Nicole running out of the hotel to clap and cheer me on. Damn, that boiling mud pool is a really good incentive –but then again maybe not? Tad later informs me that when he went by twenty minutes later Nicole was nowhere to be seen – must have had her PJs on under her clothes? At 27kms I noticed that I was running close to an 8 minute pace and the gap between me and the three runners in front was narrowing. So I decided to try to draw them in. By 30km I had passed one runner and was drawing close to the other two. But they had noticed and decided to make it a difficult challenge. We ran our butts off for the next 10km and although we were all slowing everyone refused to give ground. Finally at 40km my legs started to hurt and I knew that I had not had enough hard training coming into the race to keep up the challenge and pace so I backed off and coasted the last 2km to cross the finish line in 3:34:12. I was quite pleased with my effort and time.
I waited at the finish line (in my head net) for Tad to finish. He crossed the line about twenty minutes later which was a great time for him. While I was waiting the sun set at 00:45am and rose again twenty-six minutes later as we were returning to our hotel. You have to experience this Arctic phenomenon to understand what this does to your body clock!

Back at the hotel I treated myself to my normal hot bath – no problem here with hot water- for about thirty minutes and then went to bed to try to sleep. I’m not sure what it is but I have experienced this reaction before – the sun set/sun rise trick, the bright daylight at 2am, or my body and mind being all-juiced up from the race- but I could not sleep! I counted Icelandic sheep crossing Hwy #1 for about two hours, then wrote this trip report in my mind for another two hours and finally at 6am I gave up and decided that we might as well have breakfast and leave early for the trip back to Reykjavik.

We departed about 8am on the infamous Hwy#1 that skirted around some fjords on the North Coast before turning inland to follow some glacial valleys. We stopped at Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods) for a Kodak moment before traveling on and through Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland – population 15,000! After Akureyri the trip was boring except for our encounters on the blind haeds with the sheep until we reached Borgarnes (population 1700), a small seaside village with some spectacular views. I probably would have fallen asleep in this stretch of the trip if it had not been for the challenging game of ‘miss the sheep’! Finally we arrived back at Reykjavik about 4pm which was much earlier than we had planned. We drove to Keflavik airport to see if we could get catch a flight back to London that evening instead of waiting for our morning flight the next day but no luck – no more flights that day. So we checked into our hotel near the airport and enjoyed our last ‘fish of the day’ dinner. Really, the fish in Iceland is excellent.

Sunday morning we flew back to Heathrow to be picked up by Mary Lou and Tim again to spend our last night in Windsor. I think Mary Lou and Tim were happy o learn that we just wanted to relax and repack for our journey home on Monday. The weather was unbelievably hot in England that day – mid 80s so we just sat out on their deck and enjoyed a few drinks and chatted about the trip.

So now we are back and enjoying God’s Country. Sorry this report is so long but I thought that I should either pique your interest in visiting Iceland or provide enough detail to save you a trip. Iceland is truly an interesting place to visit and as they advertise “It is a land of contrasts”!

Bae, Sjaumst seinna!

TR Liechtenstein

TRIP REPORT
England – Liechtenstein – England
6/5/01 to 6/17/01


Planning for this trip started early last spring as I was searching the running magazines and web sites for marathons in Europe. I needed to run marathons in Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Latvia and Iceland to complete Northern Europe. I prefer to run at least two marathons in one trip to get more value out of the trip and reduce the number of trips and jet lag forced on my body. Luckily I found summer marathons scheduled for Liechtenstein and Iceland that were two weeks apart. Normally I don’t like to go for that long but since I have a sister living in London at this time I figured it would be a good opportunity to spend some time with her and her family in between races.
And as it turned out it was much cheaper to fly to London and use London as a base to fly to the marathons using discount flights out of London. After checking with my sister to make sure she would be home in June and wanted some guests, the trip was on.

The first race in Liechtenstein was scheduled for Saturday, June 9. This date presented a bit of dilemma because Jason’s graduation was scheduled for May 26 in Galveston, TX. Do we book flights out of Tampa, FL or Denver, CO? We finally decided to close up our home in Fl in May and drive to our summer home in Colorado via Galveston. But the schedule was tight and meant that we would only be in CO for one week before we had to leave for Europe. I have reported previously how tough it was to train for that one week at 10,000 feet. To make things worse Nicole had picked up a bad sinus cold at the graduation and although she was almost over it, she managed to pass it on to me the day before we left for London. It really is fun flying for 10+ hours with stuffed-up sinuses and wondering if you can get rid of the damn cold before the race?

But we departed on schedule on June 5th and arrived at London- Heathrow at 8:30 am June 6th where my sister Mary Lou and her husband Tim picked us up. They took us to their home in Windsor, helped us get settled in and then went to work for a few hours while we tried to nap and overcome the jet lag. That evening we unfortunately followed the normal Wallace tradition of partying and drinking too much and Tim and I were still in their pool drinking beer at 2am. We had a 9am flight out of Heathrow to Zurich, Switzerland that morning so with only three hours sleep, a massive hangover and a sinus head cold I got on the BA flight to Zurich. Believe me, if you ever want to know what it feels like to be dead (or wish you were), just get on a two-hour flight with a triple whammy: hangover, jet lag and sinus cold! And of course I got no sympathy from Nicole. She kept reminding me that one of the conditions was self-induced. But I got even! When we arrived in Zurich I was so sick that I laid down on a bench at the airport and made her go find the train station and make all the travel arrangements on to Liechtenstein.
We still had two trains and a bus to catch before we arrived at our final destination –Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The train ride offered spectacular scenery –what little I remember as I tried to sleep my hangover off! Finally we arrived in Sargans, Switzerland where we transferred to a bus that took us into Liechtenstein.

The weather was great, sunny and very warm. We should have spent the rest of that day sightseeing but in my sorry condition all I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep which is what we did. But I did come back to life by dinnertime and we explored the capital of Vaduz and enjoyed a fine dinner, which accelerated my recovery!

Now where are we? Liechtenstein? Where is that? The Principality of Liechtenstein is a small country (61 sq. miles) that lies between Switzerland and Austria. The total population is 32,000 people living in 11 villages. Liechtenstein is divided into the Lower Country along the Rhine River and the Upper Country in the Alps. Most of the villages or hamlets are along the river but there are a few villages in the Alps. Vaduz, the capital has a population of 5,000 and Malbun, a hamlet or ski resort in the Alps has a population of 500. The scenery is spectacular with the Swiss Alps on one side and the Austrian Alps on the opposite side. The country is affluent and meticulously groomed. We never saw a slum or poor home or building in the country. There is a public bus system ($5 for a one-week pass) that runs often and efficiently and can take you anywhere in the country. Lodging and restaurant prices are comparable to US prices, which is not bad for Europe. I checked prices on jewelry and watches – a Rolex watch cost about 50% of US price. Liechtenstein does not have its own currency. It accepts Swiss Francs, German DM and Austrian Shillings but the most common one used is the Swiss Franc. Most citizens speak German and English so language was not a problem. Tourism is one of the main economies so the people are very friendly and hospitable. However there are not many tourist attractions to see or visit other than the mountain scenery. If you are in to hiking, mountain biking, skiing, etc; then there is lots to do. But back to the trip.

After the fine dinner and a good night’s sleep the hangover was gone, the jetlag and sinus cold almost gone. “God, it’s great to be alive!” Now it’s time to explore the country. Only one small problem. The sunny, warm weather has been replaced with cloudy, overcast skies and a cold rain. We can’t even see the Alps! Not to be daunted, we find the tourist/information office, collect lots of brochures (in English) and set out on the public transportation (bus) system. We stop at each small village, explore for an hour or less and move on to the next one. We are able to visit the whole country in one day. Our last stop is Malbun, the only ski resort in the country. Malbun is located at the bottom of a bowl, elevation 5,000 feet, between Gamsgrat and Augstenberg Mountains (7500 feet). As we are traveling up the mountain on paved roads with 8 to 12 degree slopes I remarked that “this marathon is going to be a bitch”! I assumed that the course would follow the paved roads. Wrong! How nieve and stupid I was! As we were waiting for the bus to take us back down the mountain a friend from London got off the bus accompanied by four friends from the 100 Club in England (you must run 100 or more marathons to join). They soon advised me that most of the marathon was run on single-track trails. Oh Goody – I just love trails! At that point Nicole and I decided to travel to Nendeln at the other end of the country (10km away) to pick up the race package and more information.
The local runners confirmed the information about the trails and advised me to add 50% to my normal marathon time for this trail race! That would mean a 5:15 to 5:30 time for me but I decide that I am going to be aggressive and target for 5 hours or less.

Saturday is M-Day! It is still raining and the temperature is in the mid 40s as the race starts in Nendeln. I decide to wear just shorts, T-shirt and no gloves. The first 10Km are run on a flat and paved bike path along the Rhine River. I run an 8min/mile pace for this part of the course because it will be the fastest part of the course. At Vaduz the course changes direction, runs through the town square and heads up a dirt trail past Schloss Vaduz (Vaduz Castle) so the Prince can view his subjects and guests as they run past his front door. By 11Km the trail becomes so steep that I cannot continue a running pace and quickly realize that I am going to end up walking anyway so I might as well be smart and start NOW! I alternate between a running pace and a power walk and find that I can keep up with those runners who are trying to run all the time. The trails continue so steeply with no flats or downhill that I am only able to average about 14min/mile; that is, until Km 20 & 21 that are so steep that I struggle to average 16 min/mile. I struggle across 21Km (Half marathon) at 2:20. That means 50 minutes for the first 10Km and 90 minutes for the next 11Km! I only have 2:40 left to do the 2nd half to beat my target. No way in Hell if the course continues this steeply! Fortunately Kms 21 to 25 were mostly downhill as we traversed Gramsgat towards Augstenberg. Those 4Km saved my butt because I was finally able to stretch my stride out and alleviate the cramps from the constant climbing. Kms 25 to 32 presented a series of hills, mostly up but with a few downhills as we continued to traverse. Much of the trail was dirt that had turned to mud because of the rain. At many points we had to run through glacial streams that were rushing wildly because of the rains. And at one point the trail had washed out and narrowed down to a few feet with a 500-foot drop-off. I just closed my eyes and forged on. At 32Km we hit the hardest part of the course. It was so steep that I literally had to scramble up on my hands and feet for 2Km. I struggled to manage a 20 min/mile pace over those 2Km! Finally at 35Km, we reached a point on Augstenberg overlooking the village of Malbun. I could hear the cheers of the crowd at the finish line and hoped/assumed that we had an easy 5Km to the end. Right - only in my dreams! The sadistic race director ran the course up to the top of the ski bowl on Augstenberg and across three snowfields in the ski bowl. The snow was wet and slippery and the footing was very treacherous. I knew that if I slipped my legs did not have the flexibility or capability to recover so I just followed the trail made by the other runners and prayed that I did not slip. After traversing the ski bowl we hit the 40Km mark on the opposite side of Malbun and started our descent to the finish line. My time at that point was 4:34! I might even have a chance to break 4:45. I literally flew down that mountain even though the trail was a narrow single track covered with six inches of mud and water and crossed the finish line in 4:46:02.
Within seconds of crossing the finish line my legs (and even my arms) started to cramp due to fatigue and cold. I struggled over to the equipment tent to get my sports bag with my warm-ups. As I tried to put my warm-ups on my whole body started to cramp and spasm so much that I had to ask a race volunteer to help dress me. And where was my faithful companion and manager? Back at the warm hotel watching the French Open (Tennis). As the volunteer
was dressing me he advised me that I was the first and only American to ever run this race. And if y’all are as smart as I believe, you will heed this advice: “Don’t try to be the second”! After I warmed up I caught a bus back to Vaduz and a very relaxing hot bath before Nicole and I headed out for our customary celebration dinner. After dinner we enjoyed a free music concert in the Town Square but did not stay long because it was still raining and cold.

The following day we headed back to Zurich to catch our flight back to London. Still raining! At the train station in Sargans we met a German couple who had run the race this year and last year. They remarked that last year the weather had been beautiful and that the course is really beautiful and a lot of fun when you can enjoy the scenery. Right – I will take their word for it – I am not going back! But now it is time to return to London and enjoy our visit with Mary Lou, Tim and their kids, Kurtis and Kasey.

Back at my sister’s place in Windsor we decided that we just wanted to relax for a few days and then maybe drive to Land’s End at the end of the week. Mary Lou had obtained some invitations to a formal state reception where the Queen would receive or welcome the President of South Africa in Home Park near Windsor Castle. Although we are not ‘Monarchists’ we decided to go along and really enjoyed the pageantry and color of the ceremony. The Queen’s Royal Guards parade in full red dress on foot and horse and another horse guard pulls in the cannons/guns for a 21-gun salute. They have been doing this for hundreds of years so are very precise and good at it! The Queen and the President arrive in separate Rolls Royces, meet, exchange pleasantries and then depart in the Royal Carriages. I was a little upset that the Queen didn’t stop to chat with us though –see if I ever visit her again!
The next few days we just lazed around. Nicole met with some of her old staff and colleagues at Nortel in Maidenhead, which is only about 10 miles from Windsor. I explored the area around Windsor on my daily training runs such as a run through the city center, around the castle and along the Thames River; another down to the Castle and along the ‘Grand Walk’ and into the Great Windsor Park. This park is owned by the Queen and contains a few farms so much of it was still closed to the public because of the foot and mouth crises. On Wednesday, we rented a car and drove over to our old stomping grounds in Bishops Stortford. While Nicole went to dinner with an old NT colleague I went back to my running club and enjoyed a run through the countryside with my old running mates. It was almost like I had never left – the same old gang and the same old routine. Do a hard run and then return, shower, open the bar and drink lots of beer and ale! My only disappointment was that ‘Magic Fingers Sue’, the masseuse who tortured me (and kept me together) for the year I lived there, wasn’t doing the club massages any more.

The next day Tim left for Germany on a business trip so Mary Lou, Nicole and I took off for Cornwall and Land’s End which is the southern-most point in England. Land’s End is one of the few places in England that we had not visited during our year in England and Mary Lou had not visited yet either. It rained most of the way there but fortunately stopped as we passed through Plymouth. We decided to stop and explore St Ives, an old fishing and seaport on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a marvelous little village with some real sand beaches and an old fishing harbor that is still used after hundreds of years. It has been turned into a seaside/tourist resort with lots of great pubs, restaurants, shops and B&Bs. We considered staying there for the night but decided to move on towards Land’s End. As we were leaving St Ives I found myself trapped on a one-way street that was about 500 years old and had not changed since it was built for horses and carts. I was driving Tim’s car, a Landrover and we had less than one inch of clearance on each side of the car between the mirrors and stone houses! Only after I slowly inched our way down that city block did I remember that I could have collapsed the mirrors for more clearance! Oh well –just a quick refresher course in British driving. But it wasn’t over yet. I decided to take a short cut and use back roads to drive to Penzance. Those damn roads were so narrow with 8-foot hedges on both sides that I had to back up twice to allow oncoming vehicles to pass! And when we arrived in Penzance we discovered that it was a dump compared to St Ives. So back we went to St Ives (on the highway this time). But now it was after 6pm and most of the B&Bs were booked. We finally had to split up – Nicole and I got a double room in one B&B and Mary Lou a single room in a B&B across the street. Mary Lou had never stayed in a B&B before so she was a bit nervous but a good trooper. After we checked in, we strolled on down to the harbor and had a beer at the Sloop Inn, a pub established in 1312! We then continued our stroll along the harbor trying to select a restaurant for dinner. We had an excellent seafood dinner for half the price in London! After dinner we strolled back to our 300-year old B&Bs (built in 1730). St Ives is a wonderful little seaside resort and I strongly recommend a visit and stay there if you are in Cornwall.

The next morning, following our cholesterol-laden, but delicious full English breakfast we were off again to Penzance and Land’s End. We passed St Michael’s Mount; a scenic castle built on an island off the Cornish Coast but did not stop to visit. Finally we arrived at Land’s End. The tour guide and rumors had indicated that you have to pass through an amusement park to get to Land’s End, which turns some people off. But the ‘amusement park’, is a series of mini-theatres that show videos about the Atlantic Ocean and marine life in the area, etc. – NOT the American style rides and carnival we had pictured. And they are optional so the only cost to visit Land’s End is a 3-pound parking fee.
There are several walking paths along the cliffs at Land’s End and fortunately they had just reopened after being closed for months due to the foot & mouth crisis. Mary Lou and I walked and explored a few miles of them in spite of a very strong wind that tried to blow us off the cliffs. But Heh – “we’ve now been there, done that”. So it’s time to go home! On the way home we stopped at St Just, another small seaside resort where Mary Lou bought some home-baked goods and ‘Cornish clotted cream’. I had trouble understanding all the moans and groans and sighs coming from the back seat as Mary Lou and Nicole ate their way through pounds of scones and clotted cream? Our next stop was in the town of Bodmin so I could enjoy a Cornish pastie for lunch. NO – not the type you put on a breast and twirl – get your mind out of the gutter! This pastie is a pastry like a meat pie although it looks more like a calzone. It can be filled with meat, cheese or veggies or combinations – and is very delicious. For some reason the girls weren’t hungry and I couldn’t convince them to try a pastie? Now that we were full it was time to return to Windsor.

On our final day at Mary Lou’s (on this leg of the trip at least) we lazed around again. Nicole and I joined some old friends – from Ottawa but now living in England- for lunch. Then Mary Lou, Tim and we tossed around the idea of going into London to catch a musical in the West End. But we got lazy and didn’t want the hassle of catching a train, metro, etc so we decided to go to the Royal Windsor Theatre in Windsor and watch a play written by Richard Harris. Unfortunately I think that we all agreed that we would have been better to go to London!

But now it was time to get ready for the next leg of our journey –Iceland. But that will be the subject of my next trip report. Stay tuned!

RR Flying Pig Marathon

Race Report
Flying Pig Marathon
Cincinnati, OH
May 6/01



Howdy - I'm Bacccckkkkkkkk!

It was a good marathon - the conditions, course and weekend were very similar to the previous weekend in Nashville.
The weather was sunny and warm, 58 degrees at the 6:30am start and mid-70s by 10am. The course for the 3rd 'Flying Pig Marathon' started in downtown Cincinnati, wound through the downtown area, then travelled through the eastern suburbs which presented us with some great views of downtown and the Ohio River. The first half was very hilly -even hillier than Nashville and the steepest and nastiest hills ran continuously from mile 3 to 11. As I crested the hill at mile 11 in 88 minutes I was surprised and concerned about my time - much too fast for those hills! The next two miles along the the river were downhill and fast so I cruised through the Half under 1:45. At that point my legs were already beginning to feel heavy so I knew that I had two options: 1) slow down a little now or 2) continue at that pace and slow down a lot in 7 or 8 miles! I wisely chose #1, threw out an anchor and immediately slowed the pace to 8:10/mile. At 20 miles the course passed through the West End where I did a routine 'gut check' and determined that my legs still felt heavy but no worse than they did at the Half. So I decided that I wanted to beat my time of 3:33 in Nashville. To do this I would have to get the pace down as close to an 8:00/mile as possible for the last 10K. Miles 20 to 23 were flat and fast but from 23 to 25 the course had three bridges as we crossed over the Ohio River from Ohio to N. Kentucky and back. And believe me, they didn't make those damn bridges flat! As I was coming off the final bridge at 25 miles I calculated that I had to run the last mile under 7:30 to achieve my goal. So I dug deep, found that there seemed to be some energy still left and ran my fastest mile of the race. And the nicest part was that I was still having fun as I sprinted across the finish line in front of Cinergy Field in 3:32:16 - more than a minute faster than my time at Music City! I was surprised to learn later that my time was only good enough for 4th place in my age group -obviously there was better competition at this race!

The race and the organization were good. But if anyone is trying to decide between Music City and the Flying Pig next year (I do understand that few are as crazy as the Maddog and want to do BOTH!) I would recommend Music City. The course is easier, the organization and festivities better, and Nashville has much more to offer than Cincinnati.

RR Music City Marathon

Race Report
Music City Marathon
Nashville, TN
April 28/01



We're bacccckkkkkkkk!
This time we have #1 son (Chris) in tow who we found wandering around Tampa airport.
We had a great weekend in Country Music City or Nashville, TN and I am happy to report that I had a satisfactory and fun marathon! The weather and course certainly didn't help the effort to make it a fun marathon. The weather was very warm - 56 degrees at the 7am start and 78 by 10:30am. The course was very hilly as advertised but thankfully the hills were the gentle rolling type, except for miles 20 to 23 which had the toughest and steepest hills.
I started out slow and easy as I had promised myself -an 8:05/mile pace. This was actually faster than I planned to start but it felt easy in spite of the hills and my heart monitor indicated that I was only working at 75% of max heart rate whereas I normally run between 80 to 85%. So I held that pace through the first half and then slowed by 5 seconds to 8:10/mile.
At 20 miles I did my routine 'gut check' and felt good - 'soooo goooooddddd' compared to my last two races that I considered lowering the pace to sub-8s for the last 10K. However those nasty hills between miles 20 and 23 quickly killed any heroric intentions that I may have had as my heart rate increased to 85% just to hold an 8:20 pace through the hills. BUT I was still feeling good and having fun!
Mile 24 was slightly downhill and flat which helped me cruise through the mile under 8 minutes - but very suddenly it stopped being fun? Mind you, I didn't struggle and I didn't hurt, but, all of a sudden it stopped being fun and I had to focus real hard and the old heart rate jumped to 90+% just to hold an 8:15/mile pace over the last two miles.
But I was still able to enjoy the bands and the cheers of the large crowds of spectators/supporters lined along the course in front of the Adelphia Coliseum where the marathon finished. I was very pleased and happy with my performance and time of 3:33 as I crossed the finish line. Because of the weather and course this time was fast enough for 2nd place in my age group (Old Farts).
My time was only ONE minute slower than Nagano in spite of warmer weather and a course that was ten times more difficult - and I felt ONE HUNDRED times better -especially over the last 10K! It makes such a big difference when you run a smart race and can stay just under your limits!

Following is a quick marathon/course evaluation since I know that many of you are interested in running this marathon:
This was only the 2nd running of this event and the organization/logistics were excellent. Information was easy to find and access. Registration was easy and the race provided a list of convenient hotels at discount rates. Packet pickup was well organized and easy. The exhibition only rated a 'C'. Very few booths -only a few running store booths offering clothes. The shoe manufacturers had their own booths but did not offer very good discounts.
No pasta party but a C/W (country/western) concert Saturday night after the race was free to runners. Martina McBride and the Sons of the Desert.
The city and citizens are solidly behind the race - lots of TV coverage before, during and after the race. Lots of people asking if you are running and congratulating you after the race.
A few negatives: the city completely closes down all the roads that the course is run on (a positive for runners) which can make it very difficult to drive anywhere. We had to park our car 1/2 mile from the hotel because the roads near the hotel were to be closed from 6 to 11am race day. (Recommendation -select a hotel downtown near the stadium/finish line).The city forgot to advise us that Saturday was Prom day and every good restaurant in the city would be booked from 6 to 10pm. We had to drive 10 miles out of the city to find a restaurant for dinner!

Course: hilly but mostly gentle rolling hills. Water/aid stations and digital clocks every mile. Bands, great bands, every mile along the course and lots of noisy supportive spectators.
It is a good, fun race if you run smart!

TR Japan

TRIP REPORT
JAPAN
4/11 – 4/4/17/01


Koniche wa! (Hello – to set a Japanese mood).

Where to start? This trip started out as an alternative plan to my original desire/plan to go back to Europe, specifically the Balkan region, to complete a few more European countries. Belgrade, Yugoslavia and Bratislava, Slovakia had scheduled marathons in April only one week apart which would allow me to complete two marathons/countries in one trip. But after many frustrating weeks of trying to contact the race director in Belgrade, I finally gave up and started looking for an alternative. The race director in Belgrade finally did contact me about two weeks before the marathon to say that it was on (they weren’t sure because of the turmoil, etc with Milosevic) but it was too late by then to change my plans.

I had already contacted the race director for the Nagano 3rd Commemorative Olympic Marathon and he had been kind enough to make an exception and accept my entry even though the race had reached its cap of 5,000 runners. This race was well organized as the race committee even arranged hotel accommodations for me and sent me a package on how to travel from Tokyo to Nagano, etc. I actually was not too keen on going back to Japan since my previous business trip twenty years ago had been very unpleasant. I had found the Japanese businessmen to be rude, arrogant and downright hostile and I came back with the false opinion that the whole country and all the people were like that!

But I did resolve to try to put that experience in the past and go with an open mind and I am happy to report that this time I came back with a much different and better opinion of Japan and its people. Nicole had also been to Japan on business and had encountered the same attitudes so she was not keen on going with me – especially for a short six-day trip. Although the trip is too long and the 13-hour time difference is a killer, I regret in retrospect that I did not try harder to convince her to accompany me.

Exactly 24 hours after I left our house I entered the lobby of the hotel in Nagano. Boy, that direct 13 ½-hour flight from Dallas to Narita is long and tough – especially in a coach seat! Upon arrival at Narita I had to drag my jet-lagged body through the airport to find the Japan Rail office to trade an Exchange Order for a Japan Rail Pass. I had learned that a first class return rail ticket from Narita to Nagano cost $200 whereas a one-week Rail Pass cost $240. And a Rail Pass provided unlimited first class rail travel anywhere in Japan for one week. But it can only be purchased outside of Japan BEFORE you leave on your trip. Anyways I found the office and picked up my Rail Pass as well as reserved seats on the Narita Express into Tokyo and the Shinkansen (Bullet train) from Tokyo to Nagano. 2 ½ hours later I was in Nagano. The Japanese rail system is very modern and efficient. The Express and Shikansen are easy to use but the other trains are much more difficult (more on this subject later).
After checking into the hotel conveniently located across from the train station and in the center of downtown Nagano (much like a European city) I decided to grab a light dinner and hit the sack since I had only two hours sleep in the 24 hour trip. I quickly discovered that very little English is used or spoken in the small cities and rural areas of Japan. None of the restaurants have bilingual or English menus and very few service/support staff speaks English. All written communications is in Japanese Kanji and Kana. And there was no way that I could make any sense or interpretation of those symbols! Fortunately many restaurants have ‘plastic’ meals displayed in the window and/or pictures in the menu so I could just point to my desired meal. There were many occasions where I had to accompany a server out to the front of the restaurant to point at my meal. The Japanese eat a lot of noodles and rice in addition to all kinds of really strange stuff. I stuck to noodles and rice and ate quite well!

After an unfruitful night of trying to sleep (remember it is now 8am my time and my body thinks it is time to get up) I dragged my tired body down to look at the breakfast buffet. Marinated fish and eel accompanied with strange kinds of seaweed did not appeal to me for breakfast (for $15) and I was glad that I had refused the breakfast option! I wandered a few blocks from the hotel until I found a ‘Mr. Donut’ that served me a delicious cinnamon roll and coffee for $4! The following mornings I ate a ‘sausage/egg McMuffin’ at McDonalds – damn, those taste good compared to marinated eel! Now that I was fortified it was time to explore the city. Off to the tourist office at the train station. Fortunately one person speaks English and gives me the one (and only) English brochure. She advises me that there is only one city tour – in Japanese! So I decide to use the brochure and a map to do my own walking tour of the city.
I also decide that I can do my city tour in one day and that I should tour around Japan the following day (day before the race) so I go to the rail ticket office and make reservations to do a loop over to the west coast of Japan to dip my toes in the Sea of Japan. Now I am ready for the tour.

Nagano is a small compact city, population 360,000, located nearly in the center of Japan. It is nestled in a valley with two rivers, the Sai and Chikuma flowing through it and completely surrounded by mountains. The city is about 1500 feet in elevation and the highest mountain is approximately 9,000 feet. The city has many cherry trees that were in full bloom with canopies of red, pink and white blossoms. With the snow-capped mountains as a backdrop it was very pretty. The main tourist attraction is the Zenkoji Temple, a 1400 year-old Buddhist Temple. It is considered a shrine by many Buddhists who make pilgrimages to the temple. The temple is built into the foothills of the mountains and is quite impressive.
I also visited a covered market area that is the old market center of the city. The other main attractions are the Olympic venues that are spread throughout the city. But they are in the suburbs and I knew that the marathon course ran past most of them. So I decided to walk over to the race HQ to pick up my race packet and see what was happening. I just happened to be talking to a race volunteer when the race director walked by and informed me that he was going to make a final inspection of the course and invited me to go along. So the race director, two officials, the volunteer/guide/interpreter and I made a tour in our own private Greyhound bus! Along the way they pointed out many highlights of the city and race course and provided me with little details about the city and race such as:
Nagano city and prefecture (province/state- there are 48) is a major agriculture region of Japan - #1 for apricots and #2 for apples.
Nagano is a sister city of Clearwater, FL.
The marathon had 5167 registered entries –of those only 35 were foreigners.
Of those 35 – 12 were invited runners from Africa and East Europe
- only 14 were Caucasian
And they of course pointed out and explained the use of the various Olympic venues as we passed them along the course: the Olympic Torch Platform at the start in Yamanouchi Town, the M-Wave (speed skating), the White Ring (figure skating), and the Olympic Stadium where the race finished (now a baseball stadium).
They were very proud of their city and eager to show it to me with true hospitality and friendliness.

The next day was my tour by train through the mountains to the Sea of Japan. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge as well as adventure. The challenge was the train system. I had decided to take local trains on the out leg to see more of the country. But the local trains do no require nor accept a reservation – I was supposed to just get on the train and show my rail pass. Where is the challenge you say? Finding the damn train. The Japanese rail schedules are printed in Japanese e.g. Kanji. The destinations, everything –except the departure and arrival times are unreadable by gaijing like me. Likewise for the display boards in the train stations! Fortunately the ticket agent had given me the departure times of all my connections and the English name of my destinations. When it was time to make a transfer/ connection I would rush off the train and look for a departure time that matched my schedule and then rush to that track to see if it was the correct train. I could only verify that by looking at the specific rail cars that carried bilingual names for the destination! After a few hectic changes I got the hang of it and had no problems. We passed over and through the Japanese Alps that still had lots of snow and ski resorts still operating. Then it was down to Naoetsu located on the Sea of Japan and along the Nanaura coast to the city of Niigata. The Nanaura coast reminds me of the California coast south of San Francisco – rugged and very scenic.

Niigata, the City of Water, is a port city located on the Sea of Japan and has three rivers flowing through it: the Agano, the Nakanokuchi and the longest river in Japan – the Shinano. A historical tidbit: Niigata was designated one of the five treaty ports to conduct trade with the outside world when Japan signed the Japan-USA treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858 that reopened Japan to trade after 230 years of self-imposed seclusion. Unfortunately I only had about two hours in the city to enjoy lunch and walk to the Bandai Bridge that is the symbol of the city. But there appeared to be lots of touristy and interesting attractions to see in Niigata.
Now it was time to catch a Shinkansen almost back to Tokyo before transferring in Takasaki to another Shinkansen to Nagano. Took 4 ½ hours by local train and 2 ½ hours by Shinkansen but I did see a lot of beautiful country in that region of Japan. And I did come up with a mystery that I was not able to solve. Other than a few ancient temples and castles I did not see a building or home older that say 40 years old during all my travels across the country? Japan is centuries old –what happened to the old buildings? My hypothesis: the old buildings were constructed of wood and tin and not meant to last long? If you have a better/correct answer, please let me know?

After arriving back in Nagano I made my way to a restaurant that advertised itself as a ‘western restaurant’ serving Italian food – only to find that the menu had no English, no pictures and nobody could speak English. So plan B – go to a Japanese restaurant with picture menus and order noodles for my pre-race dinner!

Sunday! Finally it is M- Day! They bus the runners from the train station to Yamanouchi Town. They seed all the foreigners (the remaining 23 excluding the elite runners) in the top 500 so we are close to the start line and watch the elite runners going through their warm-ups and sprints as they prepare for the 9:05am start. The start line is in front of the Olympic Torch Platform with snow-capped mountains in the background. It is sunny, 50 degrees with a slight breeze – perfect race weather! The start is at 2500 feet elevation and the course drops 1000 feet over the first five miles so I caution myself to ‘take it easy’! A gun booms and we are off! All reminders, strategies, etc are forgotten as the pack screams down the mountain and everyone is sucked up with the crowd!
Before I know it, I am passing the 5-mile (8K) marker in 36 minutes –way too fast! I force myself to slow down and by 10K am running a smooth and easy 7:48/mile pace. I continue this pace and cruise through the half in 1:40 and change – the fastest 1st Half that I have run in the past six years! I still feel good so decide to hold the pace to see if I can break 3:25? There is lots of crowd support all along the course as we run through apple orchards along the Chikuma River. There are even bands –those tom-tom drums or whatever they are called - all along the course. About 25K we enter the suburbs and start passing the Olympic sites and the crowds get heavy. And so do my legs! At 32K (20miles) I do a ‘gut check’. I am still on a 3:25 pace but feel/know that if I hold my current pace I will probably hit the wall or crash in the final 10K. So I wisely (?) decide to slow down and use the five-minute cushion to cruise in under 3:30. But it is too late! By mile 21 the temperature is almost 70 degrees and my legs are really heavy and I am struggling to run a 9-minute pace. It gets worse! By mile 23 my legs are hurting and I have to suck it up and ignore the pain to run an agonizingly slow 9:30 pace. My 5-minute cushion is disappearing quickly and there is not a damn thing that I can do about it! As we approach the Olympic stadium I am able to pick it up a little and struggle across the finish line inside the stadium in 3:32. I am very disappointed and upset with both my performance and time!
In retrospect I had decided to push my body to the limit and not leave anything on the course. But that is such a fine line and when you cross or exceed it there is no going back - you have to live with the painful consequences! But I promised myself to run a much smarter race in my next marathon!

After a long, unpleasant bus ride back to the train station and a long HOT bath, I decided to check out the ‘Farewell Party’ being offered by the marathon committee. It turned out to be a very nice affair. They had lots of food –different types of Japanese hors d’oeurves and lots of booze – all free! The elite athletes were there and I was very impressed at how great the elite women looked all dressed up in designer clothes? I shared a table with several local Japanese runners who religiously followed their custom of pouring their guests drinks and then toasting them or any other reason to drink. And a glass is never allowed to be empty – they immediately fill it up and then propose another toast. I had to leave after a few hours while I was still able to walk.
Normally I like to feast on red meat, a la steak or roast beef after a race. Luckily I had found an international hotel that advertised ‘Canada Beef’ and staggered over to that hotel. A ‘sissy cut’ (8 oz portion) of roast beef cost $30 but fortunately I had eaten a lot of shrimp, raw horsemeat, fish, etc at the party so I was able to get by with just one portion. Otherwise I would have had to order two and probably three meals. And since beer was $7/glass I figured that I saved about $70 to $100 in booze at the party too!

Now it was time for bed and to get ready to leave Nagano for the next leg of my adventure. Since I still had two days to go before catching my 6pm flight on Tuesday, I decided to use my Rail Pass and check out Mt Fuji. The following morning after another delicious breakfast of sausage/egg McMuffin I caught a ‘Limited Express’ train to Otsuki where I had to transfer (and pay for) a private train to Lake Kawaguchi located at the base of Mt Fuji. Mt Fuji is a very impressive and majestic mountain. It is a volcanic mountain that sits all by itself and is surrounded by five lakes at its base. The lakes are at 2500 feet elevation and Mt Fuji has a 9,000 feet vertical from there! There are 10 ‘steps’ or ‘stations’ for climbing the mountain. Brochures state that it can be climbed in six hours and descended in 3 hours. The prime climbing/hiking season is July and August.
This time of the year is very scenic and spectacular however as the village is covered in a canopy of cherry blossoms with a backdrop of majestic Mt Fuji still half-covered in snow! I cheated and took a bus to the 5th step which is as far as the road goes and started to hike from there towards the 6th step. But after a mile of slipping and sloshing through wet, slippery snow with only running shoes and a paper running jacket, I decided that I had all the fun and adventure I could stand. So I retreated to the warmth of a bar at the 5th station to drink Kirin while waiting for a bus to take me back down the mountain.
I found a great 1st class hotel built into the hills overlooking Lake Kawaguchi and Mt Fuji and explored the village. I strolled around the lake at sunset and was offered the views of a lifetime. As the sun set to the west of Mt Fuji the cherry blossoms and lake were brightly lit in a red glow as the sun reflected off the snow of MT Fuji in the background. It was truly one of those special moments when you realize how fortunate you are to be able to enjoy them!

The next morning I got up early to do a very pleasant and enjoyable 7-mile run along the lake as I watched the sun rise over the lake and mountain. Now it was time to begin the journey home. But this had been a remarkable and totally different trip from my previous one. I had enjoyed every minute of it (well maybe not the last 60 minutes of the marathon) and had found Japan to be very beautiful and the people very friendly and hospitable.
My recommendation is to spend an obligatory day or two in Tokyo but then escape to the villages and towns in the country to see and enjoy the real Japan!

RR Ellerbe Springs, NC

Race Report
Ellerbe Springs Marathon
Ellerbe Springs, NC
3/31/01

Hi y'all! How was your dream vacation? (April Fool!).

Our mini vacation was OK but it didn't start out on a good foot. There were severe thunderstorms and lots of rain last Thu & Fri (which we needed) but they caused the cancellation of our scheduled flight on Fri morning out of Sarasota. We had to scramble to Plan B which was drive to Tampa and catch a direct flight that evening to Raleigh, NC. By the time we got our rental car, had some dinner and drove 100 miles south to Rockingham, it was almost midnight when we checked into our hotel.
Then I had to get up at 6am to drive to Ellerbe to find the race location, pick up my race package, etc. The marathon started and finished at the Ellerbe Springs Inn, a 140-year old Inn that is quite rustic and charming.
Fortunately Ellerbe is a small town of only 1200 and the Inn was easy to find and I had lots of time to get ready and line up at the start line with about 200 other runners - mostly locals and in-state runners.
The locals warned me that the course was very hilly for the first 20 miles with one monster hill at 13 miles. They didn't lie!

I decided to run the course smart and easy. Yeh! Right!
Instead I foolishly ran the first 17 miles of hills hard and fast until my body started telling me that it didn't like me anymore! I wasn't surprised when I slammed smack dab into 'THE WALL' at 22 miles. It had been a long, long time since I ran into 'THE WALL' in a race and based on how ugly and painful it was on Saturday; I hope it is twice as long before I hit it again!
I was quickly humbled into walking and running (mostly walking) the next two miles before my body recovered sufficiently to let me run the final two miles.

I finished in 3:46 which was actually a reasonable time for that course and good enough for 1st place in my age group. So I hustled back to the hotel for a quick shower and to pick Nicole up to go back to the awards ceremony. They provided some Southern cooking - chicken and dumplings - for lunch and the awards were kind of neat. Instead of the standard running trophy that I usually give away (or don't stay to collect) they awarded hand-made pottery bowls for baking apples or onions.
The race organizers, volunteers and locals were very friendly and hospitable.
Even though the course is a bitch, I would consider going back to do it again - and hopefully run it smarter and faster!

After the awards Nicole and I explored Ellerbe which took about five minutes - six stores and three of them are antiques! So then it was back to Rockingham to explore that town and that took about ten minutes! If we were race car fans it could have taken longer since Rockingham is the home of the North Carolina Speedway and there was some kind of race going on?

Later we went back to the Inn for a great Southern home-cooked dinner. We asked if there was a theatre in the area and were told that there was a drive-in theatre in a neighboring town. I thought that all of those relics had been torn down? However my legs were still sore and not game for that torture so we had to make do with TV and microwave popcorn in the hotel room!

On Sunday we decided to drive back through Pinehurst to check out the golf courses, clubhouse and hotel. They are all luxurious and elegant and piqued my interest in going back for a golf vacation. Maybe next year we will go for a week - play some golf and run the marathon again. Anyone want to sign up now?

Driving north from Pinehurst to Raleigh we ran into thunderstorms with 1/2 in hail. We had to stop under an overpass to protect the windshield of the rental car! Sunday evening we visited with an old friend and work mate from Dallas who now lives in the Raleigh area.

So other than my encounter with 'THE WALL' it was a very enjoyable weekend and as usual we visited places and saw things that we would never had enjoyed except for my crazy hobby?

TR Sahara Desert (Algeria) Part 2

SAHARA TRIP
Part 2
02/21 – 03/05/01


Now where was I? Oh yeh! Just finishing off the first full day of my luxurious stay/vacation in Tent #1 in the Sahara Desert. After a few more exciting cultural events in the Sahrawi camp, I decided to explore some more and watched a Sahrawi man building a new adobe hut for his family.
After deciding where he wanted his home he just dug up the sandy, clay loam of the desert at that exact spot – mixed the earth with water and made mud blocks (like we all used to make mud pies when we were young?) and then set them in the sun to dry. The bricks dry hard but very brittle and would dissolve quickly with water. But since it last rained in Oct 99, rain is not a problem! After the bricks harden, he mixes more earth with water to use as a mortar and builds his hut. He completes the hut with a tin roof weighted down with bricks and stones. The hole beside the hut is just left there and the wind fills it in quickly with sand. Now we all know how to build a shelter in the desert –just need to figure out where to get the water?

And the final activity of the day is to eat our scrumptious 8pm dinner at 11pm and then climb into our soft beds on the desert floor for another night’s rest. Nothing like a good hot bowl of camel stew for your bedtime meal? It was winter in the desert so the temperature dropped to the freezing level each night and the days warmed up to the low 60s. Our host told us that the summer highs would normally reach 50 degrees Celsius (about 120 F)! I wore a warm-up/jogging suit for PJs and that combined with the single heavy blanket our host provided, was comfortably warm each night. My only complaint or discomfort was the pillow – made from the same material as the carpet and filled with the hardest substance known to mankind? Fortunately I had brought along several old running T-shirts to give to the refugees and I used them to fashion a pillow. So nobody got any T-shirts until the final day!

On Sunday we were advised that the marathon was being moved up one day –from Tuesday to Monday. We were also advised to repack our bags because we would move to a new camp at Smara where the race would finish. The rest of the day was spent enjoying more Sahrawi events, lots of napping/sleeping and waiting for meals. I gave up on dinner after 8pm, ate two power bars washed down with a carbo drink and went to bed early to get more sleep.

Monday! M-Day! Load our bags on to some trucks to take them to the next camp and head for the start line. Lots of Sahrawi dignitaries including the President and other politicians (all military types). Also lots of camels and riders dressed in their tribal colors. There are about 200 marathoners at the start - 110 foreigners and 90 Sahrawis. There is also a half-marathon and 10k race that start at a later time. A total of about 400 runners –half are foreigners. The marathon actually starts on time at 9am!!! In retrospect the change of date turned out to be very fortunate for us! The weather was great – sunny, about 40 degrees at the start and most importantly the wind was not strong enough to stir up the sand. I had purchased a fanny pack with two water bottles and a pouch capable of carrying an emergency medical kit, compass, etc. It also carried my turban in case a sand storm came up during the race. The fanny pack turned out to be a necessity because the airline had lost all the paper cups that we had brought for the race. There was lots of bottled water for the water stations but no cups. So every runner was advised to carry a water bottle to refill at the water/aid stations. Although the pack was useful it was a royal pain in the butt-literally and figuratively! It was very heavy and bulky and the damn water bottles kept falling out? I guess it had been designed for hiking – not running! So I struggled with damn thing for 26 miles and didn’t really need it except for the water bottle! But I didn’t know that until the end and I wouldn’t have been willing to risk running without it. But now for the race!

The first 1k out of the camp was run on a soft sand road/track that led to a paved highway (I assume a paved road between some Algerian military installations?). We turned on to that road for the next 3k and I’m thinking, “Gee, this is not bad at all – except for my damn water bottle falling out of the pack every 500 ft”. But that was soon to change! At 4k the course turned north into the wind at headed straight across the Sahara desert – no road, no tracks, no trail – for the next 38k! Part of the desert was hard, compacted sand covered with billions of small sharp rocks and the rest was soft, deep sand! I was glad that I had worn trail shoes because the rocks were very treacherous to run on - but the sand was worse. It seemed to take two to three times the effort to run through that sand. A lot of the course was flat but there were also many, many hills or dunes that just seemed to roll on and on forever! The course was marked about every 2 miles with rock markers and/or old tires and water/aid stations were set up about every 5k. I always had another runner in sight ahead of me so had no problem but a few of the runners did get lost for a brief period. But nobody got seriously lost or injured.
There were few mile markers so it was difficult to tell where you were in the race. As I passed through the Half located in another refugee camp called Aoserd I was shocked and dismayed to discover that my time was 1:59. I was running as hard as I could and already my legs felt like they had been beaten with a 2X4. My quads and calves were both killing me – they normally never hurt during a race? I knew at that moment that it was going to be a long tough day and that a sub-4hour marathon was not going to happen for me. I resolved to just keep on running for as long as possible and not to walk!

Unfortunately the 2nd half of the course was harder than the first. By 18 miles I started to go out of my way and off course to find rocks to run on because it was so much easier to run on the rocks than the deep, soft, sucking sand! That turned out to be a slight tactical error because I tripped on a rock and fell and at that same moment both of my calves cramped and locked up in excruciating pain! I dropped immediately on to the desert looking for a position to ease the cramps and pain and trying to stretch and massage both legs. Fortunately I was able to massage the cramps and ease the pain so that I could walk (gingerly) in a few minutes. And soon I was back to running with only minor discomfort! The last 10k of the course followed an ancient riverbed into the camp at Smara. It was flat but really, really deep soft sand! As I approached the camp I could see the finish line with lots of people and flags, etc. Time – about 4:25! I might break 4 ½ hours!
As I neared the finish line a volunteer approached to inform me that I had to make a 90 degree turn and run another ¾ mile scenic loop through the camp BEFORE I reached the finish line. If I had a gun I would have shot her for this cheery, innocent news! I have never been so pissed off and frustrated at the end of a marathon as I was at that precise moment! But I struggled on and finally crossed the finish line in 4:33:58 – the longest time I have ever taken to complete a marathon! At first I was very disappointed in my time and performance – until I talked to the other runners and discovered that most runners took 1 ½ to 2 hours longer than normal. Many of the runners complained that the course had to be at least 5k too long?

Now it was time to find my bags, my new home/tent in Smara, enjoy a promised shower and rest. Yeh –right! Little did I know that my frustration was just beginning! It would take too long to describe all the problems and issues in detail. But here is a quick review of the highlights! Took over an hour to find my bags with my soap, towel, fresh clothes, etc! Discover there are 12 outdoor shower stalls for 80,000 refugees and 400 runners. No problem – the refugees don’t shower and most of the runners are still on the course. Find the showers, strip and wait along with other naked runners for the next shower to become available. There’s one. Oops – a female runner from Italy (no, I can’t tell from her boobs silly –she speaks Italian!) rushes into the shower ahead of me –strips in the shower and begins to bathe! I ask her if I can share the shower (to conserve precious water). She doesn’t understand English but must understand my look/request because she smiles and nods her head as if to say “No, but thanks for your good intentions”! So I have to stand there buck-naked and watch her finish her shower. Now it’s my turn! Damn this water is cold but it feels sooooooo gooooood! Still, I am done in a few minutes because I feel guilty about using too much water? But I feel clean for the first time in 2 days and believe I just might live? Now I am hungry. They promise that a meal will be served at 3pm – in 20 minutes. 4pm – we’re still waiting for the meal! 5pm –they finally bring out the meal and surprise – there is lots of food. I actually get half a chicken and some baby back camel ribs – and rice and some French fries! The best meal and the most food I have eaten in the desert. OK – I’m ready to go to my new home! No! – the Sahrawis and race organizers are not ready for us to rest – doesn’t seem to matter that we are tired/exhausted? We don’t know where our new home/tent is so we are captive. They decide to have an award ceremony (and political speeches) that takes about two hours – no place to sit or lie down – stand for the ceremony! Finally about 8pm (remember, the marathon started at 9am and we have been on our feet with no rest since then) we are shown to our tents by our new hosts. Announcement that a dinner will be served at 10pm. Screw that – I eat a power bar and fall into my new bed/blanket and sleep! Believe me – that is a day that no marathoner would ever want to endure or repeat (except maybe the part with the Italian runner and shower?).

Tuesday –Sahrawi National Day! The itinerary says that there will be lots of celebration events starting at 10am. A parade finally starts at 12pm. The Sahrawi government/military marches almost their entire army and military equipment past us for four hours. Soldiers, camels, trucks, tanks, missile launchers – even mobile SAM missile launchers! I’m not impressed – the army is poorly trained and the equipment is out-of-date surplus Russian hardware. I spend most of the time talking to an American soldier (from Chicago) attached to the UN delegation who gives me the low down on the true situation in the camps. The 12 pm lunch is served at 4pm and again there is lots of food.
There is another parade scheduled for 6pm where the Sahrawi civilians/refugees will do their tribal dances, etc. It finally starts at 9pm and goes on to 3am. I give up and go to bed at 10pm with another power bar because the 8pm dinner has still not been served. I wake up at midnight when I smell something good in our tent. Our hostess has prepared a camel stew for her guests. Damn, it smells good. I eat some –very tasty- and go back to bed to be lulled back to sleep with the celebrations going on till 3am!

Finally it is Wednesday –time to get out of here and back to Madrid. The original planned two days would have been just right! We pack our bags and give everything we don’t want to carry back to our host family and the Sahrawi kids. We all chip in and give our hostess about 15,000 pesetas which is a lot of money for them. Hopefully they will eat very well for the next year! We load the trucks at 10am and get on the buses – and wait for about an hour until our armed military escort shows up to take us back to the Algerian base at Tindouf. We decide to hold a raffle to determine when we may actually leave Algeria (the charter is scheduled for a 1pm departure?). I almost win with a guess of 4:12 pm – we finally get off the ground at 3:52pm!
Sometimes a planeload of passengers will applaud when a plane lands safely – this time we all applauded when the wheels left Algerian soil!

I must admit that I was kind of sad to leave my new girlfriend, Clyde the Camel (whom I think I ate in that farewell stew); but I was very happy to return to the luxury and comfort of Madrid. As soon as we arrived back at the hotel I enjoyed the most wonderful cold beer with many of my new friends and then we all scurried to our rooms for a lonnnnnngggg HOT shower. I can’t describe the look that I gave to Nicole when she innocently asked “Why are you so late –you were supposed to be here hours ago”?
Remember – she went to Barcelona –stayed in a 4-star hotel while she toured Barcelona and Montserrat, and sure as hell didn’t enjoy camel stew? Nobody can ever claim that lady ain’t smart?

But now we have 5 more days in Europe/Spain to tour the country. As I indicated before I had visited Spain previously so decided to take Nicole to Cordoba, Seville and Toledo. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate well as it rained all 5 days. But we still managed to tour all those cities and enjoy all the main attractions. We took a tour bus from Madrid to Seville via Cordoba. In Cordoba we visited the Cathedral and historic Mosque and walked around the Jewish Quarter. We overnighted in Seville before visiting the Cathedral, the bullring, the Real Alcazar, Plaza De Espana and other tourist sights. We caught an AVE (high-speed) train back to Madrid on our own, rested up and left for Toledo the next day. We stayed overnight again in Toledo so that we could casually stroll around the 1,000 year-old walled city and enjoy a typical Toledan dinner at one of the best restaurants. It was the best meal I ate during the trip – even better than camel stew!

And finally it was time to return home! As usual we were looking forward to returning to the comfort and familiarity of our own city, home and friends. And there was no doubt in my mind when I thought of that oft-used expression “What a great country we live in”!
Time to rest up, plan and prepare for our next adventure – to ?

TR- Sahara Desert (Algeria) -Part 1

TRIP REPORT
SPAIN & ALGERIA (SAHARA DESERT)
02/21 –03/05/01


Now let’s see. Where do I start? Sometime back in the fall when a few of my running buddies from the BBR called me with a request. They had visited us in Europe in 2000 and we had all run the Paris and London marathons together and had enjoyed a great camaraderie. Thus they requested that I find a spring marathon in some exotic or adventurous location so we could do it again in 2001. I soon discovered a first-ever marathon to be run in the Sahara Desert in Feb. Everyone agreed that this would be a real adventure –we would share a tent in the desert and sleep with Clyde the camel!

However very shortly one member of the team (no names given to protect the guilty – er innocent) backed out with a feeble excuse that he planned to run Boston. Come on, Boston is in April which provides lots of time to recover! Buddy # 2 suddenly decided that he had to go on a motorcycle ride in Mexico at that time? But buddy #3 hung in and said that he was looking forward to the trip and adventure. So the village idiot went ahead and purchased non-refundable air tickets and a non-refundable marathon package! When it got real close to the deadline for the marathon entry and buddy #3 had still not confirmed his entry, the village idiot finally realized that he was going to have Clyde the camel all to himself! A second wonderful surprise came in the form of an announcement from the race director that all runners would spend four days in the desert instead of two as originally planned!

The village idiot’s devoted wife/travel companion/sports manager had decided not to accompany him to the desert since all his running buddies would be with him? But she did plan to travel to Madrid, Spain where the race was being staged from and tour Spain while he enjoyed his adventure in the desert. Also by that time he had discovered that at least three members of the 50+ DC Club were running the marathon and he would have some friends there. So off they set on Feb 21st for the first leg of the journey.

After we (now you know who the village idiot is) arrived in Madrid we had two days to recover from jet lag and explore the city and area. Since I had spent considerable time in Spain and Madrid on previous trips I knew what the main attractions were. We visited the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial. It is known as the 8th wonder of the world. Completed in 1854 by Felipe II as an act of thanks for the victory of San Quintin, when in 1557 the Spanish army conquered the French on the 10th August, the feast day of St Laurence. All the Spanish monarchy are buried in the Royal Tombs.
Then it was on to the Valle De Los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) where Franco built a huge cross (150 meters high) and carved a church inside a solid granite mountain to commemorate those killed in the Civil War. It also serves as his mausoleum. Since I have already provided considerable details on these and other Spanish sites in my previous trip report on Spain I will only gloss over these same attractions in this report.

The marathon package/tour required that all runners be in Madrid for the departure of the charter flights on Friday Feb. 23. On Thursday night the race organizers held an informal dinner in Madrid where they gave us last minute details and fed us a typical local Spanish meal. Since the charter flights left at 6pm, Nicole decided to stay over in Madrid one more day to tour the city and then move on to Barcelona where she would stay until I returned on the 28th. As I and other runners left the hotel for the airport we began to get an idea of how disorganized the race organization was and how frustrating the next four days would turn out. We were left on our own to get to the airport and for some of us smart enough to reserve an airport shuttle we were asked to carry at least one box of race supplies with us; e.g. Paper cups/plates, bottled water, etc. Upon arriving at the airport and going to the Air Algiers counter for a 4pm charter flight we were advised that the flight was two hours late. We finally left at 7pm. Fortunately they did feed us a dinner on the flight and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they even provided wine –on an airplane owned by a Muslim country going to a Muslim country?

We flew directly to an Algerian military base at Tindouf. It is the closest airport to the refugee camps and the most secure since Algeria is experiencing many problems with Muslim terrorists/fundamentalists trying to overthrow the government. Since the Algerian government supports the refugees and supported the marathon (more on this subject soon) we had no problem with immigration or customs. In fact the normally-difficult procedure of getting a visa beforehand had been rubber-stamped for all runners and even the $50 visa fee had been waived. We were passed through quickly and after we unloaded our own baggage and supplies and loaded them on to trucks, we were loaded on to buses and provided an armed military escort to the refugee camps.

What refugee camps you ask? Twenty-five years ago Spain pulled out of Western Sahara and left the country and people to rule themselves. Morocco immediately invaded the country claiming that it had been their territory before Spain took it away. To make a long story short, Morocco kicked the shit out of the Western Saharan people, the Sahrawis. They bombed, burned, looted etc. About 1/3 of the one million Sahrawis fled into the desert in the eastern part of the country. Morocco then built a 10 foot sand berm down the middle of the country from north to south (Morocco to Mauritania) and continued to bomb the Sahrawis in the eastern section causing them to flee further east into the Sahara desert inside Algeria’s borders. Morocco cannot touch them there without creating a war with Algeria. Algeria, Russia, Spain and Cuba are some of the countries that backed (and still support) the Sahrawis –the US and Europe support Morocco and most of the world don’t care!
The Sahrawis have settled into four camps in the Sahara Desert in Algeria named after the hometowns that they fled in Western Sahara. They have no money, no resources and few belongings. They depend solely upon the UN and their supporting nations to exist! The UN provides them with shelter, food and water. Their allies/supporters provide education, training and arms for their military. But the Sahrawis claim that they would rather live this way than live under Moroccan rule!
They know that they cannot beat Morocco in a military war so they have wisely decided to try a political path. They are trying to be recognized by as many countries and world organizations as possible. The Sahara Marathon is a subtle attempt to get recognition by world sports organizations and to be accepted as an Olympic country into the 2004 Olympics.

Now back to our arrival –at 1am- to our first vacation home at the Sahrawi refugee camp in L’Ayoun. The camps have limited electricity and other facilities so there are no streetlights and it is very, very dark! We had been advised that we would be housed in tents and hosted by a Sahrawi family. In actual fact, a Sahrawi family gave up their home or tent and moved in with their family or friends so that six runners could be housed in their home. Each camp is comprised of communities called ‘Dirrahs’ made up of about six families or homes. A group of 3 to 6 runners were assigned to a Dirrah with a host that spoke the language of the runners. I was in tent #1 along with 5 other male runners from the US. After we found our baggage and were introduced to our Sahrawi host, he led us through pitch-black desert to our tent. I was so tired by this time that I just accepted my sheet and blanket, laid them out on the desert floor and went to sleep.

8am. Time to get up. First thing –morning duties? Where is the bathroom –obviously not ensuite! I am directed to a small adobe hut about 200 feet from the tent. Looks like the outhouse at my grandparents’ farm –except no bench – just a hole in the desert floor! Thankfully I brought toilet paper with me. Now to wash. Am I crazy? The UN has to bring in water from wells located at Tindouf and distribute it to metal drums located throughout the camp. The refugees go to the drums with a bucket to collect the water needed for their home. Wash? A waste of precious water! We quickly discover that the refugees don’t wash or bathe – they just spray themselves and their clothes 2 or 3 times a day with perfume to mask body odor. We are offered the same amenities. Again, thankfully I have brought a box of handi-wipes to at least clean my hands and face.
Now for a scrumptious refugee breakfast. Some homemade bread that is actually very tasty if you can forget the grit of the sand that has blown into the dough. It is served with honey or maybe some goat cheese and a cup of coffee. We assume that the host family has been paid or given extra money from our entry fees to cover the cost of feeding the runners – otherwise they would never have had enough food?

Now that my tummy is full, it is time to explore my new vacation home. My host stops me before I can leave the tent. It is dangerous to go outside without glasses and a turban –glasses to protect your eyes and a turban to protect the rest of your head. From what? SAND! There is always a wind blowing and the sand is so fine that it gets into every pore and opening in your body. Fortunately he gives all his guests a beautiful black turban and teaches us how to put them on (we of course insist that he accept payment for the turbans). Now it is safe to venture outside. I explore by myself and soon find myself on the edge of the camp where they house the animals –camels, goats and a few chickens. The chickens provide eggs, goats provide milk and camels are used to carry people and supplies. And, as I was soon to discover, all three provide the only meat and protein available to the refugees! As I am walking around several children approach me and ask many questions – in Spanish! It turns out that the three basic Spanish lessons that I took before the trip were very helpful as I was able to carry on a very basic conversation with the kids. We had been advised to bring presents for the kids and I proceeded to hand out a lot of pencils and crayons which made the kids very happy.

Time to go back to the tent and determine what the agenda is for the day. And time to learn the next most important lesson of the trip! Time has no meaning in the desert and especially to the Sahrawis! They have been sitting/existing in the desert for 25 years with absolutely nothing to do but try to survive. If an event or activity –say a meal or festivity – is scheduled for say 1pm; you can count on it being at least 2 to 3 hours late. But late is a civilized concept! If your main concern is staying alive, you don’t really care if you eat at 1pm or 4pm – as long as you eat! But they tried to fool us by providing us with an itinerary for our four-day visit. We quickly learned that the only useful information on the itinerary was that a specific event would happen that day! As an example – a serious example- let me tell you about our first lunch. The race organization decided that the best way to feed 400 runners would be a community buffet for lunch and dinner. Our first lunch was supposed to be at 1pm. We waited at the designated site –a community admin center for three hours and finally they opened the doors at 4pm for lunch. Fortunately I was near the front of the line and rushed to a buffet table where you had to quickly grab whatever food was available and eat standing up. By the time the end of the line got to the tables there was no food left!

What was the food? Near as I could tell without wasting time to do a survey (and go hungry) was bread, some salads with mostly onion and tomatoes, a stew and typically a roasted meat. The meats as discussed were either camel or goat. I only saw chicken at one meal. And believe me goat and camel are tough and stringy no matter how they are prepared. I had great difficulty cutting off a chunk of camel or goat from a roast let alone chewing it once I got some on my plate!
Every meal had bottled water or coke to drink. I refused to eat the salads because I was afraid that they had been prepared with local water? I stuck to the bread and camel/goat and never had any problems with my intestines.

During that first day in the camps the Sahrawis had some local cultural events that were very interesting such as camel races, dances, etc. You just had to show up 2 or 3 hours late to enjoy them.

Since this report is taking longer than I expected I will split it into two sections. Section 2 with the Marathon and National day Celebrations will follow later.
Adios for now!

RR Ocala Marathon

Race Report
Ocala Marathon
Ocala, FL
2/04/01

Just got back from Ocala, FL where we spent the weekend so I could run that second 'training marathon' to get ready for the Sahara Marathon. Thus I must bore you with a brief marathon/trip report.
The weather was fairly cool - 46 degrees at the start and raining. In fact the worst part of the race was standing around in the cold rain for 15 minutes waiting for the race to start. But it finally got underway at 7am in the rain. By 3 miles I regretted changing into a long-sleeve T-shirt at the last minute as I was too warm! It rained throughout the first half as we meandered up and down gentle rolling hills in horse country outside of Ocala.
It was very scenic and the hills were gentle enough to be a blessing since they change the terrain and prevent 'memory fatigue' in the leg muscles. I crossed the half in 1:42 and change (almost 2 minutes faster than Clearwater) so again knew that it would be another great day or very ugly in the 2nd half. The hills did cause me to slow down a wee bit from 13 to 20 miles which I passed in 2:37:50. So I had actually lost a few seconds off my pace. Also at that point, the wind that had not been a factor all race picked up as the course turned directly into it for the final 10K! Fortunately a young stud (No, not race horse but a 30 year-old male runner from Orlando running his first marathon) blew by me at that point and I decided to stick on his tail and draft for as long as I could hold on? He literally dragged my ass the next 5 miles at a 7:45 pace.
He was running so smoothly and easily that I figured he would eventually leave my fat ass behind but surprisingly and unfortunately at 25 miles he hit the 'wall'. He slowed so suddenly and drastically that I almost ran over him. I kind of felt guilty as I sidestepped him, looked at my watch and decided that if I could drop my pace to sub 7- minutes for the last 1 1/4 miles that I could break 3:25!
I gave it everything I had but knew at 26 miles that I wouldn't/couldn't make it. But I was very pleased with my 3:25:29 as I crossed the finish line! This great time caused me to go back to my running logs again to check how far back in time/years I had to go to find the last marathon that I had run faster? It was White Rock Marathon on Dec 8/96 - a 3:18! I don't think this
'old bod' is capable of achieving that time anymore? But I am now determined to break 3:25 sometime this year! Stay tuned!