MacRitchie and the track

This weekend I ran around MacRitchie and added the out and back to rifle range road in the middle for a total of eight miles. It was raining – sometimes a little, sometimes pouring down. I saw maybe 15 or 20 people 95% of which were westerners. I’ve asked this question here before but I don’t know what it is about Asians not wanting to get wet. When you run around MacRitchie on a clear sunny day you get as wet with your own sweat as you do when it is raining. And a rainy run is much more pleasant. I should not question it because it was good to have the woods and trails mostly to myself. Running around MacRitchie is one of the things I will miss about Singapore.

I ran at the track this morning again. That makes two weeks in a row. I ran a mini ladder, 200-400-800-400-200 with 200 recovery in between. Once again it was good to run hard. I glanced down at the Garmin and saw times in the 7 minute and change pace per mile. It has been a long time since I have run under 8 minute pace. The last 200 was rough because my legs were tired but I kept telling myself “strong and in control”. The inside lane had a few walkers like last week. It is okay, I can go around.

The Maze ... who needs sleep?

Jakeb sent me an email and said “Hey, if I can get some people interested would you help me out getting to Austin to do this?”

He added a link to the Rogue Running Trail Series of which the first race is The Maze. The Maze is one of my favorite (if not my all time favorite) trail runs. It takes place in Walnut Creek Park and the course is three 10k loops through the hills north of Austin with a couple of stream crossings per loop. The race has a distinctly Texas feel to it which is something I could use right now.

The trip always includes food from Chuy’s. I was jealous that Jakeb would get to run it and I wouldn’t. I considered replying and saying “Heck no I won’t help you get to Austin (meaning pay). You can find your own way!”

But I am a nicer dad than that so I didn’t. Then I looked at the web site and realized the race is on March 24th. I will be in Texas on March 24th so I shot back an email and said “I'll be in town on March 24th. Maybe I can meet you there and run it too.”

The euphoria was short lived when I figured out that I would not get into Houston until 5:40 pm on the 23rd. After flying for over a day, I would have to clear customs and get a rent car, drive between three and four hours to Austin to meet Jakeb where he would have checked us into a hotel and picked up our packets. Then get a short night’s sleep assuming I could sleep through the jet lag and then get up and run 18 miles.

That’s crazy! So I considered not doing it. I asked my voice of reason (Andrea) what she thought. Her reply was “will you regret not doing it?” Of course I would. So that night after Jakeb checked his school schedule I signed us both up for The Maze.

Am I crazy for doing it? Dang right. But Jakeb pointed out that he was coming to Singapore when school is out in May and hiking to the top of the highest peak in Southeast Asia a couple days after he arrives. I guess it runs in the family.

Speed and Nutrition

We live a little less than a mile from a track. I’ve driven by there but have never actually been on foot. This morning for the first time in Singapore I decided to do some speed work.

I ran easy to the track and once I got there ran 4x400 with 200 recovery. It felt good to move fast and work on controlling form. It was much slower than when I used to do speed work in Texas and it wasn’t very much as far as volume was concerned but I did it. And I think I will do it again. I would like to run the Sundown Marathon closer to four hours than five and I think this will help.

There were old Asian people walking on the track and a few “middle-agers” like me. I was the only one running. As is typical here there were a few people who walked as if they owned the place. Some weaving in and out of the inside lane while they walked. So I followed American track etiquette and elbowed the old ladies out of the inside lane as I was running past. Okay I didn’t but I felt like it. I made sure I ran on the inside of them fast and close …

Andrea and I have made some tweaks to our nutritional routine without making a big deal of it. We have pretty much cut out starchy carbs, sugar and dairy and are focusing on eating lots of vegetables, fruit and a moderate amount of lean meat. Both of us have lost weight without really trying too hard. I was scared I would not be fueled well for running. At first it seemed that way but I think it was because I was recovering from getting sick in London – and in some ways I am still recovering. But I feel like I have enough fuel to run  typical morning runs without any problems. I haven’t run any long runs while eating this way and those may require me to add some starchy fuel the night before – we will see.

We started eating this way hard core on January 8th - we dabbled with it for a couple of months before. So about the second week of February I will go to the doctor and get a physical (it is time). I am really interested in what my cholesterol numbers will be.

End of 2012, London and the Beginning of 2013

The Stunz Family finished the year in London. Andrea, Anna and I flew from Singapore and met Jakeb, Tori and Tori’s boyfriend (now fiancé) Austin who flew in from Texas. We did a bunch of the touristy things, watched an amazing fireworks display, saw a premier league soccer match (Chelsea va Queens Park Rangers) and Tori and Austin got engaged.

In the middle of it all I got to do some running. The first morning we were there Jakeb and I ran from our rented house in Chelsea to Hyde Park and turned around in front of Albert Memorial. It was good to run with Jakeb and as usual he push the pace for me.

The next time I ran was on New Year’s Day. We had stayed out late for the fireworks so I slept in and ran around noon. It was still cool (in the forties) and I ran King’s Park road to Westminster Abbey. It was a four mile run and when I arrived there was a New Year’s Day parade and the Stephen F Austin marching band had just finished and were stowing their gear. “Hello fellow Texans!” I got on the London Underground at Westminster and made my way back to Parsons Green.

The last time I ran was early on Wednesday morning. My plan was to run an easy three. I ended up getting lost on the way back and had to ask for directions. My easy three turned into a tiring six. But that is okay. Being lost running is not so bad of a thing.

London was a good trip.

In 2012 I ran 1388 miles. I ran in the US, Singapore, Italy, Vietnam, New Zealand, Cambodia and the UK. I ran a marathon in Christchurch New Zealand while Andrea did the 10k and I ran a marathon in Singapore (an hour slower than the first).

In 2013 I plan to hike up Mount Kinabalu with Jakeb and then run the Sundown Marathon in Singapore. After that it will be back to Texas and who knows what running will be like.

The list of countries I’ve run in will probably never be as long as last year but if I only ever get to run in Texas that will not be a bad thing.

What's next?

With the Singapore Marathon thankfully in the rearview mirror it’s time to look ahead to what is next to keep me motivated to get out and run.

Our time in Singapore is coming to an end and Andrea, Anna and I are excited about moving back home to Texas. We have been thinking about what it is we want to do before we leave Southeast Asia.

I told Andrea a while back I wanted to hike to the top of Mount Kinabalu – the highest peak in the region – on my birthday. She said, “Go for it.” My plan was to hike alone because it is hard to stay on pace with another person. But then I started thinking about the times Jakeb and I have trekked and it just so happens he will be out of school then. I called and asked him if he was interested and didn’t have to convince him at all.

On May 9th-14th Jakeb has finals at Texas Tech. On May 15th he gets on a plane to Singapore. He gets to Singapore on May 17th at 12:20am. Then on May 18th he and I board a plane to Kinabalu in Borneo Malaysia. At 7:00am on May 19th (my 46th birthday) we will attempt to hike to the summit of Mount Kinabalu and back down in one day. Most tours require two days to climb to the summit. There are only four permits issued a day to do it in one. Then we fly back to Singapore on May 20th.

Jakeb will be worn out just from all of the travel. I will be worn out because I am getting old.

As if that were not enough we found out that the Sundown Marathon is on June 1st in Singapore. It starts like at 11:30 pm at night and you run to beat the sun - which is good because it is cooler. Jakeb pleaded with me to sign us up. So I did. Maybe I am foolish to think we can do both. I have been told already that I am. But what would we be if we didn't try - you have to try ...

I have plenty to train for. My goal is to train to go up. Then add enough miles to finish a marathon.

Afterwards it’s home to Texas! I can’t wait.

Singapore Marathon 2012

Like I wrote in my previous post I did not feel well prepared for the Singapore Marathon. And my feelings were true. But I finished and I have a medal and a finisher’s shirt.

It was weird not having Andrea around in the couple of days leading up to the marathon. She is in Vietnam playing Christmas music with the hand bell choir from church.

My race can be summed up in two halves. I mostly ran the first half and I mostly walked the second half.

I didn’t run with a watch and thought it would help me run an easier pace but I think I ended up pushing way too hard in the beginning because I felt like the pace was slow. Even though I realize now I was probably running way too hard.

I ended up slowing and running with the 4:15 pace group for a while. Then at 10k my legs started feeling bad. At 15k I felt like I was going to throw up. At 17k I ate my PB&J sandwich and my stomach settled down.

I made it to the half-marathon mark at about 2:10 or 2:15 and if I would have had a way home I would have dropped. I thought to myself that I had to get to the finish line to get my stuff anyway so I may as well walk there.

So I started walking fast. I didn’t pay attention to kilometer markers. I just kept drinking water and walking at a fast pace. After a while I felt okay and would jog a little. Then I would walk. I did that until the end and finished in 5:04:19.

I thought of my mom some along the way and near the end especially. It is kind of fitting that I struggled with this marathon. Mom and dad have always made sure that I knew that they loved me no matter what I did. They taught me there are consequences to my actions like running a slow marathon when you haven’t trained well. Still I can hear my mom say, “That’s okay Tommy.” And I know it is.

Singapore Marathon Training

The Singapore Marathon and I have a rocky relationship. I ran it in 2009 and it was and still is the slowest marathon I have run. Last year I signed up but didn’t even toe the starting line.

In my optimism or maybe it was my ignorance I signed up for it again this year. As soon as the email hit my inbox announcing registration was open for Singapore marathon veterans only I found myself pulling my credit card out.

With the couple of trips I’ve taken to Texas, marathon training has been hit or miss. I find myself about ten pounds heavier than I need to be and running too few miles to be able to run one of my better marathons. Now I am back at it but I am on a short schedule. I surely will not run a great time and may set a personal worst.

It may sound like I am complaining but I am not. This is a season of life where running a fast marathon hasn’t been and frankly isn’t now even near the top of my priorities. And I use the term “fast” in a most relative sense. I want to run the Singapore Marathon on December 2nd. I may even lose a couple of pounds on the journey to the starting line. But I am not even going to wear my watch in the race. I am going to run comfortably and get a medal and a finisher’s shirt. This year that has to be enough.

How can people not run?

I am sure that title is not grammatically correct. In fact it may sound arrogant to ask how people can live life without running. For me it is a coping mechanism. I know that others have other ways to cope with life – some healthy some unhealthy – but I cannot think of a way better than running.

I run when I am happy and the happiness seems to double.

I run when I am angry. I am not normally an angry person but when anger is there running dissipates whatever level of anger exists, from rage to irritation.

When I am being irrational running across the ground and allowing thoughts to run through my mind brings rationality.

On September 6th my mother died only about a month after being diagnosed with cancer. Andrea wrote about mom on our family blog here -> link. I think about mom when I run. It does not make me miss her any less. But it helps me to understand a little and remember the good things. It lessens the sting when I remember that I can’t call her today. Although the sting still exists.

How can people not run?

Tattoo two

I went back to see Moon to get a tattoo on my left arm. He is an amazing artist. If you are in Singapore and you want a tattoo you need to go see him. www.moonstrucktattoo.com

I wanted to balance myself out and I wanted to brand myself with the name of the woman I love so ...

I really like it. I think I like it more than the first one.

Christchurch Marathon 2012

On June 3rd I ran my third Christchurch Marathon. This is also the third different course I have run it on. The first year was downtown. Then there was an earthquake and it had to be moved to a small township outside of Christchurch. This year they moved it back to Christchurch and since the major sponsor is the airport it was run on the roads around the airport. This is the least favorite of the three courses for me because it had too many out and back sections. Hopefully one day it will be moved back into the city when the rebuilding is finished.

The first half of the race was sunny and was in the lower 50’s deg f. At times there was no wind and it bordered on warmish. I hit the half marathon in almost exactly two hours on my watch. Some of the miles were faster than four hour marathon pace and some slower but I was happy to hit the half in two hours. I knew that all I had to do was run a negative split to finish in less than four hours overall and at the time it felt doable.

The second half of the race was totally different. I felt strong but at about mile fifteen or so a storm blew in. It was nice that it cooled down but the wind went crazy. There was a point at around mile sixteen where the wind was so strong it stood me straight up and I felt like I was not moving at all. I probably could have walked as fast as I was running but I kept running. It was a little bit disheartening. To be fair there were a couple of times later on where I felt like I was being thrown down the road when the wind was at my back.

At about mile 18 I started passing people – a lot of people. Around mile twenty there was this guy who would almost sprint past me and then he would walk and I would pass him. This repeated itself about ten times until I dropped him around the twenty-four mile mark.

My last three miles were the fastest three miles of the race. 24th mile – 8:53, 25 mile – 8:48, 26th mile 8:45, last 0.2 – 8:42 pace. But I came up a bit short. I finished in 4:02:18 chip time (4:04:25 gun time). Given the conditions I am okay with that.  It is my fastest time in Christchurch so far. In fact I get about a minute faster each year. It is still about ten minutes off of my marathon PR.

I am encouraged that I was passing so many people at the end and I feel good about how strong I was running in the last miles. My last couple of marathons have been this way. I am considering another try at Singapore Marathon in December and I am sure it will be a different beast as far as finishing strong is concerned.

Andrea and I spent the two weeks after the marathon roaming around the South Island of New Zealand. I had a couple of really good runs on single track and lakesides in Queenstown, Te Anau, and Franz Josef. I am blessed to be able to run in such cool places.

The training is mostly done ... now it's time to run.

I have written this here before I think, but it is hard to gauge my fitness level while training for a marathon in Singapore. It is so humid and hot and there are hills. As I finish training for the 2012 edition of the Christchurch marathon I really do not know what to expect. I am confident I will finish it but I do not know how fast. I would love to break four hours because both of my other New Zealand marathons have been a bit over four.

Saturday I ran eight miles around MacRitchie. I wanted this last long run to be more than just a slow slog on flat ground so I tried to push myself. My goal was to run as close as I could to marathon pace but the hills and humidity made it almost impossible. I ran mile six 10 seconds per mile off of marathon pace as it is the only semi-flat mile on the MacRitchie trail. Based on that I think with a flat marathon course and a cold day I should be able to get close to breaking four.

The early weather forecast has Christchurch temperature at a low of 40 deg f and a high of 56 deg f and mostly sunny. Marathon weather for sure.

I have put in the training. All that is left is for me to get to Christchurch and execute. I will let you know how it goes.

Taper sickness

Night before last I had a dream that I was running the marathon in New Zealand. The weather was perfect and I was running well. That’s all I remember. I woke up and had a horrible run. I ran a mile and then turned around and walked home. I told Andrea I must have run too hard in my sleep.

Last night as I was going to sleep my throat had that feeling I get right before I get sick. I rolled over and reset the alarm clock to let me sleep in this morning.

I don't know why but this almost always happens during the taper. It is frustrating since I have been tanking up on vitamin C and trying to get enough sleep and rest and eat well. I feel much better this morning. In eleven days I am running a marathon and I do not want to get sick now!

Music moves me

This is a running blog - I know - but I love music and it is an integral part of my life and my running. Music moves me.

There is an interview that Chris Thile and Noam Pikelny of the Punch Brothers did with The Wall Street Journal on youtube here ---> link

They talk about the complexity of their music and how they find it challenging. I like listening to music that has intricacy but there are times that after a while I get to the point where I say to myself, “Yes it is incredibly impressive that you can play that but after a couple of listens it is getting really old. “

But music that has complexity and yet communicates something well and has a soul – that is the most satisfying kind of music.

To kind of paraphrase Chris Thile: “If you are going to make an appeal to the head you must also appeal to the heart and the gut. You want music that dances as well as it thinks. It must be visceral and communal.”

And that is why the Punch Brothers new album is so good. It speaks to my intellect and my emotion. Few bands can do that well but the ones who do are the ones I enjoy listening to most.

The music I listen to may be different from what you like, but today listen to some music that moves you.

Headlights - a useful accessory (& 22 miles)

This morning at 4:40 in the dark I ran down the park connector two and a half miles and then turned around and came back home. Along the way I have to cross six streets. On four of them there are no underpasses, overpasses or crosswalks. I just cross in the middle of the road.

As I approached Lower Delta I slowed a little as a taxi was coming from my right. After he passed I crossed the two lanes that head north and hit the median. I looked left and didn’t see anything coming. I took two steps into the road and a black car emerged from the shadows with his lights off. I turned hard to the right and headed back toward the median as the car swerved to miss me. I screamed at the top of my lungs “TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON!” He drove off like he didn’t hear me although his window was down and there was no way the jerk did not get the message.

I don’t know what it is about people here in Singapore who like to drive in the dark with their lights off. Singapore is well lit and you can see where you are going without the lights on. But I cannot see you. And I don’t want to die. If you drive in the dark please turn your headlights on.

I ran 22 miles on Saturday. I got no gift of rain and it was hotter than Dante’s Inferno. The first half went great. At a little more than 7 miles I looked at my Garmin and I was running an 8:22 mile. That is way too fast as I only want to run around 4 hours at Christchurch. I paid for it in the last half. I was worn out and dehydrated and had to walk quite a bit. But I am done with the long stuff. I started tapering Sunday morning with an easy three miler.

Three weeks and then a marathon in the cold. Then two weeks traveling around the South Island with Andrea. I am excited!

“The first thirty minutes of my run is for my body, the second thirty minutes is for my soul.” - George Sheehan

Claypot Laksa – the best post long run fuel ever

This week was a cut back week so my long run was only 15 miles. Because the mileage was shorter I pushed it a bit and the run was over before I knew it.

After I got done with my run I showered and headed across the street to Alexandra Food Center for what has now become a post long run habit – claypot laksa. I first ate laksa right after we moved to Singapore. Jakeb ordered it and did not like it so we switched meals and I love it.

Laksa is a soup with a coconut based spicy curry sauce. It has noodles, fried tofu, fish cakes, shrimp, cockels (which remind me of the smoked oysters I ate as a kid even though they are small clams) and sometimes a boiled egg.

The claypot laksa from the Alexandra Food Center is the best I have ever had. I always have to stand in a long line (or que) because it is so popular. It is made in a claypot (obviously) and heated in the claypot over an open flame. The sauce is thick and rich. It is piping hot when you get it and spicy enough that it brings sweat to my forehead and tears to my eyes. I normally eat it with an ice cold Guiness or Beck’s beer.

My body is depleted from running and nutritionally I am not sure claypot laksa is good for me, but I can feel my muscles and weary body soaking in the spicy goodness. I am making myself hungry.

The claypot laksa stall is open at 9am. Laksa is a popular breakfast food. They only stay open until they run out of food. Often they are closed by early afternoon because laksa finished ready.

Next week is 22 miles and then comes the taper.

A Tale of Two Long Runs

On Saturday the 21st of April I ran a 19 mile long run. Andrea was in London and it was just Anna and me at home. The day before I tried to prepare as much as possible. I drank plenty of liquids. I ate a carbohydrate rich diet. Anna and I went to Chilli’s for dinner and I got chicken pasta with marinara. I went to bed early. I should have been totally ready for the long run.

But the next morning I woke up ate some cereal, drank water and coffee, stretched, filled my pockets with gu s-caps and a half of a pb&j, grabbed my water bottle and headed out. From the first step I knew it was not going to be a good day. My legs felt shaky and running was a labor. I ran up Tanglin Road and the small hill felt like hiking in Nepal. I ran through the Botanic Gardens and almost turned around and headed home because it was nasty. There was no way I was going to be able to run 16 more miles. I filled up my water bottle and took an s-cap and ran on towards MacRitchie.

When I got to MacRitchie I was feeling better but I was running slower than normal. As I got on the trails I got a gift – it started to rain. The water felt good as it rained really hard. I made it home but the whole way was a struggle. On top of that I realized when I got home that my sleeveless shirt had chaffed the insides of my arms. Nine days later my right arm still burns.

This Saturday (the 28th) I ran 20 miles. My preparation was much the same. Andrea made chicken for dinner with steamed rice and corn. That was really the only difference.

I got up early Saturday morning and prepared the same as the previous Saturday. I got out to run and from the first step I could tell it was going to be a good day. I ran the Park Connector, through Botanic Gardens, on to MacRitchie, out to Rifle Range Road and back. It was hot but I was running one to one and a half minutes per mile faster than last week. I was not walking as much. And then as I left MacRitchie to run the last five miles home on the road I got a gift – more rain. The lightning was a bit scary but the rain was welcome. I even felt better after the run this week than I did the last.

What was different? I wish I knew. I would make every long run like the one on April 28 and I would never have another long run like April 21 again. I think it may be because Andrea was home...

Telok Blangah forest walk in the dark without lights

I ran my 5 mile “Treetop” loop this morning. It is an elevated metal sidewalk grading that goes from Alexandra Road up a hill above the tree canopy to the top Telok Blangah Hill. There are normally lights that back light the path from underneath the grading. It is a cool effect because it lights the ground below but not the air above and it is kind of like flying while you’re running in the trees.

This morning for whatever reason the lights were off. At the beginning of the trail it was no big deal because I was at street level and could see pretty well. But there is a section where the path goes into the trees where there is canopy both above and below the trail. It was dark. In Singapore it is rare to find a truly dark place. There are lights everywhere. But as I ran into the covered area of the trail I could barely see the next couple of steps in front of me but I ran on anyway.

Like life. Sometimes it is dark and you can only see the next couple of steps. But what are you going to do? You can be paralyzed by the dark and stop. Or you can run on and hope no one has removed a piece of the grading in the sidewalk.

Staple it together and call it bad weather ...

In my last post I wrote about running in the rain and not seeing anybody out on a day that would have normally had the trails crowded if it would have been sunny. Today I ran across this quote on a running website.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." - Bill Bowerman

Was Bill right? Those who chose not to run in the rain will get the last laugh if I am ever struck by lightning.

A snake and an accidental 17.5

I ran five miles this morning on the park connector. The Alexandra Park Connector is basically a sidewalk that runs either beside the canal or over the canal when the canal is a big drainage pipe underground. I get on the park connector about a half a mile from the condo and I can run on it all the way to Marina Bay Sands. This morning I turned around at the 2.5 mile mark for five miles total.

As I ran on the section where the canal is underground I approached a mosque on my left. I was minding my own business listening to Band of Skulls and I caught a slight movement on the ground to the left of my feet.

I don’t normally curse (or as we say in Texas cuss). I think that people who resort to cussing in most of their sentences don’t have the vocabulary or creativity to express themselves very well. And besides when a person doesn’t normally cuss it means something when they do.

This is a family friendly blog so I won’t tell you what I said but it started with “holy” and ended with “it”. I am surprised I did not have an accident and get “it” all over me.

To my left was the largest snake I have ever seen outside of a cage. It was right beside the park connector. Not in the deep dark woods. It was where people are every morning. The snake was longer than I am tall and I am 6 feet 2 inches tall (or 188 cm for my non-American friends) and it was as big around as a baseball bat at its fattest point.

What in the world was he/she doing there? I made so much noise when I yelled that a woman in the mosque came to the window to see what was going on. My first reaction was to take off but then I had to stop and back track to make sure I had seen what I had seen. And sure enough a big snake was just lying by the sidewalk.

There are stray cats all over the place near the mosque. Maybe that was why the snake was there. They’d better watch out or they will become breakfast.

When I ran back by on my way home the snake was gone. A snake …. In the middle of Singapore!

I other news I accidentally ran 17.5 miles on Saturday. Actually I ran 16 miles on purpose but when my garmin hit 16 I was still 1.5 miles from home. So what are you gonna do? Run the 1.5 to pad the run log of course. It was a really good run. It rained hard on me as I left the house and rained for the whole run. I ran to MacRitchie and had the trail to myself. I passed two western guys going in the opposite direction from me. Asians apparently do not run in the rain. It was awesome and it made me miss running with Jakeb.

Hanoi Vietnam

This weekend we decided to get away from Singapore and see another place on our list of places to see before we leave Southeast Asia. On Friday Andrea, Anna and I boarded a plane in Singapore bound for Hanoi Vietnam. While we were there we walked around town, ate a lot of pho, shopped and took a trip to Ha Long Bay. All of it was really good.

Ha Long Bay was impressive but we have been spoiled by having been to Milford Sound so it didn't wow us like it would have had we been there first.

Now that I have been to Hanoi I am not sure I would go back a second time but I am glad we got to go on this trip. It is always good to spend uninterrupted time with Andrea and Anna no matter where we are. We played a lot of digital hangman and I dominated of course...

Before we left Singapore I got my long run in on Thursday so I would not have to run long in a strange place. I am glad I did. Hanoi is dusty and pollution is pretty bad and I would not want to run a couple of hours and breathe that stuff in big gasping breaths more than necessary. I have a Hanoi sore throat as it is. I did get to run twice.

Saturday morning I got up stretched and walked out on the streets at about 6:45am. Our hotel was on a very local street and right outside of the door a lady was cleaning and selling fish. There are women everywhere with a pot of steaming soup for sale on the sidewalk while their patrons sit on small stools about a foot off of the ground sipping from a plastic bowls full of hot liquid with various forms of vegetables, noodles and meat mixed in and drinking from clear cups of black or creamy coffee.

I weaved through the crowded sidewalks and jumped over sleeping dogs until I made it to the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake about half a mile from the hotel. The sidewalk around the lake was crowded with people walking and running and exercising. It was a little over a mile around the lake so I ran it four times to get five miles in. The second time around the lake there was a guy carrying a dog. The dog was trying to get out of his arms and was trashing wildly all over the place. To avoid a collision I side stepped into a hole and rolled my ankle. I was ticked off. I limped around for a little while and it started to feel better. I ran tentatively on it for a while and within a half a mile was able to run normally. Close call. I would hate to have marathon training ruined by a crazy dog and a poorly maintained sidewalk.

There was a man that showed up on my second lap around the lake. He had a black singlet with red trim and super short shorts that were black with a wide red lace waistband. He tiptoed in his walking shoes in the street off of the sidewalk where everyone would notice him and swung his hand in a very effeminate way by his side. All of the locals seemed to know him. He may have looked manly in normal street clothes but not so much in his exercise gear.

There were many people doing Tai Chi on the sidewalks. Some of it was very regimented like Tai Chi normally is but some of it was really free form with mostly older people swinging their hips with their arms in the air while others were doing something completely different to the twangy Asian music. I had to laugh.

I ran the same route on Monday morning before we flew home. The same people were at the lake doing the same exercises.