Tired

I woke up this morning feeling pretty lousy. Nevertheless, I got up at the usual 7:00 and ate a nice hearty breakfast of pancakes, yogurt, juice, and bread. I was still feeling pretty sluggish after this, so I laid down for a few minutes to try and rest it off.

I woke up a few hours later feeling only a bit better. I had trouble sleeping the night before and it´s been a pretty tough training week. I guess I´m just over tired.

Yesterday was the big election that has been polluting Ecuador´s TV airwaves since I´ve been here. I don´t really speak enough Spanish to understand the fine points of the election, but basically one side wants a constitutional reform (this is the current president and the seemingly more liberal side) while the other side wants to get rid of the current president and keep the old constitution (this side is managed by the current Mayor of Guayaquil).

Well, the result was sí, or yes, by a pretty hefty margin (something like 65%). I was a little nervous yesterday when a woman in a store told me that there were going to be riots and protests just as in Cuba and Bolivia. I´m really hoping the country doesn´t fall apart. So far, so good (I think).

Benedicte, my flatmate, left last night on a night bus to the jungle. She´s doing a 4 or 5 day trip there with a language school. Apparently they take classes in the morning and do excursions in the afternoon. It sounds pretty cool and I´m going to have her give me the report on it when she gets back. As long as I can still maintain my training there, I think it would be fun. I´d love to see the jungle.

I think that this coming weekend, we´re going to head to the coast for a few days. Benedicte leaves next week, so we figure it´s as good a time as any. I´m not too worried because I´ve now been at 9500 ft or higher for a month. A few days down at sea level will be nice. I can get in some good fast running! And more importantly, relax a bit, enjoy some warm weather, and have a grand ol time.

In other news, I´ve gotten strangely nostalgic for things from home. And they haven´t been the things I would expect like my house or my room. It´s strange little things that I didn´t think about much but were, now that I´m thinking about it, a big part of what I did. Here´s a brief list:

Driving. Though I would never want to drive here (the drivers are absolutely insane!), I really miss driving. I never really realized it until now but just driving around from place to place and listening to music often accompanied by Annie or Duncan or Paxton or whomever was a really relaxing time for me.

Running in Concord. Running here is a huge mixed bag. In one sense, it´s great to have the altitude. A little resistance is really great. On the other hand (and I don´t think this is just Quito) running in cities super sucks. There´s a ton of pollution from big ugly buses, and more importantly a bunch of people who have no sense of sidewalk etiquitte. I´m constantly having to duck into the street or into a bush to avoid plowing over a bunch of slowly meandering Quiteños. Moreover, I also hate having to stop for stoplights which, until I get to the Carolína, is something I have to do pretty often. I really miss some of my routes at home. I miss running on Harrington Avenue, I miss my big triangle of lowell rd, 225, and 62. I miss knowing exactly where I am and exactly what pace I´m running. I also miss running on trails. I miss having people to run with. I miss running with Annie through estabrook or with David around Concord center.

Duncan´s living-room: I was thinking last night about this place. It was honestly one of the first places that I began to miss. It´s a little wierd, but I think it makes sense. So many of my memories over the last few years have taken place in Duncan´s living room. I miss playing rock band with Max and Pax and Duncan and Will and watching ridiculous movies just chilling out and listening to telefon tel aviv.

Elson: For some reason, I really miss Annie´s huge dog, Elson. Perhaps it´s just a manifestation of something that reminds me of her and it´s easier to miss a dog than a person, but either way, I miss you, Elson.

I guess all these things are the kind of things that were really important to me but I never really realized it before. All of these things were a part of my life on a daily level and I guess I took them for granted. Oh well, it´s all good. I´ll be back soon enough.