parlez vous anglais?

Sorry for the hiatus, turns out I'm not so good at this posting thing, but I will try and be a bit more consistent as we are in the final countdown for the marathon. April 25. T-20 days.

At least the delay has a sort of logical explanation this time. One of the great perks of being a school teacher

AND living in a Catholic country means that I get an insane amount of time off work around the Easter holidays. I was fortunate enough to have two of my Hockaday friends, Taylor and Amy, come over and wander around Spain and Morocco for a while. It was really nice to be a tourist in Madrid again and experience Spain with fresh eyes.

We spent a few days in Madrid (with a day trip to Toledo) before heading over to Marrakech for three days. I don't really know what I was expecting to find there but it was way more crazy than I could have imagined. I didn't really think I could find a place that could

compete with the smells of New Delhi but Marrakech's streets challenged my senses from the first morning we arrived. Donkeys, freshly slaughtered meat, stale pee, vegetables, spices, fruit, bread. It was crazy. We were all a little hesitant about negotiating the crazy streets of Marrakech but adjusted after a few hours.

I'll update later with some details and pictures of the trip, but I'll leave you for now with a summary of recent runs.

14 last week: one of the most horrible runs ever. OUCH

10 mile this past Friday: actually really great (especially with some help from Amy) and a nice surprise considering I took a 3 day break in Morocco

20 miler on Sunday: the BIG run. It was big. And painful. All of that optimism from the 10 mile pretty much went out the window in the first twenty minutes. Even though I was grandma running near the end, I did finish. My legs aren't really working properly today which is a precursor for how fun it will be to run after children the day after the marathon. Ouch.

Talk soon, Whit

the flow

Thought y'all might find this interesting in light of my vague post yesterday about rhythm...

Athletes who achieve their peak performance usually experience something that has come to be known as “flow,” a concept introduced to the world in the 1970s by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow is “a state of consciousness where one becomes totally absorbed in what one is doing, to the exclusion of all other thoughts and emotions,” according to Susan A. Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi, authors of Flow in Sports (Human Kinetics, 1999). “So flow is about focus.” In other words, when you experience that running nirvana during which everything seems effortless, you are probably thinking associatively.

I'm a car

So, I am right in the middle of the most intense part of the training, and I am proud to say that I did survive the 18-miler this Saturday. WOOOOOOHOOOOOO. As my friend so elegantly put it, i am now officially a car with that kind of mileage. As strange as it sounds, i didn't actually think I would be able to do this before last weekend when I finished 16. Over and over again I have heard people say, "If you can run 13, you can run a marathon." Turns out, I am starting to believe them.

Here's the tough part about this whole running business - I can now run 18 miles (and hopefully more), but there are days where 5 miles is the most painful thing in the world. I just don't get it. Sometimes it actually feels better to know I have to run 18 rather than just 5. With a short run, I never really get into the rhythm of everything, if that makes any sense.

Ok, well off to bed. Just wanted to give everyone an update of where I am in the training and let you all know that I think I might pull this off. I'll leave you with things I currently LOVE:

1. Body Glide

When I run for that long, my body starts to rebel against my own clothing, particularly

seams and edges. Sounds gross, but this anti-chafing gel rocks and has saved me from body burns.

2. Casa de Campo

I cannot say it enough. This park is AMAZING. It gets a really bad rep because of the plethora of prostitutes at all of its entrances, but once inside, it looks like a national park. Also, it makes it much easier to run 18 miles when I don't have to

do laps :)

3. My foam roll

For those of you who have not encountered the wonder that is the foam roll, I strongly encourage you to head to your nearest physical therapist NOW. This really is one of the most amazing devices I have ever found and is an athlete's best friend. Basically, its just a small tube made of foam but it acts as a deep tissue massage for all of those aches and pains (calves, IT band, lower back...). It sounds crazy but it has saved me from limping down the street in Madrid.

As always, thank you to everyone for the kind notes and support. I will send an update on the fundraising efforts as soon as I hear back from Colby.

Un abrazo,

Whit

the rain in spain

So, I don't know how this is possible, but it's been warmer in Waterville than in Madrid. That's just sad and it makes for very depressing running weather. Case in point - on Saturday I had to run part of my long run (15 miles) inside. Booo. I have decided there is nothing more depressing than a treadmill, even if it does make me run faster and doesn't have hills.

So after about three weeks of rain, the weather finally cleared today and made for a very excellent 8 mile. Here's the thing about Madrid, even with the lack of athleticism coming from the female sex, people still really do enjoy being outside, especially when its nice. Madrid has some of the best parks in Europe and madrileños really do take advantage of every free second to dar una vuelta around the city. So, instead of seeing rain and mud, today I had the joy of seeing many couples making out, tons of MEN exercising, and a bunch of hookers...let me explain.

One of the best parts about living in a new place is learning about things that locals consider normal that are so not normal. In Madrid, people generally live with their parents until they get married. This makes it very difficult for them to hook up at home, so people tend to hook up in public...a lot. Winter and bad weather have kept the parks pretty quiet over the past few weeks, but today I witnessed the joy that is the public make out sesh ALL over Madrid. It sort of reminds me of this day at Colby we used to call skirt day. On the first sunny, warmish day after Winter, all girls at Colby would collectively, unconsciously decide to wear a skirt. It was always the unofficial announcement of Spring and quickly reminded all Colby men that women do indeed have skin underneath layers and layers of jackets.

Along with seeing copious amounts of hooking up, I can safely say that I ran for over an hour today and did not see one female working out. It really is the strangest thing. In a country with good-looking people and really great football clubs, why do women just smoke and not eat? With the nice weather, a ton of people were outside exercising today, all of whom were men. This will make for a very interesting marathon where I hear about 10,000 people run, 500 of whom are women. Qué morro!

Ok, the last, and most interesting part of my run was the presence of hookers in Casa de Campo. If you ask any madrileño about Casa de Campo, they will first ask you about the prostitutes. It seems that this sprawling piece of land is the hooker capital of the city...day or night. Today, I had the privilege of seeing three prostitutes in white pirate boots on the side of the road with their pimp at about 5:30 in the afternoon. I have also seen such interactions on Saturday morning at about 11. Seems like there is no wrong time to walk the streets, even with children and bikers cruising around the park. I have never in my life witnessed such an odd social interaction where families and prostitutes accept each other without a thought. Hmmm, I have a feeling that wouldn't work so well in Dallas.

On another note, I recently received a note from Colby telling me that the current donation total is $1, 522! That is AMAZING, and I am so grateful for everyone who has given money and taken an interest in the cause. Please know that every little bit counts and it is especially motivating when I feel like my legs are going to fall off.

Besos,

Whit

It's been a while...oops

Buenas tardes,

Sorry I have been so bad about posting lately. The past few weeks have brought a few surprises and made it a little difficult to find spare time...

This past week, I found myself on an impromptu trip across the ocean back to Dallas. Really last minute, so I apologize to everyone who I didn't see. Turns out that switching your internal clock a few hours over a few days isn't such a good strategy for training, so things have been a little rough over the past couple days.

Last week, I passed the 13-mile marker. Woot! Far easier said than done, I might add. It went pretty well until about mile 10, when I felt like I was going to fall over and die. Turns out that I'm pretty bad at following directions. That whole thing about eating mid-run doesn't really work for me. The problem is in that 13 mile run, my watch told me I burned about 2000 calories. Oops. So running 13 miles on a couple of scoops of shredded wheat doesn't really work. Who knew? So, I went to Luke's Locker in Dallas last weekend and filled up on all sorts of gels, jelly beans, and gummy concoctions. Hopefully, that will help when I feel like my body will implode. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I'm a little confused on how I'm supposed to eat when that is the last thing I want to do...

I am trying to get a count from Colby about the current fundraising amount. So, I will try and let everyone know where we stand soon. Thanks again for all the emails and support. It really does help around mile 9 :)

On another note, I have been thinking a lot lately about the last day at Gandhi Ashram. The day before we left, we had a big performance. All of the kids from the different classes presented on something they had been doing during the month. This ranged from a song about erosion to an acapella rendition of Don't Stop Believin, and of course many of the kids played the violin. The kids were obviously so proud to show off their newly acquired skills. For our art classes, Cali and I created a gallery space where we hung up selected pieces the kids had created during the month - from drawings practicing one-point linear perspective to self-portraits. More than anything, it was the pride the kids had in their own work that was so valuable to see.

The last day was horrible. Imagine about ten nine-years olds crying and hanging out your every limb. It was painful and made it very difficult to leave. That morning, all of the kids were bringing us flowers and presents from their houses. Sometimes, they would give us some of the most valuable things in from their house. I even had one of my students give me a photograph of her family, the only picture they had in the house.

I want to share as much as I can about this place to impress on you its importance not only to the community of Kalimpong but also to Colby students as well. I remember going back to Sikkim that day and feeling that somehow we had come back to reality. Thank you again for all of your support.

Donate! PLEASE!

I wanted to update this week with more information about how to donate and how the money will be used to benefit the kids at the Gandhi Ashram. Recently, I have been talking to Professor Roy (one of the founders of the program with Colby and a close friend of the Gandhi Ashram) who has presented a very interesting idea of how best to help the kids. GA is special because of its ability to change the future for a few children around Kalimpong. They are given the opportunity to change the course of their lives and the lives of their families. Even at a very young age, the kids are aware of this gift and take advantage of the education awarded them. Professor Roy has recently told me that a few of the students, upon graduating from the Gandhi Ashram, are interested in pursuing a college career. Coming from Kalimpong, this is an amazing achievement and will most assuredly support their families for the rest of their lives. In total, it cost about $6,000 to send these students to school. I will ask you again to please consider donating to this very special cause.

In the next few weeks, I will post information about these students and their planned career paths. Hopefully, with a face and a name this cause will become as personal to you as it is to me. I assure all of you that this gift would be so important to these students and they would take advantage of the opportunity.

I have also updated information on how to donate to the Gandhi Ashram. With the help of Colby (thank you), I have provided a link so that people can donate by credit card. Thank you again for all of your support. The training is moving along well. 12 miles this past Saturday! Wooohoo!

Ouch.

So the double digit 10-miler was on Saturday. Ouch. No really, it was painful. The type of pain that makes you want to stop and take a taxi home. Luckily, I had a friend meet me about three miles into the run (thank you Julia!) and having those extra legs next to me made me finish it out. I do wonder what I've gotten myself into sometimes. I ran a half-marathon in college so figured that a full wouldn't be that much different. After running this 10, I really did realize how much farther I have to go. Ouch.

I actually would really appreciate any suggestions from "real" runners out there. See I have this problem where my legs turn into concrete after a few runs. Right now my calves feel like stones. Anyone have any remedies that would help me out? 12 miles is next week for the long run. Let's hope it goes better...