Four and a half hours

 Running

I was successful. I finished a 4.5 hour run.  The first four hours weren't too bad.  I actually managed my 4.5 mile loop 4 times in record time, as in faster then the last time I tried to run 4 loops.  The wheels came off at the end of that.  I had dropped from 10 minute to 11 minute miles, but I really thought I could maintain at least 12 minute pace for my last half hour.  However, I started feeling dizzy.  So, I tried mixing in some running with some walking and headed back to the apartment to refill my bottle with water.  I kept moving that last half hour, but instead of 23 miles, I only managed 22.

I have one more four and a half hour run to do.  Hopefully, I can hit 23 miles on that effort.

Tomorrow, I'm only doing three loops easy (~14 miles) and then adding 3 more miles at marathon pace or whatever I can stand.  I really felt like fast finish runs like this prepared me well for the California International Marathon (CIM), and I want fit some into this training cycle.

Travel

One thing that hasn't suffered too much since retirement is travel.  I've already gone into the whole Panama escapade.  We bought another trailer and traveled to Texas from California, then up to Washington.

White Sands

  We also took a Gate 1 tour of eastern Europe in 2022.  It included Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Tirana

Bled Slovania

Then to the Columbia River Gorge.

Mount Saint Helens

In 2023 we returned to Amsterdam to meet our son during his Math conference that he was attending.

They make some fabulous hot chocolate in the Netherlands.

Then we flew into Portugal, the Algarve

We went to a few places in Portugal, Coimbra, Porto, Lisbon, Nazare, and Evora.  We found some Roman ruins.

Then we took a ship out of Lisbon and did a trans-Atlantic crossing.  

But I'll save the rest for another post

El Valle

 El Valle, Panama is a small town situated in the crater of an extinct volcano.  This mountain peak is part of the crater rim.

The elevation here is about 2000 feet and this makes the region cooler than the coast of Panama from whence we came.  However, the humidity is still quite high.  This combination of cool weather and high humidity resulted in difficulties with drying my running gear.

I managed to pick out a 2 mile loop, relatively pot-hole free, close to our rental that resulted in runs a little over 4 miles.  I even did some intervals, hill sprints, and tempo runs. However, the mask restrictions still inhibit me from trying to do more.

Right down the road from our rental was a butterfly house.

I started going with my wife on her bird watching walks after my run.  I wanted to spend more time with her, and it was a great way to add to my weekly mileage, even if it wasn't running.  I don't have a camera that really does a great job with birds.

I couldn't get a good picture of the crested oropendula either.  But we did find their nests.

During one of these walks we came upon a sloth.  We didn't get a good picture.  But the next day we came upon a second that was much closer, and my wife got a great video.

Wally and I decided to give Papaya another try.

The house we rented had a great outdoor gazebo with a grill, outdoor stove top, and hammocks.  We managed a couple of barbecues.  It was tricky getting a fire started with all the humidity.  I let my wife handle the fire starting part because it's something she excels in.  The resulting food wasn't as great as what I could produce in a Primo or even in my little Weber, but it was a nice change.

I made some meatballs.  I'm in Panama and not Sweden, so these are Panish meatballs.

I didn't take any pictures of the outdoor produce market, but it was nice.  Our monthly food expense  has dramatically decreased in Panama, and particularly here in El Valle.  However, I wouldn't say that I'm eating healthier.

A month in El Valle was fun.  Now we need to return to Panama City to pick up our permanent residency cards.

Panama

So my gut reaction is to say 2020 was a crap year.  Poppy passed away, there's a worldwide pandemic that has limited travel opportunities, I broke a tooth by way of an epic fall while running. 

Still, the rest of my family have our physical health.  I don't know anyone in my family or friends who has passed from this dreadful disease.  So I am feeling a bit grateful for that.  Mental health probably features a little depression all around.

Going a little stir crazy, and hearing that Panama had reopened its borders, my wife and I pushed ahead with our plan to seek residency in Panama.  The rate limiting step was the apostille for our FBI criminal background checks.  This wasn't surprising given the state of the government during the election, complicated by the pandemic.

We hired a pet relocation specialist to help with moving Wally.  That was expensive!

With papers in hand, we contacted our Panamanian lawyer and got the green light to go to Panama.  

We shed most of our furniture and things we could bear to part with, and put the rest into a very small storage space.

We were able to procure a RT-PCR test with a less than 48 hour turn around time.  We bought some KN95 masks.  Finally we rented a car, sold our car,  and made our way to the airport.  We flew first/business class in hopes of maintaining some physical distance between us and our fellow passengers.

There were no major problems in transit.  Passing through customs was a breeze.  We got to our Airbnb by taxi.  We spent a month in Panama City.

Wally arrived safely.  It's a warm place for a little Cairn Terrier.

The mornings are beautiful, but still too warm for me to run more than 4 miles while trying to wear a mask. 

But I did manage one 8 mile run.

We took a boat ride on the Panama Canal and saw all types of wildlife, including monkeys.

After spending February in Panama City, we arranged for transport to a beach resort area.

I brought the necessary tools to workout.

Tortillas in Panama are these little corn cakes.  I like mine cooked in butter with an egg and cheese on top.

I've seen some interesting insects.

We went down to meet the fishing boat and bought some fish.  I think it is a Spanish Mackerel.  We had them gut them for us.  It was 3 dollars for both fish, but I tipped the guy 2 for gutting them for us.

4 miles?

We are leaving the coast soon in order to explore the much cooler highlands.  Hopefully I can get some decent running distance in.

Spain

This summer, my wife and I decided to spend our summer vacation in Spain, well, at least part of our summer.

We didn't plan it, but we ended up visiting the 4 most populated cities in Spain; Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, and Barcelona.  What I mean to say, is that we didn't pick these cities because they were the most populated.  We flew into Madrid, so it was a no brainer to stay and visit a few days.  We wanted to see Seville, Granada, and perhaps Gibraltar, so we picked Malaga as a base camp  for those places.  Ironically we didn't go to any of those other places because we kept plenty busy in Malaga, and Seville and Granada just got too damn hot!  We chose Valencia because we thought public transport would get us there - we ended up taking a plane.  Barcelona was on our must visit list.

We stayed a couple of nights in Madrid overlooking the plaza mayor.

They were having a big event celebrating the UEFA Champions League Final.  A lot of English folk were in Madrid, even more than usual, due to the two teams being from Liverpool and Tottenham (London).

I really enjoyed the Jamon, and there was a lot of it.

We tried a "Spanish" omelette, and it was quite tasty.  The omelette was like a frittata with potato and onion. We had this in the morning in a local market - its like a big warehouse with lots of little shops facing internal walkways.  Sitting nearby was a fellow having a beer, and another with hard coffee.  Never too early in Madrid I suppose.

Of course I ran in Madrid.

The other three cities were on the southern coast.  In Malaga we had Paella.

We visited the Alcazaba and Castillo Gibralfaro, where we found a little museum and these miniatures!

Every Spanish city has churches.

We enjoyed some fried seafood.

 The Spanish are very into having tuna on their ensalada.

And I ran...

We went to a couple of cave complexes in Malaga, and took a hike in the nearby hills.  We got to visit a pueblo blanco.

We then went to Valencia.  We had to take an early taxi to the airport to catch a plane that flew us from Malaga to Lisbon, to Valencia.  They made me check my bag on the second plane.  In Valencia we rented bikes and saw this impressive edifice (Opera House).

Valencia diverted its river after a 1957 flood, and transformed the old riverbed into this awesome park where we road our bikes and I ran.

We only stayed two nights in Valencia, and I think in hindsight I would have subtracted a couple of nights from Malaga to add to this wonderful city.  In addition to some more Paella, and the best Italian dinner in Spain, we had a snack of "Fartons" and "Tiger Nuts" drink.

Our final destination of note was Barcelona. Here I ran, ate, and saw some cool scenery.

These last 3 items we saw while on our E-bike tour.  

We spent our last night back in Madrid, puttering about a hotel near to the airport.  

Other than this last night we rented places through Airbnb.  My favorites were the first place over the Plaza Mayor, and a top floor flat in Barcelona with  a wonderful, very large roof-top terrace.  In Malaga we had a private roof-top terrace, but its view was no good, and access was via a stair-well.  The wifi didn't extend that far.  Not so Barcelona, the terrace was basically a porch out the glass doors of the living space.  We had easy access, an expansive view of the city including La Sagrada Familia, and wifi!

We didn't rent a car.  In addition to the aforementioned plane trip through Lisbon, we took trains: Madrid to Malaga, Valencia to Barcelona, and Barcelona back to Madrid.  We used the bus, a couple of taxis, bikes, and our own two legs to get around.  We may return to Spain in the near future and spend a couple of months enjoying the Spanish lifestyle to it fullest.