year I laced up my shoes for the half marathon and finished third.
This year, time got away from me and I actually forgot about the race
until April. Though I had been running off and on for exercise for
months, 8 weeks wouldn't have been nearly enough time to train
appropriately for the half marathon. So I opted for the 10K and
produced the same results, a third place finish. I was eight seconds
away from second place and about 30 seconds slower than my goal time
but a cold that popped up late this week slowed my race time a bit.
And yeah, I know, excuses are like......blah, blah blah. But it's
legit, you try running 10K in the tropics with a head full of goo!
Despite the slower race time than I aimed for, the day was a lot of
fun. This year we had a good turnout of Peace Corps Volunteers for
the 10K. Girls and guys, nine in total, everyone had a pretty good
time. And let me tell you, running in Samoa has spoiled me because
when I go back to running races in the states and I get a bottle of
Gatorade instead of a fresh young coconut to drink at the end of the
race, it will be a sad day.
On to Samoa current events, the big news is that the Samoa Rugby
Sevens won the sevens world championship. For those of you who don't
know, because I sure as hell didn't before I came here, sevens is a
modified version of rugby. There are seven players a side, on a
regular rugby field (I think), and they play two 7 minute halves with
a continuous clock. It's a very quick game that will never catch on in
the states because 14 minutes is not nearly enough time to allow for
the gluttonous and alcoholic behaviors that are maxims of the US
sports spectator experience. As far as I know most the rules for
rugby remain the same. Now don't quote me on that because that is
what I have gathered from the few matches I have watched and I am far
to disinterested in the sport to allocate personal time for my self-
education of sevens. Naturally everyone in the country is very proud
of the team and the government here has actually called a public
holiday on Monday to honor the achievement and hold a parade and
celebration ceremony.
I haven't decided if I am going to go down and see the festivities on
Monday or not. It would be nice but at the same time I have some
deadlines to meet and it's hard enough getting things done without
impromptu public holidays. (mind you we had two public holidays last
week) So I am thinking a quick stop down to take a look and satisfy
my curiosity will be the extend of my participation.
And with that i am off to have the usual to'ona'i (the Sunday meal)
with Misa, Leilani and TJ. Always enjoyable and more than filling. I
never eat breakfast on Sundays to try and offset the massive caloric
intake that occurs every Sunday at 11:00am. I'll try to get some pics
of the race up on my picasa webalbum soon. Keep an eye our for them.
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