Uphill

A series of family emergencies got together and decided to cut loose at exactly the same time. Thus, I found myself in the town of my birth, my husband had to care for his sister who became ill suddenly, and a friend of ours had to honcho up the move from Austin to Monterrey. It has only been a week and a half, but it seems like it was a couple of years. The only upside of this was that I did my second 5K, but it was in the Houston airport and I was wearing sandals.

Thanks to the airplane trip, my ears are acting up again and I am dizzy, but this morning I at least did the mild training session Adrián set up for me--a 50 minute walk. Part of the way I trotted, just for the heck of it, especially the uphill parts. Upon my return I also discovered that a couple of the jerks doing Iron Man training have decided they are informed enough to start their own training groups, and they have abandoned the rest of us, though not without first trying to lure away all the advanced runners/athletes in the group. The whole thing was plotted over coffee one day (according to my spy), and without saying anything to Adrián except "goodbye", off they went. Man alive, you just can't get past politics no matter where you are, even if it's in the park! And for my politically incorrect comment of the day, let me make clear that if you give a Mexican a few ideas and a title (even if it's "I finished the Iron Man!!"), you've got an instant "expert" who casts humility and common sense to the winds. It's one of the national curses.

Nevertheless, just doing the little I did today made me feel alive once more. The heat is so terrible during the day that morning running is the only option, but I have capped the morning's activity by digging in my vegetable plot. This counts as cross-training, I believe. I am going to enlarge the area for next year's veggies and put up a low fence around it to keep dogs and small children out. If any of you out there are gardeners, check out this unbelievable but true fact, straight from Texas A & M, which I have tried and can vouch for: Fungus on plants can be killed by spraying the plants with a combination of skim milk and water. Yes, folks, weird as it sounds, this is a science-based discovery and not some oddball notion thought up by a little old lady who putters amongst her flowers.

Tomorrow is a rest day in my schedule, and it is also Father's Day. All of the family are going to a restaurant tomorrow for lunch to celebrate dads.