Another fine day -- with little structure. Wil and I have decided to run every day while we are on the cruise... possibly beyond that. Most of the week was a given, since we have so many group runs. But today we were up to our own devices, so we got up, got dressed, and went up to the deck to run a mile.
STILL stupid windy... but this time hot. Oh Dear. Should have added more time to my predicted race finish times!
We had to come back down to the room and shower before we could get breakfast -- we were that gross. From running a mile. Yowzers.
Very unscheduled all day -- so we did a little nosing around in the shops, attempted - twice -- to attend a shopping seminar (yeah, that was dumb), eating breakfast and lunch in the dining room (a meatless eggs benedict for breakfast, a massive salad and gnocchi for lunch), lounging in "the tongue" at the pool, and we went to hear John's talk.
I love hearing John talk about running, especially when he tells his story about getting started. But he also told some stories I hadn't heard before:
Talking to former marathon world-record holder Khalid Khannochi after the Chicago Marathon...
John: "What's the longest you've ever run?"
Khalid: "It was my worst ever marathon finish -- 2:12."
Aside from John to us -- now, most people in this room have run or walked longer than 2 hours and 12 minutes... so we've got ENDURANCE.
John: "I ran 5:37 today."
Khalid: "That's pretty fast for a guy your age..."
John: "No, you MOOK... 5 HOURS, 37 MINUTES..."
And a riff about what it's like at the back of the pack:
Post-race food? POST-race food? I didn't know there WAS post-race food for 4 or 5 years... by the time I got to the finish, there wasn't any... maybe a cookie on the floor or something.
And his classification of runners into four basic types:
1. Real fast. (The elites)
2. Pretty fast. (The sub elites)
3. Kinda fast. ("Trophy sniffers")
4. Penguins.
After the talk we settled in at Boleros for the happy hour -- 2-for-1 rum punches (of course!). this time sitting in the bar and enjoying the gentility of it all. Later we went ack to the cabin and enjoyed our sunny balcony, writing and reading till it was time to go for dinner.
Tonight we sat with Bud and Claudia from North Dakota, Ralph from Ohio, and Judy from Arizona. Again, two people didn't show up for dinner... I think we'll start to develop a complex about that... For dessert I couldn't decide between the cherries jubilee and the cheese plate. I said I'd share the cherries jubilee with Wil... and proceeded to EAT ALL OF IT. Best part was that Bud called me out on it before I had even noticed. Oops. So, apparently, I like cherries jubilee. But don't feel too bad for Wil... he had a rum baba AND a Jaffa cake...
After dinner we headed up to Olive or Twist with John and Jenny and soon were joined by a lot of our fellow runners.
Amusing moment: before any else ha arrived, the four of us shifted chairs and tables around to accommodate a largish group. A handful of JoCo cruisers were shopping for a table where they could see the track, because they were thinking of running around it. One of them nervously said, "Wait, do I have to run ALL THE WAY AROUND IT????"
Just then Belinda and some others arrived, a discussion of groups and tables arrived, and they shifted own so our group could stay together. Nice young chaps. (One left his DS sitting on the table... someone in our groups said to him, "You left your, um, phone?" He said he didn't have his phone with him, so Wil said "It's your DS.") Neeeerrrrd Boooooaaaat!
(I should quickly point out that Wil and I firmly qualify as nerds... and that "NEEEEEERRRRRD BOOOOOOAAAAAT!" was a greeting by someone's Mii when street-passing with Wil. Yes, we ARE nerds...)
Tomorrow is our first early day -- a 7am race briefing before the ship docks at 8. Tomorrow we run in St. Maarten!
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