Back from Tanzania

We are back from a 2-week trip to Southern Tanzania and Zanzibar. It was great - a little hot at times but beautiful places, friendly people, some good animal and bird viewing, lots of cultural experiences and excellent food. Unfortunately not too many opportunities for running, except once in Stone Town in Zanzibar and then a few times at Ras Kutani, a coastal resort south of Dar Es Salaam on the Indian Ocean. This photograph was taken on the track from the lodge to the 'main' road. I ran there on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and then an hour on the treadmill at the Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar Es Salaam on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night at around 1100P we boarded our KLM flight from DAR to Amsterdam, where we arrived at 0700A on Friday, after about 9 hours in the air. Then we spent 3 hours at Schiphol Airport cooling our heels before a 9-hour 40-minute flight non-stop to Houston. It was nice to see the boys and the dogs again - and our house had a new roof. Jet-lagged or not, I took Daisy for an easy 4-mile run which she probably enjoyed more than me. Kath and I went out for a quick vegan BBQ sandwhich at Field of Greens and pretty much crashed around 900P. I was feeling very close to my expiration date.

Feeling a lot better this morning; very pleasant 6-mile run along the Bayou - Daisy again in tow. She is loving the running, but is still so distracted when there are other people or dogs around, that she refuses to drink any water along the way. Hopefully when it gets warmer that won't be a problem.

I've left myself preciously little time to prepare properly for Boston, but at least I am healthy. The knee injury seems to be a thing of the past. I guess I will have to lower my expectations from trying to re-qualify to just finishing under 4 hours. It is Boston after all: enjoying the experience and soaking it all in is part of the experience.