Friday, February 18, 2011

4:30am Run - Part 3 End of the Week

I Jedi mind tricked my way out of the camp this morning.  I had seen a trail not far from the camp’s gate that I wanted to check out, so as I got to the gate this morning I willed the guard not to notice me, or at least not to care.  “I’m not the one you’re looking for.”  Really I just waved and took the dismissive nod as “whatever, stupid gringo” and I sped off into the dark before he’d have a chance to realize what I was doing.  Unfortunately that was about the highlight of the adventure.

About 30 yards down the trail, just around the corner, I came to a stagnant stream about knee deep.  I was tempted to cross but just at the edge of my flashlight beam I could see the dark out line of a crocodile.  Or a log.  Whatever it was, along with the “beware of crocodile” road signs I had seen, the rustling in the bushes and the eerie shadows my weak flashlight was casting I decided I’d already had enough and headed back.

Unwilling to completely forgo my excursion I ran a mile down the road hoping to hit the turn off to a smaller road that lead up towards the hills surrounding the mine.  After a mile I still couldn’t see the turn off and I wasn’t having fun running on the rutted shoulder of the road, in the dark, hoping some passing mine car wouldn’t stop to tell me what I was doing was unsafe (in Spanish) so I headed back to the camp to finish my run on the now boring, but well lit streets.

Overall the week wasn’t terribly exciting, but I did manage to get out for 5 runs totaling about 35 miles.  Better than I had expected and much better than the 0 miles I would have had even a month ago.

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