Running in Circles

I think one thing that has contributed to my recent happiness has been regular exercise. As I have mentioned before, Javier and I get up to work-out right before 6am Monday through Saturday. Every day we alternate going to lift weights at the nearby gym (there are actually at least THREE gyms within a block and a half of our house, but that's a different story) and running around the track at the neighborhood soccer field/stadium.

Lifting weights is not generally my preferred activity. I don't normally do it back home in the states. I like the feeling of accomplishment I have afterward, but while I'm in the midst of a workout, it's not really a rewarding experience for me. Running, on the other hand, keeps me sane (regardless of the fact that most people tell me that I'm certifiably INsane whenever I share that I've been getting up before 6am to run). Anyone who knows me well enough to follow this blog knows I'm a runner; I ran track and cross country every year from 7th grade through my junior year of college. I love it.

So when my cell phone alarm shocks me into consciousness at 5:50am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the initial feelings of agony and discomfort I have in response to being robbed of blissful sleep quickly subside when I remember: we get to RUN today! After groggily getting dressed, it's then my challenge to wake Javier up. He enjoys running way less than I do and is never happy when he hears me knock on the bedroom door and sweetly sing "Javier, Buenos Días!" But because Raquel really wants him to lose weight (and he wants to himself as well, he's just not a "morning person"), she forces him to get out of bed. So then we walk the three blocks to the soccer stadium, which at 6am (by then it's light outside), is already occupied by half a dozen or so people running, walking, doing "stadiums" on the steps and/or doing jumping jacks, sit-ups and push-ups. And sometimes there are just people sitting in the bleachers talking or watching -- at 6 in the morning. (One time when we came at 6am on a Saturday there was a group of four people wearing nice clothes and drinking right outside the entrance to the stadium; they had obviously been out all night. They were standing around their car with the trunk open and the music BLARING. They were playing really good English/US music - nirvana, guns 'n roses, coldplay, green day etc. - so it was really nice to have a soundtrack while we ran that day.)

We're actually really lucky to have a soccer stadium so close. They seem to be pretty rare in Lima. Most neighborhoods just have basketball/"fulbito" courts where people play soccer. Besides the Municipal Stadium downtown and Sinchi Roca, a giant public park a couple miles away in Comas, our little run-down stadium is one of the only places I've seen a full-size grass soccer field.

And around that field is a dusty dirt track. In my estimate, it's only about 250 meters long (regular tracks are 400m). And it follows the perimiter of the soccer field almost exactly - with sharp 90 degree turns instead of gentle rounded curves. There is frequently a lot of trash around the edges, including broken glass. And occasionally there are fairly large rocks or bricks in the middle of the running lane (why, I don't know). And there's obviously plenty of little holes, humps and divets all along the track. Finally, as with any public space in Lima, there are usually between two and six stray dogs milling around. Suffice it to say it's unlike any place I had ever regularly run before coming to Peru. But it's beautiful.

Even though he runs much, much slower than I do, I always jog the first two laps with Javier. And then I take off to do the rest at my own pace. Usually I do 12 or 13 laps (about 2 miles, I think) and he runs/walks about 7. By then it's time for us to go back so Javier can get ready for work. All in all, I run far less and less often in this routine than I did back in the States. But it's all I need, and more than I could have asked for.