Imala... always a surpise

I finished up last week with 10km on friday. Sadly, i can't remember my times from that day, but I'm sure it was in the 9:00 range.

Tiba invited me to Imala for this past sunday, and I gladly accepted. I spent saturday resting and sippping gatorade. Sunday morning came very very early.... the alarm went off at 4:15 (!). As i was moving around the apartment that morning, I simply couldn't believe what I was doing! Chico didn't even wake up.

I made it over to the garden at about 5:15, where there was a group of about 15 runners gathered, plus a couple of support pick-ups. I deposited my bags (clothes, towel for swimming, extra bottle of gatorade) in the back of one of them and trusted that it would get to Imala.

We left at 5:35. We took a different route this time: down to the malecon and then left to connect to the road to Imala. I guess it added about 1km to the run, making it about 25km. One dude who I've seen before informend me that I "could run with" a group of girls I didn't really know. He told me that I would be at the same pace as them. This I found a bit annoying; how does he know my pace!? Furthermore, I prefer to run alone on these runs. Anyway, I didn't have to worry because they hung back, and I started running with the Doctor, the Indian Guy, and the Ego-Balding Tall Guy. Before we even got out of Culiacan, I saw a cute grey rabbit sniffin' and movin' on the side of the road. I knew it would be a good day!

It was still darkabout 45 min into the run, but the sky was turning pink and orange in the distance. The air was crisp and cool, and the road was empty. I was enjoying the smells of farmland and the cow pastures. I was about 100 meters behind the Doctor and the Balding Guy, and they were another 100 meters behind the Indian and some dude. I felt comfortable and smooth and was perfectly happy not pushing my tempo. At some point, a couple of the guys went for pee breaks in the bushes, and I caught up with them by the time they were running again. We were all running together for a while. We saw a brown rabbit, and then later a mama cow with her calf on the side of the raod. We also saw cops with machine guns guarding in the first little village. They weren't concerned with us, though.

We made is to Mezquitite in a little over an hour. The 5 of us were all farily close, chaning positions all the time. But the hills were just beginning! We got to the Big Hill, and i was behind all those guys. I got up on my toes right the beginning and felt GREAT all the way up. I passed them all! I was joking with the Indian that I love the hills! And they couldn't keep up. Furthermore, once I got to the top, I just kept feeling more and more energy! It was amazing! Soon we were all running together, though, once again. The same thing happened several times over the next few kms, and they were joking about what a strong girl i am, blah blah, but after a while I could tell that they didn't really appreciate the fact that a girl was so close to them! Then suddenly the doctor and the indian sprinted ahead of me, and I could see their sly smile. I could also see the doctor checking the distance between us periodically! I couldn't believe it! They were really trying to ditch me! Such macho chauvinism! Well, i let them be ahead of me for a while. I really didn't want it to turn into a race. But as we were approaching Imala, I realized I really didn't want their egos to be fulfilled in such a way! I started getting mad!

We came to the final descent, which is quite a down-hill, and instead of relaxing and protecting our knees, they kept pushing. I let them go, figuring they would relax when we arrived in the village. At the bottom of the hill, though, they kept pushing hard. I almost let them go, but something in my psyche just couldn't release them, and I sprinted hard to catch up with the Doc just in time. We arrived in the cathedral at basically the same moment, or he was perhaps a stride or two ahead of me. He was drenched in sweat and breathing really hard. He was obviously working too hard for that morning. But maybe he felt satisfied that i didn't beat him. I have no idea, but it felt good to not let them get ahead of me. The Indian is, actually, a much better runner than me, but the Doc is similar and he just really didn't like the whole situation. He wouldn't even talk to me for a few minutes after we got there. The best part, though, is that I was only 4 minutes behind Blanca, my rival and role model. My time was 2:12.

As we were all waiting for the trucks and the other runners to arrive, i chatted with the others and had a good time. I was hoping to get to the Hot Springs pools soon, but then everyone was suddenly walking down one of the village dirt footpaths, disappearing among the corn fileds and cow pens! Where were they going!? To Eat! I hiked down the path with them, deep into Imala. An old Banyan tree marked the fork in the road where we turned to the right and found ourselves at another old tree, a dirt clearing, and tables and chiars set up at the edge of a cornfield. The trucks arrived to the location, and seemlingly out of thin air appeared shrimp salad, tostadas, yogurt, bread, and kilos upon kilos of oranges, apples, and bananas, 2 juicers for the oranges get pulled out of boxes and plugged into an extension cord which hangs from the banyan tree (who knows where it is actually connected to ellectricity.) And just like that, it's time for breakfast!

My favorite moment of the morning came after breakfast, and after I had gone back to the pools to swim. I was sitting and chatting, and Roberto disappears into the cornfield, probably to take a leak. When he returns, he instructs me to hold out my hand. I can't see what he's offering me, but i feel tingling and scratching in my palm. He releases the item into my hand, and it's a big scarab beetle! Big and bright shiny green, he's struggling to fly away. I held him for a moment, just admiring the art and beaty of nature.

I suppose it was my last run to Imala. Although I'm sad i didn't bring my camera to capture the memories, I'm a little happy to have those pictures resrved only for myself. I hope I neverforget them! It's days like that which make me very sorry to be leaving Culiacan. It has really been an adventure!

ps. monday was 8km, which i did rather fast. my lasdt mile was 7:45. I'm paying for it, though... i can feel 'carga' in my left foot and right hip, so i am resting today before it gets any worse! Oh well. feel overall very very strong.