The Gambia: most of the country in 2 days!
The Gambia is a small country. You can drive around the whole thing in a day if you want to. But there’s no point in doing that, because all you would see would be the road, some trees, and houses. Driving through the towns takes approximately five seconds. So when the time came to explore the countryside, we wanted to take it a bit slower than that. And bring a tour guide who could answer any history, agricultural or other random question our 7-headed group would throw his w
2 days ago3 min read
12 differences: marathon vs ultra running
Learning by doing, that’s usually what it comes down to with me. For my first ultra race I didn’t prepare particularly well. I basically prepared as if I was going to run another regular marathon. Sure, I got the mandatory race kit. But I didn’t decide on the (110K) distance until three days before the event, or specifically prepare for running up hills or on rough terrain. I hoped my heat training in The Gambia, plus one recent trail marathon, would be enough. I justify my l
Feb 223 min read
Iron Man training begins now
When it comes to my current job in the Foreign Service, I'm enjoying more freedom than I have in years. I still work full-time, but I don't have to commute to anywhere but my downstairs office, and I don't start at 8 AM. Because I'm working on a DETO and I'm in a different time zone from DC, my supervisor prefers I start at 10 AM so our hours have some overlap. The beauty of this, I soon realized, is that I have a nice chunk of time in the morning to work out. As it happens,
Feb 193 min read
