Cuba - part 1 (lead up and operations)

Cuba! Where to start?  As the March Hare and Mad Hatter would say "Start at the beginning." "Yes, yes, and when you come to the end [chuckles] STOP. See?" A fitting quote since I read Gregory Maguire's latest book "After Alice: A Novel" on this trip.

Before leaving I was asked "Why Cuba?" Well, why not Cuba. Cuba is huge news right now. On December 17, 2014 President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announce the restoration of full diplomatic ties following a swap of a US intelligence officer who had been held in Havana for the three remaining Cuban Five. (from http://www.cfr.org/cuba/timeline-us-cuba-relations/p32817) In a really spooky turn of events, four of the Cuban Five prisoners were at our dinner on the last night. I saw the news cameras, but it wasn't until the next day I learned the source of the excitement.

December 17 is St. Lazarus's feast day according to Yoruba tradition. Yoruba is the local religion, a combination of African and Roman Catholic traditions. On the eve of the holiday people will pay promises on their knees. This has led to a slow process to mak these changes happen.

In March 2015 friends Sharon and Sandra announced on FB they were thinking of going to Cuba to run the Havana Half Marathon through Insight Cuba. In order for US citizens to go to Cuba, they are required to have a special visa. Theirs was an athlete's visa. I went along as a companion on a cultural visa. I asked Martha (my running world traveling friend) if she wanted to come along, thinking she would also run the race and I would be alone as their companion. She jumped at the chance to make Cuba her 74th country (for comparison's sake, Cuba was my 15th country). 

April 11, 2015 President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shook hands -- first time presidents from these countries have done this since 1961 when the US severed ties with Cuba. (http://www.cfr.org/cuba/us-cuba-relations/p11113)

Throughout the next eight months Cuba became even bigger world news. In May 2015 Cuba was lifted from the US list of terrorist countries -- they held that distinction longer than any other country. On July 20, 2015 the US embassy was reopened (though I saw where the former embassy had been (now a museum), I did not make it to the current US embassy -- which also means I did not lose my passport or run a half marathon (since the course went by the embassy)). 

September 19, 2015 Pope Francis visited Cuba. 

November 13-16, we traveled to Cuba.

Cuba seemed to change before our eyes. It was like stepping back in time. Martha and I immersed ourselves in that time. In many ways Cubans are making the leap from the 1950s to 2015 in one giant leap. Until recently Cubans could not own a cell phone. In order to use one, a foreigner actually had to purchase it and lend it to them. That has been lifted. Now people will cluster with their cell phones around wifi zones and go online. Wifi is never free, but it does exist.

Remember these...this was in the lobby of our hotel.

These are throughout the city, and they had lines to use them.

On a prettier note, everywhere you looked there were classic cars. They were all nursed along to keep running. People rent them out as taxis to make a living. We ended up being shuttled around in four of these cars during our companion excursion. Martha's driver said he could either purchase his car for 16,000 CUCs (1 CUC-$1) or a newer Kia for 100,000 CUCs. The average monthly salary for professionals is 40 CUC (a number I should verify as numbers are swimming around my head). Many people also sell things on the street (such as peanuts) or run a pedicab service to earn extra income to make ends meet.

There was very little neon in sight. Certainly not a McDonalds or Starbucks. Credit card use was virtually non-existent -- but it is coming. 

A side note, I thought I saw an Adidas store, but upon reflection I believe it was a sort of race headquarters for Adidas since they were one of the sponsors of the marathon. I saw the logo, but did not look in the windows. Plus it was located about a block from the start line. 

On our second and last night we went to Cafe Parisien at the Hotel Nacional, and they would have accepted my credit card for payment. As I was leaving for Cuba I asked Don to tell the credit card company I would be in Cuba and to accept my charges from there (just in case). Their response was they could not code that in their computer, so they tagged it as I was in the Caribbean and left it at that. We pooled our money and were able to pay for our tickets.

That was another step back in time -- life without ATMs and credit cards. I brought several hundred dollars in US currency not knowing how much I would spend or even what things cost. Originally I was under the impression the only time we would be able to exchange money would be at the airport upon arrival. I also thought we had a four day trip that turned into a 52 hour trip (more about that if I feel like ranting later, trying to stay positive right now). How do you plan for that? I exchanged $200. Martha exchanged $150. In the end we each should have exchanged $175, so it worked out perfectly. We each left with a few coins to treasure as souvenirs.

The pace was slower, which was nice. There were times we would do a time check, only to realize not much time had passed and we still had a lot of time to get to where we wanted to get to on time. There were many less cars on the roads than I was used to (though they seem to ignore traffic laws more than I expect and do not stop for pedestrians). For the most part, the cars were so beautiful I didn't care, instead I snapped pictures.

I gave up on worrying about my carb counting for a few days. I did not go crazy, but I did drink juices offered to me, sampled alcohol, and had flan for dessert a few times. I left my testing gear at home. Today when I tested, I am in the normal zone. It may have spiked, but it came back.

I gave up worrying about using plastic bottles. Sure, I could have packed a kettle in my suitcase and boiled water to purify it, but I only had a 22 pound weight limit and wanted to stick to just using a carry on (my carry on was only 13 pounds, which felt heavier as the day went by), and I didn't want to boil water to cool it so I could then drink it. I must have used more bottles of water in two days than I have used in well over a year, including at race finish lines.

I gave up sleep for this trip. Martha and I calculate we had about 12 hours of sleep over three nights. A necessity since our trip was cut from 4 days to 52 hours.

I gave up understanding what was being said all the time. Having lived in Belgium and France, when I hear a foreign language I slip into French. A couple of times when I said "bonne journee," the person I spoke with happily launched into a conversation in French, excited to practice their French skills on someone. They also treated me a little better after that.

I gained feeling more relaxed than I have felt in ages. I took a lot more pictures (nearly 1000 in just over two days). I learned about a new culture. I met new people. I tried new foods (and drinks). I tried new experiences (me salsa dancing?). I learned some new vocabulary (did you know the Spanish word for jellyfish is medusa?). 

This post is long enough. I'll start another one with more specifics about our trip. I might modify this one as more thoughts come to me that fit here rather than someplace else.

Photos here: https://pillsburypress.shutterfly.com/pictures/5566

NEXT

Trenton 10K -- or my last race for 2015

For the fourth year in a row I crossed two bridges in two states and had one EPIC finish -- their phrasing, not mine.

The big question with this race is "what time did it *really* start?" In 2012 it started 45 minutes late. In 2013 it started 15 minutes late. In 2014 it started 22 minutes late. This year it started 14 minutes late. I did not hear a reason for the late start this year. It is something I have come to expect with the race and have learned to go with the flow. Fortunately this year it was 60 at the start (and overcast) so I was not uncomfortable.

One of the joys of these local races is bumping into local running friends. Though there were 3,300 runners and I saw pictures of my friends with their medals after the race, I only bumped into Michelle and Kim at this race. Later I learned Gabrielle PR'd and won our age category.

At 900 runners, Black Girls Run is the largest group at this race. I applaud them for all they are doing to encourage black women to make healthier choices. This year for the first time I saw the male group represented, Black Men Run. The feminist in me wants to shout if it is Black GIRLS Run, then it should be Black BOYS Run, or Black WOMEN Run and Black MEN Run, but they did not ask my opinion during naming. Throughout the course I heard shouts of BGR! Not only did they have the most runners, their friends and family members cam out to cheer for them along the route. May their actions encourage more women to get out an get healthier.

I had two goals for this race: 1) beat last year's time and 2) finish the 10K before the first runner finishes the half marathon.

We hung out behind Waterfront Park and chit chatted. My only complaint is the announcer made it sound as if there was a start time for the half, then a different start time for the 10K, and a third start time for the 5K. The website clearly stated the half and 10K started together than the 5K. By the time he corrected his mistake (silly me for listening) the chute was overflowing and I was not with the 11 minute pace group. It took me at least a mile to find my flow. 

I only took one picture during the race. It was within the first mile when we were still pretty bunched up. If you want to see pictures from the race, click on the above links to see previous years' pictures. The first two years I ran the half marathon. The past two years I did the 10K. I love the 10K distance more, but I did miss the loop through Mill Hill. That was my favorite section the second year. 

I felt stronger throughout this race. I kept up with my 1 minute:30 seconds intervals. For a while I was with the same group of runners, but we lost each other at a water station. I was feeling fabulous until I hit the timing mat just before a big hill in Morrisville. I thought I had already gone up that hill and had nailed it, but no. It was purely psychological in my part. I saw the hill  and my legs said "no way, Jose." So I walked it. At the top I told them to get back to running, and they did. About this point I heard someone say to her friend (as I passed them) "we are doing great, we are maintaining a 9:40 pace." My best ever has been a 10:53 pace and that was on a flat course. In the end, it was an 11:15 minute mile, with none of my miles being under 10 minutes (the best was about 10:53).

I saw a boy just after the second bridge looking at the sign that said 10K to the right, Half to the left, and wondered where his race (the 5K) was supposed to be. Ooops! He missed the turn. He looked strong, and some runners pointed him to the 10K mark, and 1.75 miles to the finish line. He picked up speed as only a young kid and do and blasted past us.

Along the boring stretch of Route 29 I heard a man coaching a woman to just breathe as we went up an overpass (overpasses=hills). I thanked him for the reminder. He smiled and said his advice was free.

Rats, I do have another complaint. Mile markers. The 10K people had one for miles one and two, then we didn't merit any others. I saw mile markers for the half marathon. Towards the end I saw mile marker 12, which should have meant we still had 1.1 miles to the finish line. My Nike watch said I only had .7 miles to the end. Fortunately my watch was right. Again, I felt psychologically drained at the thought of having to go an extra .4 of a mile.

By this point, the stadium was in sight. I was on target to make both of my goals. I dropped my intervals as soon as I entered Waterfront Park and ran to the finish line. The finish line said 57:00 -- wow! then I realized that was the 5K clock, which was 15 minutes behind the 10K/Half Marathon clock. Oh well. Still an awesome finish for me.

My official time was:

JACQUELYN PILLSBURY just crossed the Finish in a time of 1:09:55! A new PR for me. Last year's pace was 11:59/mile. This year's pace was 11:15/mile. While 5 minutes might not sound like much, looking at my stats post race and realizing the wheels never fell off means a lot to me.

Post race I hung out in the stadium noshing on a pretzel and drinking water while I waited for Michelle and Kim to cross the finish line.

I have since read stories from my friends about their races. In Savannah race officials encouraged marathoners to go down to the half marathon. In Florida the Wine and Dine Half Marathon was delayed due to thunderstorms, then the route was shortened (was it because of damage in Animal Kingdom or because they needed to reopen roads by a certain time?). Hard to complain about 60 and overcast on any day, though it did not feel like November weather.

Next up: my trip to Cuba!

Ashley the Big Red Dog

***post not appropriate for small children to read***

A call went out for a couple of 8th grade volunteers to help out at the school book fair by dressing up as Clifford the Big Red Dog and encourage families to head to the book fair. I immediately thought of Ashley.

After running it by her, I signed her up for the first shift. 

First up: putting on the bulky costume:

Then there was the challenging walk from the office to the lobby where she stood and posed for pictures with adoring fans.

 She was assigned a "handler" by the name of "Emily Elizabeth." I was on hand to take pictures for parents who dd not bring cameras.

Ashley quickly realized she cannot see close up out of those giant eyes. She could see people coming towards her, but could not tell if they wanted a high five, a handshake, a thumbs up, or to rub her belly. The rubbing of the fur was an odd sensation. "Emily Elizabeth" guided her hand to the appropriate position to help the kid do what the kid wanted to do.

It was awkward hearing people call her AshClifford or having people try to see who was inside the costume (obviously she is a dog!).

I found it funny seeing how kids treated her. It brought back a flood of memories of our Disney trips hanging out with characters. There were those who were afraid of her (or at least unsure of her), then there were the families taking just a quick picture. The one that reminded me most of us, though, was the little girl who just wanted to hang out with Clifford and ask him questions ("do you like bones?") and talk to him. Ashley did not know how to respond since she could barely hear the questions. The mom finally guided her away.

The end result was she enjoyed the experience. She would be willing to do it again with proper training and a better fitting costume. She ended up positioning herself so Clifford's head did not droop in a way that made her back hurt. She now appreciates why the characters only hang out for 30 minutes at a time, something as a little kid she just didn't get.

Canal-O-Ween -- or my first "naked" race

I may have just discovered a new favorite race this weekend -- Canal-O-Ween. 

The Delaware River was beautiful at 8 AM with the mist on it

Canal-o-Ween has both a 5K and 8K option. The course is run on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River Canal (my other races in this area have been on the Pennsylvania side), which means if you arrive early enough you do not have to cross the dreaded "George Washington Bridge," as my friend Debbi affectionately calls it, a name which has stuck with Don and I. The bridge is so narrow even with my tiny car, I tend to scrape the mirrors.

The course follows the Delaware River from Washington Crossing, NJ towards Trenton and back again. The 5K people turned at the 1.55 mile mark, the 8K people near the 2.5 mile mark. 8K works out to 4.96 miles -- with rounding, in my zone of running only 5 to 10 mile races this year.

The race fell on Halloween, which made it a great time to wear my Mad Hatter running costume again. Instead of wearing a tank top, though, I opted for an orange sweatshirt. It was 32 degrees when I arrived at 8 AM to pick up my race packet for the 9 AM start. At one point I felt a little warmer, so I took off my ear muffs.

My biggest issue at the race was that I immediately realized I left my running watch at home. I had enough time to leave and get it, but that would have meant losing my awesome parking space and having to park on the other side of the bridge. No thanks. Running without a GPS watch is sometimes also referred to as running "naked." For me this meant I did not have my intervals announced for me (I'm currently running 1 minute:30 second intervals) and had to guess at them.

This race is a lot smaller than the Perfect 10-Miler, but being a local race, I still bumped into friends, including Jessica and Gabrielle. Not nearly as many people wore costumes as I would have imagined.

The race started with this gentleman playing the "Star Spangled Banner" on his saxophone. It was announced he was born without lips, had reconstructive surgery, and has since learned how to play the sax. Incredible! My goals now seem insignificant.

The race started on time. I would have encouraged two starts -- one for the 8K runners and one for the 5K runners, but we all sorted ourselves out rather quickly. Since I was running without a watch, I started near the front so my finish time would be more accurate, besides there was no attempt made to space the 150 or so runners into "corrals."

The views were stunning. Though our fall folliage has been weak this year (the summer started off wet, but ended with a six week drought of sorts), it was still a beautiful fall day in New Jersey. If I wasn't so focused on running a great race, i would have paused to take more pictures.

The first mile was marked perfectly, as were the first two kilometer marks. I saw the 5K turnaround (1.55 miles). I then saw the 3K mark and had to do some math (1.8-ish miles?). There was no 2 mile mark. I thought I must have really slowed down since I don't see it. Not having my watch on made me really doubt myself (as with many things in life, running is very psychological). All of a sudden the 71 year old man in front of me pointed out the turn around point (4K/2.48 miles). If he hadn't, I might still be running on the canal.

Fortunately at this point I looked at my watch: 28 minutes had passed. That meant, I was on course to finish at the 56 minute mark -- which would be awesome! I figured out each kilometer was taking me 7 minutes to run (7 times 8=56). I figured out a good stride (200 steps running, 100 steps walking) and pushed myself to the finish line. I nearly fell over when I saw my result was 54:32! (I double backed and took this picture after I crossed the finish line.) That is under an 11 minute pace. I still think of myself as a solid 12 minute miler, but I'm starting to reevaluate that. This past year I've become much faster (a change in diet has led to losing some extra pounds and an improvement in energy levels). 

I finally had a chance to catch up with Gabrielle and study her costume. Those are mostly fake tattoos on her and eyeliner.

The race provided an awesome breakfast -- lots of protein and carbs (I skipped the carbs).

I lost Gabrielle when I stopped to help my new friend, Jim. Jim ran the 8K two steps ahead of me the entire time, but appeared on the 5K list. He was the only one in his age category (over 70 -- a category that didn't exist until Jim and I pushed for it), and hence the winner. He also seems like an overall nice guy with a positive attitude, even as he is pushing to finish the race "the old-fashioned way" by puking at the end (I think he was kidding as there was no sign of that on the finish line). 

Jim said he would see me there next year, so I suppose I'm running this one again in 2016. Food was great, but I'm still a sucker for a good medal as a souvenir.

Halloween on Thompson Street - Bordentown

My friend Cathi recently told me about Thompson Street in Bordentown, NJ. She said her family always makes it a point to trick or treat there. Huh? What is the big deal about a street in Bordentown, a city we hardly ever visit?

A quick Google search (yes, I know librarians should not encourage Google searches in place of librarians) brought up THIS article. Over a decade ago, professional set designers and residents Frank and Pat created this unbelievable, over the top, decorated street. Between Second and Third streets on Thompson Avenue the street is shut down to vehicular traffic and over 1,000 people come and trick or treat each year. 

Pat and Frank announce the theme at the end of September each year. The article talks about The Wizard of Oz theme, this year it was Alice in Wonderland (in honor of the 150th anniversary of this classic). Most of the houses on this stretch of road get fully into the theme, including the house at the end of the street which decorates 200 jack o'lanterns (according to the wife, that is down from 400 a different year).

Frank and Pat provide some props, as well as decorating their own home. The rest of the residents do as much or as little as they can. My parents drove by at 2:59 PM on Halloween, a minute before the road was closed, and saw people continuing to put on their final touches.

Rather than boring you with my words, I'll let my pictures tell the story. 

Perfect 10 Miler (2015), or "my first tattoo"

Loving the new Sparkle Skirt!

Hanging with Girls on the Run -- a fabulous organization

The Perfect 10 Miler has become my favorite race of the year, despite last year's troubles. Anne invited me to be part of the Girls on the Run team, which meant a tent to hang out in before and after the race (and to store my sweatshirt during the race), a private port-a-pot, and a team tattoo. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the team tattoo and it has since washed off.

Are you still following me? ;)

I love this race for many reason. 
1) The 10 mile distance is a stretch, but not as big a stretch as half-marathon. 
2) It is local -- only 15 minutes from my house with traffic, which makes packet pick up easy, well normally it does. This year I had a family funeral which took me to Indiana, PA during packet pick up hours, but that is another story.
3) It is women's only -- the girl power is awesome!
4) Many of my friends run this event, so I have on course cheerleaders.
5) The swag fits.
6) The medals are awesome!

Okay, I could go on, but then this race report would not say anything I have not enthused about in the 2013 race report, either.

Hanging with Michelle and Kim pre-race

Before, during, and after the race I bumped into friends. That is always cool!

That's a lot of women!

The race is billed as the nation's largest all-women 10-miler. That sounds scary, but in the end, there were only about 1500 women running. That's not so scary. It is not a quiet, local race, but it is not Disney or Broad Street scary (those races have over 30,000 each). 

There were a few changes this year. The first is that the start line and finish line returned to being one and the same. Last year they were separate and the start line was a challenge to navigate. I felt we were corralled better at the start.

The next change was the course. I'm not happy about this change. I am glad we did not cross the grass median to go to the other side of the road. Instead we went out of the park and onto real roads (instead of park roads). I suppose this meant the park's roads could open up faster. One of the perks that comes with race fees is having a safe place to run. I didn't feel that same level of safety being on real roads for about two miles. While out on the street, someone commented the race advertised lots of music on the course, and I remember maybe one official band and a couple of individuals doing it for fun.

Another change was the elimination of the 5K option, which was replaced with "teams." Each team member ran for five miles and swapped in the Mercer County Community College parking lot. That seemed well organized as people were lined up by bib number. It also seemed hugely popular. I felt bad for telling people they could do the 5K option only to learn there was no such animal.

The final change of note was that the food was not nearly as good this year. The other two years they fed us lunch (which was hard to eat with plasticware). This time they gave us a bag with a banana, chocolate chip cookies, and something else too carb-y for my system to handle. I was looking forward to the finish line buffet of the past.

Back to the course...around the three mile mark we headed into Mercer County College's campus. This part was the same as in the past, with the addition of the team swap at the five mile mark.

It started to rain at the one hour mark -- or for me at the half-way point of the race. Looking at my times, I had an awesome first half with an 11-minute pace (awesome for me that is). The second half I walked a lot more, I was cold, and just wanted to get warm. By the 9.7 mark (mind you, this was a 10 mile race). I was done. I was getting the chills and wanted a blankie and the hot tea waiting for me in the car. Of course, I finished the race because the finish line was between me and the car.

At a couple of points I saw my running buddy, Sharon. She was about 10 minutes behind me. Sharon said she might need a ride home because the friend who took her there might DNS or DNF due to illness. I waited for her, Michelle, and Kim at the finish line, but did not see them. After 45 minutes I decided to go home and get warm. Fortunately the rain was fairly short-lived, but I was still cold.

I finished 1:56:54 -- about 3 minutes faster than in 2013, which was my goal.

Bumped into Gabrielle at the finish!

Happily my sweatshirt was waiting for me at the finish.

Love this year's color!