January 29, 2003 – Subject: Diesciseis
I have a quick story that is too funny not to tell you.
Yesterday, I went to my third “spinning” class with my friend Ana. For each class, we have had the same teacher, Alex. As I have shared with some of you, spinning in Mexico to me, is a guy (Alex), screaming at you in Spanish and me watching what everyone else is doing to try and follow along. I have picked up some of the sayings, but especially with the loud music, it is still hard to understand.
I think that I must have been giving Alex an evil eye, since Day One, because he has pretty much stayed away from me. It could be that I am dripping sweat, while everyone else in the class is gorgeous and virtually sweat-free, or the fact that 90% of the girls in the class flirt with him and I completely ignore him (mostly because I don’t want him to adjust the tension on my bike or talk to me and me not to understand what he is saying.)
So yesterday was the first day that Alex decided to come talk with me.
During each class, he tells us that we should be going 80% up a hill, or sprinting, and then at the end of it, we are supposed to figure out our pulse. He tells us that we should not be over deciseis (16) in the period of time that we monitor our heart beats. Mine is usually 18 or 19, but I just lie and say deciseis, because I know that I can push myself past 16. You see, he comes around and asks each of us what our heart rate is. So the first time, he actually did ask me my heart rate and I said, “deciseis.” A few minutes later, we calculated our heart rate again and then probably two minutes after that, he came over and asked me a question, which I thought was, “What is your heart rate?” so I replied, “Deciseis.” He started laughing and said, “Hablas Espanol?” I said, “Un poco” and he said, “No hablas espanol.” I didn’t get it until after the class when Ana told me that what he had asked me was, “Como te llamas?” (What is your name?) and I replied with Deciseis. So if you get tired of calling me Alecia, you can always use Deciseis. 
It was at least semi-flattering because he said that if I had my road bike here, he would train me. I told him that I did not and he said (Again, Ana told me later what he said), “Well, I don’t have another one, so never mind.” Weird, like I was asking him for one? It is just funny because conversations tend to go so differently than you are used to or than how you are expecting them to.
Adios,
Alecia
January 23, 2003 – Another Work Out Story
Hola Amigas,
I have another work out story for you. (I am building again.) Only read if you have time, because it is kind of along (no really long) story.
Yesterday after work, Andy headed out from work towards a circled point on our map where (as far as we can tell), the only track (revolucciòn) in Guadalajara was supposedly located. My intent was to do 9 Yasso 800′s.
We drove about 20 minutes to the entrance of this park. We knew that the revolucciòn was somewhere in this park (incidentally this is the park where we will run our 22 miler this weekend), but did not know where. It is a huge park. So we enter the park and pay our 5 pesos, then I ask the guy where the revolucciòn is located. He said (I think), “This is the wrong place. You need to turn on this other street. But why do you need the revolucciòn, you can use the trails in the bosque (park/forest).” I didn’t know how to explain why I needed a track so I just said, “Necessito la revolucciòn” and since there were cars behind us honking, we drove off.
Next, Andy thinks that he sees the revolucciòn, so we park, pay to get into this other entrance, 6 pesos, I think. Then we ask the lady where the revolucciòn was. She said that we were in the wrong place and of course we just left the 6 pesos with her since we didn’t know how to ask for our money back and also have heard that it is impossible to get money back in Mexico.
So, we walk back to our car and drive on. We finally come to a place that we figure has to be the right one. We had heard that the revolucciòn was in a stadium-like building with a bunch of other buildings for different sports. So, we ask the guy (before paying this time) if this was where the revolucciòn is. He replies that it is, won’t accept the tickets from the other times we paid, then accepts the 5 pesos to get into the athletic park.
Once inside the athletic park, there are roller skaters, like those roller derby people, and a basketball team practicing, people playing outdoor racquetball, a hockey team, but no track. We finally found it and went to walk in and there was a lady who wanted more money to get into the track. I handed her 5 tickets (that I had paid for before) and she said, no, none of these work, where did you buy them? I said in broken Spanish, “Yo pago en todos lugares.” (I paid in all of the places) and I guess that I looked pathetic enough that she said that we could enter. By this time it is about 6:15-6:20pm and Andy thought that he had seen a sign that it closed at 7, so I was wondering how I was going to get 9 800′s in. I was so determined after all of the obstacles to get them done though, so I started doing them. By the way, there were a ton of people at the track working with coaches and running, jumping, hurdling, wheelchairing, etc. Andy was doing 200′s while I was running the 800′s.
At around 7pm, I had finished 6 and people were starting to clear out. Andy wanted to leave but I really wanted to do more. Andy looked upset that I wouldn’t stop, so I reluctantly gave in and agreed to leave when he said, “Alecia, it is dark, we are in a side of town that we have never been in and we don’t know how to get home.” We left and got lost and eventually made our way home.
So, that is the long story as to why I only got 6 Yasso’s done last night. I think that next week, we will go around 4pm and I will still try to do 10. Do you guys think that would be a mistake? Let me tell you, after all that and since I had not run since Sunday, it felt SO GOOD TO RUN! I just wanted to keep going and going! It is much more warm and humid here than in Boise, which makes it more difficult to run, but it is also very nice! I was thinking of you all as I ran and I would pretend that you were there, but then I think that I would forget and slow down again. Next time I will be more motivated.
Okay, now that I have bogged down your inbox, I will go.
Have a good one!
Alecia
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