17 Again in Rio

Last week, we visited Rio de Janeiro on vacation. Because of my appreciation of Matthew Perry, I foolishly stayed awake during the overnight flight and watched 17 Again, the Zac Efron vehicle in which he co-stars. I enjoyed the film enough and liked a few scenes a lot. However, the reduction in sleep following a long week made our first day of vacation tiring and was a questionable choice.

Rather than skip our long training run and blame it on Rio, we checked into our hotel and ran 17 miles, a distance we had not since the marathon in October. Fortunately, Rio has a running/bike path along the edge of Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach, and a natural lake a little inland. In addition, most sections of the major road adjacent to the path are closed to cars on Sunday, in effect, widening the path. Pristine crescent beaches and mountains flanked us as we ran past historical fortresses and giant, elaborate sandcastles by local artists.

That scenery helped defeat our fatigue and flight-stiffened legs. We finished that that long run and a few shorter runs with my family throughout the week. Thinking about the movie and looking back at ourselves at the age of 17, I am surprised to see us fitter than we were then despite being almost twice as old. How the Ef-ron did that happen? Earlier this month, we ran new personal records for the mile -- 6:22 for me and a just a tad slower for Jenn. OK Computer, we're getting closer: fitter, happier, more productive . . . .

We've raised $900 so far, and with only nine generous donors. We're well on our way to help the AFC just as it has helped us with our training.