Another weekly record

I was hoping for a 700-mile week, but instead we rolled up a 836 mile week. We were helped out a great deal by UGRAB, but there were great contributions from non-UGRAB people as well.

We finished off Morocco, passing through some interesting places on the way out. We went through Cassablanca, which of course is best known for being the inspiration for this classic film, and this unforgettable piece of dialogue:

From now on the essence of this hotel will be speed. If a customer askes you for a three-minute egg, give it to him in two minutes. If he askes you for a two-minute egg, give it to him in one minute. If he askes you for a one-minute egg, give him the chicken and let him work it out for himself!

We also passed through Tangier, which sounds like a pretty cool place to visit. One has to be careful when everything you know about a country comes from Wikipedia, but Morocco as a whole seems pretty neat. Did you know that it was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States of America, and that it is our partner in our longest unbroken Friendship Treaty? You do now.

We crossed over the Straits of Gibraltar, through Gibraltar itself (which I did not know was a self-governing British territory), and then made our way along the Mediterranean coast of Spain for awhile. More beaches and resorts than you can shake a stick at. We then headed north and came to rest in Manzanares, Spain. Along the way we passed the site of the Battle of Los Navas de Tolosa, where in 1212 a bunch of Christians got together and beat up a bunch of Muslims, essentially driving them from the Iberian peninsula, back to Northern Africa. Interesting to think how differently Europe may have turned out had the battle gone differently.

Rachel Hohenstein successfully completed Grandma's Marathon in stifling heat last weekend, so congratulations to her. She finished 552 out of 2273, with a chip-time of 4:17:52 (results). And good luck to Mike and Rob in the upcoming HyVee triathlon this weekend.

Race Result

I almost forgot to mention, Chris Fry ran the Grandview Gallop 4 miles race in Dubuque last weekend. His time was 27:23, finishing 14th in the 30-39 age group (results). Congrats!

BEST...WEEK...EVER!

We hit a new high this week, 687 miles. I think we can get over the 700-mile mark here in one of the coming weeks. It was really a group effort, lots of people were in on the action. Let's keep up the good work.

As for our travels, we have moved from kind-of-Morocco (Western Sahara) into Morocco proper. Another solid week will take us to a new continent.

Lastly, we should wish Rachel Hohenstein good luck for Grandma's Marathon this weekend. She will be running on Saturday morning (7:30am), if you want to track her progress via text message or e-mail, sign up here.

Slow week.

Mileage was a little low this week, I think a lot of people have things going on in this early part of summer, plus some of our participants were preparing for races. We have moved up into Western Sahara, a territory whose control is disputed. It is one of the least densely populated regions on earth, with nearly all of its inhabitants clustered in a handful of oasis towns.

Mike Wente had a race in Buffalo, Minnesota the weekend of June 7. He did very well, placing 20th overall and first in his age group (results). Congratulations, Mike!

In further Wente news, Dave is off his ass and putting in some miles! 52 miles on the bike last week, to be exact. Good job Dave, keep it up.

10,000 Mile Mark

As a group, we have passed 10,000 total miles, as well as 3,000 running miles. We have continued to move northward along the Western African coast, finishing off the country of Senegal and entering Mauritani, offiicially known as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. If I had been told to locate Mauritania on a map one week ago, I am not sure I could have come within 10,000 miles of it, but now I know.

I am not sure about everyone else, but I had a major dip in motivation the last two weeks. If others are going through the same thing, I strongly encourage you to maintain some activity level, and re-evaluate your goals and why you are doing what you are doing. I was getting bored, so I changed up my training focus a little, and now I feel I am getting back on track.

Good luck to everyone, keep up the great work.