Próspero Año Nuevo!

Festive Lighting at Usaquen

Happy new year to all! Hope 2011 is a good one for you. From a personal perspective, I’m planning for it to be a big one. Time will tell if my plans come to fruition. I was expecting New Years Eve to be a big night in Bogotá, but it was a huge disappointment. It was actually quieter than Christmas. Everyone spends New Year’s Eve with family – at home dancing it seems. We spent the night touring around various neighbourhoods, looking for somewhere to eat and drink. First it was our local neighbourhood – apart from a restaurant for oldies and a small bar it was all closed! Couldn’t believe it – half the places were open at Christmas, so we were expecting a similar deal. Then we got a taxi to Usaquén – it’s normally buzzing. Again, there was no joy. One restaurant open out of twenty (unfortunately fully booked) and absolutely no bars open. It wasn’t looking good. Another taxi to Parque 93. Again it was the same deal – predominately closed. There were only two places open, offering a similar deal – €60-70 for a 3 course meal, wine & glass of champagne. We had little choice and were starving at this stage. Against our own better judgement we went into one of the places. The food was ok – a good fish soup, a main course weirdly consisting of salmon, overcooked steak, and tortilla, and a cheesecake type dessert. What followed was the real issue – it wasn’t really a place to party. We were given champagne and 12 grapes to get into the mood. The 12 grapes is New Year tradition here – one wish for each grape. It just wasn’t happening – the karaoke signing just wasn’t helping and we were confined to our seats. We decided to cut our losses and head for home even before the bells went. Why does New Year’s Eve frequently turn into a disaster? The real world-wide tradition is that it’s a night for restaurants and pubs to rip people off. House parties the way forward ...

Mural from La Candelaria

Otherwise it had been a great week. From a tourist perspective we spread our wings a bit more. It was a very pleasant week in Bogotá from two perspectives – much quieter than normal due to the holidays and the weather has improved substantially. The clouds have been replaced by consistent sunshine and the showers have disappeared. We ventured south again, this time to check out the La Candelaria area. It’s the oldest part of the city, with small cobbled street and pretty old buildings. The streets are amazingly quite, particularly since it’s only a few blocks from probably the busiest part of the city (Avenida Jiménez). There are lots of museums in the area, but that’s not really our thing. I also made it to Parque Simon Bolivar for the first time. It’s a great city park. Size wise it’s probably similar to St. Anne’s or Marley Park, but they use the space very well. The main attraction from a personal perspective are the dedicated running and cycling paths, but it’s also got a pretty decent lake, outdoor gym, and several kids playgrounds.

Typical street in La Candelaria

From a training perspective I got in 95 miles and two strength sessions. Most of my miles here to date are relatively low quality unfortunately. I hope it’s the altitude as otherwise I’m quite unfit! I did get in my first proper interval session since the Dublin marathon – 5 by 2km reps with 5 minute recovery. I was only hitting 6:50s, so poor session especially given the recovery time. Normally I can bang out 6:15s easily enough off 2 minutes. Not too concerned as the altitude is definitely a huge factor and I’m not long back training. My other main session was my Sunday long run as part of the weekly Bogotá Ciclovía. This week I increased to 30km, with 12km at ‘tempo’ pace. Tempo pace is certainly slower than I would expect in Ireland, but I was certainly pushing an equivalent effort so it was a good session. More of the same for the next week with a slight increase in mileage.

Marathon plans are now confirmed – Paris the destination. London and Rotterdam were the other choices, but the Paris organisers are offering the most support. I would have preferred London, but I’m not considered an elite runner by their standards. I thought they might make an exception for the Irish, but no joy. Prep races scheduled are currently three races in three weeks. The National Inter-Counties Cross Country, the Ballycotton 10 Miles, and the Den Haag Half Marathon. Not sure if three races in three weeks is a good idea, so I may make some changes to the prep races. For the moment, all I’ve to do is keep the head down and train ...