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 Senior Ruben Sanca |
July 20, 2009
I finally just arrived at my house in Boston. It took me a total of 20 hours from the time I left the hotel lobby to the time I entered my house. I went from Lisbon to Brussels (two-hour flight), Brussels to Philadelphia (8.5 hours) and Philadelphia to Boston (one hour) plus all the extra waiting in the airport. I missed my flight in Philly because there was a delay in Brussels. I was sprinting left and right in the Philly airport. The US Airways lady said I'm not fast enough because if I missed my flight! Anyway, I was given another ticket and had to wait a little more in Boston for my bags to arrive as they came seperate.
So I am guessing this is now my last post. I would like to thank everyone who read the posts and supported me during my training leading up to the Lusophone Games. From coaches, teammates, friends, coworkers, family and the entire UML and CV community. My blog receieved a total of 427 views from 18 different US states, 45 different cities in Massachusetts and 10 different countries including US, Belgium, Portugal, Cape Verde, Norway, South Africa, Japan, Canada, Ireland and even United Kingdom in just one week!
For those who wish to keep track of my progress, keep visiting the blog at rubensanca.blogspot.com I will continue to have all my training and racing updates there. I have a ton of pictures from Lisbon that I will have to put on here as well.
Again thank you.
Big thanks to my uncle, Franciscon "Tio Chiquim" Evora, in Belgium for leaving me inspiring messages on my cell phone.
July 19, 2009
Today was a long day. Woke up at 6:00 AM to shower and get my mind together for the 10k race. My teammates Nelson and Adilson were taking part of the Lusophone 10k while I was doing the Oeiras open road race. We had breakfast at the hotel at 7:00 AM and then left with the other teams in the athlete bus at 7:30. The race was approximately a 20-30 minute drive away.
It was very hot today in Lisbon, 93 degrees according to the weather.com website. The last time I can recall running a 10k in this kind of weather was in Pomona,CA, freshman year where I collapsed at the finish to a slow-ish 35 minutes. Today was not the case though. I felt ready and the weather didn't have any significant impact. I took first in 31:16,not a PR but ranks No.3 in the Lusophone race. Portuguese runner Rui Pedro Silva (PR 28:01, 1:02 HM)) ran 30:14 followed Brasilian Daniel Silva in 30:30 (ran 28:40 at Brasilian champs last month) and Portuguese Ricardo Ribas (PRs 13:39, 28:50) in 30:46. Unfortunately, Nelson did not have a great day as he finished 31:54 and Adilson finished in 32:26.
The race was beautiful with a championship-style atmosphere. They had kilometer markers (except I messed up my splits). It included timing vehicles, motorcycles with photographers and video cameras all around the runners, as if it was the Tour de France.On the way, there were many people lined up on roads and I noticed many Cape Verdean flags and people cheering us on.
I was also satisfied with the time for now considering I hit the first kilometer in 3:13 and the temperature conditions were not favorable for a 10k race. Strength is key in distance running and it seems like I am slowly getting it back. Today was just another step in the right direction and hopefully many more will come as I start gaining fitness. Fitness is coming a lot faster than I thought as 9 weeks ago, I had not done any running in two months.
After the race we had a beautiful closing ceremony with the passing of the torch to India's Olympic Committee president. India will run the Games in 2013. I came back to the room and starting doing a lot of packing and then took a semi-nap.
