Some days...

...Are just meant to be rest days. Today was one of those days.

Today is El Día de Juan Santamaría so there isn't any school so I thought I would take advantage of that fact and get in a nice long run. I got up a little before 5:00 and was out the door a little after 5:00. It was cool and misty, it felt like it was going to be a perfect day. I decided that I was going to do two loops of my favorite route here, a route that goes through the small community of El Progreso then along Río Sucio and then cuts through a cow pasture before coming back into town. However, about thirteen minutes into my run, before I even got to the turn for El Progreso, my foot, which was pretty tender from running for four and a half hours in my Minimuses on rocky roads on Saturday, made me stop running and turn around to walk home.

When I got home, I poked around on the internet for a bit and then decided to get ready for a long bike ride. One of my cranks has been loose, so I tightened that up, filled my bladder, threw the bike pump and multi-tool in my pack, and headed out at about 8:00. I decided that I would do the La Gata route, the route that I ran on Saturday. The first part of "road" is pretty rough, so I was pretty slow, but after about 6k it got relatively smooth so I was able to get into a good rhythm. I hit La Gata, about midway, in a little over an hour. I figured I had about an hour and a half left (about a half marathon with a bunch of hills). I stopped to put a little air in my back tire and tighten up my crank. I knew that I would have to grind on the upcoming hills so I wanted to make sure everything was in order. 

Things were good for a couple more kilometers then I could feel my crank getting loose so I stopped tightened it up and got after it once again. A little further down the road, I again felt my crank slipping so I pulled over and discovered that the nut for my crank was missing. I walked back down the road a bit, but I didn't see anything. I threw my crank and pedal on rack on the back of bike and started pushing. Luckily this section was super hilly so I could coast down and part way up the hills. Eventually I made it to Los Arbolitos (15k still to go) where I found a popsicle stick and using the Leatherman, I was able to create a fastener that kept my crank on for a few more kilometers. I knew I couldn't torque on the precariously attached crank, so I was still hopping off the bike to push it up hills. One of the times I hopped off, the crank inexplicably fell off, so I threw it back on my rack and pushed some more. Then on one of my bumpier downhills the crack and pedal fell off my rack and I wasn't about to back track for a useless bike part.

About 7k out I decided that I would run with my bike. With a couple of good hills to coast down, I made it back home from that spot about as quickly as I normally do running without pushing my bike. On that last stretch I decided my new mantra is going to be, "I might not be strong, but I'm tough."

So my bike ride that I thought was going to be between two and two and half hours ended up being closer to four with an hour and 19 minutes of actual bike riding, but I did get an extra thirty-five minutes of running in.

I think tomorrow I might just sleep in.

Un Árbol outside of Los Arbolitos