21 miles in the Sahara

Hi Everybody,

I've been away from the internet for the last 2 weeks, so I'm finally getting around to updating my little journal here.

As you may know, my job from time to time takes me to interesting corners of the world. Since I started at D&M, my main garden spot has been Algeria. Well for about 10 days, I had the treat of travelling to Hassi Massaoud, Algeria. While staying there I got to stay in the lovely resort of Base Irrara where I was treated to 3 meals a day of brown soup, bread, and "cooked meat"..... yummy, the perfect diet for a marathon runner in training!

Well, obviously while in training for the big 26.2, I couldn't lay off for the last two weeks. SO, yes, I did manage to get in about 21 miles total, including a 10 miler running in the Sahara desert. Well needless to say I didn't take off running up and down sand dunes. I had to stay inside the perimeter fence of the base. I had my trusty Garmin that informed me I could tour a 2 mile circuit around the base, so my 10 miler made for a 5 lap travel around Base Irrara.

Here's the satelite view:

Yes, that's the Hassi Massaoud Airport.

Well, things are progressing very well. I'm going to do a 16 mile training run this weekend. I'm feeling healthy, no nagging injury problems so far! And I also have been wearing my heart rate monitor, and I'm running farther and faster at a lower heart rate, so proof my fitness is coming back to me slowly. We'll be setting no personal records in April, but thats not my goal. I want to thank everybody who's contributed to my fund raising campaign. So far I'm in 5th place in the MGH marathon team.... I'd like to get a little better.

Ok. Take care everybody.

Mike