Heading Back in Two Days so This Will be My Last Post From Nigeria……

……so far it’s been what I’d hoped for—an “in and out” job with few hassles and the chance to visit a new country. The second week of training hasn’t been as smooth as the first but it has still gone fairly well.

Not really much news here since last weekend…..The hotel continues to decorate for Christmas and the lobby is really feeling seasonal now.

For my next-to-last meal here, I went to the Mongolian BBQ tonight—I’ve been there several times and the chef recognizes me now. He’s pretty good and I got a photo of him.

Like the old song goes…..”I’ll be home for Christmas”…...

On Saturday I Took a Short Day Tour with a Motor Pool Driver Into the Countryside…..

…..As the capital of Nigeria, Abuja is only about twenty years old and is still being constructed and developed. The surrounding countryside, likewise, has not been developed and there are very few tourist destinations here. Everything I found in guidebooks suggested two very large rocks were the prominent features so on Saturday I arranged a ride with the embassy motor pool and visited them. “Visiting” is a loose description since there are no facilities at either location; no hiking trails; no interpretative centers; not even a scenic road side park.

Abuja is pretty much central to Nigeria and we started at the nearby Aso Rock and then drove north up to the Zuma Rock—about an hour’s drive from the city.

Aso Rock towers over the city of Abuja and the President, whose name is Goodluck Ebele Johathan, has his palace at the base of the rock and the military has a small outpost on top—accessible only by helicopter according to my driver.

From there we drove north on a major highway that is about 70% completed. It is designed as our Interstate with two roads separated by a median and is in very good condition except where they are still doing construction—which causes major tie-ups and really leads to the crazy driving Nigeria is so famous for.

The countryside is beautiful—very flat here with extreme hills that appear to have been virtually thrust up out of the earth in some former geological period. Some are low-lying hills while others are very much like our Devil’s Tower, only smaller versions.

At one point we passed a large hill that marked the exact geographical center of Nigeria. As we approached Zuma Rock—the most famous in Nigeria—the view was made difficult by the smog. This is also true in Abuja as there are no landfills or dumps and people burn their trash everywhere and it literally leaves a permanent haze everywhere.

The closer we got, however, Zuma came more into focus and the famous “face” became more easily to see.

Basically we drove up to the rock, turned around, and headed back. Still, I’m glad I got to see it and it was good to get out of the city for a couple of hours and see the countryside.

Before returning to the hotel, the driver stopped at a craft village where I wandered around awhile and bought a wooden mask. It was constructed with African huts along a walkway and was really a nice place to visit. I’ve been to craft markets all over Africa and most are dirty filthy, unorganized and filled with overly-aggressive vendors who will literally grab you and try to pull you into their stalls. This place was much different and enjoyable to visit. I managed to bargain down the mask by the usual 30% and was happy with my purchase.

After returning to the hotel, I just took it easy the rest of the day and am basically doing the same today (Sunday). I have two 2-day programs at the embassy this week and fly back around midnight on Thursday—arriving in Houston early Friday morning (seven hours time difference in reverse this time). I have been pleasantly surprised with Nigeria and, while not one of the more exciting trips I’ve made, it’s been a good one so far…..

The First Week Went Really Well and I've Actually Enjoyed Nigeria.....

…..Of course everyone, including Nigerians, tell me this is far, far different than most of the rest of the country—especially Lagos. Abuja was created around 1992 to be the new capital of Nigeria after horrendous violence had divided almost all the rest of the country. Today Abuja represents what the government would like for the rest of the country to be—clean, modern, and relatively violence free. However, it’s still not recommended I wander off the hotel compound by myself—especially at night. The hotel is very self-contained: three restaurants, several lounges, a sports bar, shops, and basically everything I could need—albeit at outrageous prices. I have eaten a couple of times at the Mongolian BBQ but most evenings I go down to the sports bar by the pool and eat a pizza, a hamburger or chicken wings—you know, the really healthy food that only costs about half as much as at the restaurants.

I have a couple of Nigerian contacts at the Embassy and they have taken care of everything involving the training and the first week went especially well and smooth by US State Department standards. I’ve been here a week and haven’t talked with a single US citizen but that’s not that unusual. Security, as you would imagine, is at high alert all the time. The embassy was moved to Abuja in 2005 so the building is still fairly new. From the road, it looks like a prison—surrounded by razor wire, guards everywhere, concrete barriers and blast-proof windows starting at the third floor level. Basically a really ugly building….. The United Nations building that was basically destroyed by a truck bomb last August is just down the road.

Like most African nations, security is a big business here in Nigeria. You have soldiers, police, traffic officers, tourist police, and hundreds of private security companies. The trick is knowing who is responsible for what. The use of force by security varies depending on the level of the security agency. Tourist police simply watch crowds and attempt to negotiate a compromise in cases such as a store owner taking advantage of tourists or they may run off street vendors who become too aggressive. Traffic wardens are unarmed and stand in the middle of intersections and attempt to direct traffic. Since most traffic lights here don’t work, it is a thankless and very dangerous job and most motorists simply ignore them. After that, the security gets more complicated and involves the carrying of batons, pistols, automatic rifles and even shotguns. But even the carrying of guns can be misleading.

Several years ago I was working in Equatorial Guinea which is possibly one of the most repressive governments in Africa. There are road blocks everywhere and most of them are to extort money from drivers. We were in a training vehicle with a British driver when we were stopped at a roadblock by an obviously very drunk soldier who was extremely belligerent. The soldier was leaning in the driver window and waving his gun barrel inside the vehicle but the British guy didn’t seem too concerned. When he finally realized we weren’t going to give him any money, he slapped the top of the vehicle and waved us on. Later I asked the driver if the gun being pointed inside the vehicle didn’t bother him and his answer was “No, the drunk soldier was wearing a purple beret and they don’t give them ammunition.” So, not everybody walking around Abuja with a gun has ammunition but I don’t know which do and which don’t so I keep a low profile.

We did have an interesting situation Thursday after work when we were being transported back to the hotel. There was a major intersection without a traffic warden and traffic was unbelievably snarled. It was basically gridlocked and nobody would back up or let anybody else go in front. We sat there about five minutes and a soldier showed up and tried to sort it out. The military don’t usually do traffic control but this guy was trying to get people to back up and let others through and even though he was screaming and yelling, nobody was paying attention to him. All of a sudden he pulled his pistol out and pointed it into the air and it was amazing how fast people started throwing their cars into reverse and backing up. I’m assuming he probably did carry ammunition.

At any given moment there are literally hundreds of security officers around the hotel grounds and some of them are carrying automatic weapons and I don’t question for a minute that they do have ammunition. The Nigerian Army has soldiers stationed at the entrances and I’ve seen an armored carrier parked outside the main entrance several days. I do feel safe here, however.

Nigeria as lots of oil and of course that attracts lots of people wanting that oil. It’s interesting in the lobby of the hotel at any given time: you have American and European businessmen; Arab oil sheiks, and Nigerian businessmen in Western clothing as well as traditional clothing. For several days I would see in the morning and in the evening a group of about twelve men in very ornate and intricate clothing that looked much like what we visualize the Three Wise Men looking like: very ornate robes and cloaks with head turbans wound around the tops of their heads. I asked my contact at the embassy and he told me they are palace guards. In Nigeria, there are still sultans who consider themselves royalty and, since they control considerable areas of oil-rich land, nobody really confutes them. These men in ornate robes are their palace guards and what was really distinctive about them was the fact that not one of them was probably under seven feet tall and several were well over that.

And it's possible to see all types of ethnic clothing in the lobby.....

This Hilton is very large, I would guess with as many as 3,000 rooms and since I’ve been here, they’ve been getting into the holiday spirit. Nigerian has very large populations of Muslims and Christians and Christmas is very prominently celebrated here. The hotel has decorated with Christmas trees, holly and lights everywhere and Wednesday evening, they had a choir in the lobby singing traditional Christmas songs and they were really outstanding.

For lunch during the day, we’ve been going to a local restaurant named “Mama Cass.” I don’t know if it has any direct reference to the singer of the 1960s but they have traditional Nigerian food and I’ve been very careful but so far haven’t had any negative repercussions.

Every African town or city has a central craft market and here in Abuja it is conveniently located on the grounds of the Hilton Hotel which means it’s safe and the vendors aren’t nearly as aggressive as other places I’ve gone. Basically the goods are the usual wooden masks, beads, pottery and lower to mid-level quality souvenirs that I usually refer to as “Africrap.” What gets me, though, is the hotel brochure describing the village: “It has various collections including such amazing treasures dating as far back as the 15^th century slave trade era.” Yeah right—I think Blackbeard may have worn these beads……

Made it Over Here OK and the First Day Was Successful…..

…..and most importantly, there was someone at the Abuja airport waiting for me. That is one of the most stressful parts of any job—arriving at an African airport traveling alone and not sure if anyone is expecting you. I’ve been to Africa twelve times now and three times nobody’s shown up and believe me, you are really vulnerable—no local currency, no ride and unable to even make a local phone call for help. It happened to me in Chad, where I had to negotiate a taxi ride at 4:30 in the morning and ended up getting clipped for about $50 for a fifteen minute ride to the hotel (which I did expense); it happened in Cameroon where I had to physically get in a shoving match to keep a taxi driver from loading my suitcase in his cab against my will (a woman from the company I was working for in Douala happened to see it and got a soldier involved then she took me to an office and called for a ride); and it happened to me in Ethiopia where I luckily came across a Hilton Hotel (where I was staying) shuttle driver who agreed to take me to the hotel and charge my credit card.

So when I clear customs and see the driver holding a sheet of paper with my name on it, believe me, it is one of the most relaxing and welcome sights involved with foreign travel. At Abuja, there was my name and four other names on the sheet of paper and I was shuttled to the hotel with another contract embassy employee and three members of US Customs who were attending a conference this week at the same hotel where I’m staying (the Hilton). What was strange about the nearly one hour drive into town was that we were met by a motorcycle escort with police lights and siren at the airport parking lot and he directed us into town—blocking exits as we went through intersections and forcing cars to the side so we could pass through.

There is a lot of tension here right now. Nigeria had its first suicide bombing here in Abuja earlier this year and the United Nations headquarters here was bombed in August with considerable fatalities and injuries. One of Nigeria’s many splinter groups (an Islamic separatist group) is threatening to bomb four luxury hotels in the city this holiday season—the Hilton being on the list.

After unpacking and showering, I went downstairs to eat supper and came across the embassy employee and one of the customs officials and we ate at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant here in the hotel. While the food was being prepared, I asked the employee if that kind of escort is usual around here and he replied that a lot of the customs guys like “to act like cowboys” when traveling around. What is really strange to me is that for the next two weeks, my students and I will be driving around Abuja traffic in a vehicle with US diplomatic tags and absolutely no escort or even contact with the Embassy except for a cell phone.

The hotel is very nice but basically a fortress. It is located on a really large compound with high brick walls topped with razor wire. The hotel itself is probably at least 100 feet from any street. There is also a conference center, some mall shops and of course parking areas and there is a small series of streets inside the hotel compound and all have been lined with large concrete barriers placed on the shoulders so that no vehicle larger than a sedan can get through them. Even the entrance to the hotel has three spaced security checkpoints configured so narrowly that a box truck can’t pass through. The only way a truck can get in is probably the service docks and I’m pretty sure they screen that area thoroughly too—I can’t see them spending that much money on security and not checking the back docks. Even the sidewalks here have concrete blocks spaced so a pedestrian can step around them but a motorcycle can’t use them.

Inside, the hotel is really nice. There are three themed restaurants, several bars, a small shopping mall, banks and other services. They even have a little safari village on the grounds selling Nigerian souvenirs. I probably won’t leave the compound except to work. But as you might expect, all this comes at a price. I have a $132/day meal allowance here and it would probably take most of it to eat three meals a day here. Internet is $45/day and $22/hour although I can buy a 24-hour card in the business center for about $25 and I will probably do that early in the week and maybe next weekend. A cup of coffee this morning (with no refills) was about $8.00.

I had Sunday off as a layover day to recover from jet lag and this afternoon I got a call from the embassy motor pool and the supervisor who will be my contact discussed the coming two weeks with me.

I was picked up as scheduled at the hotel and met my students for the coming week on Monday. Three are Nigerian; one is Congolese; and the fifth is from Equatorial Guinea—and all speak really good English. That is always a concern—standards vary greatly as to what is “workable English.”

The first day went really well and Abuja is actually a very clean and attractive city. I didn’t take my I Phone today since embassies vary as to whether or not they will allow them inside but this one does so I should start getting some photos tomorrow…..

Flying to Abuja, Nigeria in December for a State Department Job.....And in January, A Four Day Running Vacation in Bermuda......

.....with the American Embassy there. Abuja is the capital of Nigeria--a planned community to replace the former head of government in Lagos. Although the city is not completed yet today, it is considered an oasis in much of Nigeria's troubles. Here, the crime rate and ethnic strife are less pronounced but the city has not been immune from violence.

This job was originally scheduled last August and was postponed when the United Nations headquarters there was bombed killing 24 people.

We'll try it again and I should be home by December 18--enough time to do a little pre-Christmas celebration this year.

I decided not to buy another camera and just purchased the new IPhone 4S so I will be using it as my camera and it takes fantastic photos.

And I should have plenty of opportunities to take fantastic photos in January when I go to Bermuda to run the Bermuda Triangle Challenge: a one-mile run on the first night; a 10K (6.2 mile) run the next day; and a half marathon on the third day. My knee really acted up after Iceland so we'll see......

My Camera and the Powercord to my Computer Were Stolen out of my Backpack at Cusco.....

.....so I probably won´t be blogging any more on this trip. I did save my computer at least and the only pictures I lost were the final day at the clinic. Could have been much worse.....

We're Half-Way Through the Week and the Crowds Are Growing Larger....

.....The clinic is pretty much in full swing now and there have been a number of medical problems come through but nothing catastrophic yet. Lots of expectant mothers and lots of babies. This area is basically only serviced by a midwife who virtually takes care of all problems from teeth to deliveries. Most of the expectant mothers have never had a true wellness exam and most of the babies up to, and including, small children have never had any follow-up exams or treatment since childbirth. The group this trip includes a female gyn (which is important down here), a physical therapist, an emergency medicine doctor, a pediatratian and a couple of family doctors as well as several nurses. There is one American dentist and one Peruvian dentist. We have two pharmastists.
The village is truly impoverished but the school is surprisingly modern and clean. There is limited electricity and water is pumped in from a nearby irrigation canal--therefore not clean, but I've seen the children drinking from the hoses.
The dental clinic only does extractions--no cosmetic treatment, cleaning or checkups. We have been averaging about two extractions per patient and only one required oral surgery and sutures. Lots of children coming in for their very first dental checkup. Most handle it pretty well but some are scared to death. First they get pain killer, then wait five minutes before the extraction. This morning we had a little boy about five years old get his shot and then he climbed under the fence and took off and we never saw him again.
The US dentist brought his own portable exam table and it's really neat. If you look closely at the photo, you'll notice it folds up and has a backpack frame built in so it can be carried up mountains, through jungles or wherever you want to go. What's really neat is that it also has a pole with a solar panel so the dentist can operate a drill. Since we're working inside, he didn't bring it this trip but it's really a neat concept.
So far, so good......

Made it to Northern Peru and Set Up the Clinic For the First Day.....

.....It was a six hour flight and 15 hour bus ride but we made it up here in pretty good shape. Ther are 25 of us--a pretty good mixture of medical and dental and some optometrists.

Piura is the oldest Spanish colonial city in South America--Pizarro landed here and moved throughout the Continent from this location. It is a large city by Peruvian standards but very easy to move around in with good restaurants and a really nice plaza across from the hotel. As in all South American cities, plazas and statues to leaders are everywhere.

The clinic is about an hour bus ride from the city and is in a very poor area but is different from the first time I was here. That trip, the village was basically desert sand but this location is very tropical with lots of agriculture. We set up in a school--and Peru has very nice school facilities--even in these remote areas. They have electricity but is is only available at certain time of the day.

The first day of clinic went pretty well with only a few glitches. I am working with a dentist from South Carolina and a Peruvian dentist who doesn't speak any English but we have a translator who smoothes things out. I think between my Texas accent and the South Carolina twang, though, we keep her off balance. Basically, I'm working with the Peruvian dentist and she is very good with the children so we are seeing a lot of them.

I'll post more later, but we're off to a good start......

Headed Back to Peru and Machu Picchu This Month; Nigeria in December; and Bermuda in January......

.....This will be my third trip to Peru with the medical group. This time we are going into Lima then north near the border of Ecuador and then traveling each day to a very remote village that hasn't had medical services for nearly five years. I will be working with the dentists again this trip. We will be flying up into the Andes afterwards and spending a few days at Cusco and visiting Machu Picchu again.











In December, I am scheduled to go to Nigeria for two weeks for the State Department. I've never been to Nigeria and despite all the negative reports about it, I'm looking forward to seeing a new place. It's only a nine-day job and I'll be home by mid-December.

From January 12-15, I'm going to Bermuda to do the Bermuda Triangle races: a one-mile race on the first day; a 10K (6.2 mile) on the second; and a half-marathon on the third. I've signed up for all three--we'll see how it goes.

I am taking my computer to Peru and will probably have Internet access to post pictures.....

Day Four---Recovery Day and the Blue Lagoon.....

....Post-race day, the final full day before we head back, consisted of an all-day tour commonly referred to over here as the "Golden Circle Tour." While the previous tour had gone west then south and back to Reykjavik, this tour headed north along the western coastline then went into the interior and featured some just absolutely amazing views of waterfalls, canyons, glaciers and geysers--plus it ended with a two-hour session in the famous Iceland Blue Lagoon geothermal health spa!!!

As a group, we reviewed our race day results and we did pretty well. There were 117 of us staying in three hotels and, during the race, nobody got injured or hurt which is always a primary concern. Only one person dropped out and didn't finish and that was due to a serious sinus infection which obviously limits a runner's ability to breathe.

Record attendance was set in almost all events: 684 marathoners; 1852 half-marathoners; and over 10,000 participated in several running events of shorter distances. Over 1400 international runners participated--another record. One of the women in our group ran the marathon in 3 hours 21 minutes and placed ninth overall in the women's group. One of the male runners with us finished 21st. Devin set a goal of under 4 hours and finished it in 3:57. I set an unofficial goal of under 3 hours and finished it in 3:03 but had the time of my life.

The Golden Circle tour started at our hotel--we used a bus for each hotel--so everybody knew everybody by now. Must have been funny watching all these people groaning and limping onto the bus with sore legs! The tour started with a two hour drive up through the countryside into an area where historical earthquaked have created a continental rift--a valley about 6 miles wide with a very deep lake.

It was here at Thingvellir National Park that the Vikings created the world's first democratic parliament in the year 930. Although the parliament is long gone--a newer one is located in Reykjavik today--it is considered the oldest parliament in the world. The tectonic plates are unusual here in that they don't shift against each other as in North America, but separate away from each other. In this valley the North American Plate is today separated about six miles from the Eurasian plate mean that Iceland is slowly spreading out at the rate of 2 cm/year.

After hiking around in the valley (and up and down wooden stairs on sore legs), we visited some canyons and lake sides before heading back to the bus feeling like our legs had really loosened up well on the hike.

Leaving Thingvellir, we drove more eastward to Gullfus--one of the most amazing spots we had visited all week. Gullfus is a giant waterfall that has been purchased by the government to protect it from speculators who wanted to use it to create an electrical generation facility.

Getting off the bus, we realized our legs had tightened up again (something that just kept happening throughout the tour), but the sights were well worth the stretching and hiking up and down stairs and out to the overcrop of the waterfall.

We had a beautiful day which meant the sun was creating rainbows and the water was literally sparkling.

After spending some time on the outcrop, we hiked up to a restaurant and ate lunch. While eating, the clouds darkened but quickly the sun came out again. From the restaurant, it was possible to look north and see the second largest glacier in Iceland. In this photo, the ice and snow look like clouds but if you look directly below the dark clouds in the center of the picture and between the low mountains, you can see the ice.

After lunch we drove over to the famous geothermal park that features Iceland's most famous tourist attraction--Geysir.

Until the 1950s, Geysir used to erupt nearly a football field length into the air but sometime shortly after World War II, tourists threw large rocks into the pit to try and get it to erupt and blocked it. It still erupts but at irregular intervals and nowhere as spectacularly as before. In 2000, an earthquake shifted some of the blockage but the Geysir of old is no more.... Geothermal geysers seem to be centered in Iceland, North America and New Zealand but all geysers in the world (different spelling) are namesakes of this once-mighty spectacle of nature.

The area, however, is a park full of these geysers and several do erupt on a regular basis.

The water is heated underground to steam-like temperatures and when the conditions are just right, a huge blast occurs. As the boiling water is erupted into the cooler air, the temperature of the water drops as it falls back to the earth. Each geyser has a pool that has been formed around the hole and the returning cooler water settles into the pool and drains back into the hole where is is heated up again. When the temperature and conditions are right once more, another eruption occurs.

While I was looking forward to this, I wasn't really excited about it but it turned out to be a real highlight of the tour.

The area south of Reykjavik is relatively new and consists of lava fields. This area is thought to be about 23,000 years old which is "young" by geological standards. Lava rock is extremely sharp and will tear your feet to shreds very quickly. Years ago, the government came in an hollowed out a "lakebed" in the lava rock and began pumping in a mixture of geothermally heated freshwater with some saltwater from the ocean. The result was an artificial "lake" of water very heavy in minerals and silica. While lava rock is very porous, the silica in the water clogged it and created a surface very similar to a ceramic coating--allowing people to bathe and walk around in the shallow lake.

Today, it is a world famous spa with the mineral/salt water being around 100 to 103 degrees. We spent two hours in it just floating around and relaxing. Those Icelanders are pretty clever--they give you a bracelet with a microchip and then built a bar over the side where you can order a drink, pay for it with your bracelet, then relax in hot, soothing water. Very civilized.....

After two hours, we got out--nobody was limping around or groaning at this point--and headed back to Reykjavik and the hotel. That night, we kind of split up into smaller groups and eight of us walked downtown and ate one last meal together.

The weather was perfect all four days--plenty of sunshine and temperatures up to 54-55 degrees during the day. The only two brief rains we experienced occurred when we were riding in the bus.

The last morning, however, was dark, colder, gloomy and very overcast and windy with occasional rain. The "rain gods" truly blessed this trip for us. Devin went swimming with a group in the last morning--another geothermal pool but not a spa--and the two of us later walked downtown in the rain and did one last walking tour of the city.

We walked down to the harbor and took some pictures of the Viking long ship sculpture then returned to the hotel, met the group, and headed to the airport. The flight back was long but uneventful and we got hit with 93 degree temperatures back in Houston--at 10:00 pm!!!

Excellent adventure........

Race Day and Culture Night in Reykjavik......

.....Woke up to a rather brisk but absolutely beautiful day to run!!! By race time at 8:40 it was around 50 degrees and probably hit a high of around 54 with beautiful baby-blue sky and a few wispy white clouds. Just absolutely perfect (Houston, by the way, had yet another triple-digit temperature setting a record for consecutive days).

Our hotel is about ten minutes walk down into the city center and a small group of us from our tour walked down together and warmed up.

Since Devin was doing the full marathon, we had separate routes but started together. We had agreed earlier to separate early so I was on my own in a giant crowd of people as the race got going and people started jostling for position and the race began spreading out and runners could set their own pace.

I didn't have a specific goal since this was a "destination" run but I did kind of want to come in around the three hour mark. Devin had set an unofficial goal of under four hours for the full marathon. Since the course was marked in kilometers, I was constantly converting to miles in my mind but at the 7 km point (1/3 of the way through the race), I was well ahead of my goal. The course went from downtown Reykjavik south over footbridges at the city lake and then wound through residential neighborhoods to the coastline. While distance running is not as popular In Iceland as it is in America, we still had residents out cheering us on and several bands were playing--one band was playing the theme from the movie "Rocky" and I heard later they played it non-stop for about four hours. There were some considerable hills involved which I knew about and anticipated but they still hammer this Texas "flatlander."

The coastal run, however, was flat and worked around the sweeping curvature of the bay with just breathtaking views (no pun intended). For some time, I had been pacing with a guy from Chicago and when we got one spot along the coast where there is a modern sculpture of a Viking longship, we stopped and he got a picture of me.

After that, he pulled away from me and later I spent some time pacing and talking with a Canadian girl who was running for Team Diabetes. That's what I enjoy about this--for three hours you meet and talk with the most interesting people. At the 14 km point (2/3 of the course), I was still ahead of my pace and feeling pretty good. At one point along the road, the full marathoners had looped up into the countryside above Reykjavik and were coming back on the other side of the road and I looked up and saw an orange dot bouncing up and down ahead of me. Even from that distance, I knew it was Devin with his Dynamo jersey and when we met, we high-fived as we passed.

My course then looped around in the industrial ship area and returned toward the city. At this point my legs were starting to feel tight and the course was slightly uphill for quite a ways. I knew I was losing pace but still felt pretty good. As is always the case, the last 5 km (3 miles) were the toughest but I ran it in and crossed the finish line at 3:03:46--three minutes over my stated goal of three hours but I was happy with it. I received my medal and just walked around the festivities in the downtown area until around the 4 hour mark when I got on a small hill above the finish line and videoed Devin crossing the finish line. His time was 3 hours and 57 minutes--just under his stated four hour goal.

After he walked it off, we joined up with a couple of other tour members and waited for another runner--a woman from Houston who was aiming for the five hour mark--and she came in at 5:18. After she got her wind back, we headed back up to the hotel. After showering and resting a bit, Devin and I headed back down and by that time the race was ending and Culture Night was starting. We eventually ran into two members of the group and walked up to the Reykjavik Cathedral and looked around. It is very distinctive and a city landmark. Iceland is predominately Lutheran so this was much plainer inside but still very impressive with its soaring ceiling and distinctive "wings" that are fashioned after the six-sided Cobalt columns like we had seen on the beach yesterday.

A group of us had made dinner reservations at a nice restaurant and it ended up seven of us having dinner together.

We then walked around in the city. Stages were set up in most large street intersections and bands were playing while street vendors were selling food. Kind of a Icelandic Renaissance Festival.

Everybody was just having a good time--no problems or anybody really drunk and looking for trouble but at one point some guy walked up to Devin and grabbed his medal from the race. Devin is a big guy but this guy was much, much larger and had huge arms covered with tattoos and was sporting about a three-day beard. He said something to Devin in Icelandic and Devin kind of looked strange and said "What?" The guy then laughed and said "good job."

Around 10:30--just as it was getting dark--they turned on colored lights in the brand-new opera house. The building is not completely finished but is very unique in that the outside is shaped like a giant fishing net with colored glass panes. We headed back up the hill towards the hotel and were almost there when we heard explosions and turned around and could see the fireworks display literally over the city lake.

When we did make it to the hotel room--I was tired and my legs were getting sore but I really didn't care.

Best birthday ever......

Day Two Was An Amazing Day Trip to the Southern Most Point of Iceland.....

.....After a really good night's sleep (no jet lag here), we ate an early breakfast then joined about fifty people from our group on a day tour from the hotel. After boarding a Greyhound-type bus, we set out from Reykjavik and took a leisurely trip for about two hours out through the lava fields surrounding the city and passed through some geothermal processing plants and a small town that is basically a community of greenhouses where they grow everything from tomatoes to bananas. It's interesting that they have to basically create an artificial night/day and light/darkness for the greenhouses here. On June 21--summer solstice--there is basically no darkness and they have to shade the plants part of the time while on December 21--winter solstice--there is less than two hours of night so they use artificial light. Last night, it got dark around 11:oo pm and started getting light again about 4:30 am. It does take some getting used to except that I was so tired last night that I went to sleep around 8:00 and slept through until nearly 6:00 so I basically didn't have any nighttime yesterday.

Our first stop was at a waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. Although not a huge waterfall, it was spectacularly beautiful. The water drops 130 feet into a shallow pool and we were able to work our way around behind the water and up around the other side. As you might not expect from a place called "Iceland,", the landscape is lush and green everywhere here. At this point on the second day, small groups are forming within the larger tour and people are starting to get to know each other. This is really neat in that everyone here has one thing in common--loving to be outdoors and running.

After spending some time at Eljalandsfoss, we continued on with the infamous volcano Eyjafjallajokull in the background. We could see it fairly clearly but it was just too far away to get a good photo. We did, however, stop at a large farm that had been the scene of a famous photo during the eruption. In the photo, the house and buildings were nearly covered in ash and the sky was so black the photo looked like it had been taken with black and white film. The owners had nearly abandoned the farm afterward but as time passed, everyone around here began to realize that volcanic ash makes a great fertilizer so they cleaned the buildings up and today it is one of the lushest, green farms in the valley.

There are several volcanoes active in Iceland right including one that is expected to be at least ten times the destructive force of last year's whenever it does blow. As our guide pointed out, Iceland is relatively new island--about 23 million years old--which is far younger than the Rocky Mountains. We saw some islands off the coastline including one that was created when an underwater volcano eruption sent lava into the saltwater and a good-sized island was formed in the 1970s. The Iceland government declared it a human-free zone and today only scientists are allowed access and they are studying how plant and wildlife develop in new environments. Already there are birds, plants and even small animal colonies developing on it.

We continued on southeastward and stopped at a beach location near the southernmost point of Iceland called Reynisfjara. By now it was very windy and the temperature had dropped to the "jacket" point. After a short walk to the beach, we explored some basalt column formations and caves that included a colony of Puffins. These are small birds that I think look like miniature flying penguins. The geological columns were formed int the side of a small mountain and were usually six-sided and very large. At times, we literally had to lean into the wind to walk. This is usual here and, especially back in Reykjavik, we've had excellent and beautiful weather on this trip.

In a distance, a small peninsula marked the southernmost part of Iceland and included a rock outcropping with a small hole in it. Southernmost maybe, but we're still not very far from the Arctic Circle right now.

On the way back, we stopped at a larger waterfall near the tiny village of Skogar. The waterfall, called Skogafoss, is situated above a recreational and camping site. The water falls 200 feet into the River Skogaa. Unlike the earlier waterfall today, we couldn't walk behind this one but we could climb a series of steep stairs and view the waterfall from the top.

We then returned back to Rekyjavik and stopped at the Expo center and picked up our race packets and shirts for tomorrow's race. In the evening about 30 of us walked downtown and ate at an Italian restaurant. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and I was asleep by 10:00.

Race Day tomorrow......