Intervalls, panamanian traffic and an overheated office

Intervalls, long and short, 12.67 km, 1 h 2 min 4 sec, 4:54 min/km.

Two tough laps in the park, around 7.5 km of intervals. Started with longer intervals, but fast, around 4:15 min/km. Finished with shorter (around 400 m), also fast. The feeling of running fast is fantastic- it feels like flying. High, long strides with a wonderful flow. That is how it feels like at least, maybe it looks slightly different...

I do not do intervals very often, mainly because they are so painful. But again, the feeling of running fast gives me an adrenalin kick. Hopefully, it also gives me some more speed for the shorter competitions, 5-10 km races.

Running from work starts already in the morning. Since I will run from work, I need to walk to work. Not too far, around 30 minutes of walking. But the temperature makes it impossible to walk without getting sweaty.

To walk in Panama means, again, trying not to get hit by a car, bus or a taxi. It is a shooting arena on an amusement park, where the cars are the guns and I am the target. But so far, they have missed.. :-). I can also put it in another way. There is some room for improvement when it comes to cardrivers being considerate with people walking.
After avoiding also the holes in the ground, I reach work- sweaty! Necessary to change shirt and some other clothes.

This particular day, as many other days, the AC did not work. Now I know, that without the AC, the temperature stabilize around 35 C in the office. Slightly too warm to my taste...

After work, I run off to the park. Not many parks to chose between, but the one we have is very nice. Parque Omar, named after the "friendly dictator" Omar Torijos. As all dictators, señor Torijos did a lot of things that were not so good. But, as I understand, he also did a lot of good things, like social reforms and finalizing the treaty that gave the canal back to Panama at the millenium shift.

Parque Omar has a nice run of around 3.75 km, with a lot of ups and downs (in total around 55 meter up and down in one lap). Doing intervals here is tough, but gives a lot. Only drawback is that people tend to walk beside eachother, taking up all space. And it is not in the culture to step aside for other people, except for ladies in the elevators (I am sorry, my panamanian friends, but that is how I perceive it...). Good excercise for Midnattsloppet in Stockholm next time..:-)