A running threesome - sounds like a dream come thru

 

Portimao

I had a good run today which means i hit my 100 mile training week in the last five days in three different countries: a 60 km (38 miles) in Germany on Friday, the Rotterdam Marathon in The Netherlands on Sunday and today a 60 km (38 miles) in Portugal. And I hit the 1K miles today (1600 km) this year.

The run in Germany was a 38 mile or 60KM run in the forest in the Nortnern part of Germany, about 15 miles north of Hamburg.

This was on Friday - The next day I heard on the radio that the Rotterdam marathon was happening on Sunday which completely skipped my mind, since I don't live in The Netherlands. I did the Rottterdam marathon several times, back in the days (read 'back in the 80's)

and always loved this race, as the amount of people along the route is enormous. They estimate 1,000.000 spectators....what an event. Small problem though is that I wanted to do this race but didn't have a bib. Another problem is that I was 400 miles or 700km away......driving would take a the whole day.

But, where a will is....and thus with some sore muscles I decided to give it a change. Got in my car and drove from Hamburg to Rotterdam where I arrived at 10:00 pm - throughout the day I found out that some runners were selling their race number and guess what...I found a runner who wasn't able to go and thus I bought his race bib. Slept in the car somewhere close to the race and fell like shit when I woke up after driving 400 miles and staying overnight in a car. Great way to prepare for a race :)

But ok - I managed to start AND managed to finished in 3:15:00 so not bad.

After the race in Rotterdam I drove to my mom in Breda, and two days later we drove to the airport to fly to Portimao, an area in the southwest area in Portugal for a family reunion

Portimao is rather hilly and as I needed to do some more running, I ended up doing some extensive hill exercise.

3 days after the Rotterdam marathon I ran another 38 mile (60km) run in Portimao, followed by another 13.1 mile or half marathon two days later.

after the running, i took a few days off to enjoy the beach with my family

Semana Santa, Antigua, Guatemala

 

Semana Santa, Antigua, Guatemala

A few years back our ship visited a port in Guatemala and I had the privilege to visit Antigua and watch the world famous procession during the Semana Santa.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the most important religious and cultural celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala, and is known for its elaborate processions, colorful sawdust carpets, and intricate religious traditions.

The celebrations begin on Palm Sunday, with a procession through the streets of Antigua featuring palm fronds, which are blessed and distributed to the faithful. Throughout the week, there are daily processions, each featuring a different statue of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary, as well as floats or "andas" depicting scenes from the Bible. These processions are accompanied by music, incense, and the sound of drums.

One of the highlights of Semana Santa in Antigua is the creation of sawdust carpets, or "alfombras," which are made by local residents and religious groups. These intricate carpets are made using colored sawdust, flowers, and other materials, and are created along the processional routes. They are meant to be walked over by the processions and are carefully crafted as a form of devotion and reverence.

The procession is very impressive and the carpets made of saw dust and flowers even so. It is unreal how detailed the carpets are and how much time is put into these pieces of art.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Antigua, go during the Semana Santa….

Here are some of the photos I took

Voyage Of The Vikings

 

What an amazing experience, to sail the 'voyage of the vikings' and visit Iceland, Greenland, and all these other amazing countries. Totally worth the trip.

Here is a video I took of photos and videos I took during this trip