Barefoot in Belize, Honduras, Mexico, oh...and Nevada too!

Hello Barefooters,

Windy Day in Costa Maya, MX

A rainy April in Indiana has come to an end...and it is still raining!  But what else should we expect for April?  Actually we have had some really good weather this month, although you wouldn't know it from looking at my mileage.  I've sort of been taking it easy and just getting in some minimal miles each day so I didn't have to post a ZERO!  (reminder to all--this is a good reason to keep a running log--it does provide daily motivation!)  Looking back over my past monthly totals, this was my lowest monthly total in over two years!  But it feels good to take it easy and not feel like I have to kill myself every day with miles...


The month started out on the 25th anniversary cruise which was fantastic.  We left out of Tampa with stops in Roatan Honduras, Belize City Belize, Costa Maya Mexico and Cozumel Mexico.  We had only been to one of these stops before so it was a big adventure.  We travelled with my brother Dave and his wife Annette who we had shared our wedding day with back in 1992.  So when we got to Belize we found a nice secluded place and renewed our wedding vows.  It was a neat experience.  Time flies when you're having fun and we're praying God blesses us with another 25 years as well.


Each day on the ship I was able to get in a run on the deck of the ship.  The track on 10th deck of Royal Carribean's "Rhapsody of the Seas" is advertised to be a quarter of a mile but my Garmin shows it to be a little short.  Each day (Monday thru Saturday at least) I would go up and get in 12 barefoot laps on the semi-rubberized surface.  Each day was quite different with the surface sometimes wet, sometimes dry and the conditions sometimes hot, sometimes cool and almost always a little windy.  Some of the days we were already "in port" and other days we were out at sea, so it was always interesting to see what my Garmin GPS watch would give me for the supposedly 3 mile total.  Based on the in-port days I believe the 12 laps gave me 2.72 actual miles but the three "days at sea" totals were 8.16, 7.72 and 3.91 miles, each of which depended on how fast the boat was moving on those days.  And on the particularly windy day coming into Costa Maya, the 3 miles also felt like a run through a mountain pass due to the pitching and rolling of the ship and the brutal "stop you in your tracks" headwind on one side of the ship followed by a "knock you off your feet" tailwind on the opposite side of the ship!  But I did appreciate being able to get in at least this minimum amount of exercise each day, since I was basically gorging myself the other 23 and half hours of the day on the excellent food which was constantly available.

Business Trip to Reno NV

The only other travelling I did this month was a trip out to Reno NV to visit a supplier mid month.  This afforded me some cooler, low humidity runs in the mornings, although I didn't get too adventurous and pretty much kept to the 1 mile loop of concrete sidewalks around the hotel.  Still, I did log a twelve miler the last day there before flying back...sadly, this was my longest run of the month!! 


The rest of the time back in Indiana I concentrated on lawn care and some outside projects including cutting down 3 trees...with probably still about 3 more trees to cut plus some other basic tree trimming activities.  My golf league also started up in April...so see, I have lots of excuses for my low monthly total!  Maybe I will pick up the pace a little in May (or maybe not!)


Enjoy the Warmer Weather!


Barefoot Dan
(April Mileage = 86 miles)