With today being Cinco De Mayo, I was inspired to run 5 miles on the 5th day of the 5th month of the year. I decided that I would reward myself with a margarita when I finished my run. Of course, I felt strongly about celebrating Cinco de Mayo because of my deep Mexican roots, which extends as far as a single trip to Acapulco, Mexico when I was about six years-old (I remember 3 things: (i) I got a really nasty sunburn; (ii) there was a guy who worked on the beach named “Watusee” who had something like 20/10 vision and could see things that no one else could; and (iii) there were sharks in the water, so I was too scared to go into the ocean) and 2 years of high school Spanish with Señora Posnik, who I believe was originally from Mexico… or maybe she vacationed there, whatever.
I am happy to report that I am alive and well (better now, with una cervesa in me) after completing my 5 mile run. And, I want to make it clear that I know that Cinco de Miles is grammatically incorrect; I think it means “five, which belong to miles.” I don’t really know, but please chime in if you do. Incidentally, I am glad that all that time and effort that I spent on high school Spanish was an absolute and utter waste.
Finally, I am still flummoxed, confused and confounded by the physical action of drinking and running at the same time. Currently, what I have worked out is a mechanism that is rather similar to drinking horrible tasting alcohol, such as bad tequila or cheap whiskey – I gather the drink in my mouth, hold my breath and in a single, large gulp I down the contents, sort of like a shot. If anyone has any suggestions, ideas or recommendations regarding classes or a degree program that I can enroll in where I can learn how to drink while running, I would appreciate it. I am thinking of Tivo-ing marathons and watching the runners drink in slow motion – I am getting that desperate.
Just a point of clarification, I drink Powerade while running and, unfortunately, not margaritas, tequila or whiskey.