The Georges in Peru

Another Running Buddy

16 Mar 2013

This morning I went running with Roberto.  I first met him in Abancay about 10 years ago when a Dutch friend and I organized the race, "Race to the Cross", an 8K race with 1K of vertical ascent up the mountain outside of Abancay.  Roberto had a print shop and offered to make certificates for all of the finishers.  Peruvians love certificates.  He also has moved to Arequipa and I ran into him on a city bus a couple of months ago.  He's become a rather accomplished runner since then, running a half-marathon in 1 hour 20 minutes at age 52!  We met at 6:30 sharp (runners are good about punctuality!) about a mile from my house and we ran about 5 miles together.  Luckily, he hasn't run much during the last month so I could keep up with him!  We ran about 8-minute miles.  I think he was being very kind to me.  I'm training for the Lima Marathon May 19th, so this should be a good boost to my workouts.