¡Si Se Puede!

I did it! Four months ago I was whining that I'd never be able to run more than 20 minutes in Mexico City. The altitude and pollution hit me like a ton of bricks when I first arrived and my attempts at running were painful and brief. Today, I ran the Mexico City Father's Day half marathon - 21 km (13.1 miles) along the big Periferico highway, with serious hill action and little shade. I felt good at the end and finished in a decent time (2:10).

It's amazing how adaptable we humans are. Running through the city I realized that the overstimulation of highways and billboards and people and traffic that mark Mexico City for the megalopolis it is and that had overwhelmed me when I first moved here have become just the daily scenery of my life. As has operating in a second language (even if I still struggle along), eating mounds of tortillas, talking Mexican election politics, navigating the sistema de transporte publico, and joining in cheers of Viva Mexico! for just about any occasion. Not that there still aren't long lists of things I don't understand or just don't get, but the lists are becoming more familiar and less perplexing, and the whining is slowly being replaced by a whisper of "si se puede".

It´s remarkable what a little time, a little deterimination, and whole lot of tortillas can do.

Happy Father´s Day, Dad!