1) Apparently a park surrounded by streets with names like Alfred Tennyson, Edgar Allen Poe, and Archimedes is a safe bet for running after dark – though the doorman suggested I run on the sidewalks of the streets surrounding the park, rather than “in” the park itself… Maybe wouldn’t have felt as safe if I was a fragile flower, but nobody seemed to want a part of a grizzled old gringo… Felt safe – no intentional harm directed my way – though traffic-dodging was another story.
2) Walking dogs on long leashes is a team sport for folks enjoying conversation and laughter – walking kids on short leashes appears to be a relatively grim solo event.
3) I did three loops – so had to pass the cafés around the park three times, where the wine flows and the steaks are smoldering – made it really difficult to want to go back home and have a “light meal” after running. In fact, Mexico City definitely has an odor – not the one you’d think, but often pleasant and always distinct smells as you pass a café, or the street vendor with the enchilada cart with an open flame, or the flower stand…
4) The air in mile-high Mexico City is thiiiiiiiinnnnnn…. I think I got in 3 miles tonight, because I ran about the same pace as i would normally take (and because Jennifer ran it with me last weekend, and her keen sense of measurement put it at 3 miles), but the pace that would have kept a heart rate at 150 in the Hill Country put me in the upper 160s here – so maybe i was fooling myself, and just got in a lumbering mile and a half…
5) The business of the chaperone is a lost art. The park after dark is full of couples attached at the lips who are apparently undeterred by the presence of the rest of the crowd, or a hairy-legged, panting guy running past.
In all, a good experience. Safe, pleasant way to get in the required weekday maintenance. May have to find a way to the longer running paths at Ghandi or Chapultepec parks for weekend runs, but glad this one is close to the house (run out/in). All that said, I’m sure there will be times when I’d just as soon watch the runners from the streetside café….
