Oh boy what a week.
-Unfortunately, a build of stress has prevented me from staying on the quit smoking band wagon. I really hope to (re)start my quitting program again next week.
-My marathon training suffered a bit last week. I did my runs, but maybe 1-2 less miles than what was planned.
-I have given some consideration about purchasing a training plan from NYRR. I think the price is about $99 bucks, which is cheaper than previous years.
-To keep me motivated with training for NYC Marathon, I have reached out to one of my running groups to see if anyone would like to set up some sort of a training accountability subgroup. See, I’m still trying to be social in this group.
-Aw, Facebook reminded me that I was in Perú a few years ago. What a fun trip! I really would like to visit that country again.
-A general tip to my fellow US buddies thinking about visiting Machu Picchu. Do NOT ask the tour guide anything about ancient aliens and their influence on building the citadel. Note: I was NOT the person who asked this question during the tour.
-Speaking of international travel, I really hope that we will not have to cancel (again) our trip to Spain in September.
-Who’s ready for the Olympics?
-Speaking of the Olympics, it looks like Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympics. Just as an FYI: Paris will host 2024, and Los Angelas will host 2028. I have to admit that I was not a huge fan of Sydney’s Olympics. I think it was because of the extreme time difference. The news outlets had reported results before the events aired on TV. Yes, I do realize that the world is not supposed to stand still for Eastern Time Zone, but it hard to watch intense events (e.g. 100m dash, 4X100 & 4X400 relay) when I already knew the results.
Question of the day:
If you watch the Olympics, what are your favorite events to watch?
Have an running blog recommendations?
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Run There, Drink That 
My running has gone to pot this week, I’ve only run this morning and that was 3 miles. Guess my North African / Spanish heritage is NOT coming through for me in the coping with the heat stakes, and the other 63/64 of me that is damp and British and chilly is the one that’s dealing with the heat!
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LOL. I’m struggle with the heat too and 90%+ of my genetic background is Western African. Random: According to my Ancestry results, a portion of my genetic background comes from Ireland (4%) and England & Northwestern Europe (1%). That said, I do not know if I buy the results from Ancestry. According to Ancestry’s “my DNA story”, the majority of my genetic background was only in the Caribbean during the 1920s. However, my father is from Ghana so in the 1920 a major portion of my genetic background would should still be in W. African . . . especially since my dad came to The States in the early 70s.
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Yeah, I have major issues with Ancestry. At first, I got 10% of my background showing up in Spain/North Africa, and this is borne out by the fact that I and my cousins know that our gran’s grandfather was Spanish and our family tree has been done (and as a lot of Spain belonged to the Arabic world and we’re all very dark-skinned for Caucasian English people, with dramatically dark hair and eyes and get the type of tan that leads people in Tunisia to think you’re French or Spanish, plus I’m even the shape of Spanish woman as they age) we thought that was right. Then it’s been adjusted so we’re NW Europe with no Spanish. But your example is even more dramatically dodgy!
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I know that the DNA profile can change as Ancestry’s sample sizes increase, but I am a bit surprised that your Spain/North African percentage went from 10% to 0% . . . especially if you have actual insights of your family tree. It might be interesting to compare your results to your siblings’ (if you have any). Perhaps, they would show more Spain/North African. (You know same family tree, but different genetic code).
In my case, I think my results are due to the assumption that many folks on the African continent more than likely have not submitted samples to Ancestry. The technology is only as strong as the sample size. I assume that Ancestry’s algorithm would make anyone with W. African decent DNA story include the Caribean since it was a major major slave ports. I don’t disagree with that, I was confused that my some of my DNA story did not include W. Africa in the 1920. As a matter of fact, some of the DNA story should have been in the US (or what would have been the US) through my mother’s side, which pretty much has been in North American since the late 1800s.
*Man, I wrote a novel*
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No sibs but my cousin Martin who I share that ancestry with as our dads were brothers has had the same thing. From my reading, it’s unusual to have come from Ghana to the US in the 70s, as your dad did, where the majority of Black folk in the US came through slavery and a lot longer ago and thus often via the Caribbean (not always, as I have read recently in Black and British by David Olusoga, recommended if you want a VERY thorough history of the British slave trade and reviewed on my blog Saturday). But it seems reductive for the algorithm to then assume that your genetics track back through there. Unless your dad is a descendant of a freed slave (or one who took their freedom for themselves) who then returned to Africa via Sierra Leone then spread out into other countries of Africa. But that wasn’t in the 1920s and is a bit tenuous to say the least! Another novel. But I find this stuff fascinating.
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I check out Olusoga’s book; it sounds interesting.
“From my reading, it’s unusual to have come from Ghana to the US in the 70s, as your dad did”
Fortunately, my dad’s family in Ghana were a bit better off than most, so he and a few of his siblings had the opportunity (and means) to emigrate to the States and Europe for school and/or work. In the US, my dad served in the military, which was an easy way for citizenship through naturalization. Based on the ages of my 1st cousins, who were born outside of Ghana and are around my age, I would assume that some of his siblings left Ghana in the mid 70s-early 80s. One brother went to the States and three of his sisters went to the UK, France, and the Netherlands.
Long story long. I took Ancestry’s results as something interesting, but I would not bet the farm on its results. I did give me a chance to trace my family tree (primarily my mother’s paternal side) and view birth and death records to about the late 1800s. Before the late 18000s, thinigs get a little confusing (e.g. family’s surname vs slave owner’s surname).
I guess as more folks who share my racial and ethnic background submit samples to Ancestry, or if Ancestry obtains more population/genology data from folks in Africa and those of African decent, the “DNA story over” time will become more representative.
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I have been so far removed from life teaching all of these classes at the gym I almost forgot about the damn Olympics lol! I guess I will have to watch. Love the Machu Picchu pic.
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I guess because of COVID, there has not been much hype about the Olympics. To be honest, learned about this Friday’s opening ceremonies because I saw a story about COVID cases in the Olympic village.
Hopefully, your classes are going well.
If you haven’t visited Peru, I highly recommend it. The country has quite a few beautiful beach towns along the Pacific. As a matter of fact, when I planned my trip, I originally was going to visit a few beaches. However, everyone was all in my face saying: you cannot visit Peru AND not go to Machu Picchu. It was alright, but the logistics of adding Machu Picchu to my beach trip was a hot mess.
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Yes, Peru is on my list!! Love anywhere with an abundant amount of beaches. Hiking is not super my thing (#idratherberunning) but I do it from time to time – being lazy on a beach definitely is LOL
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Fortunately, the folks at Machu Picchu has a bus that takes you right up to the citadel from the train station. While views were pretty impressive, I was little annoyed that one particular individual in the group was asking a bunch of questions. Ummmm sir, some of us prepaid for the $45 (btw, very expensive in that part of Peru) lunch buffet, and the restaurant is gonna close soon.
Another lol moment at the lunch buffet. After having about 6-7 Cusquena beers (think watered down Bud Light) with my lunch, I get an additional bill for like $50. I did not ask the price of the beers because I thought they would be about $2 (like they were in every other part of Cuzco). The little restaurant upcharged beers to about 8 freakin dollars a piece.
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There’s going to be another big time difference this year with the Olympics in Japan. I don’t have cable so I’ve got to figure out how to watch it.
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NBC’s Peacock streaming app might show certain events in real time. The basic app is free, but the fancy perks will probably cost a few bucks.
I assume your local NBC station will show popular sports (e.g. track, swimming, gymnastics, ribbon twirling 😉 ) during primetime
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I’ll have to get Peacock and see what I can watch that way. Hopefully I can at least watch the opening ceremony and the bigger events.
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Given the pandemic, I’m sure Tokyo will do a great job for the opening ceremonies.
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Very true about the time difference. Some say that why the ratings (for folks in the US) of Sydney’s Olympics were low. I’m not sure about Bejing’s. I recall the Opening Ceremonies doing well in the ratings, but I’m not sure about the actually events. Then again, it’s hard to compare, I think, Sydney’s Olympics to Bejing’s because of the advancements in technology to stream events in real time.
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The women’s 4×100 and 4×400 performances from London still make me cry, no joke. I love all the track and field events and the swimming relays/medleys plus gymnastics of course (but don’t watch that one regularly). I’m also following the US Men’s Volleyball team bc their libero made a TikTok and they are so cute (and my fiance is in that world and has come across some of them).
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Outside of the popular running events, I am quite fascinated with the pole vault and triple jump. Hopefully, we all will enjoy Tokyo’s Olympics even during a pandemic.
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