but she said we were friends, and I was in no position to pass up friends...

I finally went for a real run today! I managed to get on the right bus and get off at the right stop to go to the track. The track is surprisingly nice. I ran 2 miles.. in 24 minutes. I recognize the fact that this is pretty pathetic, but I´m in altitude and I haven´t ran in a few months. So I´m gonna consider this a success. After I had finished jogging, this girl named Silvia came up to me and asked "estas entrenando?" are you training? sure, why not. I said yes. She said, well, you should definitely train with me! ok why not? well, it turns out she´s (almost) an olympic athlete. she qualified for the 2008 olympics for the 300m hurdles, but she tore her achiles before she could compete. Now she´s recovered and has been training for three months. And she thinks I can train with here?!?! Well, she was really nice. We took the bus back to the center together and chatted the whole way back. She seemed really excited to get to know me. It´s so nice to make an Ecuadorian friend who´s not male and not part of my family!! and it will be nice to have a running partner.... even if she´s running laps around me.