Homestretch

Last big Peace Corps gathering in Skopje this past weekend. Amazingly, there are more human beings than statues in this photo.

And just like that...I'll be a former Peace Corps volunteer at the end of next week. Over the past few months, I've felt like I was on my way out, close to leaving but not quite there, but now it definitely feels real. If I want to say goodbye to people before I leave, I have to start figuring out which days specifically I can see them. There's no 'ovie denovi' or 'ima vreme'...by the time I get to Skopje on the 30th, it'll be too late. On my part, I pretty much have to accept every coffee invite or na gosti regardless of whether it is convenient at the time or not, because I might not get another chance. I know it will be sad to say goodbye to some people, especially those I've known since I moved to Oblesevo in November 2011 and kept in touch with after I moved to Kocani last year. But I also know I'll be relieved to be done with my service as Peace Corps volunteer. After two years in Macedonia, I really need to be doing other things with my life that better utilize my skills, experience, and personal motivation. I've had some victories, but they were few and far between. It is difficult to be happy with your work life when only once or twice a year you feel like you accomplished something meaningful. There are a lot of causes behind that, some of which go back to my own personality flaws, while others relate to simply bad luck when it came to meeting the right people or administrative failures that continue today. If your own organization refuses to learn from its mistakes, it doesn't exactly set volunteers up for potential success when they move to a new community for two years. Of course, we are supposed to be prepared to 'serve under conditions of hardship.' Being a Peace Corps volunteer is not easy, both mentally and physically. But placing volunteers in organizations or schools where they already had strong negative feedback from previous volunteers is just inexcusable. And I'm not even referring to my situation in this case. With that, I'll save the rest for some very frank close of service interviews. 

Guess which one has 800 miles on it. I think it looks pretty darn good after 800 miles. And yes, I bought the exact same pair of shoes again.

As I've gotten closer to my last day here in Macedonia, I haven't had much Peace Corps-related work to do, but thankfully there have been some fellowship applications to complete and I've had my daily marathon training to keep me motivated and focused. Since I started specific training in early August, I've run a lot of miles. Over the weekend I finally bought another pair of running shoes to replace my badly worn Nike Pegasus 28s, and I have to admit it was hard saying goodbye to them. I mean, I managed to get through 800 miles on these shoes since June, and they treated me right. When I first bought them, I think I was blinding pedestrians with their neon glory, and I think somehow, if it's even possible, I received even more stares than usual when I was out running. Before switching to the new shoes and after spending most of Saturday drinking beer and eating junk food with Peace Corps volunteers, I did a nice 18 miler along the Vardar on Sunday:

Doing this hungover and dehydrated is not recommended. 

I've been battling some runner's knee over the past week, and while that's not resolved yet, running on the bike/walking path and parts with dirt/grass was a lifesaver. I'm fairly certain my knee problem has arisen in part from running hundreds of miles on whatever this asphalt/concrete hybrid is they have here around Kocani (and I'm sure in other places). It's pretty awful, but you don't realize it until you run somewhere like Skopje. Thankfully, at this point I only have two fairly difficult weeks left in my training, and then I will start my taper for the Valencia marathon in Spain. This is a good thing. My body needs a little rest after an endless stream of aches, pains, minor injuries, and random accidents like hurting my ankle on a rock. It is also good because I am going to be traveling all over Morocco and Spain before I get to Valencia on the 15th.

While running in Spain should be fairly straightforward, I'm not so sure about Morocco. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing Moroccan long distance runners, as good or better than many of the top elites from Kenya and Ethiopia, and clearly a lot of people who are very serious about running. But I don't think they're training anywhere near the Medina in Marrakech and Fes. When I thought of Morocco before planning this trip, my first thoughts were of ridiculously chaotic bazaars, the Sahara Desert, and that pretty bad-ass scene from the Bourne Ultimatum where Matt Damon jumped through windows and ran on rooftops chasing some assassin in Tangier. Well, in the case of the latter, I suppose running was involved, but I'm pretty sure he also had to kill the highly trained commando in order to survive, and that hasn't been part of my training up to now. So anyway, I have two hard workouts scheduled during my time in Marrakech, and I honestly have no idea what to expect other than what I scoped out on Google Earth. I may need to revise my expectations and just focus mainly on not getting creamed by a moped or other motorized vehicles. If I can get as far from the Medina as I can without getting killed in the process, I might be able to get those workouts done. Priorities, right? 

Beyond that, I am really excited about going to Morocco and Spain. Just today I bought my ticket to see the Alhambra in Granada. I also finished the remaining bookings for my 26-day trip (before the cruise ship home) today. My itinerary/travel plan is 10 pages long. I have 3 different apps for self-guided walking tours and a Spanish dictionary installed on my phone. I am set and ready to go. Not much left to do except start saying some goodbyes and get ready for a pretty awesome transition to the next stage of my life.