And so it begins...

“Could you please re-check” are the four most wonderful words a frequent flier could hear before a flight.  I was fortunate enough to hear these words on my way down to Cancun, meaning that I had been cleared for a first-class upgrade. 

During the flight, I couldn’t help but wonder why so many people get excited about sitting in first class.  It’s not like the extra-wide chair or free tv dinner really make that much of a difference.  I think I just enjoy the rare occasion when I can feel important and sit in the front of the plane, while the masses pile into economy class.

When I arrived in Mexico, the border control agent was surprised to hear that I was visiting Cancun for work.  At first, I thought I was so lucky to be working in paradise.  But, it was actually quite a tease to see everyone enjoying their vacations at the beach while I was stuck in a windowless office for 10 hours each day.  That said, it was still nice to wake up to crystal blue waters and eat dinner al fresco every night.

Views from my hotel, teasing me for not being on vacation

One interesting thing I learned about Cancun is that the most of the beaches are actually artificial.  After some major hurricane damage in the mid 2000's, sand had to be dredged from the sea floor and filled in to the sparse areas.  So, as you approach the water from the hotels, there's actually a mini-cliff to scale.  It makes for some funny people-watching.  

This is one of the larger cliffs between the beach and the hotels

My visit to Cancun reaffirmed two things: First is that Americans are everywhere.  I’m not talking about just any American…the ones that visit Cancun are a very specific type.  Second, it is still Mexico and most people don't speak English.  This included basically everyone in my office. 

I was forced to dust the cobwebs off my Spanish real quickly!  Certain conversations were actually easy and I could understand everything.  Other times, the topic was over my head and I just nodded, hoping that no one would ask me to contribute anything meaningful.   Honestly, the Spanish was really good practice for me but I was totally exhausted at the end of every day.  

After 5 days of work, I was so excited for the weekend but instead of working on my tan, I actually had to fly to Phoenix for a marathon that I had signed up for before I found out about the new gig.  I rushed out of the office on Friday afternoon to catch a late flight back to Chicago, followed by an early-morning flight to Phoenix on Saturday morning. 

View from my hotel room in downtown Phoenix 

Race day was surprisingly easy.  My hotel was 2 blocks from the starting line and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  I even found myself gaining energy as the miles progressed and ended up finishing with a personal best time of 2 hours 56 minutes!  

Andy Grammer performed an awesome post-race concert at ASU

On my flight back to Cancun the next day, I was completely re-energized and ready to tackle the next 5 weeks in Mexico.  No upgrade this time, but I didn’t need anything else to inflate my head after the race of a lifetime.