A Change of Pace

Though this has served as a training log for the last few months, I’m going to switch things up a bit for the summer. This Sunday – May 29^th, 2011 – I’ll be leaving on a red-eye flight for Peru, where I will be spending about 10 weeks traveling, training, and working in the Andean highlands. During the first month or so, I’ll be taking a break from the rigors of training and use the time to hike, backpack around, and generally seeing the country. After that, I’ll be working for Strive Peru – an athletics-based community service summer program for high-schoolers (find out more at here). Finally, I’ll be flying home via Quito, Ecuador, where I’ll spend a few days visiting my familia Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Family), with whom I lived during my gap year.

This trip started as a way to make the most of my off-season from running. Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken a couple of weeks off in the summer, after a long spring season and before a big build-up for fall cross country. During this time, I like to stay somewhat active, but limit the running I do (usually with no running at all for at least a week or two). I see this as the perfect time to undertake hiking, climbing, and backpacking trips. I’ve always loved the outdoors and I’ve always enjoyed these trips, but it’s hard or impossible to schedule multi-day treks between a busy school schedule and a rigorous training regimen. This annual break gives me the opportunity to “reboot” and “recharge” while simultaneously putting my mind into something else that I love: traipsing through the mountains!

I’m planning on starting the trip in Huaraz, a small mountain town, nestled 10,000 feet up in the central Andes. After running the Boston Half Marathon in the morning, I fly out of Boston on Sunday night and arrive in Lima around 6:00am on Monday; I’m hoping to get right on a bus to make the 8 hour voyage up to Huaraz by the afternoon. After a couple of days of acclimatizing, I’ll depart on a 10-day hiking trip into the Cordillera Huayhuash, a remote, high-altitude range a few hours south of Huaraz. I’ll be back in Huaraz on June 12^th and then my plans are pretty up in the air. I may do some running that early, but it would be unstructured and on an “as I have time and feel like it” basis. I’d still be trying to get as much hiking and climbing in as possible, ideally with another shorter trek and a summit attempt in Huaraz before heading south.

By late June or Early July, I’d like to get myself situated in Pisaq, the village outside of Cusco where the Strive program will be stationed. Once there, I’d like to start getting into a daily running routine and begin to familiarize myself with the area before the program begins. This leaves me with 2-3 weeks between the end of my trek in Huaraz and my “settling down” time to see the country. I’m pretty excited to see where I end up!

I have to fly back to Lima to meet the kids at the airport and then fly back to Cusco with them the following day for the start of the program. The program will be fairly structured; there are two training sessions, one in the early morning and the other in the afternoon, with community service during the middle of the day. For our service project, we’ll be teaching English at a local school, about a 20 minute hike from our hostel in Pisaq. To me, this is the perfect balance of rewarding community development work and good structured training. I was so excited when I found out about Strive because it seemed to really be the perfect job for me. I hope that I can impart some of my passion for running and my passion for South American life and culture onto some of the students.

All in all, I’m incredibly excited. A bit nervous, as always, I’ll admit, but the overwhelming feeling is excitement. I know that the mental and physical break from training will be great for me and – I haven’t even mentioned this yet – I’ll be at high altitudes (8000’+) for pretty much the entire trip. Hopefully, this summer will give me an opportunity share myself with others and to grow as a person, myself.

And hopefully my hemoglobin will develop and grow as well :P