Tomorrow, (Thursday, August 9th), Sam, Adam, and I will begin our long journey back to the muggy, oxygen-rich streets of New England. Our trip will take us from our current home in Pisaq to the mountain city of Cusco, to the grey, sprawling metropolis of Lima, back into the US of A at Miami, north to Boston, and finally back to Concord. If everything goes smoothly - which it hardly ever does - it should be a roughly 26 hour journey, getting us back in time for an early afternoon run on Friday.
Meanwhile, I´m trying to enjoy my last day and a half here in calm, little Pisaq. I only have a few meals and a few more runs before we leave, so I´m trying to make the best of them. In fact, this last whole week or so has been a lot of relaxing and just trying to enjoy the ambiance and atmosphere. Last Friday, I loaded up my 14 high-schoolers onto airplanes at the Cusco airport and bid farewell to another summer of working for Strive, and since then, I´ve been using this last week to sleep and rest and recover.
Strive was an amazing experience again. For those to whom I haven´t spoken about the program, I´ll give a quick summary.
Strive is an international service trip specifically designed for (high school) student athletes. The program was started with a trip to Iten, Kenya - the international hot-bed of elite, Kenyan distance runners. Because of the environment (both physical and cultural), the trip was first aimed at runners. The kids would run in the morning and afternoon and do some type of volunteer work during the day (building, painting, etc.). Finally, there was usually a tourism element which was tacked on at the end of the trip - a climb up Mt. Kenya, a safari through the African wild-lands, etc.
I heard about the program from a friend of mine on the Tufts cross country team, who had worked as a group leader in Kenya the year before. I thought it was a great idea from the start - I´d always loved traveling, but often found it tough to keep up with training while abroad. When he told me that there was going to be a new trip in Peru that year, I jumped at the opportunity and applied for the job. It just seemed too perfectly suited for me - travel in South America, training at high altitude, volunteer work, working with high school kids. It seemed to highlight all of the weird fringe skills I´d developed after a few years of running and spending my summers back-packing in South America.
So, we were the first Strive Peru group last year and it was a terrific experience for me (and the kids, I hope!) Our program was run similar to the Kenya trip, but slightly more organized and more of a focus on the service aspect. Our kids spend two weeks teaching classes in Peruvian schools (English, art, gym) before spending a few days hiking on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We also have time to run/swim/work out in the mornings and afternoons on most days, so kids can keep up with their summer training for whatever sport they happen to be preparing for.
I had such a great time last year that I decided to recommit and head back down this summer. Part of the reason was that one of my co-workers, Nic, from last year, was also planning on returning. We had worked well together and had a great time and I really looked up to him as a mentor and inspiration.
I probably said the same thing last year, but Strive seems to be a self-selecting group of good kids. I think it takes a pretty good kid to sign up for a trip where you have to get up early to go running and teach little screaming Peruvian children all day. Nonetheless, we had 14 kids this year (aged 15 to 18) and they were all great. I love working with high schoolers because I feel that I´m just old enough to provide some sort of mentoring and insight for them, but I´m young enough that they can still relate to me almost as a peer. It makes for a fun trip for them and for me.
We had a great and sucessful trip - only a few minor sicknesses, no real problems. I was able to continue my own running at a very high level and hopefully inspire some of the youngsters in their own. Even the Inca Trail, which forced me to take a few days off from full training, was a beautiful trip and a great bonding time with the kids. It was hard not to tear up as I sent them all (along with Nic and our other leader, Lindsey) through security at the Cusco airport. It was a really great trip and I was only sad it went by so quickly.
If you want to see pictures from the trip, check out Strive´s facebook page, where I posted lots of photos and a couple videos: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strive-Trips-Service-Travel-for-Student-Athletes/116256045062703
Now, comes the bittersweet ending to my time here. It´s always hard to say good-bye to South America, as it´s always hard to say good-bye to any happy, comfortable routine. That´s the bitter part. But, this year, I´m less intimidated by what´s to come. I´m looking forward to the school year, to running with the team again, to going to Nationals. I´m even looking forward to the stress of figuring out what the hell I´m going to do with my life in 10 months when I (hopefully) graduate from college. It´ll be different and it might be harder or less comfortable, but that´s okay. I´ll just try to enjoy the journey.
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