Return from Darkest Peru

The first few days back from Peru I hesitated with what to do with the used toilet paper.  Two weeks in Peru trained me to throw teepee in the garbage, instead of flushing down the toilet,  along with always having with me toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  The process of incorporating myself back into civilization by going to Lima to fly home, was met with tears and terror and days later I long for the simplicity and lack of responsibility I experienced during my adventure vacation.

When I told friends I was going to Peru their comments ranged from 'are you hiking michi uku' (or some other horrible pronunciation of Machu Picchu) to 'did you draw the short straw for vacation locations'.  When friends Scott and Michele invited us to join them to Peru, I jumped at the opportunity.  I knew nothing about Peru but loved hiking, the outdoors and traveling with Scott because as sole owner and customer of Honey Bee Travel, he loves figuring out all the logistics and I do is show up and hope I didn't pack too much.

Our Peru vacation was a two parter in extremely different environments.

Part 1 consisted of a two days in Cusco to acclimate to the altitude of 11,200ft before beginning the 5 day, 4 night trek  over the Saltankay pass as high as 14,760ft and ending up in Machu Picchu.

Part 2 threw me into a hot, humid, buggy environment for 4 days in the Peruvian Amazon sleeping under mosquito nets, seeing macaws flying overhead and the wild night sounds of the jungle.

Over the next weeks I'll share my pictures and stories from my awesome vacation.

2010 Year in Pictures

2010 was a great running year and for the most part injury free.  Including my new years eve run tonight, I'll have run almost 1290 miles. That's my most ever.  I ran 15 races from 5K to marathon distances and 4 Ragnar Relay races.  Thanks for being great bloggie friends and encouraging me and supporting me through the year.

February - Qualified for Boston in 3:44:02

Backpacking in the Superstition Mountains

February - Ragnar Del Sol

May - Sky Diving

Had 2 sleepless nights camping with my brothers youth group...oh the drama!

June- Somer exchanges with me at Wasatch Ragnar

Running Challenge Questions gets me and other bloggers thinking and sharing

ARR Summer Series - 5 races in the heat of the summer

June- Elevate Running Camp in Flagstaff

Camping

Business Trip to the Carolina's and meeting Lesley, fellow blogger

October - Ragnar Las Vegas

The Best Race in the World with the Black Knight

Running the Women's Half Marathon just to get a cool medal and a PR too

Hiking the Grand Canyon - North Rim

November - Florida Central Ragnar

Hiking the Grand Canyon - South Rim

Lazy Bones Wine

Happy New Year and Happy Running!

South Carolina Swamp

Having zero swamps out in Arizona, John and I took advantage to do something different and signed up for a kayak trip through a swamp by Charleston with Nature Adventures. When given the choice of a 2 hour or 3 hour trip, we chose 3 hours to see more of the swamp. Little did I realize that 3 hours meant more paddling. Our trip started off downstream and we floated along talking about the trees, the birds, flowers, butterflies and alligators.  The down river was soon going to change.

Notice the map and the turns in the river.  Being runners you can instantly recognize the extra mileage created with each of the turns. More than half the trip was all up stream and my arms were screaming at me.

I paddled constantly to try and keep up with John and the guide. Occasionally they would stop and rest; let me catch up and then off they went again. The guide had us paddle the tangents, not only for the shorter distance but also the current is weaker on the inside turns.

John and the guide bringing the kayaks to the creek

There's an alligator in the water on the left.

Since I still have a sore foot from having the warts burned off my heel and I'm not running, I was happy for the cross training. It was a great trip but a lot of work. Tomorrow I'll run again and focus on getting ready for my half in November.

1010 Miles In 2010 Update

Whew!  Halfway through the year already.  When I look at the next couple months and all the travel for work I have planned, it's already September. Where does time run to?

Back in January, Katye, AKA Long Legs on the Loose proposed a challenge.  Run 1010 miles in 2010 and win a gazillion dollars and be forever young and happy.  Wanting all those things I signed up.  Last year I really had to push it at the end to get 1000 miles.  I went for a run at 10pm at night to get in a couple miles that last week of December but I made it.  Back in early December 2009 when I put together my 101 things in 1001 days, I already had run 1000 miles in 2010 so signing up for 1010 miles was easy.

As of June 30th I'm 64% of the way to reaching that goal.  I've run 636 miles and only have 374 miles to go.  That works out to 14.38 miles a week for the rest of the year.  That is super doable.  I'm averaging 25-30 miles a week right now which means I could be hitting the 1010 the end of October.  Naturally unforeseen events could change that and I am doing a lot of travel through the summer which may limit the number of miles. But the good news is that I'm ahead of target and have 26 weeks to run and hit my goal.

Are you trying to hit a number of miles goal for the year?  Where are you at the halfway point?

Happy Running!

New Shorts

In the middle of the work day on Wednesday I took a break and bought a pair of shorts.  Why is it that I feel guilty for taking a long break even though I knew I would work more than my 8 hours?  Anyways I got a pair of shorts so I could run while at the  hotel. 

After work I went to the hotel and changed into my running clothes and confirmed that my Garmin accidently turned on in my purse and ran the battery down.  Then it started to rain.  I was determined to get a run in despite all the minor obstacles showing up. I turned on my Garmin hoping it would run at least to a point I could figure was halfway.   Half a mile into the run I turned up a hill where expensive houses lined the road and I did a loop checking out all the great houses and went to repeat the loop. Considering I just ran the loop, one would think, I could repeat it. I realized that I wasn't on the same route but kept running.  I went up and over the hill until the road ended into another road on a steep downhill and I had no idea where I was.  The only option was to turn back around and come back from the direction I came from.  The hill back up was steep and challenging and I felt strong running it.

Eventually I recognized where I was and I ran back to the hotel and my Garmin lasted the whole time.  Overall the run was 5 miles in a light rain with hills and it was awesome.  I felt great!

Next time I travel, which is in 2 weeks,  I will double check that I have not only shorts for running, but also my Garmin charger.   What is the biggest thing you have forgotten while traveling?

Packing Nazi

On Friday I’m leaving for Medford, Oregon for a long weekend.  John’s parents moved there back in May and this is our second visit out there and we are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  The weather prediction is cold and rainy with the high between 47 and 51 depending on the day.   Oh, did I mention rain? Being from Phoenix I get cold easily.  If it “drops” into the 80’s, a sweatshirt is required.  Granted, a sweatshirt is generally all that is required all winter long.  A true winter coat doesn’t exist in my wardrobe.  So here is where the problem comes in.  I’m flying with the packing nazi and rule # 1  is all luggage is carry on.   Luggage must be carried on not only for ease of getting out of the airport quickly but because of the darn $25 per suitcase charge.   I consider myself low maintenance not needing a whole lot so that isn’t a problem in itself.   The problem is that I usually pack as much running clothes as I do normal clothes.  On this trip, with the cold weather, I have to pack layers of running clothes (remember I’m used to warm Arizona and running in the cold equates to wearing gloves and MAYBE a long sleeve shirt and tights).  I also have to pack a dress for dinner, which requires yet another pair of shoes.  I should also pack a rain coat and umbrella too.  So how do I fit all this stuff into one carry-on suitcase?

Thinking creatively to effectively pack or minimize what I bring, I can:

•  instead of a dress at dinner I can wear a running skirt
• stuff socks and underwear in my shoes
• wear my running clothes (before I wear them and get them sweaty of course) as layers under my "normal" clothes
• go shopping for clothes when I get there and leave some there for next trip
• wear the same clothes all weekend, just change the scarf
• leave all the makeup behind making room for more running clothes

I considered not running in Oregon but that really isn’t an option.  I only have 69 more miles to reach my 1000 miles and I am going to make it.  Last night I got home late and went out and ran 4 miles at 10pm, just to make progress towards the 1000 mile goal.   I have to work on my running schedule to determine exactly how many miles to run each day but I’m am going to run the 1000 miles!

Anyone else have to travel with a packing nazi?  Do you pack more running clothes that "normal" clothes when you travel?

Lazy Bones

Keeping true to my blog name today I am a very lazy bones. The alarm went off at 4:30am but it was storming with wind, rain and lightening. I quickly climbed back into bed and slept until 8am. That is 10 hours of sleep! Getting so much sleep has left me sluggish and feeling guilty. Today was an off day anyway but I wanted to go for a bike ride to feel like I did something.

The past 3 days I have been in Denver and ran on Thursday and Friday morning just under 3 miles. It was wonderful running in the cooler weather. Being in Denver at a work function where all the meals are provided meant a really bad diet. Knowing that next week is the start of marathon training and a better diet, I splurged on the desserts at lunch and dinner. They were very good but I'm glad to be home in a controlled food environment. Next week I'm traveling to Tucson to take a training class but I'll be buying my own meals and making better food selections.

Happy Running!

Madrid

Today is a rest day from running since we had an early wake up call to fly to Madrid. Its a good thing too since my knee is bothering me, especially on stairs. I did find out that my timeshare reservation for a Boston hotel in 2010 came through and now all I need to do is qualify.

We arrived in Madrid at the hotel around 11am and headed out to Plaza Mayor and Plaza de la Puerta del Sol. Although the jury is still out, we like Barcelona much better than Madrid. Barcelona was spotless, with wonderful detail on the buildings and stamped design sidewalks. So far we haven't seen this in Madrid. In Plaza Mayor there were plenty of street performers including a man dressed in fruit. Outside of the Plaza Mayor and in del Sol we saw many beggars with missing limbs and deformed women.

Being disappointed in the shopping and very tired, we hopped on the metro back to the hotel for some rest. We had dinner in the hotel and the chicken paella at dinner with sangria was excellent. It is very light still in Madrid and I was amazed at how many people were out walking about and the number of open stores while on my hunt for an elephant ear pastry. I've decided those are the best desserts/pastries in Spain and now I'll have to search for the best one. The best one will most likely be the first one that I had, which was in Barcelona. It is very light still in Madrid and I was amazed at how many people were out walking about and the number of open stores.

Teleferic de Montjuic

Waking up before the alarm (assuming I would have actually heard it), I laced up my shoes and went out for my run. Friday would be the last day running in Barcelona and I headed south towards the wharf. Running down La Rambla again I was amazed to now recognize the street performers that had their cases for their costumes setting out and they were sitting there drinking their coffee and talking with each other. The tile on the ground still had an opticial illlusion of being wavy but I now knew that the street was flat and not uneven like I thought it was a couple days ago.

Turning east I ran along the wharf and came to the 92 flag poles that waved the flags of all the countries that participated in the 1992 olympics. At that point I headed back to the hotel through the gothic section of town. I ran through little alleys that I would never venture into at night but loved running through in the day.

After breakfast (eating more than my fair share of the little elephant ear pastries), we took the metro to go on the Teleferic de Montjuic. the metro was right in front of Casa Batillo, which is another house by Gaudi, with flowers oon the face of the house and curvy balconies.

The Teleferic de Monjuic is overhead tram took us up to the castle with spectacular views of the city, shipping yards and the ocean. The weather held out for us until later in the day, when the clouds again poured rain on us.

Tomorrow...Madrid.

Gaudi, with a Chance of Rain

Darn! I slept through my alarm again but Virg heard it. Luckily I still got up early enough to get a run in. Today I decided to head north to Park Guell, where Gaudi had built a park. I asked for a business card from the hotel front desk and marked my location with my Garmin and off I went. I had scouted out a route already on the map so I knew more or less where I going. At one point there were sets of stairs and at the top of the stairs were the words "Terrorists Tourists" and I decided not to continue up the steps (although later I discover the stairs went straight to where I wanted to be). The park was quite and had a number of runners. Runners in Europe aren't as friendly as runners in the US. They won't smile, wave or acknowledge your existence...they just run.

Coming back my knee bugged me some going down stairs but otherwise I faired great on my 5 mile run. Running back to the hotel was a little trickier because I turned south too soon. I knew I was heading in the general direction but the roads were curving and crossing more. Once I got close I played a game that I had just played with my nieces and nephews on an Easter egg hunt the Sunday before...hotter and colder. With the Garmin setting showing distance to a marked location I ran and if the distance increased I knew I was getting "cold" and running in the wrong direction. Technology is so awesome!

After breakfast the group hopped on the red tour bus and headed up to Park Guell. That morning in the hotel everyone but me decided to leave their umbrella's in the room since we hadn't needed them and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a short but very uphill walk up to the park and it was swarming with people. We wandered around and decided to sit and have a diet coke and enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather. At the first thunderclap in the quickly darkening sky, we decided it was time to start walking. The sky broke open shortly after and POURED. Although it remained cool the rest of the day, the sun eventually came back out but not without raining off/on for a couple of hours. Tomorrow is the same weather forecast as today, partial sunny but we'll be smarter and figure the weather prediction is Gaudi, with a chance of rain.

Barcelona

No, I'm not running with the bulls, from the bulls or seeing a bull fight. I did however go for a run in Barcelona. I set the alarm for 6:10am but slept through it. That's not surprising considering I hadn't slept much the day before, had taken half an Ambien and had earplugs to dampen the snores from my roommate Virg. I got up at 7:20, considered putting off the run since I had to meet my other travel mates at 8am, but decided that I really wanted to see the city in the morning. I thought it would be a peaceful, quite run. What I encountered was honking horns, loud traffic and lots of no walk signs.

Right around our hotel is a simple grid and I turned right out of the hotel and ran south. I made it to La Rambla, a famous road for shopping with street performers and sidewalk vendors. I ran about 1 mile out from the hotel and then back. It was a great run in the heavy fog/light rain.

The heavy fog/light rain burned off and we had great weather the whole day. We took a tour and saw the Barcelona Catherdral, the Olympic Stadium and tried Spanish champagne, Caves. During the tour we learned that people in Barcelona don't like bull fighting or Flamenco dancing. We also walked along La Rambla and went into Mercat de la Boqueria, an open market bustling with people. We hung tightly onto our purses for fear of pick pockets.

Yesterday we saw the Sagrada Familia. It is a magnificant building that was started by Gaudi in the late 1800's and won't be completed until 2026.

Haiku Steps

Pointing up, "if you want to be a renegade and climb 3922 steps, you can hike up the mountain" John said on the ride from the airport to his parents house in Oahu, Hawaii. "It happens to be illegal though and the steps have been closed down for years." Hmmmm, the challenge to climb the steps was set but how could it become a reality?

Later that evening I asked "what's the worse thing that could happen?"

"We have to come back to Hawaii to face trespassing charges" John replied.

"Oh". Trespassing. That's serious

stuff. Visions of jail and begging for mercy in front a judge shut me up for the time being.

Over the next couple days I would bring it up with some half finagled idea; none of them very good. On our Sunday morning run we saw 4 guys walking down the hill and John overheard one of the guys talking about the "Stairway to Heaven." There are many names for the Haiku Steps, including Haiku Stairs, Haiku Ladder and Stairway to Heaven. The next day a guy was coming out of the area fenced off that said NO TREPASSING. After a brief discu

ssion learning that the cops stopped issuing tickets 4 months ago, wear gloves and go through the bamboo and start before

8am we knew what we were going to do the next morning.

We started out from John's parents house at 6:40am.

We figured once we snuck through the fence, through the NO TRESPASSING signs that

finding the steps would be easy. What did the

guy say about

through the bamboo??? We walked along a road, past the old Coast Guard building and wandered some more before finally finding the steps 25 minutes later.

3922 steps and 55 minutes later we were at the top. Although the early morning skies threatened rain, it was clear and dry at the top. Along the way we came across 16 other hikers. When you come across another hiker on the stair there is not enough room to let the other person go by. Someone has to climb outside of the safety of the handrails to let the person pass.

The view was fantastic and you could see everything. It was very windy and chilly being at the top but the weather and the skies were perfect.

The way down, although it was much faster and took us only 41 minutes, was

challenging. There were spots that were so steep I backed down like on a ladder. I was very thankful for the gloves and was able to slide my hands down on the railing.

On the walk back we learned what the guy meant about the bamboo and we turned on a trail that brought us through a bamboo forest. It was so neat walking on the path through all the tall bamboo.

Our overall trip took us about 3 hours (complete with the scenic route to find the stairs) and now John is referring to me as an illegal scoundrel. However, if it wasn't for him being an instigator and wanting to trespass in the first place, I wouldn't have done anything illegal (ummm, hold on a second while I straighten out my tipped halo). I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to climb the Haiku Steps even if it was trespassing.