From there we flew to Lima, Peru, where we spent the night sleeping on our luggage and the cold tile floor. An early morning flight got us into Arequipa, where we spent our first week in Peru. I got a couple exploratory runs in, keeping the pace to about 9 minutes due to the extreme altitude, 7,800 feet. I knew that pushing the pace early could cause me some respiratory distress that could affect future runs and productivity on our mission trip.
Sunday night we climbed on to a double-decker charter bus to make the 10 hour drive through the mountains (and the night) to Cusco, Peru, the Historical Capital of Peru and where this Tripped-Out Run took place.
Monday night, we’ll make the return bus trip to Arequipa. There I’ll hang out with the boys while Rachel has meetings and begins working to get ready for the next THREE Extreme Projects. Friday we will head to a beach resort with the rest of the Extreme Ministries staff for a much deserved retreat. we’ll even have Fourth of July fireworks on the beach! We fly back through Lima to Miami then make the drive back home and arrive home June 9 or 10.
After a Sunday morning run in Arequipa, I found myself unable to get out for another run for the next 4 days. During that time, my exercise came from several games of soccer with the locals (including the kitchen staff here at the hotel at Conafovicer), missionaries and short-term volunteers. I also did a lot of walking around and playing with children at the festival de niños that we put on in a rural community outside Cuzco.
After my Thursday plan for a 6 am run turned into another 1.5 hours of soccer, I decided I needed to make an absolute plan to get out for a real run Friday morning. While resolving to do that, I updated my user account at ExtremeNazarene.org and came across a site where they are trying to schedule prayer for the organization to cover the entire calendar. Users can sign up for any hour of the day and can choose to make that a recurring appointment. I decided to make every Friday at 6 am my prayer-run appointment. This run’s purpose was pretty basic; I needed to run and I needed to pray. I wasn’t concerned about pace- my first run at 11,700 feet is not the time or place to push the pace. Maybe when we get back to Arequipa I’ll post some 6-8 mile runs at closer to an 8 minute pace.
I rolled out of bed at 5:50 and got up Ryan, my 8 year-old who wanted to play soccer, and we headed out to the court (they play soccer on a basketball court that has hoops mounted above soccer goals). As we waited for soccer players to show up, I began to pray for the remaining days of Love Extreme 2 here in Cusco and the six other cities. When Scott Englund and Doc Maxwell showed up, I took off, camera in hand, to pray, run and document the experience with photos.
Out the gate and down the hill to the main road, Prolongnacion De La Cultura, I went. Once I reached the main road, I headed east down the brick paved median. I slowed to snag a few pictures and to avoid pedestrians and a few vehicles crossing at intersections. I ran that median as far as I could before it was cut off by construction. Then I turned and headed north up the mountain on Avenido de Las Sauces. It was quite a climb and with the time schedule I had myself on, I decided about a 5 minute climb was what I had time for. I snapped a couple of pictures on my way up, including one of a dead rat, one of an internet café sign and one of the down hill view. The trip back down the hill took almost a minute and a half less than the trip up. 7% grades are pretty steep! Like all mountain-desert cities in Peru, Cusco is very dusty with hoards of taxis kicking up clouds of dust and old trucks and combis (mini-buses) belching out a fog of exhaust. While the air is not very clear, the sky is. Outside of the rainy season it almost never rains. We are positioned in a valley, so the sky is fully lighted nearly an hour before the sun peeks over the peaks. I took a photo of the sky a few minutes before sunrise while on the run.
June is the beginning of winter here in countries south of the equator, but that doesn’t matter much in the mountains. Everyday so far has been about exactly the same: I wake up to a slightly clouded sky and temperatures in the mid-40’s to low 50’s. The Peruvians look at me a little funny, out running the streets before the gas stations and tiendas are open (because it’s so COLD!- Ha!). They really look at me funny when I do my run in just shorts and a tech-shirt. By late morning, it is 65-75 degrees- in the sun- but feels warmer (sunblock is a must at this altitude, no matter the season) and 55-65 in the shade. The sun disappears behind the mountains before 5 o’clock and temperatures plummet back into the 40’s. *Not a single day has been rainy or even overcast.I cruised back into Conafovicer just under 29 minutes with a 9 pace. As I sat down to rest and enjoy the view, a jet flew past- nearly below me- on its way to the nearby airport. This was a fully enjoyable run and a great way to start this day of the mission project.
*After the writing of this entry, we experienced one cold, rainy, cloudy day. Monday, June 28 was a yucky day that never got out of the 50’s.
