Bienvenido a Bariloche!

This past week was spent in the snow-caped mountains of Bariloche, Argentina. A city known for its beautiful scenery and tasty chocolate. The drive in on the bus was a once in a lifetime experience, with each winding turn emerged a new lake surrounded by beautiful mountains filled with lush green canopies.

I ran up one of the local peaks (Cerro Otto) twice during my stay and had a very lengthy run along the lake as well. Running up Cerro Otto was a beautiful experience. The mountain was covered in snow and the trail loosely defined in the winter, which gave me the opportunity to make my own way up the local slant. The runs were followed by a trip to the local chocolate factories and then a visit to a local brewery for some great brew.

Bariloche is an amazing place to live if you are an outdoor enthusiast. With tons of routes to climb, mountains to run, lakes to kayak and trails to hike...mountaineers can't go wrong with this Patagonian gem. It reminds me of Flagstaff, Arizona or a slightly smaller Boulder, Colorado.

Snowboarding on the top of Cerro Catedral

Rule number one of chocolate making...you need a good mustache

Bariloche has some amazing graffiti and street art

As well as some amazing local brew at Cerveceria Manush!

One of the many amazing views from the top of Cerro Otto

In Dalcahue, Chiloé! A runners paradise.

After a long week of orientation in Santiago, Chile I am finally in my placement town of Dalcahue, Chiloé. A small and quaint fishing village located on the beautiful and lush landscaped island of Chiloé.  I will be teaching at a local high school in the capital city of Castro.

The people of Chiloé are humble, warm, and genuine. They welcome complete strangers in with open arms and friendly smiles. The town itself is a small niche in a sea of green hills and farms, surrounded by endless ocean. 

The rain and wind is relentless on Chiloé, but when the clouds slowly dissipate and the sun is allowed to shine his warmth upon the rolling hills....Chiloé looks a little something like this:

I took my first decent run today (being so busy in Santiago I barely had time for a quick jog), but in Chiloé....there is plenty of time to soak up the pleasant aroma of burning fire wood as you run through the country side. It is not common for people to run in Chiloé, so this explains the perturbed looks as I zipped past locals. The people, however, perplexed and surprised, greeted me with big smiles and warm 'holas'. Chiloé is a beautiful place indeed. A musicians dream land to compose, a writers dream land to write, and a runners dream land to run. For all the rain and clouds that constantly cover the sky, Chiloé has an abundance of warmth and happiness to keep anyone content.

Good luck SD 100 runners!

Wanted to wish all my amigos and amigas running the SD 100 this weekend a huge good luck! I was scheduled to pace 30 miles of the race, but due to my recent stint with mono I'm still working on recovering. This time off has provided for an interesting perspective and as a result has forced me to focus on the importance of recovery, rest, and adequate sleep before a big run.

Below is a video compilation of the Solomon running team's 2011 season, awesome work by Seb Montaz! Check out Seb Montaz's videography and photography, he is the film maker working with Kilian on his Summits of Life piece. Chile in 7 days! Vamos!

Krupicka on "restraint and patience"

Anton Krupicka on exercising "restraint and patience" in your ultra running career

Notorious ultra runner Anton Krupicka is known for his insanely high volume training runs. Sometimes reaching above the daunting 200 mile mark per week, Krupicka is no slouch when it comes to adequate preparation before race day. However, he is also a proponent of the sheer beauty of being and simply enjoying it all. Enjoying the mountains is not possible when one is injured and like all of us mountain runners know to well, injuries are common when you are charging up and barreling down slopes.

Leading Krupicka to the cognizance: “It has re-opened my eyes to just how necessary the mountains are in my life and that I need to exercise better discipline in the future to avoid injuries,” he concludes. “Restraint and patience.”

Our competitive nature that pushes us to greatness sometimes simultaneously consumes our ability to rationalize. Anton has found one of the most important lessons that ultra running or any passionate endeavor provides. It is not the accumulation of social acceptance, but the sheer feeling we get during, that provides us with this immense amount of satisfaction and clarity. As with everything in life, there are times to exercise "restraint and patience" and times to do the exact opposite. Just like Anton, we have to figure out which one applies and when.

Summits of My Life Trailer

Awesome and inspiring trailer to Kilian Jornet's film 'Summits of My Life'. I highly recommend giving it a watch!