Fuego Fuego Frutillar!

Its been awhile, I have been doing tons of writing and unfortunately very little blogging! Things have been moving rapidly as I have been settling into my Dalcahue niche and finding my stride with teaching at my new school. Last weekend I was able to travel to Puerto Montt and Frutillar, where I did my fair share of running.

My morning run on a country side road in Frutillar bajo. On a clear day you can see the volcán Osorno across the Llanquihue lake. 

The sunset that we witnessed on our last night in Frutillar was absolutely amazing. I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

Perhaps the craziest night I've experienced yet in Chile took place in Frutillar. After a celebratory asado went horribly wrong, the house next door to ours (literally 40-50 feet) caught fire! We awoke to shouts and sirens outside our window as local firefighters (all volunteers) rushed to the near by lake to connect their hoses. The entire town of Frutillar bajo was standing outside within 30 mins, as the spectacle of something exciting usually doesn't arrive until the city hosts its world renowned music festival in the summer. A routine nights sleep turned into an all night wide-eyed escaped as we watched the power of this massive fire slowly grow and consume one of the most historical houses in Frutillar. There was something strangely magical happening here, as the contrast of the full moon outlined the silhouette of the monstrous blaze.

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.

Counting to Infinity

The closer my departure date gets, the more the restlessness builds. A mix of excitement, curiosity, naivety, and anticipation is all being stirred around simultaneously in the cauldron between my ears. I suppose this is normal for anyone moving to a new country!

I've been having my fair share of those future predicting deja vu mental scenarios lately. Vivid scenes that have me exploring a street in downtown Santiago or running up a volcano in Los Lagos. The mind definitely is not shy about showing the body where it wants to go! The connection between mind and body is something 'ultra' runners come to know very well. I have found many parallels between aspects of life and lessons I've learned while spending 6+ hours shuffling on my feet in search of the next aid station. One of them being this deep sense of continuity between what I'm thinking and what I'm doing. Often in life we find our minds running (no pun intended) at Usain Bolt speed, with a variety of thoughts flowing in and out, having no necessary relation to what we are actually doing at that moment. This is not the case when I am running for an extended distance. At a certain milage my outside thoughts fade and my sole mental being becomes intertwined with each stride and successive foot strike. This awareness is comparable to what many athletes consider to be the 'in the zone' feeling. However, there is most definitely something unique about this certain mental and physical blend of heightened consciousness achieved during long distance runs.

I believe the feeling is best described to outsiders as a sort of 'counting to infinity'. Simply start counting, with absolutely no goal in mind, by the time you blink and realize you've been staring blankly at the carpet repeating the number one hundred and fifty seven over and over again...the moment just before you realized what it was you were doing, is precisely what it feels like to enter this zen-like state of perception while running.

With 2 days before I leave for Chile and embark on this journey, leaving all that I know behind and stepping on that plane, it most definitely feels like I'm counting to infinity.

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.