Race Coverage

RACE Coverage
Atacama Crossing Blogs 2022
View All Posts 2022 From : Betsy Rogers
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29 April 2022 02:42 pm (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi
The email from RTP is jarring. How long is 158 days? How many runs? How many breaths? how many steps, how many planning days and races and runs in between birthdays and graduations and starts of the first day of college, of high school, of middle school? It’s too much to calculate.
So I just run.
“Rent” streams through my conscious. “Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes… How do you measure, measure a year…”
“Are you really going to Chile? I know you can mentally run through the miles. Do you really want to do this?” “Why don’t you start with a shorter race, and more local?”
I just started to telling friends of this “crazy” race I am running in September. I don’t really want to share this trip because I don’t want the attention or the weight of “what if I don’t run it now”. However, the more I share, the more people care and a waterfall of support and encouragement abounds. And really, it’s not about the goal, but the journey and we can only participate in the today. The tomorrow will come.
I get energy from those I tell and they understand, they’ve walked similar paths and have a glimpse of the toil and sweat this preparation entails. “How many miles are you running a week?” “Where are you running?” “What is your training schedule?” These questions ground me and provide oxygen because the conversations are relevant to my training and success. They are my mentors.
I surround myself with structure and support. I have my routines. I have a week of so-so runs and then I have a great week with great times and no aches. Then the hamstring strain and some blues to ground me that the journey is one step at a time and the power is to simply power through each day.
I meet with friend Mike in Tokyo - whois en route to run Namibia. I grill him with questions and takes notes on gear, food and preparation. I look forward to his download after his race. I look forward to following Namibia in a few days time. The race is getting real. I purchase my ticket to Santiago. Set the structure and treat this adventure as any other big goal. I run wherever I am whenever I can, mostly.
I am running, playing tennis and squash and hiking with my Tuesday Tt Trekkers. Despite running and hiking 40kms+ weekly, surprisingly, my weight stays exactly the same; and I am keen to shed 8 kilos as I have to carry that in a pack. The wine has got to go. Waaaah. Gotta love the low metabolism in your 50’s. I wonder if that means I can live on 100 calories a day during this race and that will suffice?! Ha.
I sign up for the 50km trail race in Aspen in July when I am visiting my parents. I research other races to dot my summer calendar as I visit family & friends and drop kids off at camps and do my research and consulting projects.
This adventure is all consuming. I love it.
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Sandy Kondo
Posted On: 25 May 2022 02:30 am