The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

Flew into San Jose, CR on the redeye getting in about 6am this morning.  I read Scott Jurecks book on the flight that Rob loaned me.  Absolutely loved this book.  If I had the determination that this guy did, I would change my diet and live much healthier!  He describes running exactly as I see it.  Otherwise very boring flight.  As usual, I couldn't understand a word of what the Costa Rican Air Traffic control said.  How anybody survives flying in Central America is a mystery.

For three days now I am planning on long slow trail running.  Yesterdays race gave me confidence that I can start mileage again.  I don't plan on running faster than 8 minute miles anywhere, but I'm going to get some distance on soft surfaces.

Got to the hotel, slept 3 hours and picked up a rental car.  It took a $1,000 deposit.  Son of a *&%$!  On the walk-around the antannae, hub caps, and emblems were missing.  Otherwise a new car.  When I asked the agent about the missing things he showed them to me behind the desk.  Since they would just get stolen anyways, they take them off for the rental period. :-)  I stopped several times along the way to explore, there is just too much to see here.

When I got up to the Arenal Observatory Lodge it was dark already.  Old Smithsonian Observatory, very Spartan.  No TV, no AC, but clean rooms.  I threw my stuff on the bed, grabbed a headlamp, and went for a run.  The lodge is at the end of a 5 mile dirt road and I swear everything was chattering out there.  Eyes all over whereever I turned my head.  Freakin howler monkeys yelling back and forth across the road.  It was all I could do to keep running.  I found the trail after 3 miles and things got much harder.  Nothing here is flat, worse than the Grand Canyon running I've done.  Bats all over flying inches from your face and something real big crashing through the forest.  It felt real good to be back at the hotel!

I split today up into two runs.  One long run and one short steep run.  I was hoping to summit Arenal today inspite of all the crap about it being closed.  There hasn't been activity here for several years outside of continuous small eruptions and lava flow.  I had a fair idea of where the old summit trail was.  I got up early and stepped out of the room.  The volcano just floored me.  Spectacular, and right there!  It was huge.  I hadn't seen it the night before since I got in so late.  I sat on the sun deck overlooking the lake, visiting with a french family and had a huge breakfast.  Years ago, the locals were known for dressing up as park rangers and leading "unofficial" expeditions up the summit.  I thought I'd give it a try, but the desk clerk was pretty much scared about the whole thing even when I offered him $50 US to find someone.  Too many people die, he said.

Not much time to write here, but I spent some time reviewing the geological site before this trip and activity was non existant, sleeping stage.  Winds were from the East so I decided to run the trail from the west and come up the east side.  After only an hour of running I had the great luck of runing into the park rangers, or polizi, clearing a trail section.  They were major pissed off.  I though I was going to jail and briefly considered outrunning them.  Briefly.  To make a long short, they took my camera and GPS, and told me I could ask at the station in the morning for them.  Anyways, I went back down the way I came.  Pretty much doubting by now that I could have made it anyways since the trails were insane and off trail running seemed to require a machete.  The plants grow on the trees here for heck sakes!  So I decided to run a circumnavigation of the volcano which turned out better anyways since I got some dirt road time and then joined the road to La Fortuna for a lot of the distance.  I caught a tourist bus back to the lodge and grabbed my stuff for the afternoon run.  I stopped at the Supermercado for six bags of ice which I put in the trunk of the car on hotel blankets for a makeshift cooler.  This saved me for the next two days since I always had cold drinks and food.

After a few hours break, and lunch, I decided to run the old trail system on the west side of Arenal base.  It was pretty much overgrown but I soon came across the Cerro Chato trail that is daily maintained by the private owners.  This climbs pretty much straight up the volcano and down the crater rim.  Amazing trail!  I couldn't run it at all after a mile and had to hike it, mixed with running when I could.  When I came down the crater rim the lagoon in the crater was amazing!  There were frogs, fish and birds everywhere so I assumed the water was pretty safe and tied my shoes on my water pack and swam across.  Man did that feel good!  Then it was a simple matter of running back down.  Best experience in a long time!  About 8 mile round trip.  Then it was time to get everything in the car and head up north into Nicaragua for the last few trails.

Arrived at Lake Nicaragua in the evening and took a fishermans boat across to the island.  Tonight was a summit run up Concepcion, nothing hard, just unfamiliar and still uneasy from the trail running in Costa Rica at night.  This was much better, mostly open lava rock climbing.  Very good on the hip and legs since it was slow going and like a three hour stepper!  This trip has been some of the best "me" time I've had in a long time.  No miles faster than 8 minute pace, most around 10 to 15.  Long and slow, and it felt great. 

Back in the rental car for a 5 hour drive, much faster at night!  Arriving in San Jose with enough time for 4 hours of sleep at the crew hotel.  Met the crew again, briefed and back into the air.  Flew right over the tops of Arenal and Cerro Chato on the way out and looked down at the crater lagoon that I swam across the day before.  On the top of a volcano.  Unreal.

Ran the boring "down to the Wendys" loop at home today before work.  Pretty sore from the last three days and averaged about 8 min miles today.

Man, two weeks without the kids has sure been different. They are with their mom for a summer break. Lots of time to work and run!

Long overnight in Orange County, CA.  I did two hours of surf lessons at Huntington Beach Surf School and then a really nice long run down Huntington, Newport and Balboa Beaches.  I felt much better today after some real sleep and for the first time in three weeks did not have the tightness in the upper hip muscle.  This seems to be working out!

Easy 7:43 pace and way stoked about how well this run went!

Early morning run before work in Kansas City.  Long easy distance again, 85 degrees at 6 in the morning! 400% humidity.

Corn field are pretty...

Just noticed that this could be the most miles in a week I've ever ran.

Got invited to Bear Lake with Walter and his fam and spent the day there.  Awesome!  Came back and got my last good run done for the week.  I've been tired of hearing so much lately about being careful about running too much and keeping your mileage down when you are master runner.  I had to take this week and burn that fear out for myself before starting to train for Twin cities in the fall.  Getting a hip muscle tear was no help for that either.  I think injuries happen, and it's hard to quantify why, but I have found for myself it's not about the time you spend running each week, it's about how you recover and pushing too hard when your body may be on the edge.  Sometimes it's a roll of the dice.