Patience; the new endurance sport.

AP 9:40--Ran with my dogs per usual, put in a few extra just cause I'm going so slow these days.

8:59/9:13/9:43/9:30/9:57/9:46. Everything snowballed today.  I have so many things to do to get ready for this trip and when I get back there are 3 huge things happening the days after I get back (closing on the house, moving, parties, my sister coming). I don't handle stress very well. I just wanted to focus on my trip and make the most out of my vacation. Got most everything packed and I'm ready to get to Chile.  It's winter and so I had to pack all my winter running gear and a rain jacket.  I hope my shoes will dry between runs.  It's so wet there and nothing dries. I have to do a 16 and a 20 while I'm there. 

I'm preblogging my run tommorrow morning since I won't have time to do it.  I'm finally all packed--all the gifts and my bulky winter stuff.  I'll run in the morning and then catch my flight to Atlanta (4.5 hours), then from Atlanta to Santiago, Chile (overnight--10 hours), then from Santiago to Temuco (1.5 hours). The trip takes about 28 hours total.  It's a killer--and I hate to fly.  I can't wait to see my babies.  I miss them.  I'm also looking forward to seeing old friends and eating a lot of sea food.  If I can just survive the trip. I won't be  able to run again until Friday.  I could try to Thursday night, but I have a feeling there is going to be a party when I get there....so. Wish me luck traveling, and trying to get my running done in that cold and rain!

I am on the 12th floor Sky Bar of the old Pedro de Valdivia Hotel in Valdivia Chile looking down on the river Calle Calle through rain dotted panes of glass. It is winter here, and raining constantly. I ran on the boardwalk down a few miles and into the neighborhood where I lived 21 years ago. I lived in this city 7 months and ended my LDS mission here. The good news is I brought the perfect running gear for wet rain. The bad new is, it's never going to dry out between runs. I forgot how out of place I am here. No one in their right mind would go outside today in this rain. People practically stop their cars to see who is running on the streets. Chile is like someone took cute clapboars housed neighborhoods of rural Switzerland, and then dropped them into south America and then never repainted. In the grey rain, I remembered the South of Chile rivals Russia for highest percentage of alcoholics. It feels like a sin to stay in this hotel, but free is free. It's amazing what love does. Twenty one years ago, I never noticed the peeling paint, the downtrodden-ness of the winter here, or the poverty (though 100 steps above Peru or Bolivia). All I saw were faces of people I loved and still do. I was wisked from home to home, from party to party yesterday until late into the night until finally I had to tell my friends and family that I hadn't slept in 2 days...so after 10.5 hours of sleep I got up and made a strange spectacle of myself wearing my fancy running gear past people waiting for the bus on the corner and people running out of cars into thei houses to escape the rain. It's like I'm an alien from another planet. Once I take off the running gear and go sit by the stove foe a cup of tea, I'm human again. It's been fun though. The great thing about Chileans, is that they all WANT you to do something extraordinary just so they can shake their heads and say stuff like "Did you know Luz ran 12 Kilometers today?" And then 5 people turn to you and say. "In this rain?! Are you crazy?" I didn't think it was so crazy before I got here, but suddenly I'm a local legend. It's ok, it's what they expect from us crazy gringas. AP 9:38 --PS I'm blogging from my blackberry so I apologize if mu writing is crazy, it's hard to write and edit on this thing!

I woke up to a beutiful clear winter day. On the river below my hotel window the skullers were already out rowing. I love how beautiful and smooth and fast they row. I decided to run over the bridge that leads to a place called Isla Teja. It houses one of Chile's most prestigioud universities, and medical schools, and the whole island was colonized by Germans. The countryside literally looks like the Swiss Alps except the Eucalyptis an Yew trees. There are also lots of Laurel and Arcacia trees. I ran out on a country road out toward an old Spanish fort on the coast, but about 5 miles out past the Kunnsman Bierhaus (das est gut bier is their motto, love the Germans...) I started to get to Farmland where the germans are fond of German Shepherd watchdogs. I braved a few miles with the Mace until I was WAY out there and realized if I got bit it would make a tough 6-8 miles back. I ran over bridges and wide bays and rivers that lead to the ocean. I met one other runner, A crazy-eyed white haired old German guy trotting down the road with his dog. He taled to me in german (lots of the Germans here seNd their kids to German schools and never intermarry, they assume anyone who looks like them is also German I guess). I ran back to the boardwalk which is made of cement and small stones and punded my way to 13 hars miless;which should have bee 16. I went back to the hotel and sat in a super hot tub that had a bathtub looking out over the river. I sat in that water until it was cold. I love a good hot bath after a run.