January « 2007 « www.arareko.net

3 vagabonds

Went with Cova to Chiluca again. We had a nice training session; created a couple of new problems and spent the rest of the evening talking.

Ana arrived a bit late for climbing, but enthusiastic enough for laying on the crashpad with us to continue the talk fest. The night was very clear, the moon really bright and the weather chilly but comfortable, perfect for staring at the sky

A simple session at Chiluca

Tonight, I decided to play a bit with Yahoo! Video and uploaded a 4-minute clip of my warm up traverse at Chiluca this afternoon. Even though the video weights around 85 Mb, it downloads and plays really well.

For those who sometimes read this blog and are not familiar with climbing, this clip will give you an idea of what I mean when I post about Chiluca’s bouldering. I hope you like it:

Idiots are anywhere

Beto sent this to remind me that we are not the only ones who look ridiculous while having fun in the most adverse conditions. Reminds me of lots of adventures…

Snowy places

Güero sent me today this picture of Pico the Orizaba from Coatepec. As you can see, the cold & humid weather from last Friday brought snow to many places in the sierras. The views are awesome these days…

Sunday fun

Judith, Beto & I went to Peña Bernal for some old-school fun. We focused on enjoying the day rather than racing up the mountain for thousands of times. Here they are simul-running-out pitch #3 of Bernalina, each of them with a half rope attached to a locking carabiner at the belay loop (kids, that’s unsafe, don’t try it at home!):

After a lot of jokes, a long sunbath at the summit and the corresponding rappels, I raced down the trail for doing my traditional free-solo climb of the 100-meter East Face slab (seriously, don’t try this at your local boulder!):

Judith & Beto waited for me at the top of the slab. Once I got there, we shooked hands and continued partying while we enjoyed the awesome views of the winter afternoon:

By 5 o’clock we called it “a day” and went all the way down to the parking lot. As always, it was really fun to see/hear people’s faces/comments while we descended the trail in our usual messy style. We returned home with a big smile, the mountain was truly ours for most of the day and it was really great. Just like the old times…

% /usr/local/sbin/rund –restart

After yesterday’s shaky “body reboot”, I awoke today with the inner need for some running. The weather was really nice, fresh & cloudy, just as I like it. Since I did almost nothing for most of the week, I thought that it would be good to have a long run for the weekend… Wrong thought?

At the very beginning of the run, by km #2 my legs and ankles started to hurt a lot. Maybe I didn’t warmed up well or maybe my body was very weak because of recent downtime. Whatever the reason was, I focused on pushing myself to complete my objective, I really wanted to run and to enjoy the chilly day. Many of the usual thoughts passed through my mind: Why am I doing this? For how long? How far?… I simply tried to ignore my own questions. After 20 km I returned home with a beaten body, but really happy of having found the right answer for that particular moments while running, it was a simple word: Patience.

Now, after a post-run stretching session, a re-comforting hot bath and a big lunch, my body is ready for partying tonight at Gil’s place. I think my system is going back to “normal”.

PS. As a bonus, I enjoyed the background view of my beloved volcanoes which are completely covered with snow

Unscheduled downtime

I’m having my recovery days (well, a bit forced in some way). Since I came back to México City on Tuesday, I haven’t been able to train as usual, only a bit of Chiluca bouldering with Cova & Beto on Wednesday, but that was all, no more running or climbing.

After a very busy week at work, my body finally halted due to exhaustion and a severe migraine. I’ve spent all the afternoon in bed, sleeping and figuring out 1000 ways of not paying attention to headache. Fortunately I feel a bit better now, it seems like a “body reboot” was needed. I hope to get back to “normal” uptime activities during the weekend…

Watching Bacteria Eat

It was 1945, and Hans Kornberg – who fled Nazi Germany in 1939 at the age of 11 – was trying to figure out what to do next. He had been turned on to chemistry by a fierce, pipe-smoking teacher at the grammar school he attended in Yorkshire. He wanted to continue his studies, but he didn’t have the funds to enroll in a university. That’s when serendipity stepped in…

The Scientist: Watching Bacteria Eat

Where was I?

Obviously, I was running! Saturday morning was clear enough for doing a bit of Cofre de Perote’s route.

After the humid weather from the past days and Saturday’s ultra-hot sunlight, the route became an extremely muddy, slippery and sweaty place to be; really hard to add a few extra kilometers to it.

By Sunday, I drove all the way East to Quiahuiztlán and managed to do a short 12 km route around Cerro de los Metates. Beach weather was a bit fresher because a storm was forecasted for the next week.

Today, once back to our regular weekly working schedule, Güero and I ran another strenuous uphill route near Coatepec. Another 16 km to our running logs. Even though I’ve been feeling great lately, I really hope to get some recovery in the following days…

More misty trails

In this occasion, Güero came with me for a run through the jungle and sugar cane fields that are between Coatepec and Mahuiztlán.

It was another great 16 km run with lots of mist (we’ve been trapped by the clouds since 2 days ago), mud and runner-attacking dogs. We ran it in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes and managed get back on time for afternoon work (lunch time was never so productive!).