www.arareko.net

Yesterday I experienced quite possible the worst day of running in my life. What was supposed to be an enjoyable race day with friends turned into an oxygen depletion torture for me. It was at the Cima a Cima 50K of the Solo para Salvajes trail running circuit.

I was feeling really well before the start of the race and was in great mood for a long morning across the mountains, but around the 10th kilometer things started to feel kind of bad. It’s been a really hot and dry year in central Mexico so the course gave us more dust than the body could hold, specially mine…

After the 25th km I couldn’t hold any running pace and had to resort to a pathetic crawl in order to maintain myself together, I couldn’t breathe. I felt dizzy and my legs didn’t have strength anymore. I thought this would be something temporary and that after a couple of kilometers I would be better. That never happened…

Even though a little rainstorm around the 38th kilometer refreshed the environment, it wasn’t strong enough to keep any moisture in the air. With only 8 km to go, I returned to the death march pace that allowed me to barely breathe without making me pass away.

I finished the race almost 2 hours later than the expected time for my usual pace, I was completely depleted. My friends were already worried that something had happened to me along the course. After 45 minutes of rest and catching my breath, my body started to feel better. I had some lunch with Joan and Octavio, then we rode a bus back to Mexico City.

Today I still feel a little weak and short of breath. I already scheduled an appointment with the pulmonologist so he can tell me what is going on…

Rest of the photos are here or in the slideshow below:

Yesterday Mokka turned 3 years old. To celebrate as she deserves, on Saturday noon we grabbed our gear and headed to camp at Iztaccíhuatl. Due to the afternoon traffic we arrived a little late to the base of the mountain, but we started the hiking as soon as the sun set. We walked at an easy pace for 2 hours until we got to Cruz de Rosas, where we placed the camp and dedicated to eat dinner and enjoy the full moon which, due to a phenomenon that hasn’t happened in the last 18 years, looked giant. I shoot some photos then cuddled next to Mokka inside the tent. The night was quite cold, due to fairly clear skies and strong winds blowing from the Southeast.

On Sunday morning we managed to take things easy: had a little breakfast, picked up camp and hiked back to the car. Mokka was happy to have an outing where our main goal was to enjoy instead of training, she demonstrated this like a good dog greeting and making friends with everyone we found along the trail.

I still remember the day I brought her home, only a month and a half of age. Time goes by really fast, but we have lived great moments together. She’s the best companion I have had in recent years. Hopefully there will be many more…

Rest of the photos are here or in the slideshow below:

Yesterday we ran the traditional Skyrace Mexiquense at Nevado de Toluca. Unlike last year, this time I didn’t bring Mokka with me. I chose this because this year there hasn’t been any snow in the mountains, so it was guaranteed that the course would be quite dry and, due to the big number of runners, very dusty. Contrary to my prediction, on Saturday night some snow fell on the mountain and we enjoyed a bit of white landscape for a few hours until it melt under the bright sunlight.

I ran the race at a steady pace, without any effort to improve my PR (3:05:20) from 2009, but not slacking too much. I finished the 26 km in 3:30:44 and felt pretty good for the first race of the season. My friends Cinthia and Edith took the podium in their respective categories and we enjoyed a huge recovery meal in a restaurant at the foot of the mountain. A great day to run and have fun with friends!

Rest of the photos are here or in the slideshow below:

February was a tough month in my life. Odi and I broke up, I had a hard time catching up with work stuff, my training regimen suddenly diminished to the very minimum and I turned 33.  It’s not that I got caught into a middle-age crisis kind of thing, it was as simple as I couldn’t focus on anything at the moment. I felt lost and hopeless, once again life didn’t seem worth living…

Fortunately, most of the hard days have passed and now I’m starting to see life in a different way. Not that everything is easy once again, but due to an unexpected event now I’m able to see what I need to work on to improve myself. Life works in mysterious ways and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to move on…

anathema – hope

“i was not put here by anyone in fear
i came alone as me
just an idea in a long chain of discovery
surrounded by the same you

sometimes your tide pulls me out to sea
and i die in a thrashing curse
sometimes we are kind
more often, i doze
so far up the beach that those who try to reach are burnt alive in the searing
heat of the desert of my dispassion
so far removed, i never hear the water
‘cept once or twice a month when I see a mirror

and i refuse to believe in some of the things that are said to be here
let alone those that are not
i’m trying to change my direction
ours is pathetic in my own humble estimation

i love the planet
the great benign she-wolf
benefactor
spinning gently on towards the red giant four aeons hence
when all the rose gardens are consumed in the flash-fire of flying time
she’ll leave alone to you…”

when you look at me
from your own century
i may seem to be
strange archeology
but when the winds blow
from this direction
you may sense that I’m
in your reflection
i think i feel you
but I will never know
as the swallows leave
and the children grow

i wanted to live forever
the same as you will too
i wanted to live forever
and everybody knew

when i caught you there
in tomorrows mirror
i thought I felt you
jump out of my skin
throwing oil into
my blazing memories
filling empty footsteps
i was standing in

i wanted to live forever
the same as you will too
i wanted to live forever
and everybody knew

as the falling rain
of the northern jungle
hanging droplets on the leaves
bombards my brain
i hear you
across the room
a sea of daffodils spring into bloom
you are the mist
the frost across my window pane
and again

she moves her body
and her whispers weave
and the world spins
and tells me that i’ll never want to leave

as i think of you
from this dark century
i will always be
with generosity
that we both may share
the hope in hearing
that we’re not just
spirits disappearing…