IMPORTANT LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FOR RUNNERS PLANNING TO RUN ACROSS A DESERT.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012TUESDAY AND WEDNESS REST DAYS AS I GOT TO MAKE A SIDE TRIP TO LIMA. NOT SURE ABOUT THURSDAY.
TOTAL TO DATE AS OF MONDAY APRIL 29= 17,808KM/11,065 MILES (MILES ARE APPROX) FOR 424 ROAD DAYS.
PERU DAILY LOG HAS BEEN UPDATED PRESS HERE TO VIEW DAILY DISTANCES
Monday 30 April2012 Today a good 43km from km 196 to km 153 in Huaura.
Sunday 29th another wonderful day, I finished strong and ran 54km and allong the way some of my fastest kms in over a year 5:40s and many sub 6. readers will know I dont mind pace a lot but its still exciting after the energy crises in the Andes. Tomorrow Monday last day in desert and then its back to the mountains on route 18 towards Cuzco
SATURDAY I RAN A WONDERFUL 46KM FEELING REALLY STRONG AS THE MOUNTAINS ARE OUT OF THE LEGS,. THAT GAVE ME A WONDERFUL CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR THE FUTURE
I am enjoying the desert. Will be out of it in a few days. Meeting really wonderful people. Sunday after running I expect to make a side trip to Lima for a couple days. Then it´s back to the mountains! > PS JUST FOUND OUT MON AND TUES ARE HOLIDAYS HERE ( FEAST OF THE IMMICULATED CHICKEN ) SO MORE THAN LIKELY I WILL LEAVE THIS TILL TUES EVENING. THIS KIND OF THING IS TYPICAL HERE WHEN ONE WANTS TO DO URGENT BUSINESS THATS WHY I WOULD NEVER DREAM OF ARRIVING ON THUR OR FRIDAY. SIMPLE TASKS IN LATIN AMERICA CAN TAKE DAYS!
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I tell you Hollywood movies have a lot of answering to do! They will show us visions of snakes everywhere.. Naw, only see about one a month. You call those snakes? Bare footed asparagus pickers spit them out for breakfast, real men!
Yes you read that right. Asparagus growing in the north Peru desert where the only rainfall is from June to August.
Then they will show you visions of a poor hapless wanderer on hands and knees crawling along through sand dunes on all fours.
No need to buddy just get in your car and drive!
But this is the desert are there roads? Sure and they are built in record time… You just flatten out the road and throw some tarmac on it.
But how do you flatten out the road?
That’s the easy part… You just become elected mayor of your oasis town get in a truck with a giant speaker and tell the assembled townsfolk that there is a chicken ban for a full week. Then you drive off followed by the pounding crowds of enraged citizens.
So Are they slacking up? Not doing a good enough job for the engineer? Well you just up a couple of gears by shouting into your speaker its going to be a full chicken less month.
This should compact the sand even more.. Still the engineer is not happy? Well go into full gear and tell the angry pounding mob it’s going to be a year, a whole 365 days without chicken and to make things worse this is a leap year. Then tell them all they got to do is throw some tarmac on the trail and you will change your mind.
But you could always drive in the sand? Why would you do that when all you got to do is pay your tolls?
Then Hollywood throws up visions of said bewildered wanderer gasping for water!
Why would he do that when all he has to do is throw a bottle out a window while commuting?
I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others.. Not my own, so please listen up to this especially if you are planning to crawl, run or walk across your nearest desert in the near future..
Please read this carefully as I will only say it once.
Yes and the famous mirage? Is that really ice cream?
When you are crawling through your local desert please have your money ready BEFORE you stop the ice cream man because if you don’t, well the ice cream will rapidly melt while you are fumbling for change because the vendor will have an outstretched ice cream dripping hand. If you do not want to lick the back of his hand off you will just have to buy a second ice cream. Serious lesson here.

A MIRRAGE?NO MIRRAGE! MEET JULIO HE WORKS THE DESERT SHIFT FROM 10AM TILL 4PM AND THEN CYCLES HOME! JULIO,JULIO.. WHERE ARE YOU GONE?
Do you think I could learn from this serious act of carelessness?
No, not all all, 50 metres further on up the road I stopped at a shop… Yes a shop in the desert. Hollywood will really hate me after this
So what did I buy after my ice cream? I bought of all things CHOCOLATE! And yes before I could pay it was melted.. The last one in the shop.
So Please, please learn from the mistakes of others, not your own mistakes before setting out on your next desert toddle.