World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2011-07-09 2011-07-17 Peru

2011-07-13:

20
Distance today: 0.0 km (Accumulated: 26785.0 km)
Elapsed time: 00:00:00
Country: Peru

Back in Peru !!

FINALLY ! While it was nice to see my homecontry and meet with friends and family - and my main sponsor, Ecco, again; then it was also 5days of intense anxiety towards quickly returning to the route and continue the run where I left.

It was, ofcourse, important to me to say proper goodbye to my father and to attend his funeral. And, to make the most positive of the situation as it was: to catch up w. my excellent webmaster, Kasper Vibe-Leonhardt, and develop some new ideas for the website; to solve the packet-logistics problem with my main sponsor (I now have 4new pair of Ecco Biom runningshoes in my luggage :-))) and not least to organize a marathon at my hometown, which has been a dream for many years but never really had the occation for it. All done now.

At midday I arrived to Arequipa half-way up in the Andes Mountains. Here I am awaiting my new supportdriver, Pali from Slovakia (who speaks english and spanish), and my South American logistics expert, Jamie Fullbrook who has tanken on this role after supply-driving the first 4000km of my run through South America. They should both arrive in 2 days - I returned to Peru quicker than they could get flighttickets to the startlocation.. As you may have noticed my route is down on the Pan American Highway along the coast, but I am waiting here at 2500m. altitude to get a bit of benefit from altitude training, admiring the view of the nearby volcano "El Misti" (5822m.) as well as searching for a rental car to use for my supportdriver.

NB: As you can see from the pictures taken during the flight from Lima to Arequipa, the route ahead is mostly desert and semi-desert. But typical for Peru it has long streatches where its developed into agricultural fields by irrigation and drawing water from mountain rivers and the underground (as in one of the pictures). The old colonial buildings which you can see on some of the pictures from Arequipa dates back to the 16.century.

By the way: Ofcourse the pictures of landscapes that I fly over when returning to the route isnt really relevant in relation to the run. And yet; perhaps they can explain why I am running a second time around the world: when viewing these landscapes as those you can see on the pictures I do not mainly see remote wastelands, or hostile deserts: No, most of all I wonder "How would it be to run through these landscapes down there ? How will those dried out riverbeds feel like, how will these mountains, and those vast distances, feel when measured out running step by running step. Somehow the land still call out for me ! And I long to answer that call and embark, forward, slowly, sensing and seeing each little detail of the road across the continent ! Once that urge isnt there anymore - I will be ready for retirement.