Arrival in Chile

I would be lying if I told you I felt fully prepared and ready for this race. I was excited. I was as ready as I could have been. But I was also really nervous. Despite trying to rest a lot in the weeks leading up to the race, I had felt exhausted and couldn’t pinpoint why. A lingering cold? Stress? Overtraining into an aggressive taper? Who knows. When we landed in Chile, those feelings got pushed to the back of my mind.

The days in Iquique were spent shopping for supplies, reviewing the route & our plans for each stop, & making final phone calls to loved ones. When asked, I told people I felt “appropriately nervous”. A task this large deserves some nerves.

The highlight of Iquique was the pre-race meeting with the other solo runners & their crew. It felt like a reunion of old friends as well as a chance to meet new friends who we were about to share this adventure with. We got to learn the story behind bringing TSP to Chile from Max and Nils. We got to meet Max’s parents, who hosted the meeting for us in their home. It felt intimate and special. A sign of what the race would continue to become.

Caleb, Claire and I had brought strength bracelets (a favorite Live Oak tradition) for everyone. It gave me an excuse to talk to everyone there and to share a moment with them before we headed into the Atacama Desert. I told them I hoped to hear what their strengths were at the end of our journey and shared that two of mine (already on my wrist) represent positivity and problem-solving… certain to come in handy in this race.

Here we were, 7 solo runners gathered in a home in Iquique, all with plans to embark on an incredible adventure the following morning. We were from Chile, Spain, France, Mexico, the UK, and the US. Some knew each other, others were strangers (for now). We all had crews committed to helping us get to that finish line. We all had our own reasons for taking on this challenge and yet we were all about to set out to achieve the same dream. The race would be starting before we knew it.

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

-Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist