Getting High in Peru: Running a Road Race at 8000 to 9000 feet

Cayma, Peru: Its First (Annual) Maraton--Running at 8 to 9000 Feet in Elevation! That is Getting a High in Peru!


Domingo (Sunday) 01 December 2013: Four Calvin students at San Pablo University and I signed up for the 1^st Marathon in Cayma, a suburb outside of Arequipa, Peru. Since I am a “Master” in age (above 40), they only let me run the 4K where the other four ran the 8K. What is unusual about this foot race is that you begin at almost 8000 feet in elevation and you end at 9000 feet, and it is all uphill with a gradual (rather than sharp) uphill finally at around the 4K mark. All five of us finished. Profe took the pictures of me and the Chicas, and I found the pictures of the Chicos on the AQP RUN's Facebook page.

We headed uphill towards Mt. Chachani, our just over 20,000-foot volcano.

Paz y Shalom. Neal Bierling