Maybe I'm a little crazy (aren't we all?), but one of the greatest pleasures for me as a runner is to pass through a place and say: "I've run here". Hopefully a magical setting like the summit of Volcán Irazú or the pristine sand of Playa Conchal under scorching heat, but any city street is also a source of pride.
Bulevar de Rohrmoser. Bulevar de Rohrmoser for god's sake! Certainly the street in Costa Rica where the most races have passed through. And every time I drive over that blessed boulevard I remember the San Silvestre from 2009, or the Under Armour race last year, or that eight-kilometer night race when we were in the fashion of night races, and whose name I can't even remember anymore.
And the same happens to me with the main street of Lindora, or every time I pass through some point in San José that suddenly takes me back to kilometer 17 of the Clásica San Juan. And speaking of the San Juan: San Pedro, Curridabat, Ochomogo… how can you not think of the San Juan finish line every time you see Parque de Tibás! Or well, for the more modern runners, Curri, San Pedro and that left turn toward the Biblioteca Nacional have to be filled with memories of the Media Maratón Correcaminos…
Sun and Sand, guys! Sun and Sand! Are you going to tell me you don't think of Sol y Arena when you're sunbathing on vacation with your family at Playa Puntarenas? Or at any beach really, under merciless heat, when some family member complains "this heat is unbearable!", it's inevitable for me to continue the conversation saying: "now imagine running under this heat!!! That's roughly how it was at that Sol y Arena race where…", or at El Reto Jacó Extremo, or in Tamarindo…
All places have their charm, but for me trail running is unmatched, whether in races or training. Seeing the summit of Volcán Irazú on a clear day, right where you can see the little antennas, and knowing that I ran there once, fills my soul. I suppose it reminds me that I've lived, that time hasn't passed in vain. That I've known places and that I haven't only contemplated them passively from the hotel window or the car window, but that I've had the privilege of having run through them.
Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know. Although I don't think it's that big a deal either, to some extent it should be normal to see running shoes where there are cars and to name streets after races, right? Could there be another crazy person out there?
