It’s the saying in Costa Rica and after visiting here for a couple days, you come to understand why. It means “full of life” or if someone asks you how you are doing, it’s the same as saying, “awesome!”.
After stepping off the red-eye having gotten no sleep, I felt terrible. Everything felt like it was tied in knots. Doing some full depth squats, easy good mornings and stretching in the airport really helped and after walking around town a bit, we noticed a tiny studio for Aurora Yoga. We promised to come back for a class. That night I did an easy 20min shakeout jog on the beach.
Costa Rica is the fitness guru’s heaven; lot’s of long beaches to run, big waves to surf, countless trails to explore and waterfalls to jump from just to name a few. We started Thursday morning with Yoga class at the tiny studio in Jaco. Come to find out, the owner was from San Francisco as was her two employees! She was a recent graduate of UCSF and had just opened her doors 3 months ago. Very cool! After stretching it out with deep holds for an hour in what seemed like a Bikram class (it’s 90+ degrees outside and 1000% humidity) we walked out feeling much better, albeit a bit dehydrated. The one downside to living in the Bay Area is that it does not prepare one for the heat and humidity.
Running gave me a good lay of land, however, and I ended up climbing 800ft above the ocean to the point b/t Hermosa and Jaco. After running outside the town, I found a dirt road that literally went straight up the mountain. Thinking it may be private, I asked the three men sitting at the entrance “Correr?” They looked at me like I was crazy and then said, “Rocky!” The 800ft climb wasn’t too difficult but the view was amazing! The evening was finished by some body surfing, easy strides on the beach, hollow rocks and pushups. When I was in college, I remember some of the veteran runners giving me advice regarding racing overseas. They would always stress running very easy the first couple days, no matter how great your legs feel. Traveling, especially overnight flights, puts tremendous stress on the body. The last thing you want to do is tax yourself more when racing.
Dinner has been very good. Always fresh caught fish with rice, broccoli and beans. I have to make a point of saying, the fish here is amazing. Mahi-mahi, sea bass, whatever. It really doesn’t matter what kind of fish you have, it’s so fresh. It definitely makes getting in your omega 3′s very easy.
Today was again chalk full of adventure. There’s so much to write about, I’ll have to save it for tomorrow. Until then…
Never Let It Rest,
Brendon
