Other than the latest installment of my Sara Bareilles-inspired shower solo series , 'Many the Miles' is a really fitting mantra for me--a girl who measures her life in sneakers.
Nike, Adidas, Asics--I've been around the block. I still have the pair of sneakers I bought just before studying abroad in South America. Like a lame-wad, I wrote the names of all the cities and places I ran--including the prize Maratón de Santiago.
My Chilean host mom and I ran together most every day, and one of the first times we did I asked her how she was able to handle 9 or 10 mile runs sans music. She informed me that all she needed was "la música de mis pies," to which I replied (inwardly, of course), "Unless my feet start playing Robert Randolph and the Family Band 'Ain't Nothin' Wrong That', I'm not going to be satisfied with la música de mis pies."
Years after, I get what she meant. Running, for me, has become an intensely intimate experience. It is the one part of my day during which I rely only on myself to get where I'm going and accomplish what I want to accomplish. I answer to no one. I leave my iPhone and Blackberry home where they belong, and I get to head out and race myself to wherever I'm going.
The other day, for the very first time, I left my iPod at home with the rest of my gadgets.
If you have the ability to stomach cardio without music, I highly recommend trying to do so. It forces you to really think about the things you normally don't have time to think about or even want to think about. Am I okay with where I've been and where I am at 23? Am I okay with where I see myself going? Am I happy? Is Miley Cyrus talented? Do I have enough cat food at home for Ollie?
I was fortunate enough to finish my run and reflect on the fact that the answer to every question I asked myself was a firm 'yes'--and I only have myself and my new Nike Frees to thank for that. I don't know how many miles I'll run throughout the rest of my lifetime, but I'm so, so excited. It's an amazing feeling. Thank you, sneakers :).
(Note: Listen to this Cyrus' rendition of 'Look What They've Done to my Song' if you're not already on Team Miley).
Showing posts with label South America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South America. Show all posts
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Jet Setter Jet Lagger
The month of my 23rd birthday has arrived. 23 is kind of a blah year, so I want to make it special for myself because, well, I'm special. I officially want to buy myself a plane ticket to somewhere, but, help! I'm not a vacation person, and thus, I have many, many unused vacation days for work that will just disappear if I don't cash in. This is an emergency.
I have rules. Everyone's allowed to have standards right? Here are mine:
No places I've already visited:
Going to a restaurant and ordering the same sandwich every time is one thing, but not taking the opportunity to try a new country when I really have nothing to lose is quite another. I am a Latin America enthusiast by trade and blood, and I really would love to go back to LA+C, but: Dominican Republic, Chile, Brazil, Jamaica, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador--love you betches, but you're disqualified.
No "neutral" countries:
I'm looking at you, Switzerland. You think you're better than everyone else and I totally see through your peace-loving, humanitarian-oriented foreign policy façade. It's like when people say they don't judge other Facebooks, it's just not true. Everyone does and I refuse to hear another word about it.
No landlocked countries:
I'm not going. I'm just. Not. Going. It creeps me out. I have no good explanation for why, and I'm not ashamed to say so.
No countries on the verge of default:
I know that many of the places I've already visited have actually defaulted in the past but...this is a new rule. Get your shit together. You are a risky investment of my time.
No insane visa prices:
Let's keep it below $150. Brazil was a little pricey--but it's good for 10 years so it doesn't seem such a waste. Going to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia while I was in South America would have cost me $170. Whatever--it's landlocked anyway. Sorry I'm not sorry that you keep your navy in a lake incase somebody decides to give you access to the sea, Bolivia. Going to Peru, on the other hand, only cost me about $2, but that was probably because my friends and I took a taxi that drove us right to the border and then took our passports away to a secret room for some reason. Seemed unsavory, but the price was right.
I have no real agenda for my travel--I just want to BE somewhere and explore for myself. I need somewhere with some respectable eco-tourist options. I'm also open to the idea of voluntouring, but it would need to be legit. I'm not going to give money to volunteer for an orphanage that doesn't exist, so...
This is a plea to anyone who reads my blog: Please, please, please help me decide my next adventure! It could be kind of like reading a Goosebumps "choose your own adventure" book, except no haunted carnivals please.
I have rules. Everyone's allowed to have standards right? Here are mine:
No places I've already visited:
Going to a restaurant and ordering the same sandwich every time is one thing, but not taking the opportunity to try a new country when I really have nothing to lose is quite another. I am a Latin America enthusiast by trade and blood, and I really would love to go back to LA+C, but: Dominican Republic, Chile, Brazil, Jamaica, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador--love you betches, but you're disqualified.
No "neutral" countries:
I'm looking at you, Switzerland. You think you're better than everyone else and I totally see through your peace-loving, humanitarian-oriented foreign policy façade. It's like when people say they don't judge other Facebooks, it's just not true. Everyone does and I refuse to hear another word about it.
No landlocked countries:
I'm not going. I'm just. Not. Going. It creeps me out. I have no good explanation for why, and I'm not ashamed to say so.
No countries on the verge of default:
I know that many of the places I've already visited have actually defaulted in the past but...this is a new rule. Get your shit together. You are a risky investment of my time.
No insane visa prices:
Let's keep it below $150. Brazil was a little pricey--but it's good for 10 years so it doesn't seem such a waste. Going to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia while I was in South America would have cost me $170. Whatever--it's landlocked anyway. Sorry I'm not sorry that you keep your navy in a lake incase somebody decides to give you access to the sea, Bolivia. Going to Peru, on the other hand, only cost me about $2, but that was probably because my friends and I took a taxi that drove us right to the border and then took our passports away to a secret room for some reason. Seemed unsavory, but the price was right.
I have no real agenda for my travel--I just want to BE somewhere and explore for myself. I need somewhere with some respectable eco-tourist options. I'm also open to the idea of voluntouring, but it would need to be legit. I'm not going to give money to volunteer for an orphanage that doesn't exist, so...
This is a plea to anyone who reads my blog: Please, please, please help me decide my next adventure! It could be kind of like reading a Goosebumps "choose your own adventure" book, except no haunted carnivals please.
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