2021. Another great year

Hello cyber-friends. I know it's been a while but here I am, writing again. Thank you for your patience. It took me some time but I promise I'll be writing consistently from now on. For this first post, I want to share with you some of the most interesting things I got to do in 2021.

• Reading 106 books

  That's not a typo. During 2021 I read 106 books. I love to read and I never leave home without a book (or my Kindle). Reading is one of the first things I do in the morning (I usually wake up around 5am) and one of the last ones I do at night. Sometimes I listen to audio books, especially when I'm walking or driving. But, for the most part, I read e-books. Some of my favorites this year:

The Moth and the Mountain: A true Story of Love, War and Everest, by Ed Caesar.

I really connected with this book. It's a biography of Maurice Wilson and his attempt to climb Mount Everest alone in 1934, after he flew a biplane (again, alone) from England to India.

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

This is the second time I've read this book. It’s "a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question "What makes a life worth living?"".

A Promised Land, by Barack Obama

A book about the first half of his presidency. More than 700 pages long but I finished it in 2 days. Fascinating. Inspiring

Running with the Kenyans, by Adharanand Finn

"Adharanand Finn's incredible journey to the elite training camps of Kenya". It made me dream of visiting Iten, in Kenya.

Travels with Charley: in Search of America, by John Steinbeck

A memoirs from Steinbeck's journey across the US. I love books about road trips. "Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers".

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

A very raw and honest biography of a brilliant and, at the same time, complicated visionary. I took many years to pick up this book. I’m glad I did.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy

This one was a complete surprise. The illustrations are delightful. But what makes this little book special is that it condenses in its 100 pages a lot more wisdom than most philosophy books I've read.

Northwest Vipassana Center

• Vipassana meditation retreat

This one had been on my bucket list for a long time. Although I've been meditating for about 20 years, since I began studying at Casa Tibet in Mexico City, I had never been to a retreat before. And what a retreat it was! 10 days of living a monastic life, completely focused on meditation. No phones, internet or contact with the outside, a vow of complete silence, 10 hours of meditation per day and discourses every night. For me, it was not just about learning this particular technique. It was about living like a monk and finding that I truly enjoyed this transformative experience. My next blog post will be about this.

• Making walking a daily habit

At the beginning of this year, I set myself the goal of walking an average of 10,000 steps every day. Well, I did it! During 2021 I averaged 13,361. And that's a total of nearly 4.9 million steps in one year. It's obvious that living an active lifestyle brings significant health benefits. But, for me, the biggest benefit is that taking daily walks, no matter where in the world I am, has become a habit. And it's a habit I plan to continue for as long as my legs can hold me. My daily walks have become one of the most enjoyable moments of my day.

Daily steps in 2021

• Starting to study a BA in Archaeology

During the summer of 2021 I officially became a university student again. I started studying Archaeology through the University of Leicester (UK) distance learning program. It will take me 6 years to get my bachelor's degree. But in the 6 months that I have been immersed in Archaeology, my whole notion of the human race and our planet, has been completely transformed. 

• Leaving social media

I closed all my social media accounts on February of 2021 and I haven't regretted it for a moment. It's not that I used to spend hours a day scrolling through endless feeds. My use of social media was for sharing my experiences and connecting with people interested in what I do. But the reality is that, by using social media, social media is also using me, whether I'm aware of it or not. So, no thanks. I continued uploading photos of my adventures and experiences on my website. And I've continued to communicate with the people that want to stay in touch with me. That's good enough. I'm glad I took the leap.

• Scuba diving in Maldives

This year I got to go back to Maldives. And, for the first time, I got to spend a few days scuba diving in this tropical paradise. Maldives is one of those places that you must be there to believe that such beauty really exists on our planet. And even when you are there, it feels like a dream. But underwater the world is just as stunning. I have never dived surrounded by so many green turtles and so many sharks (mostly black tip and white tip reef sharks). Spending time with the local diving boat crew was almost as fun as the dives themselves.

• Recovering from a 4-year-old leg injury

Somewhere around the 80th kilometer of Comrades Marathon 2017 I started having intense pain on the lower part of my right shin. I finished running the last 7km. But I was limping for a few days afterwards. The pain was so intense that I had to cancer my planned run on the 250km Gobi March, in the Gobi Desert. I thought I had recovered a month later for Red Bull X-Alps, but the injury kept me from having a decent competition. The doctor at X-Alps told me I needed surgery. Since then, the pain became chronic. Even after spending two months off running while climbing K2 or Kanchenjunga, when I started running again, the pain came back. For nearly 4 years, the pain became my reliable and unfortunate companion. After doctor's appointments in 3 different countries, several MRIs and X-rays, running form tests, changing running shoes, changing running surfaces and terrains, ultrasound therapy, laser, TENS, massage, rest, nothing worked. That is until I started working with Dr. Siddhartha García Tamez in Mexico City this spring. The solution: not just treating the pain but focusing on strengthening everything around the painful area. After 3 weeks, I was pain free, running strong, and I have remained healthy since then. I'm ready for a lot more running in 2022.

• Visiting the Hidden Beach in the Marietas Islands, Mexico

During April of 2021 I finally visited the famous Hidden Beach, on the Marietas Islands. This small group of islands on the Pacific coast of Mexico has one of the most unique beaches in the world. It is a sandy beach, completely surrounded by cliffs. Rock walls 360º around. The water, and visitors, enter in through a cave in which the ceiling is only a meter or so above. In fact, we were required to wear a helmet while swimming through the cave. Once inside, this place is like no other in the world. Like something out of a sci-fi movie. We were lucky to have this very special place to ourselves. 

• Completing the World Marathon Majors

I have been running marathons for decades. I love running. In 2021 I was finally able to complete the Abbott World Marathon Majors. This involves running all these marathons: New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin and Tokyo. I had run the New York City marathon 4 times, Boston, Chicago and Tokyo 2 times each, and Berlin once. And perhaps 30 other marathons and ultra-marathons around the world. But for many years I wasn't been able to get an entry to London. On the summer of 2019, I got a number to run on April, 2020. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the marathon was first postponed to October. Later it was cancelled. It wasn't until October 3rd, 2021 that I was able to run London, complete the challenge, and get my massive 6 star medal. The reason the medal is meaningful to me is because it’s a symbol of perseverance.

• Climbing Mera Peak in Nepal

On November of 2021 I travelled to Nepal to climb once again. It had been three and a half years since I last stepped on that Himalayan country, after summiting Everest for the 7th time. This time I had a very short amount of time to climb Mera Peak. Actually, only one week. I will be writing a full blog post about this unique climb. Mera Peak is 6,476m (21,247 ft) high. It's a non-technical climb over heavily glaciated terrain. It took me 7 days to make a round trip from Kathmandu and up to the summit. I did this mini expedition with Tshering Dorjee Sherpa. He is someone I respect and one of the handful of people I chose to be with me at my wedding. Even if the peak was not technically challenging, I loved being back in the Himalayas. After the climb, I returned to Kathmandu full of ideas for new and exciting climbs.

Bonus: Starting to train for Marathon des Sables, again.

How do you train for running 250km across the Sahara Desert on a multi-stage, self-supported running race where midday temperatures can reach 120°F / 50°C? Definitely not the way I'm doing it, by running in the snow at 23°F / -5°C with strong winds. But races like Marathon des Sables are not just about being prepared to run all day. They are about being resilient. Running in harsh conditions is certainly helping with that. The reward is spending some time in the sauna, after the run, at 185°F / 85°C. That’s more like it!

Ultreia Et Suseia