Colombia
Back in Corpugana, we made our way to our first destination in Colombia: Medellin. Julie had been before, but for a very short period of time. We booked an apartment for a whole week and, if we’re being honest, we didn’t do too much. This trip is amazing but also exhausting, so sometimes we just take a pause to live a “normal” life, so-to-speak. We spent the week running, going to the gym, working, sleeping, cooking at home, and just enjoying a slower pace.
Medellin is a beautiful city, sitting at 1500m of elevation and known as the “city of eternal spring”. Years ago the city was starting to warm up, so they planted thousands of plants all around the city. Not only did this effectively cool the city back down a few degrees, but it also gives you the sensation of walking around in the jungle, in the middle of the city. There are also gorgeous macaws everywhere, always in pairs and even sometimes in loud, skwaking groups.
The one touristic thing we did was go visit Comuna 13. This neighborhood used to be one of the most dangerous in all of Colombia. The neighborhood is riddled with “invisible borders” between different gang territories, and in the 80’s and 90’s it was wrought with violence. We took a tour with a guide who grew up right next to one of these invisible borders, and he explained all about what life was like back then and how it has changed.
Art, and artists, essentially saved this formerly no-go zone. Artists began painting murals and creating music and put on various events working with the gangs, which eventually lead to free movement in the district. Now, not only can the residents move freely throughout their neighborhood, but also it has become one of the top tourist attractions of the city. People like our tour guide are still working closely with artists of all kinds to ensure that the comuna stays safe and that kids stay on the right path.
Medellin and Comuna 13 is also famous for how many big music stars it has produced in the latin music industry. Some of the most notable are artists such as Carol G and Maluma. Though they now have apartments in the more posh neighborhoods of the city like Poblado, they occasionally return to Comuna 13 to shoot music videos.
Mostly, we spent our time training and preparing for our next big goal: The Chicamocha Canyon Race 80km at the end of the month. We fuelled up on our favourite Colombian food, salpicon, which is kind of like a fruit salad. Julie also has a good friend who is from Medellin who now lives in Santiago de Chile. She connected us with a friend of hers who is a big trail runner and mountain biker in the city. He took us to the mountains just outside of the city and took us on a run through one of his favourite trails. It was beautiful and always fun to connect with local runners in the area. After that, we took another night bus to our next spot: Bogota.
We were quite excited to go to Bogota, as Julie used to live there while she was setting up Midnight Runners Bogota, the first latin american city for Midnight Runners. She has a lot of friends there that she was excited to see, plus we ended up being in the city just in time for the group’s 4th anniversary party. We stayed in Bogota for two weeks at our friend Felipe’s house. It was again wonderful to slow down and just enjoy time with friends. We met up with friends and the Midnight Runners crew from runs, workouts, drinks, dinners, and more. Our friend Gabe, who also lived in Bogota four years prior with Julie to set up the chapter, even flew in for the anniversary run and party, so it was a true reunion.
One of the first things we did was go with Felipe and our friend Manu to an electronic music festival called Baum fest. We only went for one of the nights of the festival and it felt really good to get out, dance, and have fun with friends again after being just the two of us for so long. We discovered, however, that we don’t have the same stamina that we used to for staying out really late!
Again, most of our days were spent running, working out, working, and cooking. We took advantage of the city’s ciclovia, the largest in all of latin america. Every Sunday, as well as on holidays, the city blocks off 130km of streets to cars. Everyone comes out to walk, run, ride bikes, roller blade, and just enjoy the car-free parts of the city. One of the Sundays we even ran all the way out to Simon Bolivar Park, a gorgeous park in the city that Julie had never actually been to, simply because of its farther-out location from the districts where she lived.
The highlight, of course, was the Midnight Runners Bogota fourth birthday run. More than 600 runners turned up to celebrate, and we ran through the streets in typical Midnight Runners fashion: Blasting music, cheering loudly, dancing, and putting a smile on the faces of everyone we passed. We then danced the night away at the afterparty. If you’ve ever been to a party in Colombia, then you know when we say dancing, we mean it. Not only did they play popular modern latin music that everyone sang and danced to, but they also played classic salsa and bachata music. If you don’t know how, someone will take you by the hand and teach you. Parties in Colombia are truly amazing, and you will always leave with sore feet, tired legs, sweaty, but very, very happy.
After those two weeks, we actually took a “vacation” from our travels and flew to Canada for one week. One of Julie’s best friends had her first baby just a couple of months prior, and we knew that if we didn’t go visit Julie’s family now, it would be a very long time before we would see them again. So we took advantage of cheap flights we found and took a break.
Upon returning to Colombia, it was time for the race: Julie’s first ultra marathon. We drove from Bogota to San Gil, Colombia, with friends of ours who were also running. All together, we went to the kit pick up to get our race bibs and make sure we were all ready for the next day. One of our friends was running the 42km race, and the other four the 24km. On Saturday morning we all got up nice and early to be at our respective start lines for go-time. Jo and I’s race started at 6am - before we knew it, we were off!
Normally this race is known for being really hot, however, we got lucky with a more overcast day, really taking the sting out of the normally hot temperatures. The race itself went pretty well. We finished it running and crossed the finish line in 12 hours. We didn’t love the route, however, as the first 30km were essentially all on roads before finally descending into the canyon and then climbing back out of it. The last 10km was also mostly on roads, with the last few kilometers alongside a major roadway which was not shut down to traffic.
The highlight was arriving at the 60km aid station in Barichara, which is known to be one of Colombia’s most beautiful towns. The best part was that our friends who ran the 24km were all waiting for us there, because that’s where their race had finished. They ran us into the aid station, cheering us on, and helped us fill our water bottles, get us snacks, and even gave us quick leg massages to help push us through the final 20km.
The day after the race we spent relaxing at our Aribnb with friends in Barichara, spending the afternoon by the pool and the evening stretching our legs in the jacuzzi. It was truly special to spend a weekend with such amazing people! Afterwards, we made our way back to Bogota, after which we then got on another night bus to head to Ecuador. It was bittersweet leaving Colombia and our friends behind, but thankfully we will be returning there at the end of the year so we will see them again!