The 60km / 37.5-mile run around Aruba - 

Overview from Relive

Around Aruba - a 37-mile (60km) run around the island

 

January 27, 2020

Running around Aruba; an approximate 37-mile / 60 km run covering the entire island. I've made a map to calculate the distance and to see where I need water and where I can get water. The entire Northeast side is inhabited; there are no gas stations or shops to get water. Two places where I can get water and those better be open for business otherwise I have a problem

The wind direction is typical for Aruba; It doesn't make much different which direction i start in as you will have headwinds one way or the other. Here is an overview of the wind direction which is so typical for Aruba.

Since I can't get supplies en-route, I have a full backpack with supplies: electrolytes, water, dates, raisins, bananas, energy gels, extra shirts, socks and a phone....

Here is the route and the elevation profile for the run

Update:

What a day in Aruba. It started of pretty OK, temperature wise but as soon as I hit 20 miles (32 KM), temp went up to a grueling 38C or 100F. Almost undoable; This part is protected from the wind (as soon as you enter Arikok National Park from the South side) and in combination with a long climb to the visitor center, this part is the hardest part of the course.

Once you are at the Natural Bridge (or the remains there of) you run for 15 miles on very rugged terrain with rocks and lots of sand. Of course I couldn't resist to kiss the ground - man I fell - bunch of scratches but it was worth it

Cool places to run series: Fanning Island, Kiribati

Fanning Island

By any measure, Fanning Island is one of the most remote places on earth, an isolated speck in the vast South Pacific well over 1,000 miles south of Hawaii and more than 500 miles north of Tahiti. Fanning is part of the Republic of Kiribati (formerly the Gilberts), and its capital, Tarawa, lies far to the west, more than 2,000 miles away, with nothing but open water in between. The 1,200 residents of Fanning (or it might be 1,600 or maybe 2,000; it keeps changing and no one has made an accurate count) exist amicably in the dreamy, time-honored fashion of South Pacific paradises.

A handsome, brown-skinned people, they are polite, gentle and shy. They live in grass shacks, or, more accurately, shacks of coconut fronds and pandanus leaves. The traditional dress, for men and women, is a sarong. They live off the land and the sea: fish, coconuts, taro, pumpkin and papaya. They have no telephones, no running water, no electricity (and by extension, no computers, no television, no video games, no movies).

The only way to get here is by ship. Or when you think you can swim 800 miles, you can try to leave from Hawaii. Possible but not recommendable....I guess.

If you could run around the island, you would run 40 miles but there aer several openings in the atoll which makes it impossible to do this. 
I did half a marathon and that's as far as I could run till I reached a big opening where the currant is too strong. I did some water crossings but those were only knee-deep openings in the atoll. The people are great, all 1000 of them.