By Katharine Lowrie (Ecologist & Runner)
“…to relax, re-charge, go wild & ignite ideas. I think the lure is the freedom. Every vista holds something new; a peregrine free falling through the sky; a hare dashing over the hilltop. Thoughts flow and ebb through your mind, sometimes conscious, sometimes lurking beyond. They move in time with the rhythm of your footsteps and the exhalation of your breath. It’s as if your senses are freshly tuned, tingling and raw as your feet feel the ground beneath you and the wind and rain pulls at your body”
Running south america with my husband and other animals
David and I set off from the Exe estuary on our old wooden sailing boat bound for South America to work in nature conservation. The year, 2008. We ended up surveying seabirds for two years in the Caribbean and it was there where we hatched the idea of running the continent of South America. A continent full of the most incredible wildlife, a continent of superlatives with the longest mountain chain, largest rainforest, mightiest river, brimming with extraordinary biodiversity. We wanted to shine a light on South America, to share the stories of the people we met along the way, and the work they’re doing to save wildlife and habitats. To show how the things we buy and do here, in the UK, can impact South America.
Running seemed the logical way to get under the skin of the countries we would pass through. It allowed us to acclimatise gradually and to meet people and wildlife easily.
Like no other form of passage, running would allow us to penetrate the moods of the land and its creatures. With only a couple of millimetres of ‘barefoot’ shoe-soles separating us from the earth’s heartbeat, often only our unshod skin, we would move silently, stealthily, creeping up on wildlife, a whisper away from discovery, a step from the unknown and unexpected”
running south america with my husband and other animals
Running the continent would also be a world first- David as the first man to have run it, unsupported (we pulled all our kit, swapping the trailer every five miles) and me as the first woman to have run it. Doing something so “loco” meant that the media, communities, villagers and people along the way were interested. We also presented to schools, universities and interest groups. It meant we had a platform to talk about the natural world that we adore.
“With small steps we can achieve extraordinary feats, it’s not too late to save South America’s (and the world’s) remaining wildernesses and wildlife, but time is running out”, our key message.
It was a precious time; we had few worries. We would wake up from whatever bush we had slept under, pack away our tent, strap up the trailer and run. Running was our job, our meditation, our life. We aimed to run at least twenty miles each day, but it all depended on whether we could find a good camp site, if we found a river we might stop early. We did average twenty miles per day in the end, with out longest day 36 miles, and we ran 9 marathons in 9 days to reach the Caribbean Sea.
Life was most complicated when we had to stop in towns to buy food, mend kit and send the articles and blogs we were writing. Then we argued. But as soon as we ran out into the countryside again, sleeping under the vast milky way, our minds soared, our bodies purred. We’re not athletes, but the expedition showed us what human beings are capable of, running is so natural, elemental. It feeds the body and mind. It has been essential to me throughout my life.
While we were running, we had so much time to think. Sometimes we would be silent, other times, chunter along to one another. That was when we concocted the plan of having a centre where environmentalists, runners, and people who love the natural world and immersing themselves in it (maybe all of them combined!) could come together and incubate ideas to save it. And so here I am writing to you, from our farm- Auchgoyle Farm, on the ‘Secret Coast’ of Scotland which we are restoring for wildlife.
So you see, running has shaped and ultimately changed my life. I run for the sheer joy, love and passion of it, but it is also my work and the way we make a living. It has revealed the most stunning natural habitats and wildlife to me, and it is the perfect ‘Vehicle’ (actually non vehicle!) to engage people in the amazing world that surrounds us and how we can all save it…
With small steps we can achieve extraordinary feats, it’s not too late to save South America’s (and the world’s) remaining wildernesses and wildlife, but time is running out
