Complexity: Hard
Distance: 8.15 km
Duration: 1h 30 min
Elevation: 900m
For this run, I chose mount Teide as my target. To start I drove to the foot of Mount Teide and parked on the side of ‘Carretera del Teide’ road (the next bend after the left turn for Telefico del Teide). According to the map there is a narrow pathway leading from the road ‘Carretera del Teide’ up to the peak. I, however was not able to find that path and had to ‘brute-force’ my way up the mountain. The terrain here is treacherous with large loose boulders constantly slipping from under your feet as you run up, risking getting your leg trapped or twisted or worse broken. It was morning (about 9am) and it was still quite chilly, but sweat was pouring as if it was +40. I (somewhat foolishly) did not take any water nor energy bars with me. I have to admit that about 45 mins in I was starting to have doubts about making it back in one piece and that I should give up and turn back. About an hour in some sort of resemblance of the path appeared, terrain levelled out and I’ve reached a plato and saw a path where I could finally speed up. This led to a cross-road with a sign on it, where I met Juan a fellow Spanish off-road runner. When I showed him the map where I started the ascend and told him that I was aiming for the peak and when he saw that I had no water or snack with me, he just shook his head and turned a finger at his temple in dismay and my stupidity. He offered me a bar of his chocolate and a sip from his water bottle. I thanked him and ran on.
