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A San Luis Obispo man is heading abroad 7,642 miles away to compete in a once-in-a-lifetime problem.
San Luis Obispo resident and CFO of Morris and Garritano Gabe Garcia is getting ready to compete within the Snowman race in Bhutan.
“What Gabe is doing is certainly somewhat bit extra excessive,” mentioned Tera Dube, a San Luis Obispo runner.
“I’ve run marathons, sort of graduated from there into ultramarathons, and sort of was simply an on a regular basis center of the pack runner,” mentioned Garcia.
The race is a 130-mile ultramarathon over 5 days at excessive altitudes starting from 9,500 ft firstly with a peak altitude of 18,000 ft.
“I began operating in my early twenties,” mentioned Garcia. “I used to be a CPA working lengthy hours and I simply wanted one thing to get away from that deskwork.”
The race is meant to encourage these concerned to study local weather change.
“They’ve the third largest glacier system there and it is melting at a speedy tempo,” mentioned Garcia. “They’re sort of placing on the race as a name to motion utilizing us runners to get the message out.”
The 49-year-old has skilled for the occasion since 2020.
The race was delayed in 2020 and 2021 resulting from COVID-19.
“Every year, I’ve equipped for it began to ramp up my coaching after which needed to pull again and sort of mentally reset,” mentioned Garcia.
The race will encompass 30 elite racers, together with 20 of the sooner worldwide runners.
“You first set to begin simply constructing a base and simply with the ability to run lengthy distances,” mentioned Garcia. “As you get nearer to the race, you really want to begin to focus particularly on what the environments going to seem like.”
Garcia has spent the vast majority of his coaching on the Central Coast.
“I do about 90 % of my coaching in San Luis Obispo,” mentioned Garcia. “I run up Sierra San Luis each Wednesday with a gaggle. After I cannot match it in early morning lunch time, I will run right here on the workplace on the treadmill.”
Garcia works out throughout early mornings with different native runners.
“There’s a group of us that all of us run collectively,” mentioned Garcia. “We go in at 5 and assembly up on the mountain.”
“We’re all from totally different walks of life,” mentioned Dube. “To get collectively and have this bond is actually particular.”
Whereas the group runs lengthy distances, Garcia’s race is out of the norm even for them.
“It isn’t out of the peculiar for any one among us to only exit and do one among these occasions,” mentioned Dube. “He is achieved all of the work that he must do to get this achieved. I am very assured that that is going to be an thrilling expertise for him.”
It additionally provides a chance for racers to unfold consciousness of local weather change.
Garcia leaves on Monday, October 3rd.
The race begins October 13th and can proceed on by way of the seventeenth.
To trace Garcia’s standing within the race, click on right here.
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