Entering the gates for the start. . .
While Kevin was trying to find us before the start, he noticed the shacks of homes in the background. We are very aware of the poverty in this country and the contrasting wealth. On one side of the fence, shacks. On the other side, men and women wearing Nike, Adidas, Asics, etc., shoes and running gear that are worth more than most of the poor people's monthly salaries.
Ready to run. . .
The Course.
The Course.
Our friend Todd, who used to live in Ottumwa, was in Brazil for business (with Deere). He was supposed to fly in on Friday, but his flights were delayed and he made it to Porto Alegre on Saturday. We invited him to the race and he accepted. Mollie and I took a taxi earlier, and Kevin, Todd and Emma came later. Last time Todd was here, Emma cried when she saw him. She was terrified to look at him. During the race, I ran by Kevin taking pictures and on the other side of the street, Todd was holding Emma high up to see the runners. By high up, I mean, high! Todd is about 7 feet tall! It made finding Kevin and Emma very easy:) It was fun to see an old friend and great for Kevin to have someone to talk to during the race!
Let the racing begin! At one point during the race, I paid close attention to what I was seeing and hearing. I realized that I love the sound of thousands of runners' feet, the even breathing of someone who is concentrating on an even pace, and hearing encouraging words in Portuguese, yelled to passing runners! Beautiful sounds. The sights. . . well, that was another thing. Sometimes when I run, I choose a person in front of me to focus on. This became a problem on Saturday because I was appalled at some of the racing attire. Apparently, there's a fashion here that is quite popular. Women wear what I would consider wrestling singlets to run in. (In case you'd like a mental picture, look at the photo above with Todd in it.) There were several women wearing these singlets. One gal, in her singlet, had dangly earrings that were almost touching her shoulders. I have to give her credit because she was participating in a 10K race, but something about her bling bling made me uncomfortable. In all honesty, I guess I felt like she cared more about what she looked like than how she performed. Those earrings had to have weighed a few pounds each!! (She probably ran like 38 minutes flat, so I should be careful about my criticism. Maybe she's really super-fast and fashionable. That would really make me mad. Or jealous. One of the two.) OK, back to the race.
This was hilarious. The disadvantage of English being my native language is that I often tune out the Portuguese. Sometimes I don't really read signs that are posted. Mollie and I were so excited to start the race. The 5K and 10K racers lined up together. . . or so we thought. About 150 meters into the race, massive amounts of runners veered off to the right as we veered to the left. Suddenly, like the moment Kevin took this picture, we realized there were actually two separate courses for the races and we had no idea which was which!! As I'm yelling, "Oh, crap!" and Mollie's saying something else, we see Kevin in the middle of where the runners split, cheering us on. He later said he could tell we thought we were in the wrong race. A nice Brazilian girl close to us said, "No, you're right," and we continued our race. Fortunately, Mollie had noticed that the 10K racers had different colored bibs than the 5K runners, so we double-checked that. Kind of funny but not really. I would have been very disappointed to have raced a 5K when I had prepared for a 10K!!
Chasing the runners. . .
Emma cheered us on and even raced a little herself!!
Around Mile 4 and the water stop. So the race started out fine and dandy, but shortly after Mile 3, I ran out of gas. Not like my normal, "Gosh, I'm tired and this is going to be hard," but like my whole body shut down and said, "This is over." I stopped to walk. I never want to stop to walk! I couldn't believe it and I was so disappointed. I felt fatigued everywhere. I have a few reasons or excuses as to why, but basically, after that third mile, I was done for. Just before Mile 5, I told Mollie to go on ahead. She took off and gave it all she had! I finished the 6.2 miles in 55:40, my official chip time. I'm proud that I finished it and it feels great to say that I've now run a 10K race, but I'm disappointed in my performance because I know I put a lot of time and effort into my training, more than ever before. So, I guess this just means I'll have to find another race...
We did it!! Finished an international 10K!! Mollie has been my training partner since last fall, but after Christmas, we really started pushing ourselves during our workouts. I always look forward to our long runs, sometimes cringe before our speed workouts, and ALWAYS feel great afterward!!
My #1 fan. I'm so thankful for his support. Kevin has been so great in cheering me on and helping me work toward something positive and exciting. He encourages Emma to cheer for me and it just feels really awesome to have those two behind me. . . and in front of me when I'm heading to the finish line!!
We left the race, went to the grocery store (where I found blueberries, strawberries, spinach and celery), then back to the hotel to shower. Then Kevin, Todd, Emma and I drove back to Horizontina. Mollie jumped on a plane to the U.S. It was very exhausting to drive to POA on Saturday, race Sunday morning, and then drive back Sunday night. I'm pretty sure I won't do that again. However, it was kind of worth it! I was a happy, very tired girl.
