The Shorts--and Enthusiastic Ecuadorians

What a fun race! More on that later. I know you're dying to hear about the shorts:

After the shorts trial last week (see below), I decided they were going to be fine as is. I also couldn't keep the key pocket if I got rid of the liners. So they were allowed to stay. I'm happy to report that I didn't even notice the cotton, and there wasn't even any chaffing! Perhaps they got it right back in 1986, and never shoulda changed. These may even become regulars in my gear repertoire (especially considering I only brought two pairs to Quito to use for the next year and a half). Cotton means immediate post-run removal is necessary, but they're quite comfy for long distances.

The Race: Actual Running Stuff
I felt much better than I thought I would. In fact, I feel quite happy that while my pace was not quick, it was definitely consistent, and I felt pretty strong. After only running about 5 miles maybe twice a week up to this point, I was pretty nervous about jumping into a 9 miler, because something happens to me during a race: I get serious, no matter how not-seriously I intended to take it. So I put a great deal of importance on knowing what pace I can begin and respectably finish in. I also know that no matter what, if I run a race, I'm going to run it as hard as my current shape will allow. So I was silently nervous, wondering how much today would hurt. But I'm quite pleased: I wanted to keep it steady. I did. All 3 of my 5k's were the same with maybe 30 seconds variance between them. My official time was 1:30:57 and I'm alright with that because I know I could not have run faster yesterday. My place in my age group was 120 out of 344, though I don't really care about that at this point. I feel good about how it went, and I feel better physically today than I expected. Time to push the envelope.

The Race: Cultural Learnings
Our first real beginning-to-end road race overseas taught us many things. First of all, don't expect pins for your numbers. If the start of the race is near a little tienda, the shop keeper may have stocked up and you can buy them. But there are no tables at the start with boxes of pins. We saw everything from scotch-taped bibs (don't know how that worked out for the poor guy--really? Scotch tape?) to home-sewn numbers on t-shirts. When the tienda wouldn't change our $10 for some pins, some nice person bought them for Tim. Good karma coming your way, kind racing soul.
Another shocker was the start. Over 10,000 people starting all together on 2 lanes of road. Yikes. And there's not a whole lot of regard for personal space here. Double yikes. After watching the shoving in the front, we waited till a good portion of the crowd moved on before jumping in line. Turns out, it was a good place to get in. We passed a lot of people but also ran with the same people and weren't really passed that much.
Maybe not so shocking, sports here are much more male-dominated than in the States. I mean sports in general are male-dominated, but to give you an idea of the vastness of the amount of men vs. women: there were 344 women in my age-group. There were 2127 in Tim's. That said, it was inspiring to see as many women as there were out there doing it in this machisitic country.
Another fun part of this race was how enthusiastically excited Ecuadorians are for anything out of the routine, including a big road-race through the city. There were tons of people lining the streets THE WHOLE RACE. That might happen for the Boston Marathon, but in the States, even for the 2nd biggest road-race in the country, you're still looking at some solitary time. What's cute as well is that people bring bags of water and Gatorade from home and hold it out for the runners. While I'm not about to take that from someone for fear of tap-water and dirty hands, I find it incredibly endearing that people do this.
The enthusiasm carries over to the runners too. Everyone was so excited! And talking to each other, yelling, and generally just being happy to be there. NO ONE stands around at the start, eyes averted, checking each other out for gear, who needs to eat a sandwich, who looks competitive, etc. which generally characterizes the starts at races I've experienced before. So refreshing!

Aid stations--wow. Plastic bags of water. And three super small stations with plastic cups of Gatorade. So not only do you have to rip open the bag with your teeth, you have to worry about who has handled your bag (yuck) and then you have to navigate the streets. Wet plastic bags are slippery!
Lastly, like most good races 10k and above, there was a goody bag at the end. Now, usually, in the States, your goody bag will contain Cliff Bars, or whoever else has sponsored your race, maybe some fruit, maybe some chips, yogurt, a bagel, cookies---good post-race snacks, as well as coupons, stickers and newsletters. Our goody bags contained a bottle of water, an apple, a little spiral "light cookbook" which contains, I kid-you not, a recipe for hot dog salad, and a bottle of squeeze ketchup. Thanks guys!

I would like to offer a huge thanks to our school for providing free uniforms, information and transportation, as well as a place to keep our warm clothes and possessions safe during the run.
Also a special thanks to Mabel, Ligia, Gladys and Enrique who were placed very strategically throughout the run with concentrated Gatorade. You were such a welcome surprise and I needed you right where you were.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in general debauchery on our roof with gringos and Ecuadorians alike. Overall, it was an incredible day!