A Few of my Favorite Things (Algumas coisas favoritas minhas!)

Pre-race photo of me & Sandi
(All photos taken by Schrags)

Continuing the theme of "new things" I have done in Brazil, I have another to share. Those of you that know me consider me to be a little over-dedicated at times to running, biking and swimming. Over dedicated, competitive, hard core, or even crazy would be some words I know my friends have used to describe me. I just like to think of myself as "sporty" and "active". Anyway, one thing I wanted to do in Brazil is run a race. Now, that in itself is not a "new thing" as I have done so many races in the US, I forgot  my PR in the 5k, 10k and half marathon distances. Thank goodness for those websites which store your last bazillion races, some of which I forgot on purpose. Anyway, my fellow ex-pat'er and good friend, Sandi, convinced me to run a 10k with her in Porto Alegre, the capital city of my state and only 300 miles away. She ran a 5k and had a lot of fun. It didn't take that much to convince me and I put together our training plan.

We trained pretty hard for about 3 1/2 months and then did the 6 1/2 hour car ride to Porto Alegre for the race. We got a really nice race packet with a small backpack, t-shirt and a towel at the local Adidas store in Porto Alegre. I also got a SURPRISE when I saw the prices of some of the merchandise. The prices are at least 30% higher in Brazil for the same stuff you can buy at an uber-discount at the outlet store in Aurora. OUCH!  The race probably had about 3,000 to 5,000 runners doing either a 5k or 10k distance. For those of you who don't do kilometers, that is 3.1 miles and 10.2 miles, respectively.

As we started running the race, I realized there was a fork in the road and you had to go left with the 10k runners or to the right with the 5k runners! I realized that I didn't know if we should go right or left. Then I remembered that my bib numbers were green and the green numbers meant 10k. The greenies were going LEFT! As I told Sandi this and had a minor freak-out moment, her husband snapped some photos of us! It was really funny because we were confused, but a nice, Brazilian runner confirmed for us going left was right (heh heh).

I ran a good race. I ran hard and really gave it all I had. In the end, I thought I had a PR, but after doing a google search for myself, I realized I ran 45 seconds faster a few years ago over the same distance. I was slightly bummed, but now I have a good reason to make this "first" a "second".

It was a really special experience to run a race, something that felt like home and be able to do it with Sandi. She has become a very close friend to me, running buddy, counselor, thought partner, road trip buddy and just an all around SUPER woman! Thank you Sandi for sharing one of my favorite things with me and also making it one of my "firsts"!!!! Um abraco grande!

Starting line of the race. Organized by expected finishing time. 

When we realized the race split off the 5k & 10k runners. Notice the confused looks on our faces. 

Feeling good! Odd statue in background.

Post Race Bliss! Happy we are done & we finished! Even got a finishing medal!