Sunday

I did it - I got the Mexico City PR- 54 minutes and some change. It is still just under 12 minutes slower than my real 10k PR at sea level, but I will take it. In this same race last year I was just under an hour, so I can definitely see some improvement at altitude. Hopefully this will translate to races back at home. The race was not without its comedy of errors though. I was supposed to wake up at 6, but snoozed until about 6:30 and finally got out of bed and dressed. I had a banana and some water and headed on over to the race. I biked over to the last eco bici drop off and then ran to the race which was about a mile away. Great warm up distance for me. My legs were pretty tired from Saturday's training, but once I finished the warmup they were feeling much better. I got in line at the race at about 745 and realized something. My number was a completely different color than everyone else's. Um, WTF? Was I supposed to run from a different gate? I talked to the person next to me and she informed me that there were two races today on Reforma and mine was another mile and a half away. I guess I knew that my race started at the Auditorio Nacional, but I just followed people who looked like they were running a race and didnt really pay attention. I guess that's what I get for not drinking any coffee. By now it was just before 8AM (race time) and I had to maneuver my way out of the thousands of people lined up. Once I got out I ran as fast as I could to my race start. The race had already begun and the officials let me cut in through the pro gates instead of going around the extra half mile to the normal person entrance. I didnt cut any of the race off, but by the time I was there they had removed the timing chip mat so that the other racers from the other race (confused yet?) could run through the street, so I think my official start time was the real race start (just under 10 minutes earlier). But I started my Garmin on time and it showed 6.26 miles, so I am going to go with what it says.
After the race I looked everywhere for Chris and decided that he probably slept in and so I headed home. About 20 minutes later I saw him running over to the race. Guess what - he had gone to the wrong finish line too. I have no clue why there were two races. Although we may have been the only dumb gringos to make this mistake. Here is the only photo from the race (or just after the race). I dont have one lumpy boob - it is just my unfinished Gu gels stuffed in there.

Here we are on our post race walk home. You have no idea how many takes this took to get both of us in the photo. Apparently I had zoomed in instead of out. Woops.

Mexico like all other countries in the world except the US and Canada is getting ready for the World Cup. There were hundreds of photos from past World Cup games set up. It was really fun to see them all.

Go USA!


We got home and showered and headed to the international festival that was along the other side of Reforma. All the countries had their booths with food, clothes, jewlrey, and information on visiting the countries. I must say it was very interesting to see booths from Iran, Paletstine and North Korea although there really was nothing in this booth other than one representative from the country. She didnt look completely malnourished, so she definitely doesnt actually live there. I got a bag from Palestine - I figure it is the closest I will ever get to visiting there. Here is Chris playing the bongos in Cuba. Fully clothed of course.

Eating in Argentina

Posing with an alpaca in peru while drinking my wine from Argentina.

This one's for you dad and Mary (the Peruvian side of my family)

All in all a great day and now I am sitting in recovery socks totally bummed I cant watch Lost tonight. Apparently dish is moving around the satellite and since we have such a weak signal in Mexico City it will take about 8 days to get service again. I can only imaging what is going on. I keep thinking of my Garmin asking me every day if I am still indoors or if I have moved more than 100 miles from the last time I used it. I guess the same thing is happening here on a much bigger scale.