Wednesday, December 8, 2010

First 5K through the streets of Buenos Aires

I awoke early the next morning to run my very first 5K race, which was put on to defend human rights by the organization that I volunteer with, Fundación Comisión Catolica Argentina de Migraciones.  As I was taking the bus to the center of the city at 7am, I saw groups of people just going home from their night of joda (partying).  It was the national holiday for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, but also two days before the international human rights day.  It was quite a unique experience to run on the big avenues of Buenos Aires (including Av. 9 de Julio, one of the widest avenues in the world) with traffic stopping for us along the way.  

registration at the Obelisco

the warm up


 















start line



 













and we're off through Microcentro!!
 






















Initially, I was passed by the experienced, fast runners who I had seen running almost half an hour before the actual race.  Being content with my pace, I didn’t mind being one of the last to finish.

halfway point at Av. Corrientes and Av. Callao
























the finish line























My goal was to do the whole race running…which I achieved.  And then I realized that I was actually ahead of quite a lot of runners – I just happened to be between the serious runners and the casual run/walkers.  El Podio Heladería sponsored the race, so we even got a cup of ice cream at the finish line!

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