I LOVE running! One of my goals for the year has been to run 10k in under 48 minutes. I had a better race time than that last year, but since then, I've dealt with shin splints, pain in one knee, and then pain in the other. I slowly built back up and am finally able to race again!
A couple weeks ago my running buddy Albeiro and I did a 10k route around San Joaquín in 49:03.
I was pretty proud, especially considering I hadn't run that distance for a year! This past Sunday we did a race and it was wonderfully easy. It was downhill the whole way!! (I tried to be good to my knees.) I still don't have my official time, and even still it won't be totally accurate since most of the races here are still done without chips, but I heard the people in front of me say they finished in about 49 minutes. Oh yeah, and this was more like 11k, so I'm pretty sure I easily reached my goal. I'm excited to do another race that is flatter or has some uphill parts to it too and see if I can do that in under 48 as well. The picture is of Nawaf (a friend who helps in AWANA as Albeiro and I do), Albeiro and me.
For a compare/contrast of racing in the US vs Costa Rica, head to the blog!
May we all continue to work towards our goals this week!
Carrie
So, I've only done one race in the States, so I'm not sure how qualified I am to talk about this, but I'll share my take on things anyway. I can't talk much about the registration since I've actually always had someone else sign me up. That's kind of funny, actually.
The race I did in the States gave me a cotton t-shirt. The races I do here give me nice breathable tanks that probably make paying the $10 or so for the race worth it just for the shirt. They are also typically very uh, visible colors (orange, bright yellow or white).
Start and finish. The Beach to Beacon (the race I did in the States) did this phenomenally. They had signs posted according to pace. You started with your pace group. So, if you run a slower pace, you start behind the faster pace people, and that way the start isn't such a mess. The other bonus to the race in the States was...a CHIP!! Running with a chip means my time starts when my foot crosses the start line and ends when my foots hits the mat on the finish line. Of the 4 races I've now done here in CR, only 1 has had a chip. Chipless races means my time starts when the whistle blows and my time stops when I cross the finish line and someone spots my number and writes down my time. Chipless races also make for HORRIBLE starts. We are like a herd of cattle breaking out and it usually takes a few minutes for the crowd to thin enough in order to for us to not all be on top of each other. I'm really hoping chips catch on more here... fast!
Hydration. In the Beach to Beacon we had to drink out of Dixie cups. It's really hard to drink and run and you have to have a good cup folding technique so the water doesn't all slosh out before you get to drink any of it. Here, water comes in a small, sealed plastic pouch. You grab one (or a few) from the person or the table, bite off the corner and happily suck your water down without spilling a drop. Perhaps not so environmentally friendly, but way better!
In both places people spray you with hoses (which feels great at the moment, but can later give me chills if the wind is a bit strong) and stand along the side of the street and cheer you on. That's always nice. I encourage you to go to road races and cheer for people, even if you don't know any of them. It's a great random act of kindness!
Post race food, hydration and freebies. At every race but this last one I did post race hydration and fruit has been great. They are right there are cups of water and/gatorade are waiting for me and the line for fresh fruit (typically a banana and something else-an apple or a watermelon or pineapple slice) is moving right along. The race I did on Sunday had a line that was nearly eternal and I was starting to cramp up because I couldn't cool down and was in desperate need of fluids and calories. And I couldn't find Albeiro, who is typically waiting for me in a very obvious spot. So I was a VERY unhappy, somewhat lost girl. This race had some freebies, which other races I've done here have not had. That contributed to the long lines though and was therefore totally not worth it. The freebies at the Beach to Beacon were awesome though. We walked around and they gave us free awesome root beer, hot dogs, and lots of other cool, random, sometimes useless little things.
So, huzzah for racing, huzzah for chips and huzzah for good hydration. When do you want to come run with me or watch me race?
(Head to the Roblealto Association page on facebook for pictures!!) I was so proud of them! 
