Fedipedi

Saturday and Sunday mornings are very quiet in Arenillas.

The residents don´t really leave their homes. Some go to church while others make their weekly visit to the market. Besides that everything is relatively tranquilo.

People aren't that interested in doing projects or having meetings or work days on Saturday and Sunday mornings. They just want to take it easy.

This means I have some free time on your hands.

Starting in June, I began using these early mornings for exercise, going for some long runs in and around Arenillas. At first, these runs weren't really building toward any specific goal, except finding a productive use for the 6:30-8:30 time slot.

I looked at a running calendar and saw that the Guayaquil marathon was at the beginning of October. I figured that four months would be enough time to get ready.

Running the marathon had a few motives behind it.

• For a Peace Corps volunteer, it it necessary to lead by example. Many times, community members will complain that a project or a task takes too much time or energy to complete so they won't do it. If there aren't people willing to push themselves or try something different, then very little will change.

Part of my motivation for training was to show the members of my community what one can accomplish if he or she pushes themselves and plans ahead.

• Recreational exercise isn't really taken seriously here. Although there is a small walking/running group that goes out a few times a week and an aerobics class that meets at night in the coliseum, exercise for the sake of better health isn't normal.

• This is my first marathon, and I couldn't imagine a better training story (rabid dogs, speeding semi-trucks, and venomous snakes). The other volunteer in Arenillas participated in the half marathon. She would go for training runs with me during the week. (It's really easy to get out of bed at 6:15 when you know someone will knock at 6:30, ready to run.)

---

The marathon was last week. It was a great experience.

The run was supposed to be October 3rd but the September 30th police strike pushed it back a week. (Don't you just hate when civil unrest ruins your running plans? It sucks.) The new date, October 10th, was the day after Guayaquil's independence day. The city was a circus, not to mention that actual circus that was in town near the bus station.

I imagine that the date change affected the turnout. There were about 700 participants between the three races (10k, half marathon, marathon).




The race began at 5:00 a.m. (Actually, it was supposed to begin at 5:00 but it ended up starting at 5:20 because we are in Ecuador and "on time" has a different meaning). It's normally a bad idea to be milling about Guayaquil at that hour because the city has a reputation for being quite dangerous. But because Guayaquil also has a reputation for being quite warm when the sun is out, organizers opted for the early start so there was less running in the beating heat. It was quite funny in the first few kilometers because parties were still raging from the night before. You could still hear the booming bass from the discos and ran by the circles of drunk men on the sidewalks still passing small glasses of Pilsener.

If I were planning a marathon, I would strategically locate bathrooms along the route. I understand that most runners' systems should be regulated, and therefore the need for a toilet along the route probably wouldn't arise. But sometimes race-day nerves might aggravate it. There are very few establishments open in Guayaquil at 6:15 to let someone freshen up. For that reason, I will be eternally grateful to the restaurant owner who opened his door and took a chance on me. After my pit stop, I was a new man. No one passed me for the rest of the race (27 kilometers).

After I finished the first half, the sun came up. The heat was pretty bad and hovered around 90 degrees from 7:00 a.m. onwards. Luckily, the race organizers anticipated this and placed water stops at every kilometer. I would grab two cups at each stand, take a gulp from each, and dump the remaining contents on my back. It was quite refreshing and probably the best shower I had taken in days.

(One reason I prefer the metric system: if they put water stops at every kilometer, then there are 42 water stops along the route. If they put water stops at every mile, there are only 26 water stops.)

Because there weren't too many participants, the race organizers did not close off the roads to traffic. Instead, there was a police officer stationed at every intersection. Whenever a runner would approach, the officer would stop traffic and allow the runner to pass. This worked out quite well, and it offered the pedestrian some power that he or she rarely enjoys in this society. I only had two issues with this system. Once, three-fourths of the way through the race, I approached an intersection and noticed that the cop had decided to sneak off duty and get himself some breakfast (large plate of rice with a small piece of chicken), therefore leaving his post unattended. I waited for the car to pass and continued on my way. At another intersection, at mile 23, I don't think the cops saw me coming because I though the five lanes of traffic were stopped so I could pass. It turns out they weren't moving because of a red light. As soon as it turned green, I skedaddled across the remaining lanes.

Over the final kilometers, I felt great. I didn't run into any walls or cramps (I hate running into cramps). I just kept on going and finished in 4:32.20. My goal going into the marathon was to finish it. I did my training without a stop watch and had no specific time goals. Overall it was a great success.

The night before the race, the organizing committee offered a free, all-you-can-eat buffet dinner to all the participants. It was at an upscale restaurant and was the second-best meal I have eaten in Ecuador. There were hundreds of different dishes. Anything you could really imagine. The event had been advertised as a "pasta party" so that everyone could carbo-load before the big race. Ironically, about two percent of the dishes at the buffet included pasta, and just one of them was vegetarian. I wasn't too disappointed. I found other filling options.

My advice to anybody in Ecuador at the beginning of October: participate in the Guayaquil Marathon. Race fee includes an awesome buffet, a nice t-shirt, and some great stories. You can sign up for the 10 k, half marathon, or marathon and still get the buffet ticket.