September 23, 2018: Racing a 5K and mateando en el parque!!

Today was such a beautiful day for so many reasons.

Wake n bake baby. Alarm went off at 6am and my day began. I scarfed down my breakfast, packed up for the race, and headed out the door. Julie and I walked to the subte only to find out it didn't open until 8:00am. I briefly panicked that I would miss the race but we found out there's a bus that goes straight to it, we caught it right away, and arrived well ahead of time.

I was expecting the streets to be barren at 6:30am but I forgot that everyone here goes out until about 6 or 7am so the streets were actually packed with people returning home from the clubs or going out to eat. It's really such a different culture here but I love it. It was a funny mix of people starting their day early and people ending their loooooong night. On my colectivo (bus), about half of us were runners heading to the race, and the other half was guys and girls still dressed in their clubbing clothes and likely still drunk or at least very hungover.

The location of the race was SO beautiful. It was at Paseo de la costa in the city of Vicente Lopez, which is in the province of Buenos Aires about 20-30 minutes away. It's on the coast of the río and it has breathtaking views.

Julie and I followed along with this woman who did a fun zumba-like warm-up routine and eventually it came time to race. My expectations were just to try my best since I'm a bit out of shape and it actually went very very well!!! I was really upset though because the results showed me as the 4th female finisher and I thought only the top 3 would get prizes. Turns out the top 5 get prizes... but I got 6th. The results hadn't fully updated :(

I was sad because you could see on the results at what time each person crossed the starting line (because that is when your chip starts timing) and all 5 women who beat me crossed 1 second after the gun. I crossed 12 seconds after the start gun so I had to weave through some people. This probably cost me the 6 seconds that put me in 6th place. Oh well, I couldn't keep the prize anyway because of NCAA rules, but I wanted to stand on the podium. I should probably just try to be happy with how I ran though. Seems more logical and healthy to do that. Just stinks when you're so close to something and barely miss it. But I plan to race another 5K and to do better!

I stayed for about an hour and a half after my race to cool down, watch the ceremony, and just appreciate the event. It felt good to start my day off early, do something productive and fun, and to explore a new part of Argentina. This race restored my love for running and reminded me why I love it so much. It also boosted my confidence so yay! And look at these freaking views.

I took the colectivo home, nearly peed my pants, but survived long enough to make it to the toilet. Hold your applause please. I ate some leftovers right away - as I was famished - and then forced myself to finish an assignment before napping. My nap was fairly unsuccessful but I did rest for a bit.

Loli, Julie, and I had made tentative plans to hang out in one of the parks and I didn't think I would make it but it was such a nice day out and I knew I had to take advantage of it. So I did some homework, made myself a sandwich (with the bread I got for doing the race lol) and headed to Parque Las Heras to meet Loli, her sister Pili, and their friend, Eugenia.

This was SO fun and I'm so happy I went. I was going to do homework but we ended up talking and laughing and just hanging out for the 2.5 hours that we were there. Pili and Eugenia were practicing for an audition for a role in Romeo and Juliet and they asked if I could read the monologue while they followed along and I could hardly read that English! Good ole' Shakespeare and his impossible writing.

We drank mate and Loli bought facturas and I ate not 1, not 2, not 3, but about 3.25 of them. Goddang. I love this culture of meeting up with friends in a park, enjoying the sun, not being on our phones at all, and just talking and appreciating one another's presence. I wish this was a custom or at least more common in the United States.

While sitting in the park, we would occasionally hear an uproar that seemed to come from everywhere. It's because the two biggest soccer rivals were playing each other tonight and tons of people, who had all gathered in bars and restaurants, were reacting to the goals. Pretty cool and uniting!

Loli and company taught me a ton of new swear words and naturally I taught them all that I know. A healthy cultural exchange. When I got up to leave, we continued to talk for 30 more minutes. It's always one of those kinds of goodbyes with Loli... I love it. I hope she comes to visit me one day!

I walked home around 7:30, did some homework until dinner, and then Clarisa and I ate. We had a great conversation and it was nice to sit and talk with her because it's been a while. She said that she truly plans to visit Chicago one day so that would be so amazing if I saw her there. Wow.

I really am so happy to be living in Argentina. It keeps getting better. Crazy crazy país that it is.

Song Recommendation of the Day: "Tied Down" by Jaymes Young

P.S. - Today I read a quote: "There is no greater gift we can give another person than allowing them to be who they are, rather than what we might want them to be." I liked it.

P.P.S. - Loli made this meme of me and it cracked me up.

P.P.P.S. - They pronounce "meme" here like "meh may" and I also find that funny.