Vamos! Vamos! Dale! Dale!

• rest days on Friday AND Saturday before the half?! OK!
• we spent Saturday running some errands (Jake insisted ;)
• which included heading back to Chacaritas to get some organic goodies...
• ...then went over to Full City for coffee beans and a little pick me up:

• here a few shots around the Chacaritas neighborhood...

• we were up Sunday morning bright and early for the BA Half Marathon!

start line before bag check

can you tell who the sponsors were?

beautiful morning!

• I discovered my favorite thing about races in BA: fully-equipped, mostly clean port-a-pots!  Check out that tower of TP!

• see that bag in the right hand of the guy in the yellow?  It's his mate (tea) carrying case...can't go anywhere without mate!

• we did NOT check our mate gourd and leaves

a few notes about the race...

• start was NUTS for about the first 1-2 miles...also, I think there were two start lines? all of the sudden, we saw a swarm of runners joining us from the right...we converged and things got a bit crazy
• like always, as the race went on, the crowd thinned out for the most part
• within the first mile, the band of my watch broke (note: it actually broke about a month ago...I've just been taping it together with athletic tape...only way to replace the plastic band of an expensive Garmin Forerunner 110 watch is to mail it in and pay $50 to get a refurbished one in return...boo)

p.s. final time according to my watch

• so I proceeded to unstick and unwind the tape, then rewind it around the two pieces...it worked, until the last mile, when it broke again, so I just decided to hold it, no MacGyver action going on with a mile to go!
• also around the first mile I saw two Argentineans bump into each other and do the formal "one-kiss-on-the cheek" greeting WHILE running the race...so funny "Hola! Come estás? Todo bien? Sí gracias!"
• we also saw a women chatting on her phone while running...luckily we passed her...ha ha ha
• Jake said he had to use the bathroom within the first few miles...he's lucky that he's a boy because he could've just peed on a tree like most men (or into an electric box in a park, like we saw one guy doing), but he miraculously held it the whole way...didn't end up being a problem, thank goodness
• some of my favorites were the Beatles band and the tango dancers on stage near the obelisk along the widest avenue in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio
• nearing the end of 9 de Julio, and as it turned onto a highway, we had an interesting view of one of the poorer areas in the city center, Villa 31, a shantytown between Retiro train station and the river...the sun was still making its way up over the most basic of brick structures...peoples' laundry hanging on the lines of most rooftops...a view one does not usually get when on the other side of the train station
• Jake suggested during the race that instead of doing destination marathons (as previously discussed) we should do destination HALF marathons instead.  I said ok.
• there were 2 food stations along the way, handing out bananas and oranges...don't think we've seen that for half marathons (yes I always notice the food)
• post-race photo-op...not a PR for us, but I think we achieved our goal of running a strong training run at a consistent pace...we had perfect weather and really can't complain (I kinda wish our full was only a half! eek...)

• on our walk to catch the bus home, Jake couldn't help but snap a few graffiti shots...I think these graffiti pix really do need their own album

in the tunnel near the park where we often run

• after a quick nap and shower, we joined a friend from work, her husband and their friends at the Fiesta de Las Colectividades Día del Inmigrante 
• aka an outdoor fair with booths representing different countries selling foods and products well-known in that culture
• got some amazing arepas from Venezuela, good tacos from Mexico, 

• and here's Johanna purchasing a yummy coconut dessert and tropical mixed drink from Brazil

• the girls separated from the boys for a bit...I think we ate more than they did!
• here's Jake with his Ecuadorian tropical mixed drink (I thought it was our race recovery smoothie, until I tasted it and got slammed with alcohol!)

• there were also many music and dance performances
• below are traditional Peruvian dancers...very fun to watch

• here is Johanna's husband Jonathan telling a story...while enjoying German beer and empandas from Panama

• poster at the entrance...this event was held next to the Immigration Office, so I was a little hesitant to attend, due to my strong dislike for that place...but it ended up being a great time...

• ...and when we got home, I re-taped my watch, then stitched it together...I really hope it lasts me until October 7th!