{"id":26901,"date":"2018-08-26T18:34:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T22:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=26901"},"modified":"2018-08-26T20:45:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T00:45:02","slug":"the-mexico-city-marathon-august-26-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=26901","title":{"rendered":"The Mexico City Marathon – August 26, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

My alarm went off at 5:03 am. \u00a0It needn\u2019t have bothered as I had been up all night. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t sleep, tossing and turning in the darkness.<\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t the street noise – it was no worse than stays in NYC with screeching cars, sirens, trucks and the like. \u00a0Besides, Salvador provided ear plugs for just such annoyances… but those always give me a headache regardless of their auditory muting benefit.<\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t the cat which occasionally snuffled into my room during the night. \u00a0As cats go, she was nicer than most. \u00a0But I was able to shoo her out easily enough.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It might have been the mosquitoes. \u00a0Salvador had also provided bug spray which I used at some point to ward off the blood sucking creatures. \u00a0They\u2019d dive bomb my ears and bzzzzz around. \u00a0Maybe I should\u2019ve used those ear plugs. \u00a0But I think it was more psychological warfare than anything. \u00a0I\u2019ve been reading David McCullough\u2019s history of the Panama Canal and all I could think was, \u201cthe mosquitoes! \u00a0Malaria, yellow fever, berri berri! \u00a0This is how I go out … in some AirBNB in Ciudad de Mexico.\u201d \u00a0I tried reminding myself though that a Myanmar fortune teller told me I\u2019d die at 67. \u00a0But he didn\u2019t say if I was sick or injured for years on end leading up to it. \u00a0I\u2019m not immortal… nor impervious to harm. \u00a0I just apparently don\u2019t die until 2044.<\/div>\n
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As a side note, the prognosticator also said I\u2019d find true love this past February or March. Unfortunately… or perhaps fortunately in this case… that didn\u2019t come to pass. \u00a0So maybe this fortune teller\u2019s proverbial crystal ball is on the fritz. \u00a0Could a fortune teller be wrong? The mind boggles!<\/div>\n
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Ultimately I just lay awake counting the hours until the dawn. \u00a0Little did I realize the 7 am start time was only for the fastest runners.<\/div>\n
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My AirBNB was only 0.7 miles to the start, so I ambled down at what I thought was a relatively early hour… only to be confronted with throngs of people an hour before the start.<\/div>\n
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I tried my embarrassingly poor Spanish to ask, \u201cdonde esta rojo?\u201d indicating the colored sticker on my bib. \u00a0They kept waving me further and further back into the corrals. I noticed other people were waving wristbands to gain access to corrals and I dug out my \u201cazul\u201d band. \u00a0I never figured out where that was either. \u00a0Ultimately I slipped through a barrier about halfway down the corral chutes. \u00a0I felt a little guilty but, hey, the Mexico City Marathon is world famous for cheaters, so…<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m not sure what happened. \u00a0Some countdowns happened. \u00a0Some groups crowded in ahead of us. \u00a0I spotted a pacer at 3:40 in my group so I thought I was reasonably self-seeded (oh, how wrong I wound up being). \u00a0The crowd grew restless, demanding to \u201cvamanos!\u201d \u00a0It all felt like we were one moment from an insurrection… and honestly as we stood around for 10, 15, 20 minutes I was ready to join the rebellion.<\/div>\n
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We finally took off around 7:30 am. \u00a0I can understand why they did a rolling start – there\u2019s a ton of people running this thing each year. \u00a0I think it\u2019s something like 35,000-plus. \u00a0There was a lot of ducking and weaving in the early miles, trying to find a pace. \u00a0And sadly toward the end there was a lot of ducking and weaving around me as I faltered and flailed, slowed and shuffled.<\/div>\n
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I was hurting from the word, \u201cVamanos!\u201d \u00a0Had there not been that Frito Bandito song playing I wouldn\u2019t have felt like going. \u00a0My left hip is apparently out of alignment and hurt with every ball change footfall. Fortunately there\u2019s only, what? \u00a0Fifty-five thousand steps in a marathon? \u00a0Yeah, I\u2019m an idiot.<\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s age, wear and tear, lingering Pikes Peak-itus, or combinations thereof. \u00a0I recently had dinner with my college thesis advisor and her husband and I mentioned I was an old dog even as a young pup… but these days I really do seem to be one old dog. \u00a0And I\u2019m certainly not learning from my mistakes… there are after all a whole heap of marathons on the calendar.<\/div>\n
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I also haven\u2019t learned how to dig myself out of a self-fulfilling failure hole. \u00a0Running today, pain shooting through my hip, exhausted from lack of sleep, and oblivious to much of what was said as my Spanish is as I\u2019ve said atrocious, I couldn\u2019t help but wallow in a sense of disappointment in me as a person. \u00a0I found myself reliving many of my greatest failures: academic, personal, financial, romantic… and all in between.<\/div>\n
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As my garmin clicked off the miles and route markers clicked the kilometers done, I just couldn\u2019t muster much in the way of enthusiasm for the run or for me. \u00a0It was a nice day out for running; the rain held off and I think the previous evening\u2019s thunderstorm helped clear the air. \u00a0The folks along the course were friendly, offering water, beer, bananas, Nutella and more. \u00a0There was, as I said, a mass of people running at every moment. \u00a0I often love big marathons, but I didn\u2019t really know how to cheer people on at this one, how to engage other than to say, \u201cgracias\u201d to the volunteers and \u201clo siento\u201d in apology when I inadvertently blocked a runner trying to pass me. \u00a0Who was it that said I\u2019ve never been more alone than in a crowd of people? \u00a0Google says it\u2019s Charles Bukowski, who I\u2019ve never read, yet know that quote.<\/div>\n
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Things always seem harder, bleaker, and infinitely worse when you\u2019re nursing an injury.<\/div>\n
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Below are a bunch of photos from the run to give a flavor of the event. \u00a0I only saw two people cheat, cutting a down and up section of the course by crossing the road\u2019s median and merging into the moving mass of men and women. \u00a0That sample would seem to indicate there was significantly less cheating than last year. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m happy about that or sad that I wasn\u2019t a party to history.<\/div>\n
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These guys must be HUGE Julie Taymor fans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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As I waited for the start, I thought about the record number of cheaters last year. Looking to my left, looking to my right, I wondered how many cheaters were in my midst… besides me of course.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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So the blue wrist band is what we are going by for corrals?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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What the hell is this pink sticker for then?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It\u2019s a lot of people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It took me a long time to realize they were doing a series. Every year for the past five years you got a letter that would spell \u201cMexico.\u201d This being the sixth year, we were running an \u201cO.\u201d Unless it spells \u201cCiudad de M\u00e9xico\u201d which would be either 14 or 16 years with scrabble tile blanks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Still waiting to start. We haven\u2019t moved an inch… but a lot of people got funneled in front of us. The seeds of rebellion may bear fruit…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Finally at the official start line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Who are these guys? I don\u2019t know. I think pharmacists. They\u2019ll make another appearance later on the course.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I missed the woman on the sidelines – she was dressed as Pancho Villa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I think that\u2019s a dog. I\u2019m not sure. Might just be \u201cart.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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One of several running shirts I saw on the course. This is a Muppet Team Running Club. I meant to google them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Mariachis!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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At best I was looking at being just behind the 3:40 pacer. But there was a long, slowing road ahead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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FYI – That\u2019s Gandhi. He\u2019s on Gandhi Blvd. Ya know, the Gandhi district.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Here\u2019s another running shirt. Steve always wanted me to organize a Batman run where supervillains would throw stuff at the runners, a live action graphic novel. This may be that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Okay, this is on my way back Last this and I really wanted to capture it. Nature\u2019s Valkey sponsored a segment and you see those carts? You\u2019d think they\u2019d be handing out granola bars or something. Nope – the boxes of bars are for display purposes only. WTF?! What\u2019s the facts?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Are you my spirit animal?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I think I\u2019ve only ever seen this at Rio. Instead of cups of water, they had plastic baggies of water you were supposed to tear open with your teeth. I had to use my hands as apparently I have weak incisors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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What has two thumbs and is also a thumb with two legs? Um… that thing. I wasn\u2019t sure if I hallucinated it but here\u2019s photographic evidence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I\u2019m bummed this is blurry. Sideshow Bob and Mexican Wrestlers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Steve Martin does a bit about how You can die speaking French but Spanish is easy. He intones, \u201cCasa de Pepe!\u201d So this is a Steve Martin joke in the wild.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This is clearly a misfired photo… but I include it as emblematic of the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It\u2019s hard to tell from this shot but these folks were handing out spoonfuls of Nutella.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The cowbell is a universal form of communication. But I needed \u201cmas.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Here are these pseudo pharmacists again. I had spilled a baggie of water on my phone so they\u2019re a bit blurry… or maybe that\u2019s indicative of the dream world they inhabit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Some of these appeared in English along the course. I preferred the native tongue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The stadium was the finish… but we just kept circling around it forvwhat seemed like miles (it was probably less than half a kilometer).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Depending on the clock\/chip time adjustment, I think it was a 3:59:29. I was and remain hurting and was pretty disappointed in my time. I kinda thought I might be able to get a BQ here… though I abandoned that when I couldn\u2019t figure out pink\/blue corral designations. Still, I\u2019m a bit… meh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Yes they had bananas… and that was it for complimentary recovery food.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This entrepreneurial canera guy would snap your photo and print it out for you on the spot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In addition to the 35,000+ runners, there were family and friends meeting up at the finish. It was an overwhelming sea of people for this introvert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Those letters reflect the medals and shirts for prior years … so I guess it\u2019s been six years running on this series and not 14+.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Riding the metro back. A local convenience store overcharged me by 50 pesos on an 18 peso bottle of water I bought. Then after buying my 5 peso ticket the attendant waved me through gratis as a runner. So I wasted 55 pesos. For some reason that $2.92 American ripoff really bugged me. Probably because it was the second time I got shortchanged in two days. It wouldn\u2019t be a trip if you didn\u2019t get cheated somewhere though, right?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Obligatory \u201cRushmore\u201d joke: It\u2019s an \u201cO\u201d medal. Reply-\u201cOh\u201d is it?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My alarm went off at 5:03 am. \u00a0It needn\u2019t have bothered as I had been up all night. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t sleep, tossing and turning in the darkness. It wasn\u2019t the street noise – it was no worse than stays in NYC with screeching cars, sirens, trucks and the like. \u00a0Besides, Salvador provided ear plugs for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}