Corriendo con el mundo: Nike 10K

I win!
Haha, well not exactly first place, but I did myself proud at the Nike Human Race 10K run in Lima this morning. After waking early, I headed out to meet up with my friend Mariane to warm up and get pumped for the big race. All the major streets of Miraflores were closed to traffic (which is a god-sent) and the only people out and about were fellow red-shirted racers. About 30 minutes before the race, three big-legged women on a massive stage led the crowd in a warm-up. Um, it was hilarious. Think Richard Simmons style aerobics warm up. I had a hard time going along because it was just too funny. This was only matched in awesomeness by the after-party band who sling-shot underwear into the crowd. I love this silly city.

According to my friend, about 8,000 people participated in the Lima version of this worldwide event. Lima is one of 30 cities across the globe that hosted this 10K race today. So I was involved in something truly global! Tada!

We got off on the run at about 9:10 and I was finished by 10:00. Woohoo! I ran the whole thing and even sprinted the last 1/2k or so. I felt quite accomplished because I was nearly certain I wasn't going to be able to run the whole thing. My lungs and my legs cooperated quite well and only the heat made this run challenging (um, the sun, who has been on extended vacation, decided to stop in this morning for the mere couple of hours during the run. It has since taken off again).

But it was great. I think the run was made possible by a nice music mix I compiled last night. So thanks Shakira, Talib, The Roots, Mos Def, Outcast, and Kanye. I was also inspired because I decided to dedicate my run to my dad, who is having some health issues right now. He and the musicians gave me Nike's wings. So now I feel good and happy and hope not to be too sore tomorrow... :)

Update:
If we were counting…this is how I fared in the race. I beat the average running time of 21 out of the 26 cities that participated in the race. (The best average was in Taipei) My time was 57: 54…not bad for not really training and loading up on pizza the night before the race.
The fastest time was 29:25, which is an average mile time of 4 minutes 45 seconds. That German dude is FAST. (None of the top ten fastest runners are from the US)
According to Nike, I am the 76,611th fastest person in the WHOLE WORLD. :)
The run benefitted three charities:
The World Wildlife Fund: whose goal is to create a world where people live in harmony with nature and, by 2020, to “conserve 19 of the world's most important natural places and significantly change global markets to protect the future of nature.”
Livestrong, The Lance Armstrong Foundation (their website lacks a mission statement)
Ninemillion.org: Part of the UN Refugee Agency; the “goal of the campaign is to give more than nine million children better access to education, sport and technology by 2010.”