Corre, Gringita, Corre!

With my new running buddies (and random bystander)

Yesterday, in honor of my last Sunday in Trujillo, I participated in the “Pedro Horna Montoya maraton” (actually a 10k) race. And get this - for the cost of 3 soles (one dollar) I signed up and got my t-shirt! I’ve been looking for races in Perú all year and was pumped to finally find my South America running experience!

It was a great final farewell in the city I’ve come to love and call home over the last year. I was amused by the little Peruvian touches – “a big medical work-up prior to race” was a blood pressure measurement; “be there at 8 and race starts at 11:30” was really be there at 11, race starts at 12. At the race start, I was literally left in the dust- all 150 participants took off in full sprint! (But then, a few blocks later, some people were walking.) I was the only non-Peruvian in the race and the crowds did not let me forget it. “Corre, gringita, corre!” (run, little gringa, run) and “MIRA a la gringa!” (LOOK at the gringa) were most common, but I also heard a little kid say, “Mamá… mujeres corren también?” (Mom, women run too?)

Whenever I approached a man in the race, he would look at me with wide eyes and take off sprinting full speed ahead for a few seconds to lose me. Given my lack of consistent training, I was in too much pain to care about the scene I was inadvertently making. At the finish line, I was sieged by a mob of Peruvian men who wanted to take a photo together. They informed me that I got third place out of the women (really not that impressive, considering there were maybe 25 of us) and that I won a prize! They called “Mary Bocker” up to the podium (and somehow they lost my first name in there somewhere!) and proceeded to give out medals, a certificate, and a cash prize – 100 soles (30 bucks)! Yeah! Aside from dodging cars, pedestrians and dogs, and the occasional inhalation of bus exhaust, it was a semi-normal running race – and for me, a very unforgettable day.