Carrera de Miguel

Though hardly in shape for anything more than hiking up a mountain with a 27 kilo bag on my back, i was excited to see a sign on a storefront window here in Bariloche (ARG) for the ¨Carrera de Miguel¨. ¨Michael's Race¨, how could I resist? After a little further research, I found out that there was a 5k for las chicas and a 10k for los chicos. I guess Title IX hasn't made it down here yet. Despite the fact that I haven't run a mile since the RnR Arizona Marathon two months ago and all I had to wear were my destroyed hiking/trail running shoes, I figured 'what the hell'? So after shoveling down the hostel breakfast of three sugar covered pastries (basically donuts) and a couple cups of coffee, I ran down to the race start. If nothing else I figured I would be sure to bag a ¨drinking wine ´til 2am/donuts for breakfast 30 minutes to race time/South American 10K¨ PR. To my relief, my Spanish comprehension proved unworthy and I misunderstood the format. As it turns out ALL were welcome to enter either the 5 or 10k. ''Oh,bueno'' I said to the guy at registration, ¨cinqo mille metres es mehor para mi!¨ With my horrible vocabulary/accent, I was probably telling him that I don't like eggs, but at least I felt like I would be giving my feet a little break by running just the 3.1 miles in my crappy shoes.

After signing up (oddly enough, there was no entry fee) we were given a 15 minute talk and headed to the race start where I met an Israeli guy and a couple from Hawaii - the only other gringos in the race. The 3.1 miles went fairly quickly despite the cramps and general grogginess and and we mingled for a bit watching the rest of the pack cross the line. While we waited, we spoke (in our broken Spanish) to the kid who won the 10k. This guy absolutely smoked the field despite the fact that his ¨running¨ shoes looked to be about 7 years old and one of them was literally about to fall off his foot. Seeing this, the guy from Hawaii discretely went over and traded him his fancy white and orange Mizuno Waves for his tattered pair of Nikes. With the look of disbelief, the young Argentinian runner asked ¨how much¨? ¨Free. Just have fun running.¨ Awesome. Later at the awards ceremony, after descending the podium, this kid came over to the Hawaiian and placed his champion's medal around the American's neck and gave him a big hug. One of the coolest moments I have ever witnessed at a race.

The wonder of this day continued as we learned who the ¨Miguel¨ of the race's title was. Without getting into too much history, on March 24, 1976 a lot of bad stuff started going down here in Argentina and many young people who had been rebelling against the crooked dictatorship were kidnapped, tortured and presumed killed. Miguel Sanchez, an Argentinian runner, was one of these people kidnapped here and never found. This race, is held to pay homage to Miguel and others that were lost as well as to keep alive memories of what all Argentinians went through. Accordingly, there were a couple of abuelas (grandmothers) of kidnapped citizens that gave a moving welcome and thanks to the crowd of runners gathered at the awards ceremony. All of this in addition to the fact that one of the prizes in the post-race raffle was a used Donna Summer CD (you can't make that up), made for a truly unforgettable day. Kind of a neat change compared to all of the high tech gear, sponsorship and commercialization that we are used to at most races in the states.