Carrera de las Chicas

One of my hobbies here seems to be running in any road race that I can find out about early enough to sign up for and train for. There are several things that I don't quite understand about the whole system including how they advertise for a run, the process it takes to sign up for a run (the most recent required an online registration, going to the mall to pay the fee, showing up at the park the day before to pick up my race information, and then returning to the park less than 24 hours later for the run...surely at least one of these steps could be eliminated.) but I have to admit that the events themselves are usually well run. This morning I ran in the Carrera de las Chicas - a 5k run just for women put on by Nike. I will say that they clearly had the best advertising images and t-shirt design of all the runs I've participated in (although I'm still not sure how I feel about fluorescent orange). What is fun about this race is that since it is only for women you get a lot of people coming out that would not normally participate in a run, and I saw several mom and daughter groupings which made me smile. It was also refreshing to hear "Go Mama" "Fuerza mama" from the side as the men in the family encouraged their women (I do live in Paraguay where the women often play a supporting role to the men). All in all I have to admit it was a pleasant way to start a Sunday despite the heat and humidity, out for a run with some of the other women who have become part of my family here.