Cosmic Run 2016

A few months ago, I made a wager of 100,000 pesos ($33) with Daniel, my Colombian friend, on COJOWA's Cosmic Run.  I had absolutely no hope of beating him in the eight-kilometer run, but I thought the motivation would help me to train harder.  Why was there no hope, you ask?  Well, Daniel is a professional volleyball player, over six feet tall, and incredibly athletic.  Add on the fact that he is uber competitive, and I didn't stand a chance.

The Wednesday before the race (which fell on May 28th), Jenn (another teacher) just happened to mention on the bus ride home that her only goal in the race was to beat me.  Ahhhhhh!!!!!!  Another win-or-die person!  I am only competitive with myself, so needless to say, my stomach was in knots for the next few days.  

Oh, and did I mention that I had not trained outside once until the week of the race where I ran for a measly thirty minutes at a slow pace and just about had a heat stroke afterward?  Things were not looking good for me.

The day of the race finally came.  While getting ready at home, I was constantly receiving voice messages from Mama....of her singing motivational songs.  It was quite inspiring!

 The four-kilometer family run started first, and it was fun seeing many of the students as they finished.

When the eight kilometers got underway at 7:45, a light rain had begun to fall, cooling us all down.  Unfortunately, that only lasted for twenty minutes, and soon the full effects of 100% humidity and 90 degree weather were being felt.  In my excitement, I had started off too quickly and was regretting my lack of control.  I always thought Cartagena was a flat city, but it turns out I was wrong;  I noticed during the second lap that there were a couple of hills!  (Okay, they were probably just slight inclines, but they felt like mountains.)

I beat my own personal record and passed the finish line at 39:43, about a minute before Jenn and Daniel.  (Not to give him any excuses, but Daniel had trained for three hours that morning.)  We joined our friends who had cheered us on and those finishing after us and proceeded to celebrate the completion of the run by sitting in an outdoor cafe, which was a necessity because our sweat would have frozen us had we sat indoors.

With the race over, I now need something else to train for.....maybe another bet?