I am a keen runner at home and frequently enter races so I was on the look-out for something in South America which worked out with our travel plans.
We found an event in Lima. It was advertised as Lima 42k, but it also had a 21k and a 10k on the same date. I signed up about 8 weeks prior for the 21k at a price of 80 soles / £19. I don’t know why they can’t call them ‘marathons’ here but the 21k equates to a half marathon. When I signed up I was in Quito using their parks for training, feeling pretty fit. By the time the date came around I was panicking. My training hadn’t continued; I had been at altitude and just in a lot of South America towns really not built for running!
We got in to Lima on Friday (the event was on the Sunday) and headed straight for the expo.
WOW. I was impressed! It was a huge set up, much bigger than anything I’ve seen in the UK. If a half marathon in the UK requested we pick up our numbers in the days running up to it I’d be moaning. Mind you, I guess the 42k category here was Peru’s equivalent of the London Marathon!
Blaring music welcomed us in. We went to pick up our numbers first and saw that there were minimal gringos so we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves. There were free product tasters, lots of stalls and even a complimentary pasta lunch. Impressive. Once we had the numbers you pick up a goody bag. This was serious… free pasta, free energy bars and gels, water, chocolates and…. the best race t shirt I’ve ever received. It was a lovely little blue Adidas number, fantastic material and a great fit. Also I loved that everyone was given the t shirt prior to the race and encourages to wear it for the event.
Some runners were given vests instead of t shirts. My partner wanted one because obviously us gringos are boiling up in the heat and a vest would be better. We didn’t realise that the vests were exclusively for the 42k runners. A steward explained this when we asked but amazingly, managed to find a 42k runner who had earlier asked her for a t shirt. The guy was even the same size as my partner! Amazing customer service. Vest/t shirt swapped; everyone happy.
We spent quite a long time at the expo looking at the stalls, posing under signs and taking in the atmosphere. It was really fun and we were hyped for Sunday.
Sunday morning arrived. We ate as good of a breakfast as we could in our hostel room and set off for the start line. The race started early; 7.15am! Assuming this is because it gets so hot later in the morning.
At the start line things were very organised. I loved everyone in their blue t shirts ready to go. One thing we were surprised about was the amount of people sprinting to the start line with minutes to go! Funny.
We set off on time. Everything was really exciting, lots of music and cannons and then… nothing. It was so strange that the entire race was run silently. No chatting between runners, no clapping or encouragement from the spectators. The only voices I heard for the entire run were a couple of Americans shouting to a friend. Such a shame! Such an anti-climax from the great organisation beforehand.
Oh well though, that’s okay… I can run without someone cheering me on and I did hear some noise. Cars beeping continually! It seems as though roads had been closed with no prior warning, so cars were stuck there honking for a couple of hours until they reopened! IMAGINE if this happened at home!
Water stations were good… I took the cupped water despite not knowing if it was tap water, but I didn’t get sick so I guess not.
The race was over before I knew it and I was really pleased with my time of 1h 50m. No training for 6 weeks! Now I wished I’d put a bit of effort in. I’d have loved to of got a PB at my first international event.
Remember that we already received goody-bags so post-race we got some fruit, water and… another t shirt! We also got the all important medal, and being the only gringos around we also got interviewed for the Lima news channel.
Post-race entertainment was great, with bands and commentary. Overall, we were really impressed with this race; the great organisation and huge setup were fantastic and it made our time in Lima great fun. The turn-out for spectators wasn’t great; in fact most of them were looking at the runners like they were really surprised to see everyone running through their street, but hey, you can’t control that.
We watched the prize-giving ceremony where they forgot to read out the women’s marathon results, and where most of the winners weren’t around and thought… ah yes, this is still South America!
Overall, a great day in Lima. If we were back in the UK we’d have said “I’ll do this one next year!”.
WEBSITE | https://lima42k.com/
