I went and did it again today. This time I was solo. James forgot to set his alarm and Mila "pulled a Mila." I volunteered at the San Angelo Roller Girls 5K Walk n Rollathon. Not only did the proceeds go to the Roller Girls (San Angelo Roller Girls Facebook) but to The Concho Valley Home for Girls and Children's Emergency Shelter (http://www.conchokids.org/) as well. About a month ago, when I was itching to find some runners in San Angelo, I looked up upcoming races and threw my name out as a potential volunteer. Kendra, who seems to be one of the SARG leaders, enthusiastically accepted and let me know that she had little experience in race directing. In the two races I've volunteered at, it seems like I'm inching closer to eventually directing my own race. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet up with the ladies prior to the race, so I showed up to Unidad Park around 0700 this morning.
Unidad Park has become kind of our default running location. As I've said previously, the positive and negative of the Red Arroyo trail lies in its openness. You really don't need to worry about anyone sneaking up on you, but as soon as the sun comes out, there's no hiding from it. Pretty annoying for an insta-burner like me.
Anyway, I ran around and tried to help out as much in set up as I could until Kendra gave me a job.
I was to be the time master. I had underlings this time! (the Saras without the h). We had several stop watches and notepads to get the job done, so we made sure to marry up everyone's bib numbers with their first name and age group. As the trail crosses a couple roads, I took a group of Army students from the nearby base out to serve as road guards and course marshals.
The race itself had 2 heats, a competitive heat and a non-competitive fun heat. (heat being literal by time that second one rolled around) Competitors had multiple options too. They could walk, run, roller blade, roller skate, skate board, or cycle. As time keepers, we had to separate out who was running, rolling, and riding. The race was small also, both heats had about 15 starters each. Here's the start of the 1st:
I did my best to get pics while also doing the timing with Sara, but I can't promise anything. I'm going to throw them all at the end here. Who knows, maybe this blog will turn into the San Angelo version of Scotty Dog's blog in San Antonio (https://scottydogreports.com/).
The winner of the first heat ended up being a woman that started late and was roller blading while pushing a double stroller. What a savage. A roller skater won the second heat, in a race that was actually quicker. All in all it was a fun time. I had a good time just sitting and talking to the derbiers (is that what they're called? It is now anyway)and learning about their sport. I'd like to try and make it out to one of their upcoming games/matches/meets/competitions. Here's a video of them competing and then the pics! I apologize that most of the runners turned out to be ant sized.
I was sitting in an awards ceremony the other day and one of the "get to know you" questions asked of the awardees was "what is your dream job?" (odd thing to ask at a work awards ceremony, but I wasn't the one asking) Me being me, I spent the majority of the rest of the ceremony pondering this question. and, of course clapping at the proper intervals. Of course This is also coming as I am closing in on retirement, possibly as early as the summer of 2028. Only three years to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I came up with two possibilities, specific to the caveat that money does not enter into the equation - travel blogger and/or history podcaster. As my 8ish faithful readers can tell you, I'm not the most consistent travel blogger out there. On the other hand, do we really need another millennial dude talking into a microphone and telling everyone he knows "Hey bro, you should listen to my podcast"? So, here's what I'm going t...
Day 4 was "supposed" to take place mainly outside. The forecast called for rain most of the day and, well, it looked like we would be running ourselves ragged to make the self-imposed time hacks. So, we made a little adjustment. We still decided to go to a couple different gardens. However, we needed breakfast first (let's be honest, it was second breakfast for this hobbit). We went to Confiteria La Ideal for a fantastic breakfast. I had thought it was a smaller place to grab a coffee and snack and then be on our way. However, we walked in and realized it's not that type of spot. The cafe originally opened in 1912 and was long considered the best example of porteno (coming from Buenos Aires) gastronomy for the best part of the 20th century. They closed their doors in 2016 but reopened in 2022 after a massive restoration project. We also saw that we were way underdressed. Luckily, we could play the ignorant tourist card and, if need be, I could always speak horrendou...
We last left off with Mila and I arriving at a Buenos Aires Airport after hitting up the Hard Rock Cafe (#2 for the trip) at the Iguazu airport. We'd scouted a good, (seemingly) quiet spot to crash for our overnight layover before the flight to the southern tip of the continent. Thing is, they shut that portion of the airport down overnight, so we were escorted out past security, swept along with the weary procession of bleary castaways marooned in the same purgatory. People plopped down wherever they could and we were glad to see that there was at least an overnight cafe right there in the lobby. Mila can fall asleep sitting at a table. I, it was proven, cannot. But there was cafecito. The flight was obviously uneventful as evidenced by the fact that I can't remember anything about it some 18 months later. We went from the jungle to the literal southernmost city in the world. The city of 80,000 is situated in a bowl between mountains to the north, east, ...
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