Take a run on the Wild Side

A Hustle Here And A Hustle There

New York City Is No Place Where They Said:

Hey Babe, Take A Walk On The Wild Side,

Said Hey Honey, Take A Walk On The Wild Side.

It’s been more then a week since I have last written, life has been crazy. But here is an update. 

I was having some problems with my host mom and wasn’t very happy. I am not quite sure what was going on, but it was clear that I needed to change families. But I really didn’t want to go to a whole different family because that was going to be a huge change that I was not ready to take, but I was able to move in with my host uncles family. They were super nice and are very welcoming. The transition has been quite smooth and I am grateful for that. My family now has a dad, Hilbert, a mom, Fernanda, and a host sister, Vicky. They are all so nice. Vicky is my age and goes to my school. She is in my grade, but in a different class. She has been the best in-terms of welcoming me and making me feel at home. I am so excited to be here and look forward to having many adventures with this family. They are awesome. I, of course, have to deal with the whole “being a guess in the house”, but I am sure that will change soon. Tomorrow school starts so a routine will be established and I think that will help. But life is good and I am happy. My new room is now decorated with all the cards that I have been getting. A new address will be coming soon, but for now the old one is fine, the letters will get to me. 

The day that I got to my new families home my host uncle asked me if I had interest in going down to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, to run a 10k. Now, me being the crazy enthusiast that I am immediately accepted. (My host dad is a crazy Ecuadorian runner and our whole living room is filled with trophies and metals. Hundreds of them.) Now I am not saying that I am regretting the choice to go. It was an awesome weekend and so worth it, but the fact that I had hip surgery 4 months ago and have only run about 5 times since then… sorta caught up to me. I was dieing, but I did for fill my goals and finish under an hour and not last. So life is good.

Things that you must to do be an Ecuadorian racer:

1)    Go out to cheep Chinese food the night before. We went to this little shop that my dad clearly knew that sold “ethnic food”. The place was packed with what looked like beastly Ecuadorian runners. It was quite strange, and I got introduced to about 10000 people because I think my dad knows everybody who runs in this whole country.

2)    Wake up at 3:45 a.m., because you have to leave at 4 to get a cab and the race starts at 5. This is the beat the Ecuador heat as the race was on the coast… but it wasn’t my favorite part.

3)    As walking in the pitch black into the stadium where the start is, you have to pass two different types of creatures: people who look like they could qualify for the Olympics their leg muscles are so large and llamas.

4)    Drink a lot of Gatorade… in the states we have beans, gu's, gels, blocks, jells, powders, and who the hell knows what else to help us get our proper energy for the race. All you need it turns out is good ol' Gatorade.

5)    Start the race to a whistle. Who needs guns anyways?

6)    Run like a crazy crazy crazy fast person. Very few of the joy runners here, all fully trained ready to run Ecuadorians.

Livin’ life on the loose.