Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
While walking around in the city you always see a lot of
advertisements. And sometimes they change so fast, you’re lucky to see them
twice. But other times, it’s like they’ve been there for months. One happened
to catch my eye (probably because it was neon green and pink…) for the Ser 5k
for breast cancer awareness/fundraising. I think it’s basically the equivalent
of the Susan G. Komen run through Yoplait. In fact, I’m gonna go ahead and say
that Ser is the Yoplait of Argentina—though their empire entails more than
yogurt, venturing into snacks, soft drinks and I’ve even seen hot dogs!
After reviewing the terms of the race online and what it’s
for, I decided it was well worth the $70 peso entry fee. Plus you get a t-shirt
for running in it too. And from what it looks like, it’s not just a crappy
cotton “free t-shirt” kind of t-shirt, but like it’s actually made out of
athletic material. Plus I really love Ser’s juice so I am looking forward to
whatever they’re gonna give me for running. Also, I should probably mention
that last semester, and many semesters in the past, I was kind of obsessed with
running, so it feels good to be able to enter a 5k that passes through BA. It’s
exercise and a lesson in the cityscape. I just hope they sweep the streets and
sidewalks first so there’s no dog poop to step in…
I had to register at the running club in BA, which I realized
was a relatively short walk from my university, and I figured I should at least
speed walk even faster than normal to start practicing…I registered for the
race no problem. I’m racer 421 and can’t wait to pin my number on and get to
running! More later when I’ve actually ran the race!
Looking at the map again, I realized that while I wasn’t
really far from my house, I was still far enough away that I should probably
take a bus home so I’m not walking around at sunset. I knew there was a bus
stop for the 29 line near my house and there were 29’s passing by, so I figured
it was a safe bet.
We were cruising along and I saw that we had passed a street
that sounded familiar. Not my street, but one that was close to it. But I thought,
nah, we’ll be passing down my street soon enough. I was enjoying all the views
of the tennis courts and soccer clubs that by the time we were passing Gral. Paz
highway, it dawned on me that I had gotten on the correct line, but not in the
correct direction…we wouldn’t be passing by my house anytime soon. In fact,
Gral. Paz is the dividing highway between Capital Federal and Greater Buenos
Aires, so I was actually LEAVING THE CITY.
But we were still in all the turnpikes when I disembarked
and immediately whipped out my Multi Guia, which is my best friend. Oh, well I’m
only 15 blocks from my house, which was just a few blocks less than the
distance I was from my house from the running club. Nice work, Nikita. But unlike Nikita from even a few weeks ago, I didn't panic. Nor did I get upset. I just started walking forward.
So I began trudging (because I still had my stupid backpack from school on and it was a little hot still) back to my house with the sun
setting very, very slowly behind me. But things weren’t so bad because on my
way, I passed through an interesting pocket of my neighborhood that I’d never
seen before. It reminded me of an area in Seattle. Not only that, but it really
smelled like autumn and some yellow leaves had fallen to the sidewalk, or were
fluttering gently in the trees, just about to do so. I half expected to see
trick-or-treaters running around in costumes. But then I remembered it was
April. It’s still strange to me that it’s spring where I’m from, as it’s going
into fall here. In my mind, it was October and I was happy to have taken the
wrong bus, because it was worth the few ephemeral smells and sights of autumn
that I didn’t really expect from this city. I still don’t really know what to
expect for autumn here, but I keep thinking it’s October, so I’m hopeful.
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