We Run This City

by Andrew Dorris

We knew that it was coming, and we had been training for it for many weeks now, but on Sunday Julia, Rachel Alexander, and I finally ran the half marathon of Santiago. What an amazing experience it was to line up in front of La Moneda with 25,000+ other runners!, most of which knew zero English. On top of that, we were 3 out of around 100 others registered who were representing our country. The whole thing was fascinating (in a good way) and very memorable. Throughout the race we would hear the chant of "DIGA CHI-. DIGA -LE. CHI CHI CHI. LE LE LE. VIVA CHILE." They seem much more patriotic than we do in races in the U.S., and it was a great way to pump people up. The thing that threw me off the most was the start, which with 25,000 runners had no organization. No corrals. No suggestions. It was a free-for-all, and why not I suppose? Other than that it felt almost like running through your hometown that you have gotten to know. I must brag on our support/cheering crew (Sra. Linda, Dra. Laura, Bethany, and Spencer Richardson) who made it to multiple spots to cheer us on. Although we may not have won any prizes or age groups, I know we all accomplished our goal. And the finish was really fun. They gave us fruit and sprayed us with fire hoses. (Yep. Fire hoses.)