Blog

After I finished Brazil 135 (read Part 1 of the report here), I was tired, for sure, but I was much more coherent than I expected I’d be. There was a decent amount of activity around the finish line in the church square of Paraisópolis, so we hung out at the finish line for a bit and watched a couple more runners come through, including Magda and her relay partner (along with Junior and Flavio).

After a bit, Aaron helped me hobble to our hotel, the Pousada do Praça (conveniently located right next to the church square). I showered and then spent some time tearing apart the blisters on my feet and doing my best to cover them with bandages. Once the blisters were popped, I was able to walk a ton better. I was still waddling, but at least I could walk. I’m guessing I was still flying high from adrelanine and caffeine and we went and had a great dinner with some race finishers, including Magda, Junior and Flavio.

I slept pretty hard Saturday night but not very long. My legs were sore and my feet and back hurt. Aaron and I got up early on Sunday and had breakfast at the hotel hanging out with a bunch of finishers. The early morning sun from our hotel looked pretty rad.

After breakfast, we walked over the finishing line. Lots of people were hanging out, including a big group of the Americans (and the Aussie, Grant).

It was great to hang out and get to know this awesome group of runners and and plans were made to take a drive to Campos do Jordão, a small “European-style” tourist destination, for lunch and a little souvenir shopping. In typical fashion, we got three wildly different estimates of how long it would take to get to Campos do Jordão. In the end, of course, it took longer than we expected.  But it was a great way to spend the day. Aaron and I drove with Chris Roman and John Sharpe (“Texas”). Both of them had had fantastic races. Chris finished in 30:03:03, in 8th overall and setting a new American record at the race. And John finished in 34:27:20 and was the first “survivor” to finish (the “survivors” did the race without crew or pacers, just using what they carried, their drop bags, limited help from a few aid stations and help from other crews). It was great to get to know both of those guys.

At Campos do Jordão, we went to Krokodillo Restaurant for a traditional Brazilian buffet. As the name indicates, the restaurant has a “Crocodile” theme.

It ended up being a pretty big group of us, including a few Brazilians. Here we are inside the crocodile’s mouth:

Here are Jarom and I inside the mouth:

And here’s the crocodile staircase into the restaurant:

And the mascot out front:

After lunch, we did a little shopping, hid out in a china shop from a short-lived but very strong rain- and hail-storm

and stopped by a chocolate shop. Then, on the way home, we took a detour to check out this awesome view:

and enjoy some coconut water directly from the coconut (me with Ari Branco, 9th place at the race; more on him a little later):

Sunday night was the official post-race celebration. The highlight of the celebration for me was getting to listen to the speech by the winner, Oraldo Romualdo. It was all in Portuguese and Jarom translated some of it, but that didn’t really matter because his emotions came through loud and clear. At one point, he choked up a bit. I finished the night with a couple shots of lighter fluid, I mean local cachaça.

At the celebration, people were making plans for a trip to Praia Grande on Monday, where Ari had a restaurant just a few blocks from the beach. Aaron and I had to get to Sao Pãulo at some point Monday and Praia Grande didn’t seem too far out of the way, so we decided to go. We got up early again and caravan’ed out there. The “4-ish” hour drive actually took us more like 6 but, once again it was well worth it. We stopped along the way to take photos in front of a waterfall in Serra do Mar.

Once at Ari’s place in Praia Grande, we checked out all of his race medals and posters (he’s a pretty damn accomplished runner – Brazil, Badwater, Comrades, Spartathlon, just to name a few)

and then sat down for an amazing Brazilian BBQ lunch. Tons of meat (yes, I partook) and all kinds of delicious side dishes.

After lunch, we took a walk to the beach. Thankfully, I was feeling up for a walk and my feet were doing better. I was still pretty exhausted and had to sit every so often to rest. The ocean looked really inviting, but I was worried about the open wounds on my feet so I didn’t go in the water. But everyone who did said it felt like bathwater (and Aaron even said that he’d taken showers in Brazil that were colder than the ocean!).

On our way back to the restaurant, we walked through a street with all kinds of souvenir shopping.

(No, I have no idea either, but this wasn’t even the most surprising thing in this particular store…)

Then Aaron and I headed off to Sao Pãulo. Our GPS, which wasn’t particularly reliable but had gotten us where we’d needed to go thus far, went haywire and tried to direct us onto a dirt road straight through a favela. This route may have taken us to the freeway and then to Sao Pãulo, but we weren’t willing to find out. It did provide for a good laugh for a while – once we’d found our way, that is.

That night, we checked back into the Transamerica Prime International Plaza Hotel and found a Brazilian buffet for dinner. Dinner was really good and there were plenty of vegan-friendly options. One thing Aaron and I got a kick out of was the way that the entire restaurant staff would freeze in front of the TVs to watch the nightly soap opera. We’d heard how popular the show was in Brazil and the restaurant was slow so it wasn’t like the servers were ignoring customers, but it was still entertaining to us.

Tuesday morning (our last day in Brazil), Aaron and I slept in a little bit and then walked around for a couple hours before we had to check out of the hotel. Then, we met a work colleague of mine at the Museu do Foteball (Soccer Museum). The museum is located inside and underneath the Estádio do Pacaembu, a big stadium near the city center. The museum is very cool, and we were lucky to have Ben with us – he is a massive soccer fan and was able to both translate inside the museum and add his own color and stories to the tour.

And that was it. Aaron and I drove back to the airport. Returned the filthy Doblo without incident and sat in the American Airlines lounge for 6 hours before boarding our flight for home.

It was a fantastic, amazing trip and I have tons of people to thank:

• First and foremost, Aaron, for coming with me, crewing, pacing, driving, keeping me calm and all-around supporting me throughout the race and the trip. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have made the trip or done the race without him there.
• Next, Mario and Eliana Lacerda for inviting me to participate in the race and putting on such a fantastic event. They’re both wonderful, loving people and made sure that everyone participating was well taken-care of, safe and happy, which we most definitely were!
• Next, to Jarom for helping me get everything together for trip. He (and Tony Portera) helped me during the application and early organization process and Jarom found me our original translator and when she had passport problems at the last minute, he found a replacement. He was an amazing source of knowledge about the event and Brazil and made planning the trip for a newbie a relative breeze.
• To all of my new friends I met in Brazil, both Brazilians and foreigners. It was an awesome community and really made the trip what it was. Everyone takes such good care of everyone else that I can easily recommend going down to Brazil to participate in the race even if you don’t know anyone before leaving the US. There are really too many to mention, but just look at the photos in this blog post and in Part 1 and they’re all prominently featured. I hope to see all of you at more races in the future. I also hope that I can return the favor at some race someday and help a newbie feel at home.
• Finally to my friends and family at home: Elizabeth, my parents, my inlaws, the Coyotes, the South Bay (and extended) crew, people who read this blog, follow me on social media, etc. This running nonsense is a huge commitment and without all your support and friendship, I wouldn’t be able to, or even want to, do it.