Havana (yes Cuba) Marathon Recap

I ran the the Havana Marathon on November 20th this is my bib and the finisher medal:

It was interesting to notice only the foreigners had names on their bibs

We made this trip through Marathon Tours & Travel (Marathon Tours & Travel)
I had booked the trip before relations between Cuba and the US had improved and it was mostly my wife's idea.  She wanted to visit Cuba before it changed too much due to outside investment.

The race itself went better than I thought because it was hot and humid (at least much hotter and humid I am used to!). I finished in just over 4 hours which was faster than my last marathon in Boring, OR in September (that was a surprise). 

The course for this race is a half marathon so the full marathoners did two laps.  Most of the people entered were doing a 10k or half marathon so during the second lap there was a lot of open spaces on the course.  Here are a few pictures from the second lap:

These were taken right by the hotel we were staying at which was right across the road from the ocean

On trips like this I try not to care so much about the time in the race because it is more about the rest of the trip.  With that in mind I never looked at my watch until right near the end and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to run that fast considering the weather.  Here are a few of the memorable points of the race:

- This is the second race I have ever done where they handed out water in bags at the aid stations!  I had experience that you to rip open the corner with your teeth so you could drink it.  Due to the heat and humidity I was taking two bags later in the race and dumping one over me to try and cool off and drinking most of the other one.
- We were told they would not have any electrolytes at aid stations beforehand but they did have some colored liquid in bags.  I tried an orange and purple at various points, they weren't bad and not overly sweet like some drinks.
- The last 10 miles they had ice at the aid stations and would give you a big handful every time you stopped in front of them.  I kept making it into a ball and switched off which hand I held it in to cool off.
- The first lap the traffic was shut off of the race course but by the second lap it was a bit more open because we were running through various parts of the city.  Some places traffic was in the next lane over so you were sucking in some exhaust.  It bothered some of the other runners but it still really wasn't that bad to me (maybe because Denver air quality can be bad at times!).
- They do not have access to all the shoe brands or have the money to buy running shoes.  I saw lots of people running in flats, ripped up shoes, Chuck Taylor Converse, etc..  That leads to something else,,,
- As soon as I finished the race people asked me for my shoes.  This happened to lots of other runners on the trip we were on.   In fact every time I went out for a run people would ask me for my shoes.  There is a lack of many things in Cuba so I did bring down a variety of running gear and gave it to people I met. 

Overall it was a great trip and I was able to learn a great deal about Cuba and the people.  We were really lucky in that the trip was before Fidel Castro died because I think they would have cancelled the race itself it happened a week later.

I have to be honest and say this was a trip my wife wanted to go on more than me.  I had little interest in visiting Cuba and figured running the marathon was a way to do it.  I was also completely wrong as I found in incredibly fascinating.  This is one of the first vacation trips where my suitcase weighed more on the way down than when we left as we brought a lot of different things to donate.

I have not included a bunch of pictures or wrote a blog about Cuba and the people itself because I don't know if people are really interested as this blog is mostly about running.  Leave me a comment if you are and I will write one along with pictures.