Race Report: Carrera San Silvestre 2024

Kate and I visited Mexico City for the first time in 2015. We were here for the holidays and to visit family, but one of the things I remember from that trip was standing in the middle of Paseo de la Reforma on New Year’s Eve during some kind of race, photographing the runners. I had no idea what race that was and didn’t particularly care---I just thought it was a cool thing to photograph, since many of the runners were in costume, such as this guy dressed as El Chapulín Colorado. "¡Síganme los buenos!" | Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City. December, 2015. This year we're back in Mexico City for the first time in almost a decade, and now that I am very much into running and triathlons, I thought it’d be cool to find out if any races would be happening while I’m here, and if I could do that same one, even better---what better way to close out the year than running on New Year's Eve? I found an event called Carrera San Silvestre, a 12 km race near where I took those photos all those years ago, so I signed up for it almost as soon as I booked our trip. A San Silvestre, as I learned after signing up, is a running race done on December 31st, which is Saint Sylvester’s Day (hence the name). It started in São Paulo in 1925, and despite spending the first 29 years of my life living in Venezuela, I had no idea they’ve been commonplace in Latin America and Spain ever since. That goes to show how little I cared about any of this stuff when I lived there, I suppose. In any case, signed up I did, so I needed to get ready for it. After wrapping up my triathlon season at Ironman 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities in September I’ve focused my off-season training primarily on cycling, and neglected my running for most of the fall. Before traveling to Mexico City I did an abridged plan from Runna to build my mileage back up, but once I got here I simply went out for runs every morning to enjoy the city and get acclimated to the elevation (at 2,250 m, Mexico City is only about 300 m higher than my home in Wyoming, but that still left me feeling surprisingly winded the first few times I went running). I stayed in the Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, so my usual route started on the wide promenade of Horacio Avenue. From there, I took the Cuernavaca Railroad, a railroad line that’s been repurposed into a gorgeous paved multi-use pathway, to Chapultepec, crossing the first section of the park before heading back to Polanco, for a total of 10 km on a nice looping route. Running through Polanco and Chapultepec was awesome, but the highlight of my week leading up to the race was running on Paseo de la Reforma the Sunday before the race. This wide avenue running through the heart of Mexico City is closed every Sunday to motor traffic so people can recreate on it. On the last Sunday of every month, an even longer 62.5 km route is closed for what they call a "Ciclotón," a more cycling-focused event with bike repair stations and aid stations giving away water, electrolytes, and chocolate milk along the way. I should have been tapering for the race at this point, but it was such a wonderful way to spend a gorgeous Sunday morning, I ended up running over 16 km, and it made me wish I had thought to rent a bike to ride the entire route. There's no better way to spend a Sunday morning in Mexico City, in my opinion. Shutting down one of the busiest avenues in one of the biggest cities in the world every single week for the enjoyment of people instead of cars---talk about having your priorities straight. This made me even angrier about St. George not renewing the contract for Ironman 70.3 St. George after 2025, leaving $42 million on the table, because closing a few roads a single day each year is apparently too much of an inconvenience for drivers. Car brain is a hell of a thing, but I digress. On race day, I woke up early enough to make some coffee, take a COVID test as I usually do before a race, and have enough time to get to the start line on Paseo de la Reforma, about 2 km from my Airbnb in Polanco. It was a clear but brisk morning, at 6ºC, so I jogged there to get a good warmup before the race start. When I got there, the area around the start line was absolutely packed with people, so I stayed out of the way at the back of my corral, the last one of the three, eating a Maurten 100 Caf 100 gel a few minutes before the scheduled start of the race. The 12 km course started near Torre Mayor on Paseo de la Reforma, heading west until just past the Fuente de Petróleos, then making a U-turn and proceeding to an out-and-back on Calzada Chivatito alongside Chapultepec (with a few short out-and-backs along the way) before getting back on Reforma towards the finish line. The course is entirely on paved roads, with about 90 m of elevation gain, most of it at a mild grade with a handful of steeper sections. The pavement was smooth for the most part, but some segments had huge potholes which, due to the crowds and lack of markings, were hard to see until the last second. Luckily I was able to avoid them---I could have easily twisted my ankle again on one of them. The course had three aid stations, at kilometers 3, 6, and 9, but they were extremely crowded (and according to comments on social media they didn’t have enough water or staff), so I skipped them. View this course in Garmin Connect or Strava. The crowds were the theme of the day. The course was so packed that although the gun went off at 7:00 AM, I didn’t actually cross the start line until 7:18; even before the start I was completely blocked and couldn’t pass anybody. I don’t know how many people were running, but my results page says there were 1,819 male finishers in front of of me and 1,964 behind me, so if I had to guess I’d say there were about 7,000 participants---and every single one of them was in front of me. Based on my half marathon pace, I had set myself an arbitrary goal of finishing in under an hour, but it was obvious from the start there was no way for me to hit that pace. I was doing this for fun, so I wasn’t upset about it; I simply zig-zagged to pass people when I could and slowed down when I couldn’t, especially on the shorter out-and-backs, which were on narrower side roads and caused serious bottlenecks. Some people apparently took the race way more seriously, though---around the 10 km mark, I ran past two dudes squaring off, cursing at each other, about to get into a fistfight, while a bunch of people tried to separate them (I have no idea what that was all about and I didn’t stick around to find out). By the time I made the last U-turn on Calzada Chivatito I had passed tons and tons of people and the crowds had thinned out somewhat, so once I got back on Reforma I sent it. I pushed the pace as hard as I could for the last few kilometers, finishing the race with an official chip time of 01:02:59.71 and an average pace of 05:15 min/km. I finished in 2,846th place out of who knows how many. The finish line photo is hilarious; I’m in there somewhere, I think. Good luck finding me. Where's Waldo? | Credit: Emoción Deportiva. After crossing the finish line, I grabbed my bag of swag (which is top notch, by the way, the race shirt is a very nice Reebok long sleeve running shirt and the finisher's one is the softest t-shirt I've ever had) and walked back to Polanco for a much needed coffee and pastry. This will make a fine addition to my collection. And with that, now my race season is over for this year, and what a great way to end 2024 on a high note and set the tone for 2025. Happy new year!