The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

49th San Blas Marathon 2011 Runners Video

A video of runners from the 49th Annual San Blas Half Marathon of Coamo, Puerto Rico. Shot from just before the 15th Kilometer mark. With about an hour’s worth of video, the battery quit. Compressed into 13 minutes, 40 seconds. Late evening sun fading to low contrast dusk. You can see the helicopter’s shadow as it passes by and the “Baby Buggy Guy” is near the end. The ‘animated’ guy keeping folks out of the way of the runners and passing off water for the thirsty runners is to be commended for his efforts.. THANKS!

The last post of 3 for the San Blas Marathon of Coamo

Shot with a modified VadoHD. Music courtesy of The Free Music Archive.

Additional photos can be seen at the original post and the other video of the route of the half marathon.

It was a lot of fun shooting the Marathon and I look most forward to the 50th anniversary of the race. I’m sure it will be fantastic!

49th San Blas Marathon Video, from the Route

This ‘From the Road’ video covers the entire half marathon route and was shot on the morning before the race. Shot from the roof of my SUV with a modified VadoHD videocam mounted in a custom made bracket. The original 1.75 hour trip was compressed into 11 minutes and zips right along. Because the camera tracks with the SUV, you do not get a sense of how steep it is in places. There are a few ‘burps’ in the video near the end before I ran out of battery. Music for the video was courtesy of The Free Music Archive.

A special ‘thank you’ to the police for letting me through 2 road-blocks. Otherwise, this would have never happened.

The route itself was redirected as you approach the Coamo Plaza as there was a crane in the middle of the road.

The best time: 1:03:09 was turned in by James Kwambai of Kenya who had also won the race in 2005 and 2009. The fastest female runner was Yolanda Caballero of Colombia with a time of 1:14:48. Images of the runners can be seen from the main post here and on the 2nd page of images as well.

A 2nd video has been posted up! The video featuring the runners as they pass by us, just before the 15th Kilometer mark and it is a longer video at 13:40 minutes! It was all downhill from there.

The 49th San Blas Half Marathon of Coamo

The best excuse to party if there ever was one!

I reported last year about the fact that Coamo’s San Blas Half Marathon was as much about the ‘party’ as it was about the ‘race’. I wanted to capture that essence in this story.

10.5 gigs of still photos and 2 videos later, I got the goods.

This feature will be spread across 3 posts… the 1st containing all the still images (with extra pages of even more images), the 2nd being a video shot from the roof of my SUV, of the entire ‘Race Route’ on the Sunday morning in question and a video shot of the runners just before they reach kilometer 15.

I’ve created a new map of the route with important roads and points of interest along the way. It is drawn to scale so it’s reasonably accurate. You are free to share this with friends, but not for commercial use.

A larger version can be had from the MAPS Page in the Menu Bar.

The weather for the day was broken overcast in the low 80’sF. Exactly what the runners needed. It sprinkled a couple times, but never really ‘rained’.

A PARTY to REMEMBER

Folks from all over Puerto Rico come to watch and play and party the Saturday and Saturday night before Sunday’s big race.

I had wanted to shoot the fireworks show on Saturday night so we set up on the hill overlooking the Stadium and baseball field. [Read more…] about The 49th San Blas Half Marathon of Coamo

USDA Tropical Agriculture Gardens of Mayagüez

A ramble through the grounds of the USDA/TARS-
the Tropical Agriculture Research Station of Mayagüez.

This facility was on my original ‘hit list’.

There are lots of references to it on the Net. Here’s a link to the TropAg Research Station. It is an extension of the University of Puerto Rico and the UPR Mayagüez campus is next door. In addition to several other sites in the US, the USDA/ARS also maintains a 120 acre research farm in Isabella. Unfortunately, it’s closed to the public. I tried to set-up a private tour of it, but was turned down because they use heavy equipment there. maybe some other time…

The TropAg Station of Mayagüez was built in 1909, but the program dates back to 1901. Only 3 years after the US took Puerto Rico from the Spanish. It’s been in full service ever since. A beautiful building done in a mission style from the period. Being 100 years old, it’s well maintained, including the surrounding grounds, with only minor exceptions. As always, parking was tight and there was hardly anyone visiting the day we were there. [Read more…] about USDA Tropical Agriculture Gardens of Mayagüez

The Las Vegas Odyssey Continues- Part 2 of 2

Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience Neon Abstract at Night, Nevada

A 21st Century
amusement park
in the middle
of nowhere

Yes, Las Vegas IS all about gambling, it still pays the bills. However, it’s evolving into an attraction the whole family can enjoy. Something for everyone. I do not gamble per se – A few pull tabs over the years, a random raffle ticket or whopping $10 bucks in nickel slots does not make a gambler.

Besides, they don’t allow photography on the gambling floor.

Las Vegas Outdoor World Bass Pro Shop, Nevada

I know, I’ve tried.

Something about “what happens in Vegas” – y’know. Las Vegas really is a 24/7/365 place.

Today, the Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard) more resembles the grand facades of DisneyLand. Vegas shows, specialty shops and exotic restaurants compete for your dollar.

Of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, Las Vegas readily embraces all but Wrath… It’s earned the title “SIN CITY”.

The late, Tuesday night “From the Strip” video was shot with my VadoHD held out the window while I drove with my other hand. Being January, it was too damned cold, even with a glove on. My hand turned numb before I got halfway down the Strip. About 40 minutes compressed to 9 so it zips right along. The music sound track was courtesy of FMA (the Free Music Archive) and features the silky smooth vocals of Lillian Hak and Michael Winkle. BTW, FMA’s ‘Digital Dump’ is a cool podcast, baby!

The rest of our time was spent checking out the neon, dining out, the Fremont Street Experience and scoring a few things I’ve had a hard time finding in PR like a pair of hip-boots.

Walking through the doors at the BassPro Shop was like being back in Alaska. A magnificent store.. more like a museum. The creek bed (with water) out front and the mounted bears inside were very impressive. There’s also a huge aquarium tank and a sitting area to rest and observe. Walking past the gun display upstairs without stopping and ogling them was hard. Me First Mate was blown away by the place. It’s behind the Silverton Casino, just off the Strip.

The Fremont Street Experience, Experience

The Fremont Street Experience is worth a cab ride (or bus) if you’re staying on the Strip. It’s like a smaller version of the Strip, about 4 blocks long with a huge, arching metal roof covering the street. An easy walk. Lots of small shops, restaurants, hotels and casinos crammed into a compact space. A very festive atmosphere with tourist kiosks and street performers tossed in. At night, it’s very well lit and very colorful. We had coffee at Starbucks so we could sit and watch folks go by. We made a 2nd trip so I could get some night shots. Fortunately, it’s located between our motel and the Strip on Las Vegas Blvd.

San Juan could capitalize on this street level arcade/casino concept . Another venue for folks getting off or onto cruise ships.

Something else that caught my eye while en route to the Strip was the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. The $100 million complex was designed by Frank Gehry. It stands across the street from the World Market Center… a couple blocks off the Fremont Street Experience. It looks like a ‘melted’ stainless steel building.. the aftermath of a nuclear accident. A great photo subject. Very cool.

Weather, Weather, Everywhere, but Here

Most of the ASW events ended on Tuesday and we planned to fly back to San Juan via the JFK/NY airport on Wednesday. Unfortunately that flight got canceled due to the latest round of bad weather so we were holed up for a couple extra days there. Not a big deal, though extending the car rental cost more than extending the motel. To add insult to injury, we both came down with bad colds on Wednesday night so the trip home was very miserable. At least we were not stranded at the airport like most folks trying to get home on stand-by.

Note to self- Do not schedule flights through New York if going to Las Vegas in the winter.

I know I missed a few things… like the overhead monorail, the Fashion Show shopping mall with 250 shops, the Stratosphere, the Wax Museum, $5.95 Rib Steaks and the famous ‘All-you-can-eat’ buffets, among others. I’ll get back to them when we get back to Vegas.

Apologies to Hunter S. Thompson and gonzo journalists,
where ever you are…

One last Rant:

There is NO dedicated long term parking at the Luis Muñoz Marin, San Juan Int. Airport. They charged us $119 for 9 days. That is a break over the daily rate, but had we lied and said we lost our ticket, it would have been $23.80. Something between those figures would have been nice. That might not seem unreasonable to most folks on the mainland , but for Puerto Rico, it’s ridiculous.

It was a great trip all in all.. we are glad to be back home in Puerto Rico.

Arrg….