International Women's Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. Today we recognize this important day by sharing a noteworthy athletic accomplishment - the first female winner of the Monterey Bay Half Marathon (MBHM) in 2003. This 13 mile race is the sister event of the 26 mile Big Sur International Marathon (BSIM), an internationally recognized, stellar, running event that is top in class throughout the world. The Monterey Bay Half Marathon (MBHM) began in 2003 as the Big Sur International Half Marathon on Monterey Bay.

The first female winner of this incredible half marathon event was Kristin Chisum of Massachusetts with a time of one hour, 15 minutes, 38 seconds. A former Princeton All-American, she was talked into coming all the way from the east coast to run the race by Bob Sevene, a coach with the former Monterey Bay Distance Project and coach of local Olympian Blake Russell. Kristin is now a speech therapist on the east coast and also works with Love Lane, a special needs horseback riding program. The photos are from a recent MBHM - Kristin is not pictured. Read more about her race https://www.letsrun.com/2003/surhalfr.php

Since 2016, the elite women start nine minutes in front of the elite men and the rest of the field as part of the "equalizer challenge." The pictures show the women out front. Runners come from all over the world to run this race and of course the most well known race, the Big Sur International Marathon. The BSIM Foundation supports many local community entities and we look forward to seeing their events return after the pandemic and when it is safe to do so.

Photo credit: Big Sur International Marathon Foundation - learn more at https://bsim.org/

The City of Monterey is proud to be a member of Sister Cities International (SCI). In recognition of Women's History Month, SCI is hosting two dynamic women-focused programs in March. The first event, organized by the Global Awareness Team (GAT), took place today March 8, 2021 from 3:00 – 4:00 PM EST titled Women in Local Leadership: Achieving An Equal Future In A COVID-19 World. (SCI should have the an on-demand viewing option available soon.)

The second event, organized by the SCI Africa Network, will take place on March 23, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM EST: SCI Africa Celebrates International Women’s Month. Learn more:

Weather permitting, we will stream live at youtube.com/cityofmonterey the tree of hearts "event", as we prepare the setting for and encourage the community to participate in this time of healing, and remembering the lives lost to Covid-19; and also in thanks and appreciation to health care workers, teachers, and all frontline workers. READ THE NEWS RELEASE FOR DETAILS

We hope you join us this Wednesday for another Monterey Mornings with the Manager - a live event on YouTube with City Manager Hans Uslar. This week we start a half hour early at 9:00 a.m.

There's a chat feature that let's you ask questions in real time and Hans will answer them. He will give you the latest information that he knows about Covid-19, city programs and services, and more!

Go directly to youtube.com/cityofmonterey to participate.

VACCINATION LOCATIONS WITH APPOINTMENT DATES AND TIMES UPDATED REGULARLY:

COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.

If you’ve been fully vaccinated, you can:

V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that lets people tell CDC how they feel after COVID-19 vaccination. V-safe also reminds people to get their second dose of vaccine, if needed.

Scientists continue to monitor COVID-19 vaccines for safety even after you receive yours. CDC and the FDA use both V-safe and VAERS to watch for any COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) collects data to look for adverse events after vaccination that are unexpected, happen more often than expected, or have unusual patterns.

LEARN MORE at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/

Here are today's and Friday's numbers from CHOMP:

Have Your Say Monterey - the City's new public engagement portal

Visit https://haveyoursaymonterey.org and register to have YOUR say!

Please note: Data refreshes Tuesday through Saturday - SHOWS FRIDAY NUMBERS

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