La Campeona!

Sunday morning. April 25th, 2010. Marathon day. Madrid! The day broke with sunshine and cool temperatures, and we traveled into the city from Majadahonda where we were staying. We took the 7am train into Recoletos, and at each stop more runners boarded the train. I was feeling anxious but once we emerged out of the underground right onto the race course, my nervousness eased and was replaced by excitement. There were runners everywhere, stretching and jogging and drinking water and adjusting shoelaces and standing in line for the port-o-potties. Kristian, Laura (my friend from the program) and Petrina were there with me for support as we waited the 45 minutes until gun-time.

There was an absolute sea of people with over 8,000 runners that day - only 500 of which were women. The start line was mobbed and I was standing next to a group of guys that kept yelling "vamos!" while we waited the last five minutes before the gun went off. Then it did, and we were off. The funniest thing I've ever seen was within the first kilometer and we hit a tree-lined strip of road, on every tree was a male runner, leaning against it, relieving himself. I know the port-o-potty lines are long, but sheesh, we'd only just begun the race!

April 25th, race day, is also my dad's birthday, so I wore a sign on my back that said Happy Birthday in Spanish, English and Catalan. Fellow runners kept asking if it was my birthday or saying "felicidades". In the beginning, I corrected them saying it was my dad's, but as the kilometers added up, I just said thank you. Sorry dad, but I needed the encouragement. At one point a group of male runners sang feliz cumpleaños to me as they ran by. It was fantastic.

Kristian, Laura and Petrina had been given specific instructions on which km markers to be at to keep me going through 4+ hours of my run and they preformed their duties without fail and with definite flair. They always turned up right when I needed them. The marathon course was great, as it was essentially a tour of Madrid. We passed through the Puerta del Sol, went down the Gran Via, passed Bernabeu soccer stadium (Real Madrid), went through several really nice city park spaces and through it all, I just kept running, to the shouts of anímate chica! and venga chavala ya está hecho! and vamos campeona! from the crowd all throughout the course.

 13km

 20km

 25km

 36km

My official time was 4:31:15 and was 299 out of 500 women runners, 6660 out 8280 total runners and 81 out of 127 female runners in my age group (24-34). It was an amazing experience and a great way to see Madrid. And of course, now I want to do another one!

 42km!!!! Ya está hecho!!!