The race started at 9am and we thought that if we left the hotel at 8am that we would be able to get to where the race is and put our jackets, cameras, etc. in the area where you can check your stuff. The problem was that we did not look into where the location was that we needed to check our stuff. We assumed that we would be able to put our stuff near the start of the race, but we were wrong! In order to check your stuff you had to go to where the race ended which was about 2 Km’s away from the start of the race. I had stomach issues in the morning so we didn’t end up leaving our hotel until 8:10 or so, by the time we got to the race it was already about 8:40. So we had to run 2 K’s away just to put our stuff away and then run 2 K’s back to the start line. Luckily as we got close to where we put our stuff away there were three ladies carrying about 10 bags each and they offered to take our stuff to where it needed to go. All we could do was trust them at that point. So we took out what we needed and ran back to the starting line. At this point we have already ran almost 4 K’s so we were approaching the race already sweating and out of breathe. We were about 10 minutes late and the cleaning crew was already starting to go out and clean up after the runners who had just left. There were a lot of people that was in the same position as us because there were tons of people running with us, starting late as well, Thank god we weren’t the only ones! Another thing was that we never got pins to put our numbers on. Luckily we met two American girls that were in the same position as us and they each offered us one of their pins J So then we didn’t have to hold our numbers the whole time, they were life savers! In the end it all worked out well but the beginning was a nightmare. I finished the race in 1 hour and a little under 10 minutes. It was not the time I was hoping to get but I guess considering the fact that I ran 4 K’s beforehand I can’t be too hard on myself. I was SUPER proud of Sarah! She has never ran a race before and she was freaking out about this one. She did not think that she was going to be able to finish it. Her goal was just to be able to run the whole thing. Not only did she run it, but she finished in a little under 59 minutes! She thought that I would have to pass her and wait for her at the finish line, but in the end the opposite thing happened! It shows that running is a mental thing and it really is half the battle.
A friend posted this quote on her face book after running her first marathon, it helped me through my race today.
"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat other runners.
Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to
quit."
The next race that I run will be in Milwaukee with Brian ( my brother) and Allison! Now I am looking forward to running that race with them! My goal is to run it in under an hour. The first race I ran it in 1 hour and 2 mins so I think it is doable.
It was neat being able to tour Madrid for a few days as well. Even though it is the capitol there wasn’t a lot to do there. There were a lot of big pretty buildings but I couldn’t really tell you what any of them were. When we were there we did a lot of just walking around and taking pictures of pretty buildings. We went shopping a lot ( surprisingly I only bought two things) and we oddly went to Starbucks like 3 times as well. I don’t know why we went there so often but we did! Haha
Here are some of the pics I took:
On Saturday we spent the afternoon going to get our bib numbers for the race. It was pretty neat because they had a whole bunch of vendors set up with free giveaways such as protein/fruit drinks, free massages, and more stuff like that. There was also a pasta party that we thought was included for the 10K runners but once we got in the loooong line for the pasta party we found out that the party was only for the Marathon runners. Dumb right?!
Sarah and I attempted to take a picture of the TV screen with our names on it. As we were taking it the worker started yelling at us to move down. Hense why im not looking at the camera and the camera cord is like swinging in front of the camera! haha
Funny story: I was still craving the pasta and Sarah didn’t have much of an interest to eat it. So I went up to the front of the line to see how much it would cost just to buy a ticket. We weren’t sure what to do because the line was about 45 mins just to get inside and we were both starving. With the tickets you get a free "plus one" with every ticket. As I was looking inside this man was about to walk in and he offered for me to come in and be his plus one. SO I said yes, and I got a free pasta meal out of it! It worked out quite well if you ask me!
Saturday night we walked around the downtown area some more. I was surprised by Madrid. I wasn’t expecting it to be as pretty as it was. I haven’t heard too many great things about the city so when going I had very low expectations. But in the end I thought it was a nice city, it was just BIG like a New York City. On Saturday night the Madrid soccer team had a huge game and they won. We found this out easily when every car was honking and screaming out their windows. Sarah and I were confused at first what was going on, but we soon figured out that they must have won their match. It was fun to be able to see the enthusiasm and excitement that the city had,they do love their soccer team. They are quite crazy about their soccer team to be more exact.
This week is the April fair in Sevilla. It is a week long fair with lots of drinking and dancing! It starts on Monday night and it goes basically all day and night until the following Sunday. Every city has its own fair but Sevilla holds the biggest fair. Lucky for me the fair takes place basically on my street so it is going to be very crowded and noisy, all week! Good thing I have my ear plugs, I will put those to good use this week for sure.
Random side note:
Saw the advertisement for the Hunger games cant wait to see it!
On Friday I leave for IRELAND!!!!!!! I am soooo excited! I have been waiting so long and I was finally able to work out a time to go. I will be flying into Dublin on Friday and then I will go to Galway and then will fly out of Shannon. I cannot wait!
I will have a lot to post about for the upcoming two weeks! Less than 6 weeks till I am home! I can’t believe it!
Besos J
No comments:
Post a Comment