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Madrid marathon. First part
Madrid marathon.
The journey to the marathon started on Friday at 12 pm when the coach to Madrid left Almería bus and railway station. My brother, Jose, was coming with me. The bus was nearly full. It only stopped in Guadix in the province of Granada two pick up two travellers and at a restaurant in the province of Jaén at 3 am. I couldn´t sleep much, so when we arrived at the bus station in Madrid at 7 am, I was very tired. We took the underground to go to the hotel where we had a buffet breakfast which was wonderful: orange juice, fruit, cheese, ham, cakes, churros, cocoa milk, etc. Then, at 9 we were allowed to go to our room where we had a shower before going to the marathon expo.
I´d phoned Brian, Riazor Blue, at 10 am to meet there later. We met at the queue where I was waiting for to get my race number. It was wonderful to meet him. After picking up the number race and the bag of goodies with a T-shirt, a competition vest, a raincoat, sunglasses and other things we all visited the stands and had a drink at the café. We also took photos at the entrance of the expo. After that, we went by tube to Brian´s hotel to leave his things there and then walked to a restaurant where we were having lunch at 2.30 pm with more than 100 forumites from Carreraspopulares.com virtual club. My brother didn´t come since when I had to book several weeks earlier, he had told me that he preferred having lunch anywhere and resting at the hotel since he didn´t know anyone. Then, we arrived at Pizza Jardín, a big restaurant in the city centre. After finding it, we met several people at the entrance of the restaurant. Then, we put our nicknames in a stick-up and looked for a table where we sat down. We met other runners sitting at our table, talked about the marathon and enjoyed a big meal. We even met one of the best marathon runners in Europe, Julio Rey, who is very friendly and signed a lot of autographs. I had a cap autographed. After drinking to everybody´s luck at the marathon with Catalan cava, a drink similar to champagne, Brian and myself left the restaurant. After walking for a few minutes together, we said goodbye, wishing each other good luck. It´s a pity that he couldn´t finally take part at the marathon. However, he was going to be a volunteer at a tent where the runners leave a bag with clothes to pick up after the marathon.
After doing some shopping with my brother, we went to a restaurant to have dinner at 8 pm, which in Spain is early. As I had eaten a lot at lunch, I had only spaghetti and a little cake. Then, we went to the hotel where we went to bed early. Before I prepared everything to be ready for the following day. As I was exhausted after last night´s journey by coach and so many activities in Madrid, I fell asleep quickly and didn´t wake up until seven o´clock when my brother´s alarm watch rang. I had two oranges, a banana and a cake for breakfast, had a shower and got down to the hotel hall where we met other runners who were going to the marathon race as well. They were from Valencia, Ciudad Real, France. The French runners were five or six who went to the marathon start all with the sports clothes they were running with. They didn´t even wear an old T-shirt on or a sweatshirt. Actually, the day wasn´t cold at 8 when we left for the underground station, which was at five minutes´ walk. We went with a runner from Ciudad Real who was going to have breakfast at a café near the station. At the platform, we met more runners waiting for the train. The French runners also arrived and were singing Tous ensemble which means All together. On the train, there were more runners. Those who were in groups were joking about the race and other runners. In other stations more runners went into the train. After four or five stations, we got to Banco station where the start was near the Cibeles statue where Real Madrid supporters go and celebrate their trophies. There were a lot of people around there. I went to the Post Office building where Carreraspopulares.com members were going to have a photo taken. I met a few forumites and went out to put on some sun lotion. There, I met a young man from Madrid who said it was going to be very hot that day and how right he was. Although at nine the temperature was around 18º-20º Celsius, it reached 34º some hours later. The heat in Madrid is different from Almería. It is dry there so you don´t sweat so much as here at the seaside. Then, I went to the cloakroom tent I was assigned, number 9. There was a long queue. In the next queue, number 0, I saw an old runner I´ve met in several half marathons. His name´s Germán and is in his sixties. He´s from Madrid and always runs with a T-shirt with the Cuban flag and a ribbon with the Spanish one. Germán likes taking part in a race every weekend and travels all over Spain and has also taken part at some international marathons, such as London´s. After leaving my bag with some clothes to put on after the marathon, I was at the queue at the toilet for a last pee. From there we could see, military parachuters falling down. Then, my brother took a photo of me at Cibeles fountain and I went towards the start where a lot of people were ready to go. As I was wearing a Carreraspopulares.com T-shirt, a man asked me who I was. I told him I was Anlu247 and he said he was Josep1. We had agreed to go in the 4.30 group but we couldn´t find them. He was also staying at my hotel and he´s from Valencia where he had taken part on 1st February in its marathon doing 4 hours 7 minutes. He said it is very flat unlike Madrid´s marathon which is tougher. Then, another member of the virtual club joined us. He was Pecigo from Albacete. There was one minute of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11th March and 191 doves were released in honour of the 191 killed.
At 9.30 am we started. I thought about Suzie, who was taking part at Shakespeare marathon in Stratford. It took us nearly three minutes to get to the start line walking at the beginning. We went uphill for nearly five kilometres along Paseo de la Castellana going past Real Madrid stadium where that evening R. Madrid and Barcelona FC were playing and the latter would beat R. Madrid 1-2. I had to stop after 15 minutes for a pee hidden behind a bush as many other people did. Then, I met other runners from my virtual club. There were water stations at least every five kilometres as well as sponge stations, Vaseline and Reflex stations, etc. The atmosphere in the streets was great. The people cheered a lot. I tried to stop every ten or fifteen minutes for a 30/45 seconds walk break. I preferred going slowly to avoid injuries and the wall. I went all right the first twenty-five kilometres. I met another runner from carreraspopulares.com after km 5 or 6 going downhill towards Cuatro Caminos. His nickname is Storbhas but his real name´s Fernando. He´s from Madrid and this was his first marathon. His PB in half marathon is like mine 2 hours 2 or 3 minutes. We went together two or three kilometres but then I continued on my own. We went past near Retiro park and puerta de Alcalá. My brother was waiting for me in several places to take photos or give me cereal bars but I didn´t feel like one until kilometre 34 or 35. At Fuencarral street, km 19, I met a lad from Madrid whose name is Pedro José. He took part at Madrid marathon last year doing 4 hours 48 minutes but this year he decided to go more slowly since last year he finished exhausted. He´s got a degree in Law. He told me that he started to run because he had to do five kilometres running with an 8-kilo rucksack in less than 30 minutes to become a sort of forester ( agente forestal ). There, at Fuencarral street, they were playing the music of Chariots of Fire, which makes you feel great. We went past Puerta del Sol, Madrid´s Piccadilly circus. The atmosphere was wonderful. At calle Mayor we went past the half marathon in 2 hours 20 minutes, real time 2 hours 17´.
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