Rock & Roll Madrid Marathon race report (parte uno) June 13, 2012
Posted by bettyjoan in Races, Running.Tags: Madrid Marathon, Races, Running, TNT is awesome
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Wow, I really left the ol’ blog hangin’ for a while – I can’t believe that I haven’t posted a race report from the Madrid marathon! It will be very difficult to summarize the experience in one post, but I’ll give it a shot. After all, one day, when I am old and grey and my memory is toast, I’ll want to read about the good old days when I was running marathons.
The whole Madrid team (minus one or two who had decided to fly earlier in the week) gathered at the airport on the Thursday evening before the race. We celebrated our voyage in the Delta Sky Lounge – nice! THAT is how you travel, for sure. I was so glad we opted for the non-stop overnight flight – basically, as soon as we got settled on the plane, I popped a sleeping pill and went nighty night. Jason swears I woke up to eat dinner, but I have absolutely no recollection of that. Gotta love Ambien.
Eight hours later, we arrived in Madrid and it was Friday morning. We cabbed it to our hotel and were allowed to check in early – it pays to be a loyal Intercontinental customer! We decided to go ahead and get the Expo over with – I really hate Expos, and this one was no exception. Not only was it a haul and a half from Metro, but it was a total snooze-fest. Plus, the womens’ shirts, while cool to look at (they were sleeveless and kind of soccer jersey-ish), were sized SO small that I will never be able to wear mine for actual running. I guess we giant American women need to miniaturize ourselves if we want to run European races.
On Friday night, we carbo-loaded as a team at a fun Italian restaurant near the hotel where everyone else was staying. On Saturday, we just took it easy and then joined up with the team for a strategy meeting and the Inspiration Dinner. It was a really emotional evening, for so many reasons, but it made me even more determined to ENJOY the 26.2 miles and really soak in the experience. I don’t know if it was the crying or the delayed jet lag, but that night I had the best pre-marathon sleep of my life.
Stay tuned for what happened on RACE DAY!!!
The Hungry Triathlete 
I just read this. Quite an engaging summary! One thing I don’t get though, why did you go for Italian food for the carb up? I mean, you flew all the way to Spain… why not Spanish food? 🙂
I’m running Madrid marathon in 2013… My first one. I don’t really like running (I know!). I’m more of a sprinter really. But I always wanted to do a marathon and since I absolutely and wholeheartedly love Spain, I thought if I’m gonna do it, it’s got to be there!
Now I’m gonna look for the rest of your ‘report’! Hope you’ve posted.
Well, the Team was going for Italian food, so I went along for the ride. Trust me, I am ALL ABOUT the Spanish food (and I got plenty of it during the rest of the trip), but I did not want to miss the team spirit, and people tend not to want to upset their stomachs before a race by eating new and strange items. So, pasta was the easiest way to please everyone. You will have a great time in Madrid – it is a fantastic race! Enjoy every minute of it.