Madrid Marathon

I was curious as to how I will cope running in the heat. The possibilities of testing this in the west of Scotland are limited …very limited. So when my pal Cherie suggested a few folks were heading over to Madrid for the marathon it made perfect sense to join them. Not only would it be hot but also it is also reported to be fairly lumpy for a city road marathon and with Madrid being the highest capital city in Europe, a little altitude would be nice.

Online entry sorted (none of this silly London “ballot” stuff either), a direct flight from Edinburgh, hotel fairly close to the start and it was all sorted. All I needed was some road marathon specific training !

Standing on the start line I was worried. Not because I was be far the whitest guy as far as the eye could see (even the French had better tans) or even the fact I had been stuck in various hotels over the UK with work the week before and had hardly slept but I was standing ready for the 26.2 without any specific road training (other than the Balloch to Clydebank half marathon). I had lots of cross training and short road runs at lunchtimes but all my long runs had all been on the hills. Whilst this would put me in good stead for the hilly bits …I was seriously worried about how the legs would cope the pounding on the hard stuff.

With something like 9000 runners and a nice wide road there far less congested than other marathons I have done and I was across the start line and running within a minute of the gun going off. Heading up towards the Real Madrid Stadium, it was nice to settle into a comfortable pace and just enjoy getting some kms done (all the markers were in km which give a huge psychological advantage making you feel like you are fast). Around the 7km mark we passed a local fire station and the guys were out in force supporting – magic ! I went through the half way point in just over 1 hour 40 minutes and was feeling fairly good but around 25km I was in trouble. Managing to keep the pace up but it was getting to be a bit of a struggle and there was still along way to go. At the 26km watering station, I took the decision to slow right down and get things sorted – an energy gel, some electrolytes and full bottle of water later, I felt better. Within about 15 minutes I was actually feeling good again.

A few months ago I treated myself to a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch (engineers like techy things) and it indicated I was well on target for not only beating my aim of under 3:30 but close to being sub 3:20. At about 37km I had a wee shot at uping the pace to the required level but at about 37.2km backed off a little as I felt the extra effort in the increasing heat would only lead to trouble.

To prove the organisers had a sense of humour, they threw another short (but significant) hill at the 40km mark and it was here I realised I was going to be just outside the sub 3:20. More worrying was seeing a guy collapse about 50m ahead of me. By the time I got there sufficient support was around him to allow me to continue.

The run into the finish was superb – loads of folks all shouting …something in Spanish ! I cross the line in 3hrs 20min and 29secs – a new PB and over the moon. Nice touch (other than an excellent goodie bag) was the free beer for runners. I took mine, sat on a rather nice bench in the shade and smiled. Manny would of been proud !

For anyone thinking about a city break with a run thrown in Madrid is highly recommended indeed.