Running your first
marathon is a unique personal challenge. It combines unending concerns and an
unusual enthusiasm, enhancing your illusions every day wondering whether you
will be prepared to face such an outstanding project, or you will collapse on
the run. But once you start with your training, and days pass through increasing
both your mental and physical confidence, you become aware that things can be
done if you really wish them, and having such thoughts must remain etched in
your mind every single day.
A second
marathon is a whole different ballgame. The entire mental process since
your first training day is a complete new story. Your goals and illusions have
evaporated after your first thrill and it is extremely difficult, especially
when running hasn’t been part of your daily life until you decide to go for IT, to find new motivational resources to
achieve a new target. But as I wrote on my
first post, running has become an essential side of my daily life, not just
for the physical aspect of it, but for the mental strength it provides you
with. Facing long distance running requires discipline, strategic thinking, and
a whole lot of psychological “work-out”. Needless to say that I am on my first
steps to getting my head sorted and organised to understand myself, but I am
fully convinced I’ll reach the day when handling my thoughts and feelings, with
rationale and criteria, will not become such a tough duty.
On December 2011, I started my running sessions focusing
on Maratona di Roma (March 2012),
just three weeks after I ran New York .
What a big mistake that was!! I did start very strongly, however in February
2012, along with some personal issues, I decided to stop my run during a couple
of weeks. Don’t know why, but usually 1Q of every year becomes a real wall to
overcome without reasons or justifications (…Psyque, that strange force,
indeed…).
At the very beginning of March 2012, without any
short-term goal in mind, I reset my training programme and started my running
without facing any clear direction. However, as I promised myself some months
earlier, I committed to run, at least, two marathons every year (one on each
semester), so I needed to take a quick decision. In terms of locations and
dates, it was clear: Madrid’s Marathon
was my new target ahead (April
22nd 2012 ).
March 2012 turned to be a weird month in many ways. No
big deal, but small concerns were permanently in mind and it became a hell of a
nightmare. Anyway, as I said earlier on, my training programme was reset. I
switched from a weekly 5-day training programme (MO-TU-TH-FR-SU) to a 4-day
training programme per week (MO-WE-FR-SU). I also reduced the amount of kms
from 75k/week down to 65k/week, and made other meaningless changes to my Sunday
long distance runs and gym sessions. It became really tough to recover from my
“vacational” 2-3 week period, and the sessions turned to be painful and tiring.
But, I managed to complete my scheduled programme with the splendid
support-in-the-distance provided by my dear running colleague, and friend (of
course) Amanda Barreiro (@Amanda_Marathon), who also completed London’s
Marathon for the second consecutive year.
OK! Let’s move back to my target: Madrid . As I said, March-April had
been busy months. As I wrote on prior posts, I went through tough personal
moments during the last couple of years. Many of these issues appeared due to
my constant dissatisfaction with everything around me: friends, work, internal
emotions, personal development, and particularly, Madrid . During the last two years I loathed
this city dramatically (not being exaggerated). Don’t know why, but my levels
of stress towards this town, reached a point of intolerance that happened to be
worrying.
But April 22nd appeared on the calendar. I
got up at 06:30am and
headed towards the marathon’s start line. I wasn’t very confident about my
performance, expecting a running time between 03h45m-04h00m, always within the
time limits established in my debut marathon (03h50m46s). I met three running
friends who ran with me during the first 15kms.
My pace was right (05m15s/km)
and I was extremely confident. My colleagues were keeping pace and the
atmosphere was excellent. We kicked-off from Plaza Colón and went up to Plaza
Castilla, passing by the Bernabeu Stadium. During the first 12kms the course
happened to be a bit boring for me, mainly because I had run that same track
many times on my training sessions and, honestly, the attractiveness of that first
quarter of the race was conspicuous by its absence. Anyway, from 15k onwards I
pulled hard and left behind my running colleagues. We were just about to reach Fuencarral Street ,
Gran Via and Preciados Street
and the atmosphere on the streets remembered me about NY. There were thousands
of people cheering and supporting runners, and I started to grow in confidence
and strength.
We passed Puerta del Sol (Madrid ’s city centre) and it was amazing.
Ahead we faced Calle Mayor and turned to one of the most beautiful places of
the race passing by the Almudena Cathedral, and the Royal Palace .
The similarities to NY, again, appeared in my thoughts. I started feeling very
closely linked to Madrid ,
thinking “this is my town” and that I had not appreciated the full
beauty of its environment. There was some kind of energy in every street that
helped me fly from one street to another. And, again, I was amazed.
Reaching Casa de Campo, around 27km, I started
thinking about the famous “wall” that
threatens every marathon runner. It normally appears between kms 30-35 and I
had to be prepared for the worst. In New York it did smashed me very hard, so I
reduced pace to control my rhythm in order to prevent for a fatal ending (yes, it
sounds a bit dramatic, but If you, reader, haven’t ran a marathon, then you
haven’t experienced the feeling of being completely unable to move your legs,
to move forward, because your muscles have, simply, said: “Luis, we’re done!”).
That moment is tough, very tough, and you grab to any thought that will provide
you with some kind of extra source of energy to reach and cross the finish
line. Again, my last 7kms at NY became a real hell of a nightmare, and I had to
avoid this in Madrid .
During the race I provided myself with some power gels
consumed at 10k, 20k & 30k, plus a great discovery that gave me lots of
energy during the whole race: gummy bears. Oh
yes, their effects were absolutely amazing!! As these little “teddy” bears
are difficult to chew while running, I decided to put a bunch of them in my
mouth and keep swallowing during the race. Indeed, the permanent flow of sugar provided
by these plus the power gel intake maintained high my levels of glycogen.
Once we had gone through Casa de Campo, 32k approx,
and after overtaking the 03h45m guide-runner, I felt so strong that I started
pulling hard again. My pace went down to 04m30s/km and started believing that the
famous wall was left behind. I felt strong, very confident about my
possibilities, and I kept pulling and running faster. The crowd was amazingly supportive
and approaching Glorieta de Atocha there were thousands and thousands of people
cheering and giving us lots of energy. The last 2k were ahead and the last hill
was about to come. I proceeded to face Alfonso XIII Street and pulled hard for
those 250m uphill. They
were a leg-cracker. Dammit!!
But…as this story has been written to have a happy ending,
I crossed the finish line in a very decent time, establishing my personal
record in 03h30m12s. I burst in happiness after raising my arms with rage and
emotion. It was incredible!!
I fully enjoyed running a marathon in my home-town. I
discovered a new Madrid ,
completely turning around my perception of this great city. Thanks Madrid for your
energetic support during the whole race. No one can achieve a positive result
without the help of the crowd, the attractiveness of a city, and one’s will to
outperform. It’s the connection between these that make a great team, never
forgetting that an individual can luckily perform well, but within a team someone’s
results will be outstanding…as these guys of “Walk off the earth” show us on
this video. Enjoy it!
Take care, fellas
L.-