10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Madrid Half Marathon

1. Rock ‘n’ Roll

I think that a race run by Rock ‘n’ Roll was a risky choice after the Great Ireland Run 10k Fiasco. Rock ‘n’ Roll doesn’t exactly instill an image of a Spanish Michael Herlihy carefully meticulously organizing a road race for runners. It conjures up images of a fun run with music which is fine but not what you are looking for when you want to run PBs. Luckily in Spain it’s sort of like the Spanish Michael Herlihy has ignored the Rock ‘n’ Roll bit and just used it to cleverly pay for the race organization.

2. A Big Cobh

I think that Madrid is a lot like Cobh. The hills in Madrid reminded me of the Cobh 10 race. Maybe Sonia O’Sullivan isn’t mad to think that the Cobh 10 could replace the Ballycotton 10. They got lots of Kenyans and Ethiopians to come to Madrid and run up and down the mad hills of Madrid, why wouldn’t they come to Cobh?

3. Toilets

I think that someone needs to invent a solution to toilets at races. The queues are always ridiculous. Madrid was no different, if you didn’t need the toilet when you got into the queue you’d need to go by the time you got to the front of the queue, the only big event I’ve been to that didn’t have this problem was Berlin due to the ample bushes. Perhaps races should only start in areas with bushes.

4. No Marathon

I think that I have never been so glad not to be running a marathon. In a moment of madness in the aftermath of Tokyo marathon I decided that it would be an excellent idea to do the full marathon in Madrid. Then I told Rhona and I quickly changed to the half. It’s very important to have someone to stop your nonsense. Unfortunately because of this I didn’t get the nice number with my name on it with the fada and had to use a generic number even though the half and the marathon started at the same time and took the same route up until 20k. Thankfully they still kept me in the first wave. When I stood on the startline and looked up the road at the big hill I was very happy to be running a half marathon.

5. Two Miles Uphill

I think that the first two miles of this race are like the opposite of the Boston Marathon. It is a ludicrous start to a race and would prompt massive complaints in Ireland. It goes straight uphill for at least two miles before flattening out a bit up beyond the Real Madrid stadium. You’d almost want to do strides before the start because it’s hard to get going uphill. I sat in with the women’s marathon group until we got to the top of the hill which had the added advantage of getting some TV coverage.

6. Plátano De Canarias Series

I think that Spanish runners like half marathons a lot. Half marathons must be the most popular distance in Spain, they love them and I can see why, they are an excellent distance that you can recover from quickly and do lots of. They even have like a Peugeot/Kia Series of them which is sponsored by a banana company from the Canaries. I think I’d be leading it if I’d done Barcelona Half which is a pity.

7. Lucho Herrera

I think that I felt a little like Sean Kelly during the race. I ended up running with two Colombian runners who were doing the marathon. They were ridiculously incredibly good at the hills but absolutely appalling at going downhill. So for about 8 miles we yo-yo’d back and forth until we reached the turn off at the Puerta Del Sol for the half and marathon. They went right and I went left. Just as well as the finish was uphill and no matter how much I’d have channeled my inner Sean Kelly I was never beating these Colombians on any form of incline.

8. M8 / M7

I think that the organizers of the Great Ireland Run should be sent to Madrid on a how to design a running route course. The split between the half an marathon was extremely well done. It was like the turn off for Cork on the M7 except that they made the gantries and signs for people like my mother. The gantries and signs were huge, obvious, in different colors and repeated for about 2 km beforehand so that you couldn’t possibly go wrong. There were lines painted on the road and people shouting. Very very good.

9. Dundrum South Madrid

I think it was great to see an Irish club organizing a trip to a race abroad. At the finish I met a few fellas from Dundrum South Dublin who happen to be Leevale’s enemies in the Peugeot Series which is like the Plátano De Canarias Series without the half marathons. Unfortunately races in Spain don’t count for the Peugeot Series which is terrible as I beat them and would have won the race for Leevale as Paco was running in the 10k so we could have made a good team. They had gone to the Real Madrid match the night before which was apparently the worst match in the history of football and terrible preparation for a half marathon.

10. 24th

I think that 24th was an acceptable finishing position in the half marathon. I can’t really figure out whether I ran well or not as I’m comparing it to Seville which was run in near zero temperatures on a completely flat course. It’s almost like if time is your only reason for running you should only run races from November to February as once it gets above 15 degrees and there are any few hills it’s impossible to run a great PB by me and people who weren’t there will think that they would have beaten you which is very annoying.