Morning!

How was your weekend?  Last we left off, I was telling you some differences between food and food stuff in Madrid vs. Philadelphia. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed, but Sunday morning, I did something fun!  I ran a 10k to raise money for the Madrid firefighters.  It was so much fun (even though I did it alone) and I’m already signing up for other (short) races.  Anyway, here are ten facts about today’s race, including general observations about races here (not that I’m an expert…)

1 // The race course was amazing!  We ran straight down major streets in the city including Gran Via and Castellana.  Gran Via was closed especially for the race and Castellana was open on the sides.  It was awesome.

2 // My music stopped working during the first mile.  I ran out of data within a few minutes so Spotify kept starting and stopping, which was a huge bummer because I had my Spain Top 40 playlist ready to go!  And it’s a good one!  I occupied the time by, um, running…and thinking about things I have to do, how awesome to was to be running through Madrid, and other random thoughts.  The time flew by and I didn’t really miss the music.  Any more than 6 miles…yes, I would have.

3 // The race was a ‘bare-bones’ race, meaning no fancy things happening.  They said it was a “chipped” race, but unless this chip was invisible…not sure what they meant.  I didn’t miss all the extra gadgets.

4 // Only one water station on the course (not including the end) and they handed out bottles of cold water.  One interesting thing was that almost no one threw their trash on the ground like we do in races in the U.S.  Instead, people threw it in trashcans set up near the water station.  But, like I said, they gave out bottles of water, which meant people had one sip and then dumped the rest.  The earth wins some and loses some, huh?

5 // No food tent at the end- just bananas and water!

6 // Races here are SO MUCH CHEAPER (caps are necessary) than any other race in the U.S.  I did a 10k today and it was 12.60 Euros.  And I am doing another one next month that will be only 10 Euros.  Including a shirt!!!  That is completely unheard of in the U.S.  Usually races are anywhere between 20 and….40?  or more for a 10k.

7 // The race was up hill for much of the first half and then a glorious down-hill/ flat trot to the finish.

8 // The race started at 9:30, which was great!  So many races start super early in Philly, but it seems that 9:00 or 10:00 are the norm here.  The only limitation was that they capped the race time at 1 hour and 45 minutes, which is sufficient, but still cutting it close for new runners.

9 // After the race, I ran home, which meant I covered 8 miles before 11 am.  Then I walked an additional 6 today for a total of 14 miles and over 30,000 steps!

10 // I rewarded myself with Smooy…Plain yogurt with dark chocolate sauce.  So good and I enjoyed it sitting in the sun at Puerto de Sol.  Perfect treat on a perfect day.

And 11 //  I finished somewhere around 54 minutes.