How To (Or Not To) Run A Race In Spain
2/13/2024 - Fly to Spain - Raleigh → Charlotte → Madrid
2/14/2024 - Arrive in Madrid 0530; Clearing customs at 0600 was no problem and I grabbed my bags and headed to the first of many trains. In my slumber, I may have (definitely did) dropped my carry-on down an escalator, but thanks to the hour, no one else was on it. Navigating a new city’s transit on little sleep is not highly recommended, but knowing the language saved me. I was able to check into my room early which was a huge win. There was a decent amount of turbulence on the flight, so I did not sleep well. I took a nap for a couple of hours before hitting the town to explore. I headed uptown to Santiago-Bernabeu (iykyk) and grabbed a cafe con leche with cinnamon along with the first of many bocadillos con jamon. Took a little tour of Real Madrid’s stadium and then headed back to the hotel. Two-mile shakeout around Parque del Oeste felt right before the rest of the evening. I went to the Museo Reina Sofia for free to see some Picasso and Dali. Lots of museums have free entry hours in the evening, so I took advantage. Tapas and patatas bravas for dinner and finished the day. Sleep didn’t come easy though, even with exhaustion. Most hotels don’t have air conditioning, including this one, and even though it was February, it was still pretty warm with the windows open. 20k steps.
2/15/2024 - Slept in a bit and explored the city some more, hitting the classic tourist sites. Walked to the Plaza de Espana, Royal Palace, and Catedrale de Santa Maria. Found an Italian cafe and had a cappuccino and pan al ciocolatto. Next to Plaza Mayor and La Puerta del Sol. Finished off the morning with Palacio de Cibeles before heading back for a break. That evening, another free museum (Prado) before heading to dinner for pizza, prosciutto e funghi, and then back to the hotel, but not before going to Aldi for snacks. 26k steps.
2/16/2024 - Train to Sevilla; I do not recommend lugging a checked bag and carry-on through the metro in the morning, but it had to be done. It honestly wasn’t too bad, good thing Spaniards start the day late. Easy train ride through the countryside and then a walk to the hotel. Two-mile shakeout to see another Plaza de Espana, and this one was much more impressive. Highly recommend. Got a pre-race massage for 30 euro (60 min!) and to not make more decisions, dinner at the hotel. 13k steps
2/17/2024 - Expo and explore Sevilla. I wasn’t planning on 23k steps the day before the race, oops. Hydration, bocadillos con jamon, churros, and helado were the goals and I hit them all. Met Marcus in the afternoon and explored the town. We picked up Jacob from the airport and headed to the expo. Finished off the carb loading with some more pizza. I panicked a little here because I didn’t make a reservation. I saw a pizza place near our hotel and looked it up online to make a reservation. It looked like it was fully booked with the last reservation available being at 830 pm. In that moment, I failed to remember that I was in Spain and that the 830 pm reservation was actually the first of the night and the restaurant was just opening when we showed up for dinner. Once the oven was fired up, we got our pizzas, another prosciutto, and funghi, and were gone before the place even got busy.
One of many bocadillos
2/18/2024 - Race day! 0530 wake-up call for some espresso and napolitana de chocolate, yogurt, and a banana. Took care of all the race day prep and topped off on electrolytes. Strategically booked a hotel that was within walking distance of the start line. We left at 0730 and did a short warm-up run to the starting line and then headed over to bag drop. I amazingly ran into Marcus at the bag drop in the crowd of 13,000. It was much farther away from the start than anticipated, so I got the rest of my warm-up done literally running back to the start line. I still needed to pee again before getting in the corral and at that point, the porta-potty lines were not great. If you haven’t run a race in Europe yet, you will learn that people use the bathroom anywhere. I know it happens here too, but it’s on another level, no shame whatsoever. So, I found a tree, took care of business, and went to my corral. Took a gel at 0815 and was ready to go. Nerves were continuing to wind up, but thanks to the distance it took to get to the start, they were pretty much worked out. I don’t love to barge through groups, so I just took advantage of others making their way through and tagged along to get where I needed to go. I was able to work my way to the front of the 3:15-3:30 group and with my 3:10 goal I did not want to get caught behind too many at the start.
The weather was nearly perfect, 48 degrees and sunny with the start/finish right next to the river. The start was electric, with so many people cheering and groups playing drums to cheer on the runners. In Spanish, the cheer for let’s go is “VAMOS.” However, they don’t tend to enunciate their S very well and you end up hearing “VAMO” all the time. I’ll take it over “DAI” in Italy, which sounds like people are yelling at you to die. I trained in kilometers since the course would be marked that way. I was nervous about hitting my first km on pace because I got stuck at the start of my previous race. I knew my km pace needed to be under 4:30/km to hit my goal and I came in right at 4:30/km. On track, LFG! In Sevilla, they have a green line painted on the road to give you the measured distance for 42.195 km. Not everyone knows about this line, but my friend Marcus learned about it last year when he did the race and made sure we knew what it was about. In the first 5k, you encounter the biggest climb of the course, which is almost comical to call it a climb. The course descends under a bridge and then you climb out the other side. THIS WAS THE MOST VERT IN THE ENTIRE RACE. The race route has you do it twice, but I’m pretty sure half of the elevation gain in the race came from running that section twice. Made it through the first 5k well and stayed on pace, coming in at 22:18, 4:27/km. We made our way across the river to the west side of town and then headed south to make our way back toward the start line. I was still feeling my nerves a bit and my bladder was still feeling full. Not unusual for me to feel this way at the start, but fades a few miles in, but not the case today. I keep going though because I’m feeling good and smooth and don’t want to cut into that. Aid stations are equipped with water and Aquarius, which is a Spanish electrolyte drink. I had not been able to try this before the race, but luckily it was pretty great and I had no problems. I hit the second 5k in 21:56 and right where I want to be. As much as I wanted to negative split the race, I didn’t believe I could do it. I had struggled too much on the tobacco trail in the later miles of workouts keeping pace, so I went with banking time and holding on at the end. I’m 10k in, ahead of pace, and feeling good…except my bladder that still hasn’t settled down. It’s at this point that I decide to do as the Spaniards and find a tree. Much to my surprise, I peed for what felt like an eternity but was probably more like 30 seconds in reality. When I hit the pavement again, instantly lighter, I crushed a gel and went on the attack. According to my watch, I was dropping some sub 4:20 km times, but thanks to my pit stop, I hit this 5k in 22:32 putting me at 1:06:46 for 15k and still on track. It was around this time that I started noticing my watch giving me a little too much credit. I’m ticking off lap times that should put me in contention for sub 3:05, but I realize that my watch is about 200 meters ahead of the course marker. I start doing the math of how much of a buffer I need, but it’s early, and I don’t panic. I’m on track, stick to the plan. I recalibrated my brain a bit and set a goal to keep my watch times below 4:25 and keep pushing. We make our way back across the river and make that “treacherous” climb once again, but this time we head toward the northeast of the city. Another 5k comes and I hit this one in 21:55 for a 4:23/km pace. The goal on my wrist was 1:30:00 for 20k and I came in at 1:28:41. I’m ahead of pace and still feeling relatively fine. I’m starting to feel some tightness in the front of my right hip and my hamstring on the same side. My tendency is to have aches on my right side, so this is par for the course. I take another gel, this time vanilla to mix up the flavors a bit, and continue on.
I hit the halfway point in 1:33:27, 4:25/km pace. My watch is definitely ahead and that distance is growing. I’m around 500 meters in front of the course marker and counting on that 2:30 buffer to keep me in front of my goal. This is where the grind begins. I’m around the same athletes and we’re moving away from the city center. The course doesn’t circle back on itself as much out here and there aren’t as many spectators. I can see the map in my head and I’m so ready to turn right and head south again. 25k actually sneaks up on me a bit, but I’m cruising nicely and come in at 21:57. The discomfort in the front of my hip is gone after focusing on my cadence, but the hamstring is definitely still there. It’s not impacting performance, just letting me know it exists. I’m also coming up on my third gel. Whether this is completely mental or gel fatigue, I tend to have a hard time getting this one down and not getting nauseous. I had already decided to time this one earlier at 40 minutes instead of waiting for 45, so this one is kind of important. I go back to the espresso love and make sure to wash it down at the next aid station, good to go. The next 5k is at 22:13, so a little slower but I still hit 30k well ahead of my goal pace in 2:12:51. I’m still keeping a close eye on my watch as it is still giving me credit for an extra 600 meters.
The grind continues, but as we head back toward city center, there are more crowds and much more VAMO! We hit the southernmost point of the route and run by the Real Betis stadium and begin going back north. We hit the Plaza de Espana, which complicates things a bit with its cobblestones, but they are relatively flat and don’t cause any issues. The route around the plaza is a semi-circle, so not the fastest route and I ended up with my slowest 5k of the day, coming in at 22:39. I’m now at 35k and still on track with everything holding up well. In the previous kms, I did start to notice my quads were starting to tighten up, nowhere near cramping, but made a note to grab an extra cup of Aquarius at the next station. I had also planned on taking another gel early so that I could get the full benefit of it. This is where I almost derailed myself by breaking the cardinal rule of not doing anything on race day that you haven’t already practiced. I had to take a chance on the Aquarius, no access to that in the States, but the Maurten gel I decided to take at 2:40:00 was a gamble. I mentioned gel flavor fatigue earlier and I opted for the flavorless maurten instead of vanilla. The flavorlessness was fine, but what caught me off guard was the consistency. It was a little chunkier than I was expecting! So with 30 minutes left in my race, inside of 7km, I’m trying to choke down a gel I’ve never tried before! It took me a little longer than usual, but I did it and washed that down as quickly as I could find the water to do it.
I hit the 40k mark at 2:58:01 with a 5k time of 22:30. A little faster than the previous one and right on pace. I’ve got it! I know it! Unless something catastrophic happens, I have the BQ. It also helps that the final 2k is through the heart of Sevilla. We run through the old streets, surrounded on both sides by spectators, and past the Cathedral before turning back onto the main road. I’m glad I walked this section the day before because I was in too much of a trance to appreciate any of it. A fun fact about international races is that they will usually put your country’s flag on the bib to show your nationality, so you better believe that when a group of Americans saw my bib with 1k to go and were screaming for me, I dropped the hammer. The last 4 minutes made all the training, the early mornings, long tempos, and fast intervals 100% worth it. Turning the final corner and seeing the finish line with the timer reading 3:07, I knew without a doubt it was mine. That’s when all the emotions began to overflow, but I held it together long enough to get across the line before the waterworks. BQ! Marcus was there at the finish line waiting for me, having already crushed it in 2:40. We eventually found Jacob and the debriefing began. All three of us were able to set PBs and qualify for Boston. 2:40, 2:57, and 3:07.
I slowed down, but never hit the wall. Even though I didn’t negative split, I ran the second half just 52 seconds slower than the first half. I’ve had this goal for a decade, but if I’m being honest, this was the first time I took it seriously. I never really felt like I needed a race to motivate me to run, but I absolutely need one to motivate me to actually train. I went to places I had not gone to before, physically and mentally, and those moments got me through the lows of the race. My friend Quinn would always tell me, you’re stronger than you think you are, you don’t know how to hurt yet. He was right. This one hurt, but it was worth every ounce of it at the end of the day.
I wish I could say the story ends here with me running Boston in 2025, but as some of you know, 3:07:46 isn’t going to cut it. Last year the cutoff time was 5:29 faster than the standard, so there’s still work to do. Next step is training for that sub 3, coming fall 2024. Stay tuned.
Why Sevilla? A few factors are at play here.
The Sevilla course is notably fast with only ~150 feet of elevation gain.
Marcus lives in Spain. Jacob lives in Italy. We did the Milan Marathon together in 2022.
I turned 40 days before the race.
Post race with the crew
