(Thanks to Ana for the report)
After finishing San Sebastian marathon on a high (not every day you get an 18 min PB a month after your 1st marathon!), foolishly or not we decided to register for Seville on the 19th Feb. We trained through Christmas, in all kinds of weather, mostly cold but we did it. And we LOVED the tapering ;o)) When training for Dublin I felt the tapering was a time to get anxious. Training for San Sebastian, well it was all tapering, training for Seville, we loved the tapering ;o)))
Saturday 18th Feb
We took the 7am flight to Seville. Airport was packed! Got to the plane, full of ‘skinny people’ as the lady next to Hilary put it. Arrived in Seville and we decided to go the Expo directly as it was close to the airport.
The Expo was quite big, I was not expecting it. I expected it to be like San Sebastian (6 stands in total) but it was more like Dublin. Maybe not as big but almost. We went to get the number and the rain jacket. No queues at all. 14000 runners were registered, even though ‘only’ 12000 collected the number, but even so. I would say there were at least double the amount of desks than in Dublin and hence I guess the no queue?
We collected our ticket for the Pasta party and went to have a look around. We went by all the stands, collected LOTS of leaflets for other marathons and I stayed listening to a couple of very good Spanish runners talks while Hilary went to get some water. Off to the Pasta party… walked into a line, and we saw the system… 4 lines, 1 goes to the last counter, 2nd to the second counter… etc… no waiting time again. It was a big, big hall with long tables. We took our tray with pasta with tomato, cheese and oregano, fried corn, bread, apple and something else. Many drinks to choose from and as many as you want, water, coconut water, fanta, coke, beer. When we were getting our trays one of the volunteers asked us if he would take our suitcases so we could be more comfortable… so he followed us until we got a seat. That is some service!
Pasta was really nice, place was not very packed which was great. All runners and their families…. Really nice atmosphere!
After that we went to get the bus to the hotel. Hotel was very nice. Simple but very clean and perfect for us. A bit too warm but great. Beds very comfy and shower fantastic!
We went for a walk close to the Alcazar and Giralda. Tapas and massive pizza for dinner! Night, night!
Sunday 19th February
We got up at 6.15. We had an 8.30 am start and we planned to leave the hotel at 7 to get there by 7.30, bag drop, toilets and get to start line….
The hotel moved the breakfast time to 6.30 as there were many marathoners staying there. All French. We had breakfast, back to the room to get ready and get the stuff. Down to reception to get a taxi to go to the Stadium. Tonnes of people… well, of course…. We went to the bag drop organised by slots of 300… I asked the volunteer if he could put Hilary’s and my bag together and he said they organise them by number!
Off to toilet and to start line. It was windy and cold so we wore a poncho until start line. We were split by corrals in 2 lines…. And very soon off we went … The 10K+ runners left the start line in 4 minutes!!!!!!
Soon the fast ones overtook us and we stuck to our ‘undecided’ pace. Hilary spotted a group of 3 that were doing the same pace and we went behind them. They soon started talking to us and made sure we were all together. There was an ‘older than us’ man and a couple younger than us, or maybe same age… young anyway… The older man was full of knowledge and advice. He really was good to everyone, chatting, giving advice, telling us to slow down when we were going a bit too fast, time to have a gel… etc… he really was good. At some point we were in a group of 7. It felt good and comfortable.
At the 8th K we passed by Torre del Oro (Golden tower). This Tower is by the river and has its name because of the colour it gets with the reflection of the water. There were lots of groups that were together… There was a couple from Drogheda, Hilary was chatting to them for a bit.
The roads were very wide, the weather was cloudy and windy at start. The water stations, they were something else! Start on the right with lots of water… then orange isotonic drink… then sponges to cool yourself down. Then to the other side of the road, left…. Water and lemon isotonic drink and sponges… I would say they were about 300m long. The number of volunteers was unreal, and there was a water station every 2.5k. I have to say the organisation was fantastic, really, really good! I know I have not much experience in marathons but I have to say… both days were amazing….
There was lots of support along the way. To me, being Spanish, I found the accent, the expressions , etc… very funny. The way they speak in Seville and south of Spain is very different to the North, like mine. The expressions they have are very funny… I tried to translate to Hilary everything. Don’t know if made much sense to her but I tried ;o))
We arrived at Half marathon point… we had lost 2 along the way from our group of 7, but the other trio stopped to go to toilet and Hilary and myself continued. Half done…. Felt really good! Let’s keep going. This time I didn’t for a HM PB within the Marathon. Damn! I have to work on that ;o))) We kept talking and everything was fine… weather was getting a bit warm but still manageable. As well with so many water stations you wouldn’t get bored. On the way, we met the younger couple and told us that Kiko ( the other one’s name) started to have some pains and had to slow down. Then we passed them…
I thought that Parque Maria Luisa with the Plaza de Espana was at 30km… but it was 35k… that was a bit of a killer but eventually we got to the park. I could not believe there was a water station there too. Not as big but nevertheless, inside the park… to clean that! We got to the Plaza de Espana… it is amazing. Stopped for a second to get a selfie taken, as there were no photographers around! ;o)
The Plaza de España is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a mix of renaissance and Moorish architecture. It is so, so beautiful.
Suddenly Kiko passed us. It was only 7 k to go… who can’t do 7k… I kept telling that to myself. Leaving the park, we went into the city centre, running by the middle of the city. Passing the Giralda (Arab tower built but used to build the Cathedral attached to it)… supporters made a corridor for the runners to run by… I felt a little bit ‘enclosed’, we were all at same pace… very slow. Hilary stopped for the loo and I kept going as she was going to catch up with me. Leaving the centre and crossing the la Barqueta bridge to get to the stadium, about 2k or so… Lorenzo (Spanish nickname for the sun) came out, in a mean way… I kept thinking, everything was so good, why now… It did feel like a slap on the face but hey… Kept going… I could see another water station and after then, in a k or so the Stadium. I kept thinking I don’t need to drink anymore, I am fine but the heat…. I did not think at that time that water is also for pouring over. Anyway… Hilary was with me and all I wanted was to arrive. I was quite tired and maybe a bit upset? Everything was so, so perfect until the last 5k/3m or so and then… Anyway… we were there, under the tunnel and into the Stadium… longest last few metres ever but we were there. Thanks to Hilary!!! So, so happy to have it done, to finish! And arms in the air, and hugging each other we arrived at the Finish line. It was really, really good.
We got lots of pictures taken. Back to happiness again. Lots of hugs… I have the memory of chatting and laughing all the way during the marathon. There was a point at the beginning where the laughs were LOL!
We were given the medals and a sheet of plastic… believe it or not there was a very cold wind. We went into the stadium and used the plastic sheet to do the leg drains.
When going to collect the bags, there were oranges, bananas, a whole collection of drinks as well.
We were taking a while with leg drains, etc… we left the stadium and went to the bag drop. We met Kiko and his friends. Could not believe the younger guy had a perfect English and was talking to Hilary afterwards. I guess we didn’t have time to talk during the marathon ;o)))) They were delighted too. We could not believe either that it was Kiko’s 1st marathon!
I should have known better, the Stadium is in the middle of nowhere so not much transport. We were asking the 4 people left on street where to get taxis etc…. so we treated this as our cool down. Eventually we saw the police and asked them where we could get a taxi. They sent us to ask their colleagues on the other side of the road. We did, and just when we were talking, he lifted the arm and taxi was just there ;o))) No, we did not arrive to hotel in a police squad. We took the taxi. Taxi driver was mentioning that many streets are still closed and it is a nightmare to get anywhere. In 10 mins we were at the hotel.
We had a brilliant time. Rested a bit and went out for a quick dinner as we were tired. Back to the hotel at 1am – Hilary’s bad influence ;o)))
Thanks so, so much to Hilary for this amazing weekend! Everything was perfect! (the laughs!)
