I have definitely dropped the ball the last few days on blogging. I will give a recap on the weekend. It was pretty nice here the past 4 days. I went for a long run with my friend Isa. Our last one before the half marathon. It was pretty good and the weather was nice as well. We went to the mall too because Angela wanted to take something back that she bought awhile ago. Thursday night a bunch of people met at some friends' apartment. We stayed there for awhile and then went out to a bar for a little. We had fun and the bar wasn't super crowded so it was nice.
Friday was even better! We had clear skies and it was pretty warm. Angela, Isa and I went out to la ciudadela and sat in the sun for a few hours. Another friend of ours, Natasha, met up with us a little later. It was such a gorgeous day out. When we got back, Angela and I made pizza for dinner. The cheese we bought was not good at all though. It didn't really have any taste but we ate it any way. We had other topics that added flavor so I guess it ended well. Angela, Isa and I were sitting around in our sun room for a little after we ate. I went to bed on the earlier side though because the half marathon was in 2 days.
I had to get the bus to Madrid at 9:30 in the morning. It was a quick ride and usually not many people take that bus. Isa was saying that Spanish people don't want to bother with getting up that early which is probably true. I found my hostel pretty easily when I got there. I walked around for a little and eventually met up with Isa. We had to go and get our numbers and check-in for the half marathon basically on the outskirts of the city. We were really excited when we finally found it and got all of our stuff. After that we went looking for a place to eat. We found a salad place that was a buffet that also had soup, pasta and stuff. We had a good pre-race dinner. Then we went to buy some fruit for breakfast in the morning. It was too bad that we had to get to bed early because Madrid was playing Barcelona that night. This is soccer or better yet futbol. There is a guy on Barcelona's team who everyone is talking about because he recently scored 4 goals against the team Arsenal. They are saying he is the best in the world. But anyway I went to bed early or at least tried to. I didn't get as much sleep as I would have wanted because I was in a room with 12 people. I should have realized when I was booking for the night that it would have been better to get my own room. I ran pretty well despite the lack of sleep...
I woke up at 6 in the morning. Actually I decided to get out of bed because multiple people were snoring and I couldn't take it any longer. So I had some breakfast and then got on the metro to head to the park. They were handing out our chips that you put on your shoe for an official time at 7:45. I met Isa there and we got our chips early. We had to go back to where she was staying with her some friends from church so I could borrow some pins. This is the only race that I have have participated in where safety pins were not provided for your number. I had to use straight pins because it was all that they had. When we got back it was about 30 minutes until the start. So we jogged a little and stretched, then made it over to the start line. It was weird being in such a big race. There were just under 13,000 people running. I didn't know what to do. I was glad when we finally got moving. I worked my way up and around people that were running at a slower pace than I was. I definitely felt like I was weaving around people for most of the race but it kept me motivated. I finished in 1 hour 45 minutes and 54 seconds. My goal was an hour 45 so I was happy!!! I was surprised I ran that well too! After the race I went and sat and stressed, basically just collapsed, and a girl walked up to me and said she heard me speaking English at the start and just wanted to talk. It was nice to have someone to talk to after I just ran with 13,000 strangers. It was weird to not have a team there so I was glad she approached me. Eventually I went to get my clothes, which they kept for us, and I got my phone and found Isa. We walked around and took some pictures to commemorate the experience. I got the bus back home at 4. My legs did not like going from running for about 2 hours and sitting for 5. It was hard to get off the bus, my legs were soo stiff.
Classes started back up today. I caught up on sleep last night so it wasn't too bad getting up this morning. My first class got out a little early and he announced that we don't have class this Wednesday. For once I know what is going on in there with the lecture times! My Global Communication class is meeting this week for April. We have a lecturer from Texas Tech and he specializes in communication amongst minorites, specifically Latinos. I think I am really going to enjoy listening to what he has to say. Plus it is nice to have a someone from the US speak. He was playing music that is a representation of the US and Texas, it was kind of funny and made me miss home. It is nice to have a little change of pace in that class. He was also going back and forth between English and Spanish because he has spent a few years in Peru and Mexico so he is fluent.
Also I just checked the official results for the half marathon and I finished third in my age category!! I get a trophy or at least technically I should. They were handing them out the day of the race but I didn't know that I finished that high. So I sent them an email and hopefully they will send it to me. I also finshed in the 4003 overall amongst 13,000 runners!! Definitely not a bad day.
Angela and I just went out for chocolate con churros which is the perfect end to break.
Feliz dia!
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