MADmusings #9: Running ragged - carnival in the campo!

Here we go again… running for the hills!

So yesterday the stage was set for my first 10K since September. I’ve done a few now (5?) and am generally improving in both my time and how I feel in the process. 

Casa de Campo was the setting, an absolutely huge park (the biggest in Madrid) and great for all manner of sports and nature. A ‘little’ haven getaway within a bustling capital city. 

Where be the people?

First off in these circumstances is to find the start/finish line (hopefully the same place) and where to dump my bag. I got there and there appeared to be no-one at the place where I was expecting everyone to be. No activity… a few people running around and some officials but I was a little perturbed briefly. It turns out, it was actually starting and finishing in a different place to when I did my other 2 races there!

Once I had figured that out and meandered my way to the correct area, I could hear the music, some witterings over the PA, and more and more people, so I had found my place… there they all were having the time of their lives! I actually preferred that set-up to the other times. 

I had left with plenty of time in hand, so that wasn’t an issue, and my little stroll around actually helped with not having to wait around too long at the start. Put my bag in the ‘cloakroom’, a little stretch and I was ready to rock and roll. 

Goals 

In that last race in September I ran just over 53 minutes, which is nothing amazing but I am fairly new to this. I play sports but have never been a ‘runner’ per se. The top people are up around 35m, but my goal is to go somewhere around 45 eventually and use it as a springboard for other sporting activity (watch this space ;)). It all depends on your level, so for some people a good time could be 1.5 hours. 

Of course, I want to smash 50m asap but for this day I was looking to just get under 53, so 52:anything I would have been very happy with. I’m doing a half-marathon in April, so this was as much a lead up to that as a race in itself. 

My previous race at Casa de Campo…

A little word on the last time my feet graced these particular paths. It was back in May last year and it was a bit of a nightmare in the end. I had a slight knee injury and it was bad enough before the start to consider whether to go ahead and run. I did (I was already there and hopefully it will be ok). 

A very pleasant day and I felt good going round. Although, I was doing some strange sort of limp running… I must have looked like some sort of buffoon making his way round, like I had escaped from some institution trying to get away. 

My kit from the infamous MS race debacle

By 'felt good', I don't mean the knee but every other aspect was great. In particular the lungs/breathing and mental aspects. In fact, especially the mental aspects all things considered. I would definitely have improved my previous time but didn't due to my physical limitations (turns out legs are an important feature of the successful runner). So when I crossed the line, I was in agony. 

Add all this to the fact that the race was all in aid of MS (Multiple Sclerosis), which is what my Mum had and ultimately died from, it wasn't my finest hour! 

I then proceeded to make my way home on the metro, and dragged myself around much like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. You know, the scene where he has taken that drug and is scraping himself down the steps? 

What a day that was. 

Courtesy of giphy.com

Yesterday's race…

Aside from that previous emotional and physical rollercoaster, Casa de Campo is one of the nicest circuits out there. Very pleasant run-around of a Sunday morn. However, I think it is also one of the toughest. There is a lot of uphill… and no, I don’t think it quite evened out with the downhill. Or that may be just how it seemed. 

In the first half of the race, there was a good 3k in a row of uphill… some quite steep and some more subtle… but still up! What goes up must come down. Just keep going. This part was about conservation and hopefully making up a bit of time and energy when we do finally hit some downhill.

No pic of me for this race, but this is one from after my last race… I'm wearing the same t-shirt, so not much difference ;) (don't get me started on t-shirts!)

Also, the terrain is a bit more mixed than a road race. There are a lot of different paths, rocky parts, a bit of ice from a recent storm etc. Then there was the ambulance trying to get through (some poor sod up ahead must have come a cropper) right at the moment we were at the drinks station. So we almost had this great comedy moment of people right a the top of a big uphill desperately tying to take on board some water and an ambulance and couple of police motorbikes mowing us down. Perhaps I should have just gone to the pub. 

Pacers & Markers

Sometimes you get 'pace-setters', ie. people running with some sort of identifier of what sort of time you should finish in continuing at that pace. This time, there were some people with balloons attached to them running with a number on. This can be useful, but can also affect you behaviour. The trick is to run your race but also use them as a guide.

I had run past the '55' guys and I could just about see the '50', so I wanted to stay nestled in there somewhere. After all that uphill nonsense I gave up with the 50… and then randomly a guy had stopped and was taking pictures and then shouting some motivational stuff (not now mate) and of all things he had a '52' balloon! Perfect, let's stick with this guy… but then off he trotted again at a fair old clip and I never saw him again. So I wasn't sure where I stood, probably somewhere in the 53 range at this point. 

Thankfully, there was some downhill and I did hit it harder. And the last couple of K were fairly level. The last race I put in a little 'sprint' finish… this time, not so much but strong enough. There are usually a fair few supporters in the home straight, so always good to finish well. I certainly don't want to be walking past these people… and plus there could be people I know there. Male ego, sure, and pride cometh before a fall… but there's plenty of time for a fall after the finish line ;)

A few pics from before/after the race where everyone gathered near the start & finish line

One thing that I did in earlier races is look out for the kilometre markers. This is a big mistake. Checking on where you are in the race is demoralising, especially if you were expecting to see a number 8 and it's only number 7. And then you're not sure if you missed one etc. 

Sometimes it's useful to get an idea of where you are but most of the time it's irrelevant and won't help, unless you get a pleasant surprise (oh, it's 8, I thought it was 7). 

I also think the more you do, the more confidence you have in yourself so you're not as desperate to get over the line, you know you can handle it. You may need to slow right down, but it's easily (relative term) achievable as you now have more knowledge and skill of both yourself and the task at hand.

On this occasion, I don't think they had a marker for every K. I saw 2, 5, 7 and 9 which I actually prefer. Concentrate on your race. Your little fight.  

That brings me to other runners. As I'm not looking to win or place in the race, I am not competing with anyone but myself. However, I will use the other runners to my advantage. For example, I might see someone running at the kind of pace I want and stick with them for a while… and it's interesting to see some of the characters come and go - whether that be smashing it up ahead, or lost it and fell back.

So, what time did you get?!

Back to my finish. 

I crossed the line at approximately 52:45 so mission accomplished! The official time will actually be lower as the clock at the finish is from the 'gun'. It took about 20 seconds or more to get over the start line and the little chip in the dorsal will record my 'real' time. I haven't got that info yet, but it should be around 52:25. Either way, job done!

[edit: I just got the result and my official time was actually 52:15!]

African drums after the race! I could have done with these boys out on the trail ;)

Next time I will be going for sub 52 and an outside shot of sub 50. 

However, the next race will be that half-marathon I mentioned on April 8th where I'll just be looking to complete it without stopping, pace is fairly irrelevant. I say that, but I'd want to beat 2 hours and ideally around 1hr 55m. That's working on the basis of 2 x 55m 10Ks and 5-6mins for the extra kilometre (a half-marathon being 21K). 

The cause

The race itself was in aid of South Sudan (providing help with education etc), more info can be found at https://www.correporunacausa.org/ which relates to https://www.entreculturas.org/. 

________

Ok, that's enough running chit-chat. A couple of days rest then probably a casual run on Wednesday and take it from there!

My weekend also included a good win for England v Wales in the Six Nations rugby championship! Not a great, high scoring game but more grinding out a result. And a shout-out to the canny Scots for beating France too! 

Happy Monday everyone! :)

~ Adam
@adambarratt

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