Madrid 1/2 Marathon 31 May 2014
This is how it all started. It was my cunning plan to lure Anneli to come down to Madrid to ride motorbikes before we left Spain. However, for Anneli the prospect of riding wasn’t a strong enough motivation so I threw in the opportunity of running half a marathon. She took the bait, but the condition was that I would run too, and no, 10k was not in the deal. So January 2014 was when running went from being a cheap once-a-week exercise to an expensive multi-equipment sport. I run at least 3 times a week and what was, before, a long run I would now consider short. Therefore, I have worn out one pair of shoes already and I’m halfway through my second pair. To add to the consumption, I have bought a gps watch (oh, yes, lots of fun!) quality headphones, and clothes… To some this would be normal, but I’m not normally a person who does a lot of shopping and spending, so for me, this is extreme. But indeed proof of how much fun it was running the half marathon. Despite being stressed about not completing within the 3 hour limit, hence buying the watch, I finished on a splendid 2 h 22 min.

Photos courtesy: Christopher Harry Calvert