When in Rome...

Wow, it's been quite a time since I last posted. And this time it's due more to business than lack of doing exciting things. In all actuality, the past 2 weeks have probably been the most exciting I've had since getting to Spain. One major reason for that was the visit of one Jordan Allen, a college graduate-turned Cracker Barrel 3(or 4)-star employee who luckily had nothing better to do than visit me in Europe. During his 2 weeks in Europe, we had many adventures, including a week-long journey to the hub of ancient civilization: Rome, Italy.
Since I had a long 5-day weekend and Jordan wanted to come, we took this chance to make my first Euro trip outside of Spain to Rome. After we made our reservations, we got the great surprise that Dustin and Bethany would be joining us. Bethany is doing the same Fulbright teaching grant I'm doing, only in East Germany. Her husband Dustin is just there along for the line, surprisingly studying Spanish at a German university. They are two of my good friends from Georgetown, so it was great to see them and have them join in on our adventure.
Jordan arrived to Spain on Wednesday morning (Dec. 2). I was able to get off work at the last-minute to pick him up from the airport. I had told him that I was going to be late because I had to work, so just to wait for me at the airport. But instead of waiting outside of the security area for me, he waited inside. After I walked the length of the airport 3 times looking for him for 2.5 hours, he finally decided to walk out of the baggage claim area and realized that where he had waited before was a place I couldn't get to. Eventually I find him and bring him back to my piso to wait for me while I go to work for 1 afternoon class. Right off the bat, adventure #1 out of the way. Later that night, I took him all around Madrid and tried to show him all the greatness that is Madrid so he'd love the city before going to see the amazingness of Rome the next day.
After a full day of class on Thursday (and by full day I mean 1 class), Jordan and I boarded a luxurious RyanAir flight on our way to Rome. On the flight, we had the fortune of sitting in front of a girl who talked literally the WHOLE flight to Rome. And she talked to a dude that was sitting next to her that she didn't even know. By the time we landed in Rome, I think everyone within a 4 row radius knew her life story.
After a short bus ride from the airport to Rome's main train station, we were able to meet up with Dustin and Bethany who had arrived earlier that day. Again, not an easy meeting. We waited for 15 minutes or so at the metro exit, only to realize we were at the wrong one. Instead of going to the normal metro exit where most people go, we walked to the shady exit about a block and a half away. But in the end, we found each other and they went with us to our hostel. Oh, and another great addition to the arrival story. While I meant to print out instructions on how to get to the hostel, it escaped my mind before leaving. So as our plane is taxiing in Madrid (the last minute possible, since I couldn't use my phone in Madrid), I was able to call Katica and get her to look up the hostel address for me. From there, we figured we could play it by ear and ask someone at the train station for directions to the street. Luckily this worked out and we got someone to circle the street on a map for us.
We made it to our hostel at about 9:30. The hostel we stayed in was actually a Bed & Breakfast called RitmoBlues B&B. There were only 4 rooms in the place, and our room was just a king-sized bed and it had its own bathroom. Pretty much it was a hotel. And Sabino, the B&B owner, lived right down the hall. It was a pretty sweet place, even though I think Sabino was worried about us being crazy partiers at first since we came in with Dustin and Bethany, who were staying at another hostel because our's was full.
The first morning, we woke up bright and early to head over to Vatican City. Again, us meeting up was a big ordeal. But an hour later, we went into the Vatican Museum to find Dustin and Bethany waiting for us there. When we get inside the Vatican Museum, Bethany is walking frantically towards the information booth. We see her and say hi as she tells us, "Hi. Dustin is being detained by Vatican security. We need someone who speaks English." So we look over, and yes, Dustin is standing against the wall with 2 Vatican security officers in front of him. Neither of them speak English, but they will not let Dustin move. Bethany is searching all over the lobby for someone to translate for them, and finally finds a guy at the information booth. He tells Bethany that the guard wants them both to leave the Vatican and not come back, but will not tell them why. Apparently Dustin went to get his checked backpack back from the bag check and they took off the security tag, which for some reason was a big no-no. After about 20 minutes of Bethany talking with guards, and finally finding one who spoke English, they had to apologize (for who knows what) and we were able to go into the Vatican.
The Vatican museum really was amazing. There was room after room of art, most of it painted on the wall itself. From works by Raphael to cool carpet tapestries by lesser-known artists, it was just amazing walking through there. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel. Even though we couldn't take pictures, the images of that room remain in my mind. It was not as big as I thought it would be, but it was still just covered with masterpiece after masterpiece from Michelangelo. There were also a lot of old relics and sculptures that I didn't know much about, but was still able to appreciate.

While you weren't able to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, I got some other good ones. This is a Raphael fresco. He painted himself into the painting, too. He's in the right side right before the door frame arches wearing a beret.

After going through the museum, we moved on over to St. Peter's Cathedral. As we walked inside, it really was the most impressive church I have ever seen. The little side chapels were just as big as a normal church, and the main area was massive. It was really cool to walk in there and just know how much history was in that spot. We even got to see the catacombs down below with many of the old Pope's sarcophagi. I stood on the very spot where it is believed St. Peter is buried down below. I touched the foot of the St. Peter statue that millions of pilgrims have touched over the years. It was so cool just to be in that building. We didn't get to go up to the top of the dome because it was raining, but I was able to see all of the Vatican that I needed to see.
We continued on that night to see the Castle St. Angelo. Many of you all might remember it as the Illuminati Lair in Angels & Demons. So we went inside at night, got some great night pictures of the castle and of the view to St. Peter's, then called it an early night after dinner. We packed a lot into that day, so of course we were worn out.

Luckily I didn't wear my speed suit to St. Peter's.
The Jubilee Door inside St. Peter's. This door is only opened every 25 years and will be opened next in 2025.
The inside of the cathedral was amazingly huge. And underneath we got to see the catacombs where many famous Popes are laid to rest.

St. Peter's was amazing at nightfall, even with the rain.
A night view of Castle St. Angelo from across the river. The angel on top is lit up, leading the way to the Illuminati lair.

On Saturday, which was Dustin's birthday, we had an early morning at the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. These two places were probably my favorites by far. It was awesome to see so much history still intact after thousands of years. And to know that millions of people had walked on the exact spots that I was walking on. Even though it was Saturday, luckily neither site was too crowded and we were able to spend pretty much all day there. That night, we made our way over to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Those two spots were also really cool. We got to look up through the top of the Pantheon where there's the hole, and see the Trevi Fountain all lit up at nighttime. We liked it so much there that we'd make our way back there anoher night.

2 of the Fulbrighters in front of the Colosseum. If only Jordan Sanderson could have been there, we'd have all been together.
Dustin loves to play Frisbee, and on his birthday he got to throw frisbee in the 1,000's-year-old Roman Forum. Pretty cool.
The guys (Dustin, me, Jordan) inside of the Colosseum as the sun was setting.
The hole inside of the Parthenon. Architects have tried to recreate a building like this, but still can't figure out how they were able to build it.
This is another fountain we visited that night, Bernini's Four Rivers. It was where the fourth priest died in Angels & Demons.

On Sunday, we planned a more relaxing day of seeing the Pope and searching for the Appian Way. We started the day off right with a run. Jordan and I ran around the Colosseum and up to the top of Capital Hill from our hostel. The sun was rising and it was a great way to start. Before seeing the Pope, we threw frisbee for a while along the river. Apparently, the Appian Way part not so much. We ended up walking miles, only to get to the start of the Appian Way at night. What the Appian Way is is the road that people used to come into Rome in ancient times. It has a lot of cool stuff on it apparently, and we thought it was closed to traffic on Sundays. Apparently by the time we got there, it was opened back up to traffic. And the road was barely big enough for the two lanes of cars that were speeding down it, yet alone the four of us trying to walk down it. So instead of making it to the cool part of the road, we decided to trudge on back in the cold darkness and wait for a bus back into the city. It was fun, but sad that we never found it.

Jordan running past the Colosseum.
Running at sunrise on the Circus Maximus, one of the oldest tracks in existence.
Us waiting to hear the Pope talk. This is where we stood thinking we had an amazing spot to see the Pope come out of his apartment, which we thought was above St. Peter's...
But for some reason all the other people were looking to the side. maybe that's where his Pope-Mobile rides in...
But no, they were all right. His apartment is on the side of the Vatican. It's okay, we still got to see him.

Monday was Bethany and Dustin's last day there, so we stuck around the city center so they could catch the bus to the airport. We went to two different cathedrals, one with Bernini's grave and the other with the Saint Teresa in Ecstasy statue. They were both really famous churches, so I'm glad we got to see them. But by this time, all the churches kind of ran together. From there, we went to see the Spanish Steps and walked all the way up them. None of us are really sure of their significance, but they were fun to see. And then we went to Piazza d'el Poppolo, another really cool plaza with some churches and a big obelisk in the middle. They had a lot of artifacts there that they just took from the Egyptians. That was pretty much what the Romans did, took whatever they wanted from other cultures and made it their own. Good work, Romans. We had to say goodbye to Dustin and Bethany, which was sad. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with them, and I can't wait to visit them in Germany. Too bad it's really expensive or I'd be there a few times over the next couple of months.

Jordan throwing a coin into Trevi Fountain on one of our return visits.

On Tuesday, after we said goodbye to D & B, Jordan and I took a day trip out of the city. We went to this town called Tivoli about an hour outside of Rome to see these two amazing villas. The first one, Villa D'Este, had a lot of amazing fountains and a really cool house. It was used by old Cardinals in Italy. The other villa belonged to Hadrian, and was thousands of years old. It took us a while to find this one, and we had to walk a lot to get to the cool parts, but it was worth it. The villa is thousands of years old, so you can imagine not many of the building were there. But the structures that were there were worth seeing, as were some old sculptures that were still partly intact. Even though it misted rain all day, we still had a great trip and I'm glad we went out there.

Jordan and I in front of one of the massive fountains at Villa D'Este.
Some of the remaining sculptures at Hadrian's Villa. These are thousands of years old. Pretty sweet.

On our last day there, we just had a very relaxing one. We started off with another run with the same course as last time, and still just as picturesque. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral where it's thought that Paul might be buried. And we went to St. Peter's in Chains, another big cathedral. From there, we relaxed in the hotel and went out for a final pasta dinner. We had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to catch our bus back to the airport to get our flight to Madrid, so we called it an early night and left early Thursday morning. When I came back on Thursday, I went in for a short day of work and then got to hang out with Jordan and show him the city for the next week, which will be talked about in a later post...

And on an ending note, this one's for the parents.
Yes, it's the Disney Store in Rome. And yes, there was a line of about 50 people waiting to get in. Crazy Romans.

and december is upon us...

Happy December everyone! Now that it's reached the great month of December, tomorrow will mark the 3-month point of my leaving for Spain. Exciting, huh? This past month has flown by, and these past few weeks have brought some adventures along with it. So now it's time to jump into my under-worked, KFC-eating, gym-going Spanish world.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go on an overnight field trip with my school. So without hesitating on the chance for a free trip to the mountains, I hopped on a bus bright and early at 9 am (yes, that's early for me considering i normally don't start work until 11:30) with 31 sophomores (cuarto's are what they're called here) and 2 female professors bound for the land of Sierra de Gredos.
The trip was to an English-speaking outdoors centre (as the English spell it) in Sierra de Gredos, a national park outside of Ávila. Before actually reaching the center, our bus made a pit stop in Ávila where we took a tour of the old city with Bob, our amazingly English tour guide. So picture the typical English old man: bad teeth, a little overweight, thick thick accent. Yep, that's Bob. Anyways, he showed us around the city and talked to the kids about the change in the city as it became more modern. It was pretty cool to listen to, but I was mainly just interested in the awesome old walls the city had. It was a really nice, old Spanish city that I would like to go back to.

These are the old city walls. They were all around the city.
Bob explaining something to the kids while in the city.

After just a couple of hours in Ávila, we herded the kids back onto the bus bound for Gredos Centre. When we got there, it wasn't at all what I expected. I was thinking we would be staying in tents or cabins or something, but this place was like a modern log cabin complete with wireless Internet and a salon with a flat-screen TV. Luckily though, I didn't have to split a room with the hooligan kids but instead had the luxury of a room to myself.
We spent two nights at the Gredos Centre and came back the third morning. The long day we had was spent hiking all day. The place we hiked, while Bob said it wasn't the best place in Gredos (it was rainy so we couldn't hike to the best place), was still pretty cool. It was an old glacier valley that now has a river running through it and all kinds of granite rock. We did a lot of walking, which I think I enjoyed a little more than the students did. We also spent one afternoon doing river research (and by we, I mean the students. I just took pictures). All of this was in English with Bob and another guide, and I was surprised with how well the kids were able to understand everything.

One of the groups working with Bob in the river.
If you can't tell, this girl was not happy when the guide told her she had to stick her hand in the water and see what kind of dirt was there.
I felt like this picture was necessary, too. If you can't tell, she didn't volunteer for this role.
This is where we stopped for lunch along the hike.
The views along the way were amazing, even though the weather was kind of nasty.
Me along the trail.

Overall, it was a great time. The group that I went with is not one of the ages I normally work with, so it was nice getting to know a different group at my school. They taught me card games, Spanish words I probably shouldn't know, and the inappropriate nicknames they call their professors (i.e. Professor Negative Points). And it also helped me feel better about only working about 10 hours a week, as I spent all my waking time those 3 days with these crazy kids.

The whole group outside of the Gredos Centre.

The other major event from the past 2 weeks was Thanksgiving. To be tacky Americans and celebrate our beloved holiday, Miguel and I hosted a dinner at our house. Since all of us had to still work on Thanksgiving (apparently the Spanish don't celebrate when the Pilgrims ate with the Native Americans. weird, i know), we all met up for a potluck dinner. For the main course, what else could we eat? No, not turkey. Yes, KFC chicken. I felt like it was appropriate that if I couldn't be in Kentucky on Thanksgiving, I would bring a taste of KY to me. In all, there were 8 of us in our apartment, including Becca's dad who was visiting from New York. A good time was had by all.

Thanksgiving at my piso- Vicki, Becca, Becca's dad Dennis, and me. Yes Dennis is holding the paper turkey that my parents sent me.

The other part of the group, minus Lisa- Angie, Baird, and Miguel.
Our table full of food! It was all so good! cornbread, KFC, banana bread, corn, homemade mashed potatoes, salad, and great Thanksgiving plates from home.

My Thanksgiving celebrations then continued with a Thanksgiving lunch on Friday at my friend Lisa's piso. Her (a fellow Fulbrighter) and her Spanish roommate (in his first Thanksgiving meal) hosted about 12 of us with amazing turkey, stuffing, corn, and pie made by different people. It was all really good, and I definitely took to heart how you're supposed to eat until you want to sleep. After that, a long siesta was really nice. After the siesta, we had a great night celebrating Miguel's birthday with Becca, Vicki, and Becca's dad. Let's just say we celebrated well, complete with a noon wake-up the next morning.

The food at the second Thanksgiving meal with Lisa, the proud hostess.
Some of us eating at Lisa's piso.
A post-birthday celebration photo. Yes, this is as the bar is closing at 2 am and we'd clear them out of their tequila. Good night...

To finish off Thanksgiving weekend and make up that I didn't run in the Iroquois Park Thanksgiving Day run like normal, I ran in a 10K in Retiro Park on Sunday morning. So you know those days when you look out the window and think, "Nope, not running today"? Yeah, this was one of those morning. Rain? check. Wind? check. Cold? check. The combination of wind, rain, and cold were the worst that I've ever run in. Still, there were 5,200 people that run that race. I felt okay considering the weather, but again didn't know how I was doing throughout the race because 1. the course was marked in kilometers, not miles and 2. the kilometers were completely wrong. So when I crossed the finish line (drenched and freezing) in 38:59, I was happy. This was the first time I'd ran a 10K in under 39 minutes (albeit just by a second, but still), so I was super pumped! When I looked later, I found out that I came in 80th place overall. Not too shabby!

Well, that's pretty much all the exciting-ness of my life over the past few weeks. These last few weeks here in Madrid before I head home are bound to be full of adventure. Tomorrow, Jordan arrives! Then we're heading to Rome on Thursday, where we'll be for about a week. We're meeting up with Bethany and Dustin, 2 of my good friends from Gtown (Bethany is in Germany on a Fulbright, and Dustin is in Germany... tagging along), in Rome. It's going to be a great trip, even if it is supposed to rain most of the time. We're looking for a race to run around Rome, and I made sure to re-read Angels & Demons in preparation for the city. Once we get back, I'm sure we'll do all the touristy stuff I've yet to do here in Madrid. And in just a little over 2 weeks, I'll be back home in the states for 2 weeks! December's looking really promising!

And in conclusion, here's a picture of the package my parents sent me, complete with 3 Muskateers, Thanksgiving decorations, a Disney reusable grocery bag, magazines from home, and the ever-essential Mickey Mouse balloon ball:
And a picture of my little brother rapping on top of my car. Yes, rapping. And yes, on the Geo. He better not hurt the Geo (if that's even possible):

Dia de Gracias

So I´m sitting here at work on Thanksgiving morning (no, the Spanish do not get off of work for the day that the Pilgrims and Native Americans feasted together), and I feel it´s only appropriate to ponder the things in life that I am thankful for.

- My family and friends back home (we´ll start off with a couple of real, cheesy ones). Yes, you all may be an ocean away, but that doesn´t mean you´re any less important to me. This trip has actually made me appreciate you all even more.
- My new friends here in Spain. I´ve been lucky to meet some amazing new cool people that have made my time here that much more of an interesting adventure.
-Being able to travel and have three-day weekends every weekend. Four years of hard work in college has paid off well.
- Finding an amazing puppy wandering around Georgetown´s campus about this time last year and having parents who were willing to have charity for me and my newfound pup Archie.
- A job in which it takes me longer to get to and from work than I actually spend doing work just about every day. And an amazing boss who uses the word rubbish (yes, she´s British).
- My upcoming trip to Rome with Jordan and Dustin and Bethany, and Jordan´s visit to Spain.
- Skype.
- The camaraderie I feel with the people who are also running speedily up the metro stairs to catch the next train, only to find that it doesn´t arrive for another 5 minutes.
- My morning 4-minute CNN podcast that keeps me up to date on American news, along with my morning free Spanish newspaper that keeps me up to date on other news.
- The holiday butter cookies from Kroger, and my mom for sending them to me.
- Principe cookies, and all of their off-brand counterparts.
- Seedless grapes and the rare occasions I locate them here in Spain.
- Tinto de verano.
- The Thursday night NBC line-up.
- Ikea.
- Brian Fellows. Well, just Tracy Morgan in general.
- Guilty pleasure music, such as: Danity Kane (r.i.p.), Kelly Clarkson, and Glee
- Youtube.
- The Starbucks vanilla frappucino that I had for the first time yesterday. After waiting nearly 3 months, I caved in and paid the ridiculous €4.40 (about $6.50) for a grande one. It was so worth it, though.
- The fact that on Thanksgiving night, I will be eating KFC chicken in my piso with some great American friends.

There´s obviously a lot more that I´m thankful for, but there´s a list of the things I can think of right now. Hope everyone has an amazing day, and don´t get too crazy tomorrow for Black Friday. I don´t want to see any of my friends on peopleofwalmart.com. Wait, or maybe I do...

A Guiri Journey to Granada

While I was in the process of trying to decide between the numerous amazing cities in Spain to go visit for a weekend trip, I talked to my great friends Becca and Vicki and asked them for their advice on where to go. Vicki tells me that they are going to visit her boyfriend Pedro in Granada, and I conveniently invite myself along for the journey. Mind you, this entire conversation occured as we were carrying Vicki's newly bought eBay bed through Retiro Park. And by bed, I mean entire frame and slats and all. Yes, very fun process that unfortunately was not captured with many photos. But I'm sure you can create the photos in your head of Vicki, Becca, Miguel and I all carrying pieces of wood and metal through a park with people rollerblading and walking their dogs as we pass. But yes, Granada. I then promised to bring the "fun," as I always do, on an amazing trip to Granada.
A little background: Granada is a small city in the south of Spain, between the Sierra Nevadas and the Mediterranean. It was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain when they were kicked out of the country in the 15th century by the Catholic Kings Isabel and Ferdinand. It's also the sight where Columbus went to ask the Kings for money to go exploring. With that said, the city has a lot of amazing Muslim architecture and Islamic building, as well as a pretty cool Columbus statue.
The city is about 4 1/2 hours south of Madrid, and we took a Thursday night seat. Since there were 3 of us going (Vicki, Becca, and I), I was lucky enough to get to sit next to a stranger. And I hit the jackpot, getting a guy who smelled bad, talked loudly on his phone, and kept leaning into my light space to read his newspaper. Yeah, great guy. And after we stopped for food, he got into a great fight with the lady sitting in front of me. When he got on the bus, he starting shaking her chair, which was down pretty far. I at first thought it was a friendly joke and he knew her, but then realized he was serious after he started hurling insults her way. He was not happy with the fact that her chair was so far back and all in my space, even though I insisted I was fine. The bus had started moving again by this point, so the bus driver STOPS THE BUS and comes back to deal with this little scuttle. He asks me if I want to move seats, and I am pretty much crouched down saying I'm okay and I don't care and just wanted to be left out of it. The lady in front of me was really nice to me about it all, but my ol' seat buddy would not let it go. Luckily I could just put my headphones in and tune him out.
Fortunately, this was not a preview of what the entire weekend would be like. The three of us had a great time in Granada, and had a great city host in Pedro. He has lived there and studied for 6 years (and is from a small village outside the city), so he knows the city well. Unfortunately he is taking the GRE in a week and couldn't show us around because he was having to study all day. I know the GRE was really tough for me, so I can just imagine how it would be for a Spaniard whose English is just a second language (even though he is very good at English). Luckily Becca had studied in Granada for a semester in college and Vicki had been to Granada many times, so we were great between the 2 of them.
The highlight of my trip was definitely the Alhambra. It is the fortress/city that served as the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. It was built in the 9th century and kept being added onto over the years. That being said, there are numerous elaborate palaces and gardens here. A lot of them have amazing Islamic carvings that make the building magnificent. It was in the running to be one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World," but unfortunately didn't make the cut. I know why it is in the running though, and it definitely is on my list of 7. The carvings were so elaborate and were everywhere. And the architecture was memorable. I definitely seeing myself going back there again while I'm here in Spain.

Me in one of the main courtyards.
Some of the awesome architecture in another courtyard.
An up-close look at some of the carvings that covered pretty much every wall.

One of my favorite areas inside the gardens of the Alhambra. My camera battery had died at this point, but luckily I was able to use Becca's battery.
The group (me. Becca, and Vicki) outside at the Alhambra.

Granada had many other amazing parts to it, including:
- A really cool cathedral, which we saw a flamenco group taking pictures in front of on Sunday.

The cathedral, and the flamenco group posing (possibly for an album cover?).

- Lots of cool markets in the Arabic Albaicin, including cheap hookahs. Yes, I bought 2- one for me and one to give as a gift.

One of the streets in the Albaicin, the old Muslim area. It was filled with shops and crafts.

- Free tapas with every drink you got. For those of you who don't know, tapas are the common food here in Spain. They vary, but are normally little sandwiches or croquetas or something like that. And here, they were good.
- Great views of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada's in the background from the lookout point.

The lookout point across from the Alhambra, complete with man playing classical guitar and singing. It was a little too cloudy to see the Sierra Nevada's in the picture.
And of course I had to jump in front of the Alhambra.

In all, there was a lot of great things that I loved about Granada. I can't wait to go back and see it again!

Oh, and a guiri is what they call a foreigner. It's kind of like "gringo" in South America, except pretty much always used in a friendly manner. So yes, I'm a guiri.

"Running" around Spain

It has been a while since my last update, and I know my readership (all 5 of you) is dying to know all the crazy things that I've done here in Madrid. If that's the case, you probably don't want to read on. Not much craziness here, but still some fun.
Since the last time I've posted, about 3 weeks ago, I've probably worked a total of 15 hours. My workweek is supposed to be 16 hours, but a lot of the professors just don't need me in class. Normally I would probably be offended by this and not know what to do with all my free time. But yes, I have found ways to fill that time by siesta-ing and visiting about 3 supermercados a day looking for new foods. I've also gotten a good start on my marathon training. I plan to run 2 marathons: one in Barcelona on March 7 and one in Madrid on April 25. I've never done one before, but I'm excited for my first 2 to be in Spain.
On the running note, I ran my first 5K in Madrid on Nov. 1. Yes, the day after Halloween, which means I spent Halloween at home relaxing. Next time I'll check to make sure the 5K isn't the day after a night I'll want to have fun on. It actually ended up being a 5.8K, which was not too well explained to us beforehand. But it was only 5 euros to enter, and I got all kinds of cool swag: a coffee mug, a cool dri-fit t-shirt with my race number on it, a sport backpack, a hand towel, and a pair of socks. The Spaniards really know how to do the gift packs. But I digress. The race: there were 7,000 people entered, some for the 5(.8)K and others for a 10K that started on the same route. I wasn't really sure about the whole start thing because all of the pace markers at the start were for the 10K. But I hoped we were all just starting together and jumped in somewhere about the middle. Luckily for me I was right about us all starting together, but didn't get far enough up and had to dodge people for the first couple of minutes.
When I talked to my parents the night before the race, they asked me if people run differently here in Spain. They then told me about a story my dad saw where people in the Middle East were wearing jeans and boots and stuff and running like madmen in a 5K. This is not the case in Spain, but this image was stuck in my head and provided entertainment for a while. One thing that they do is use kilometer markers instead of miles, which I didn't think about until I got there. So I had to think through what km pace I wanted. Didn't work so well, but I figured I'd just run fast.
Well, the race went really well. Like I said, it ended up being a lot longer than a 5K. The guy who finished by me had a GPS watch that said it was 5.8K. I finished in 21:15, which was great. I then hurried home to the computer to see what my pace was and what I would have run if it had actually been a 5K. My 5K time would have been... (drum roll)... 18:14! Yes, almost a minute faster than my old PR. I guess my strategy of just running fast paid off. It also helped that it was downhill for a lot of the way, but we'll just blame it on pure talent.
Aynways, I was really happy with my time and picked up as many free Powerades and Fantas as I could carry from the finish line. I also got a great free massage from a sports massage booth after the race. I also got a text message from the race coordinators later that night telling me my official time and place. For some reason, they didn't do places by chip time, even though we wore chips. With non-chip time, I came in 18th. With chip time, I came in 15th. Out of about 2500 in the 5K! Maybe Spain will be really good for my running!
My next race is the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. It's a 10K through Retiro Park, my training grounds. Hopefully that will, although a little hillier, will go just as well!