Fantastic Perezoso, proud of you mate! Great effort to dig in like that over the last third of the race. You looked into the abyss and you really found yourself! I know exactly where you were running and it's hard-going, especially after 35kms. It's funny what you say about Casa de Campo as I've heard a few stories of people really struggling out there. In fact, I know someone who abandoned last year's race there, so full credit for keeping going. The emotions must have been immense when you crossed the line, well it sounds like they were during the race too. By the way, I've just seen the message you sent me in my inbox. It's a shame I didn't see it earlier as I'd have definitely called you. It sounds like your wife played an absolute blinder too. I was out on Calle Alcala (the penultimate, uphill kilometre for readers) for ages yesterday with my girlfriend supporting all the runners. The expressions on their faces were incredible; joy, despair, sadness, the whole spectrum. Heroes all of them. The atmosphere was fantastic. I was looking out for you for a long time but didn't get to see you. I was actually a bit worried about you as I was looking for your result on the race website in the afternoon but everytime I put in your number it came up blank. I was just praying you hadn't had to abandon and thankfully that wasn't the case. We went out for a few beers last night and when I came back I saw your post which was a relief and great to read. What did you think of the public support yesterday? I thought it was pretty good, especially between Nuevos Ministerios and Cuatro Caminos and tthen in Calle Guzamn El Bueno and around Bilbao, not to mention Calle Alcala and the Retiro. It was great to see so many people, some with megaphones, horns and even ringing cow bells in one place! Were there many people out spectating in Casa de Campo? My race, the half-marathon went ok, although obviously nothing quite as epic as your's! I was still full of cold but didn't feel too bad. Got to 10km in 46:29, so more or less the same as in the Madrid Half three weeks ago, on schedule and ok but I didn't feel quite as strong as in the previous half, didn't feel as though I had as much in reserve as last time. However, I got to the 15k mark in 1:09:28, still more or less on target for a PB. Then when the half marathon separated at 17k all the support suddenly evaporated, not surprising I guess but suddenly it was desolate, and then I had two kms of running into a headwind. Obviously, it was the same for everyone but I got passed by a lot of folk during this part of the race and the last few kilometres were hard going. It was noticeable that I had a lot less for the finish than three weeks ok. Final time 1hr 38mins 18secs, a minute and 15 seconds down on the previous race but not too disappointed as the Madrid Half was always the number one target this spring. Don't know about you but the bag collection was chaotic after the race. Loathe to criticise but they were just picking up bags at random and shouting out the numbers as if it were a raffle. Took ages to get my bag back, not great after a race. This meant I missed the final stages of the Men's Marathon which was won in 2:10:37. I think this is a course record for Madrid. However, I did get to see the closing stages of the women's race which produced the first Spanish winner for 15 years. An Ethiopian girl was leading inside the final km but tying up badly and you could see the Spanish girl finishing really strongly. Not bad for a mother of three! I hope you're feeling ok today but I imagine you're physically and emotionally shattered. Well done once again, a great effort. PS You should be able to see a video of yourself finishing on corriendovoy some time today. | 
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neil jones 26
