Silesia's half marathon report

Well, after four months without any post, I'm gonna try to start to write again, maybe I stopped wiriting cos my project, parties, trips, my knee injury, whatever, the important thing is that now I am motivated again.
I´m gonna copy a report that I wrote in my notebook on my way to Crakcow from a festival in Gydina (Poland) on the 8th of July.
"I am on my way to cracow after Opene'r festival in Gdynia, I'm going by train, so this journey will take to me around thirteen hours, I'm so bored so maybe its good idea writing some stuff on my notebook, when I arrive to the civilization I will upload this report to my blog.
Since I finished the half marathon of Silesia I always wanted to write about it, but sometimes I was busy and when I was free I was too lazy, but I told Martin I was gonna write it so now is the time.
I dont know If I will remember all the stuff but I will try to tell as many interesting and funny things as I can.
It was ten days after I ran the Cracow's Marathon, I remember that the day after the marathon Martin and I went to a tandem and we met a guy who had run the same marathon as me, he told us about the half marathon os Silesia, my legs still hurted but for me it was a nice idea, although ten days after running a marathon it was a bit risky. We were talking about that and Martin told me, "ok, tomorrow I will try to run one hour and fourty minutes, and if I achieve it without problems we will run the race", the day after that he told me that the trainning was succesfully so we decided togo to Silesia, he checked the price, and due it was so close to the date the price was too hight, but we wanted to run it so it wasn't an impediment for us.
The race was going to take part in Katovice, city close to Cracow where the gradnma of Martin is living. This kind of race was new for me because it was a marathon, but we had the chance ot start the race from the kilometer 21, therefore we'd join the rest of the runners. The marathon would start at 9am, and the half at around 11am.
We went to Katovice by Martin's car the day before just after the lunch, we left out stuff at the house of his grandma and we went for a walk to sighseen a bit, I had already been in Katovice but only for few hours taking a connecting bus, it has no many interesting things but we walked through  a nice park with a church and religious stuff, after that we went to the house again to take out running clothes on to ffor a soft run. We were running for 45 minutes, the aim of that was to warm ourselves for the day after, when we came back his grandma had preparated some dinner for us, bread with meat and some polish stuff, by the way, very nice grandma.
The day had arrived, Martin and I got up at around 8am and we had breakfast, afterwards we went to the finish line of the race, from there we went by a free bus  to the start line, as I said before we'd start from the km 21, for me was kinda weird cos we were just 200 runners starting from that kilometer, and maybe the whole race was composed of 600 people. We were watching the first runners of the race, after that we made a warming up all together with an instructor, I had never seen that before, it was nice. When all of the marathon runners had crossed the half marathon line we started our race, the "deal" between Martin and I was as follows, we'd run the nine first kilometers together and afther that, each of us would run with our own pace, this reason was the last to convice Martin to take part in this adventure, I say adventure because for being an erasmus, I mean, going out and eat a lot of fatty foot every single day it aint so easy to run this kind of race, and besides, whitout a proper trainning, even more difficult.
Well , we started to run, everybody started too fast, including me, but Martin was smart and he suggested me to decrease our pace, good idea because we had many kilometers left yet. After the ninth km we split up, I started to run faster , up that moment, we had run 9km in 50 minutes, in other words, 5:55 minutes per kilometer, I was overtaking a lot of runners, I thought I was running too fast but i felt comfortable, the bad thing was I did not know the track and sometimes I didnt know exactly how many kilometeres I had left, finally I went into the park where the finish line was, I was already so tired, my pace wasn't the same as after the kilometer 9 but my mind was strong enough, therefore I could finish the race in a proper pace, I crossed the finish line after 1h and 45 minutes, I ran 12km in 55 minutes, so I was proud of myself. I got from the organization water and more stuff to recover myself as energetic bars, I lied on the grass exhausted, meanwhile I waited for Martin, I expected he as gonna cross the line much later, but just nine minutes later he crossed it, definitely he had impressed me, I was so proud of him.
Then we had pasta and wigos to eat, we rested during a while and we drove back to Cracow. The goal of running a race together, as we had been talking about that so many times came true.
Right now he is already in Germany and my days in Poland are expiring, but I am pretty sure that we will run another race together, maybe a Marathon, maybe a triathlon...no one knows."

Queens of the stone age

One of the best bands ever

Marilyn Manson

From his new album

Music festivals season

Two weeks after I arrived to Cracow I went with Irene to see In flames, a great metal band, at Klub Studio, a concert Hall within the AGH Campus, I wanted to see that band since years ago, I liked them so much before the concert and after even more, very hard live, since when I realized Polish people love metal.
Well, it was the only concert until february, I love the music, and in Cracow for me is difficult cos most of the clubs suck, only commercial music, reggaeton, latin...so I can´t enjoy the music properly, there were two very cool clubs but they closed, at least in February and March I went to London to see Justice and to Edinburgh to see The Maccabees, I nedeed it, then i came to Cracow, we went to see "Gooral", a cool Polish band, they play a mixture between electro and polish ethnic music, the concert was great, it was at Pauza club, one of the two nice clubs left in Cracow.
Thank God the festival season is comming, on 10Th May I am going to Warsaw to see Metallica at "Sonisphere festival",  are playing more metal bands such as Machine head, Acid drinkers, Huner (Polish band).
During the first and second of Juny will take part "Selector festival" in Cracow, at Blonia park, the line-up is as follows: Chase and Status, Magnetic Man, Hadouken, Miike Snow, Totally enormous extinct dinosaurs... as you can see is not the typical indie festival, more electro and dubstep, i like it.
The weekend after the music in Warsaw, "Orange festival", and until now the bands are playing are: The prodigy, Garbage and Linkin park, very good bands as well, this festival used to be compund of around 10 bands.
And the big festival, very well-known in Poland is "Opene'r festival", from 4 to 7 July, in Gdynia, four days of festival with camping, i think is very similar to FIB, the line-up is pretty cool: Franz Ferdinand, Justice, Bon Iver, M83, New Order, Bloc party, Björk, the maccabees, Orbital, SBTKRT Live, the XX,...
In September i thought this year was to be light, talking about music, but theses months will be so interesting with such kind of festivals.
http://pl.sonisphere.eu/
http://www.selectorfestival.pl/artysci_en.html
http://orangewarsawfestival.pl/
http://www.opener.pl/en

Half Iron Man

 Nice video of the Triathlon (half iron man) of Cádiz (Spain) http://triatlontitan.es/videotitan20102011.html
And this is the documentary http://www.triatlontitan.es/videodocumental.html

My first marathon

Report of my first Marathon

The Cracow´s Marathon was yesterday, 22^nd of April 2012, but this story began around one year and ago, more or less in March 2011.

It was the last year in Elche, my hometown, I had been running one year before but I had to stop due to a backache, but after my exams I tried to run one day, I felt good and the day after I saw a poster about the half marathon in Elche, in one and a half month, and I though could be good idea to have that goal to at least training during one and a half month and also to try to finish it, but I wasn’t sure yet, but the following days I told to my friend Antonio “ey there is a half marathon in Elche, I´d like to run it”  and he told me he had made the registration already and he had been training since September, so with that I was totally sure about trying to run it.

We were this time training, sometimes together in the river of Elche and thought the city, I used to run 40 km per week, finally the Half marathon was a success, both of us could finish it, weeks after Antonio told me about another race in one city close to Elche the final weekend of may, we still training and that race was successfully as well, but harder, because was plenty of uphills and the weather was so hot.

After these two races my training was a bit softer due to my exams and because the temperatures were too high, the summer came and I used to run in Santa Pola, a coast village where I used to spend my summertime there, I was training 4 days per week but one hour per day at the most.

In October I came to Cracow, the city where I am living right now, doing my Erasmus, well, here my life changed radically, instead of run four of five days per week and only go clubbing once per week and eat properly, I eat a lot, drink a lot and too much party, trips, etc, so with this kind of lifestyle you can´t run even a ten kilometers race, and a very important matter, the weather is fucking hard, during the winter the temperature used to be under minus fifteen degrees every day, so the days I could run, I just ran 40 minutes because running in the cold is not so comfortable, but around two months ago, when the weather got better, or at least a bit better, I started to run three times per week more or less, and I felt good, I had in my mind the marathon of Cracow since I came here, but it was a so far away goal in those days, but in March I decided to pay the registration, thanks to my friend Martin I could it, because without his help I couldn’t make the registration because all the information was in polish, and he made all the stuff in connection with the registration, as I had done one year before, the aim of this goal was to run more frequently and to eat a bit healthy, it was still difficult for me cause, in March I was persevering with my training until I went travelling during two weeks, when I arrived to Cracow I started again, I said I wouldn’t run the marathon if I didn´t run at least one day thirty kilometers, but I couldn´t because I didn’t have enough time and the race was so close, so I decided to risk, to run the marathon without at least one training of thirty kilometers, the maximum distance I had run until that time was twenty two kilometers.

One week left to the marathon, during this week I ran two days, fifty minutes in a slow pace and, one hour slow as well the other day, on Wednesday I took my bike with my friend David and we were riding through the track to reconnoiter it, this week I only ate pasta and water to drink, nothing of beer, nothing of vodka, the first time since I was in Cracow.

The day of the race had arrived, I woke up at half past seven, the race started at nine thirty, I ate some bread with oil and ham, a banana and a piece of energetic bar, I wasn’t so hungry, I had an appointment with my friends David and Martin in the start line at nine o´clock, I was stretching in my room for a while, a took a shower and I went to Blonia, it was the park where the start point took place, there I saw my friends, they wish me good luck and the race started.

 I stayed in the area of four hours, but I kept my sight in the three hours forty five minutes balloon, we started to run, as always was so difficult during the first five kilometers because the runners, then the race became more comfortable, during the ten first kilometers I was running in a slow pace, but after that I started to run faster and overtaking a lot of runners as I did on the half marathons, I thought I was too fast and I tried to go slower but was difficult for me , I don’t know why, so I kept running like the race was a half marathon instead of a marathon, then we were running through the old town, I noticed when we arrived to Rynek, that is the main square of Cracow, runners started to increase their pace and finally I overtook the 3:45 hours balloon, when I pass the fifteen kilometer I felt already a bit tired, but the water made me feel better.

In the kilometer seventeen I caught an around 45-year-old guy, he was running in a fast pace and I though could be good idea to keep my pace, following him, sometimes I overtook him but we were so close to each other, I realized that in the refreshing points he stopped to drink water during ten seconds, maybe to recover himself and then he started again to run, finally I made the same as him, the old and experimented runners can give you good ideas and tips, we were running together during ten kilometers more or less, I passed the line of half marathon in one hour and forty nine minutes, to be a marathon, too fast as I said, I that point I ate one of my two gels, I had to mix it with water cause it was to dry. I was running in that pace until the kilometer twenty seven more or less, finally the guy overtook me and I couldn´t caught him again, I thought I had to go down my pace, otherwise I wouldn’t finish the race, from the kilometer thirty my strength weren´t the same as five kilometers before, I started to run more with my mind than with my body, but in that moment I saw martin with his bike and he could cheer me up, he was talking with me for a while and following the race next to me during three kilometers, but he had to ride on the walk side because was forbidden to the rest of the people to stay in the race way, in the thirty three kilometer I was already fucking wasted, almost three hours running, I decided to eat my second gel, and then some orange from a catering point, plus water of course, but those stuff weren´t enough for me, I was so weak, in that point of the race each kilometer was like ten.

In the kilometer thirty six I had to stop, I couldn’t even walk, I stretched a bit my legs and I kept on running, then I saw the Wisła river, the last kilometers will be there, and I almost seeing the end of the race, but still five kilometer left, I had to stop again several times in the river cause my strength were disappearing, my legs were shaking, I ate a piece of banana, I saw Martin and he told me “vamos vamos ximo you look so good”, totally a lie, but anyway it was good to cheer me up, I needed it, I got off the river, two kilometers left, I was running so slow, I arrived to Blonia, the last kilometer, I kept on running, I stopped once again but from there I started to run fast again, I felt better, many people cheering up close to the meta, I saw again Martin and then Mathias, I gave him five, only twenty meters, I ran as in the beginning of the race and finally I crossed the meta line, marathon finisher.

Maybe one of the longest three hours and forty five minutes of my life, but definitely is worth it, the people of the organization gave me a space blanket, a heavy bag with stuff like water, chocolate, a banana, I couldn’t hold it, I went to the common area of the runners, I couldn’t even be standing, I had never felt my legs like that, I sat down on the floor covering myself with the blanket because I got cold .

Then I moved to the place when I saw Mathias to talk with him and Martin but I couldn’t find them, I couldn´t walk so I layed on the grass of Blonia during half an hour until I came back home, it took to me twenty minutes the way I used to do in five hahah.

Of course, this marathon has been the hardest race I have ever run, but in the same time, the most enriching. During the marathon you can see people from eighteen to eighty, and then you realize about the incredible capacity for overcoming boundaries of some people. After this challenge I am wondering how people can do the iron man…

 I hope these two year running such kind of races are just the beginning of much more years practicing this nice sport, more half marathons, more marathons, and who knows, maybe I will start to do triathlons in a nearby future.

By the way, if I would have written this story in Spanish would have been much more interesting and funny, but I wanted to write it in English, is an effort I have to make to improve it.

Arctic monkeys

Electricity. New single from "R U Mine?" EP.