A MESSAGE FROM Road to NYC Marathon 2022!
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For the past few years, I have taken on bigger and more ambitious challenges. In 2014 I ran my first marathon, and what a disaster that was!
Playing soccer all my life, I had a decent physique for running. With a bit more than 4 months of training, I finished the Barcelona marathon, barely running, in a little over 4 hours.
I decided to go back to the drawing board and start building my way up, so I turned into triathlons. First, short distance and a few Olympic distance ones. After a couple of years, I mastered that distance so I increased the volume of training and went for my first Half-Ironman distance triathlon. I struggled to finish in 5h and 35min on a very sunny and warm day south of Barcelona.
I had finally built the confidence and strength to take on the mighty beast that is a full Marathon again, but Covid hit. I was at peak form in February of 2020, but Spain went into full lockdown just a week away from the race. My dream was put on hold. I remember burning energy running up and down the stairs of my flat, and running in circles in the parking garage of my building.
Fast forward to May 2021 and I was ready to take on again a Half-Ironman distance triathlon. Much better prepared than last time, I obliterated my previous mark stopping the clock at 4h and 45min. I was feeling good, in peak form, but worst of all, I was feeling confident. With the adrenaline going nuts in my body after finishing the race in good condition, I started toying with an idea for my next challenge.
A few days later, I decided to take on the ultimate challenge: I signed up for the big one, and I signed up for an Ironman. That Ironman is 4 weeks away as I'm writing this, a grueling 3800m swim (2.4 miles), 180 km bike course (112 miles) and a marathon (42 km/26 miles) await. The funny thing is that it will be my second marathon ever, and I barely finished the first one 8 years ago.
The New York City Marathon will be the culmination of, what I hope, it will be my best year yet, and if in doing so I can help an amazing cause like Pencils of Promise, even better!
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