Spanish Weekend - "Malaga Marathon"

If the choice of an autumn marathon was quite easy, as it was chosen from Ukrainian marathons, then the marathon for December was wanted to choose from foreign starts and in a country to which I had not yet entered. Initially, he decided to opt for Italy and one of its December marathons in Pisa or Ravenna. But since for the time being for me, the marathon is basically running for my pleasure and the main goal that I try to pursue in marathons is to get my body accustomed to this distance and the load that it receives under the marathon. Therefore, the Italian start decided to postpone until better times. He decided to shift his attention from Italy to Spain. From the Spanish running events, my attention was drawn to the marathon in Malaga, so it seemed to me like a pretty good marathon that could end the season.

Registration
Registration for the “Malaga Marathon” took place on the official website of the marathon zurichmaratonmalaga.es. Where a participant can choose one of two distances (marathon or half marathon) and then fill in their contact details, choose the size of the t-shirt (in this case sweatshirts), you can also choose different additional options for an additional fee (medal engraving, marathon t-shirt, finish photo) and pay the entry fee. After that, a letter arrives in the mail that you have participated in the marathon. The starting number is assigned a few days before the marathon starts. You can also optionally register for the Breakfast Run, which runs the day before the marathon starts and is a 5km morning run at SportExpo.

Road
After paying her entry fee for the marathon, it was her turn to plan the trip to Spain herself. The road took me quite long, there were several transfers, so apart from the main major airports of Kyiv and Malaga, I had to visit Warsaw and Barcelona and change 3 planes. Since the road was long, in anticipation of the planes, the company made me a book by Maxim Kryvenko "Run your best marathon". Departing Thursday morning from Kyiv after 24 hours still reached Malaga. Therefore, on arrival, he immediately went in the direction of its center. As the check-in at the hostel started at 3 pm, I decided to get a little more familiar with the city and its streets.

SportExpo offers its work on Friday but still did it on Saturday morning. Since it was the first day of his work and all things interesting "Breakfast ran", "Pasta Paci" had little to do on Saturday. So on Friday, they created a little something, having seen from a long person and more attention, they got acquainted with the city.

Run
Saturday morning and almost all day I went to SportExpo. It started off quite interestingly with Breakfast Run, which started at Estadio Ciudad de Málaga. Of course, there was no adventure here, but more precisely, finding how to get your startup number for Breakfast Run, and this has grown into a whole quest. Since Friday the numbers were given to him at SportExpo in the “Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena”, but on Saturday morning it was closed and where to take them was not very clear. But before the start, I still managed to find my starting number and went to my first jog Malaga.

My visit to Breakfast Run was not in vain as it was the place where I was able to meet the first Ukrainians from Sumy, with whom we ran "Breakfast Run".

SportExpo turned out to be pretty good. There were as always many different sports goods and accessories, and the presentation of quite good marathons (Seville, Ravenna, Porto, Castellano, and Vittorio - Castez) and “Málaga Tour Running” - a company that offers running tours around Malaga.

After SportExpo I was waiting for “Pasta Pati”, which also took place in the company of Ukrainians only from Kyiv. After chatting with them, I headed to my hostel to rest on a Sunday adventure.

Sunday started quite early, just as the marathon started at 8:30 in the morning. Here, too, there were no adventures, so when arriving at the start of the marathon I met runners who were preparing for the start, tents for massage, volunteers, but one thing I could not find was a luggage office. So again, I had to wander a little before finding them. Putting my things in storage, I headed to the start place to conquer my third marathon and last marathon in 2019.

The start was common for the marathon and half marathon, and participants of two distances started in the same starting corridor. The route of the marathon is quite interesting, as most of it runs along the waterfront with beautiful scenery and is almost flat, with small climbs occurring at the beginning and before the finish. And it covers almost all the city, and its last kilometers are passing through the old part of the city. The only thing that bothered me before the start - the wind, as the waterfront of Malaga, is quite windy and especially not very eager to run against the wind.

Starting a marathon turned out to be quite easy, especially considering that I was not prepared for it. Before the start, he chose a pacemaker for 4:30 and tried to hold on to the first part of the marathon. The first 21 kilometers are quite familiar, you admire the surrounding landscapes, try to keep to your rhythm and pacemaker. From time to time running into hydration points over water or isotonic. Volunteers divided the 21 km into the race, half marathon runners and marathon runners were sent to the second part of the race. For me, the most interesting thing began about 25-26 kilometers, when the right leg began to erect seizures and had to stop completely to put it in order. Having dealt with the seizure, a few kilometers about myself they decided to remind the sneakers, more precisely the pebble, which somehow got inside and started to rub a leg and which managed to get rid of only the third attempt. After that, there was no place to hurry and the mood started to fall a little.

But here I was met by a Spaniard Carlos, who attended the Kyiv City Marathon this year and had a little distracted conversation. The last kilometers of the marathon was held in the old part of the city, which was dominated by an atmosphere of constant celebration and excellent support from the marathon participants. After 4 hours of 50 minutes, I still reached the finish line. After that, the Marathon in Málaga became for me a story full of interesting adventures and impressions and joined my predecessors from Copenhagen and Kramatorsk.

Impression
Well, the "Malaga Marathon" is a good enough marathon to finish the running season and sum up the season, with a good enough organization, as evidenced by the presence of "Road Races Bronze Label". The plain route in one circle and the beautiful scenery, without great ascents, the entire route passes on the asphalt only in the old part of the city there is a tile. Good support for participants especially in the last kilometers of the marathon, which takes place in the historic part of the city near the local cafes.