Mail saga

This topic amazes me, even after living here for many months.

As I was collecting the mail I noticed a postcard with my handwriting. I couldn't imagine what it could be. Had I mailed something that had been returned? I hadn't put my return address on a postcard. It took a long moment, but then I remembered I had written from Madrid.

But we had left Madrid 1 March!

I checked the back and noticed my date, 27/2/17.

Then I checked the postmark, 10/3/17.

I probably mailed the card in the evening of 28/2, so maybe it was not picked up until 1/3. And maybe it got stuck or fell out of a bag so that explains why it was not mailed for another nine days. What I have no guesses about is why it would take an entire week to get from Madrid to a suburb of Barcelona.

On the positive side, it was the first time I had bought a stamp for use within the country and liked the origami elephants.

Adding to my collection

I used to want to attend a game at every Major League Baseball stadium, but they kept knocking them down and building new ones. Yesterday I added to a different collection, which is swimming in or attending events at Olympic pools. It is getting harder since they use temporary pools more often (see the 2016 Rio pool here).

One thing in my goody-bag from the marathon people was a group of coupons
for places on Montjuic, which is close to the start of the run. One was for a
swim in the Olympic pool, which was just a train, metro, and bus ride away.

I don't usually give money to people who play music on the metro, but I was
impressed by the guy lugging around his double bass, not just an accordion.

Not a bad view while waiting for the bus.

This is where I imagined I would be swimming. There were plenty of people
sunbathing, but I saw only one person in the water. Maybe it wasn't heated?

Instead I swam here (photo from website). It was still a 50-meter pool, but set-up short course (25m), as shown here. I am guessing this was the warm-up and cool-down pool, so I will still say I swam in the same place (probably not the same water) as Summer Sanders and Pablo Morales.

Nice view of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya as you leave the building, which
is a municipal athletic facility with paddle ball courts, yoga classes, and such.

The only interesting thing on the way home was seeing one of these folding bikes, STRiDA EVO.

A few things I learned

from rtve.e

Looking at all the stats, pictures, videos, and news stories about the marathon was educational.  Here are some things I learned.

There were a total of 4554 men and women in my age group. There were 829 women, or 18.6%. 

Indeed though women’s participation globally is up 27% (men’s by 8%), on average women make up only 30% of marathoners. In many southern European nations women make up only around 10%. The UK is the ninth most gender equal nation (34%) and the US is number one (45%).      from The Guardian

Along the course were men and women with these backpacks and flags.
They helped people with cramps, blisters, or other minor issues.

I knew there would be massages after the run and I probably would have
benefited from one, but I generally do not like people rubbing my body.

What I didn't know was that there were also podiatrists on site. I would definitely have
benefited from someone dealing with the blisters (not uncommon in a marathon).

Maybe you don't want to know this.
See the port-a-potty? A bit further behind the runners is another plastic thing.
Do you know what that is? I would not have known if I had not seen a bunch of men standing by it.

I always wondered how runners were connected with their personal refreshments
not something they do for the everyday people). I see from this shot that a volunteer
holds a runner's number and food or drink and the runners know to look for the
person with their number. I would like a volunteer job with less responsibility.

I had watched a video someone had made about last year's marathon and was
surprised when he talked about his pace per mile, but I figured he had just
done the conversion. I was surprised to see a mile sign every five miles.
(This is about where the leader drops her closest competitor, the woman in blue.)

This year is the 25th anniversary of Barcelona hosting the Olympics. The organizers invited the medalists from the marathon to participate in some social and running events and the men's bronze medalist, Stephan Freigang from Germany, ran the marathon and "managed to finish the event in 3:02". I have no idea what managed means in this context. The guy is 49-years-old and that is significantly faster than a Boston qualifying time, but I guess the running governing body was not impressed.

The men's winner, Jonah Kipkemoi Chesum, was in the race as a pacer. I knew there were pacers for some people (trying to 3:30 or 3:45, for example - the slowest pace group was for 4:30), but I had no idea the leaders had pacers. It was Chesum's first race at this distance and he wasn't expected to go the whole way, but he felt good and kept going and no one kept up with him! Most people had no idea who he was because his bib said only, "Pacer." On top of that, he is a Paralympian!

Helen Bekele was the fastest woman ever on the course and is congratulated by
one of her pacers. Even though my Spanish is very basic I thoroughly enjoyed
watching the coverage here (which is where I got many of these pictures).

A nice day of sight-seeing!

Challenge

Last June I signed up to run the Barcelona Marathon.
The Zurich in the name refers to the insurance company that sponsors the event.

The route goes by a lot of tourist spots, which was fun for the runners
and maybe entertaining for tourists.  Or maybe a big pain in the neck.

I enjoyed being part of the pre-race expo and 

seeing where I would be on Sunday.

Bonus picture of scooters for my younger sister.

This is part of my loot. The women had orange shirts with a picture
of women and the men had grey shirts with an orange picture of a man.

I also received a magazine with all sorts of details and a bit
about mental preparation, like letting go of worries about weather
and "the shape of rivals".  It was like they read my mind.

And then came the big day! I had been training with a long-distance coach and felt prepared (nervous, scared).  I was grateful to have already achieved my first goal, which was to come through the training without an injury.

D. took his bike to Barcelona and found me on different parts of the route.
He brought socks, drinks, food, and sunglasses in case I wanted them.

I am glad there was entertainment for him along the way,
like this group running with the rolling giants.
I like that the giants' shirts match the runners' shirts!

Was this more entertaining for us than for the runner?

The energy from the drumming groups on the route was fantastic.

A. came to town to cheer for me and R. made dinner tonight.
It's great to have a supportive family!

This is now mine!
Finishing was my second goal.

The first half was exactly the pace I wanted and the second half was not. I did not meet my third goal (going faster than I did in Denmark six years ago). I was happy to finish strong and pass a few people who had passed me.

Now it is onto recovery.  Walking to the train was slow and going up and down the stairs was awful. It was nice to stretch my legs on the train instead of having to drive home. Cycling from the station was also slow, but better than walking.

I am trying to decide whether to train for a half-marathon so I can run for the cycle over the course of a year (almost).  I ran a 10K on New Year's Eve, a marathon today, and I am guessing I will run a 5K on Thanksgiving. Something to look forward to!

It's here!

Not really a blog post, just a few pictures of spring!

white blossoms

pink blossoms

and green leaves

Monitors

The first temperature and relative humidity monitor I noticed
was in a building on D.'s campus, which didn't strike me as odd.

I saw another in the Maritime Museum.

There is one near the check-out counter at the library.

There is one in the mall (photo taken in December).

This one is by the entrance to the grocery store.
Usually it is a much lower temperature.

Do buildings in the US have these, too, but not publicly displayed?  Is it required here?  What do they do with the information?

At least I have the answer to one question. What is relative humidity?  It is "the amount of water vapor present in air expressed as a percentage of the amount needed for saturation at the same temperature".

Local cuisine

A month or two ago some huge, dirty scallion-type things kept showing up everywhere.

They are called calçots and there are festivals and events to celebrate them, a tiny bit like the artichoke and garlic festivals in California.

from google imagesThe traditional way to prepare them is over a grill

and then they are served in what looks like a ceramic roof shingle with a
romesco sauce,which is usually red pepper, nuts (almonds or maybe
hazelnuts), garlic, and oil.  Maybe salt.  Each one seems to vary a bit.

We do have a grill, but it is not on the same floor as the kitchen and it just isn't my thing.  So I would look longingly at the stories about them and advertisements, and even found a restaurant that sold them, but it was closed the day we were in the neighborhood.  I figured I would just have to skip this tradition.

Then D. and I were buying fruits and vegetables and on whim picked some up along with the sauce. I watched a video on how to eat them,

and then cooked them under the broiler.

Meh.  Some people liked the vegetable and some people liked the sauce.  I think the experience of eating them with a large group of people is what we were missing.  Maybe next year?