Day 16: Claire Runs a Marathon in Madrid

The Marathon that Claire ran in Madrid on April 30, 2006, was measured in kilometers. Sadly, Claire's mid-race math skills had led her to the conclusion that the marathon was 39 kilometers. The fact that it was 42 made the last 15 minutes even more hideous than they already were.

But she finished.

Unfortunately, Lara found it too difficult to both cheer for Claire as she finished and snap a picture (or two or three, one might have thought for such a monumental event), so there are no actual pictures of the running process. The pictures are more of the "before and after" variety.

Here are some general highlights of the marathon:

-Over 12,000 people compete in the Madrid Marathon. Only about 500 of them are women. Before the race started, we had successfully counted 17 of them.

-There is an excellent race package given to participants. It includes three Adidas shirts that say things like "Maraton de Madrid," a boomerang frisbee, an Adidas toiletry bag, some pieces of paper with information on them, and some blue gummy worms.

-Claire's ipod stopped working at about the two hour mark. This means that she had to run three more hours without her Marathon Playlist or Agatha Christie audiobook, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles." It was really a test of will.

-One of Claire's last vestiges of her ex-boyfriend (the rest of him-related things have been given to homeless people around the world in acts of negative energy clearing and true generosity) was a tight, not cute long sleeve shirt worn to get to the marathon that morning. It was strangely cold in Madrid (you know, 65-ish) that day and Lara had worn it while out and about. But, when she saw Claire cross the finish line, she knew it was time. The shirt went straight in the trash, since there were no homeless people to give it to. Lara feels this bit of poignancy more makes up for any missed photos.

-While Claire ran the marathon, Lara went to several art museums to see lots of Spanish-type art incluing Guernica and lots of El Greco, who is actually Greek, and had a fight with a flowerman about the price of the victory flower she was purchasing for Claire, which cost her five euro. Lara feels that everyone should note that this was not just a "fight with a flowerman," which sounds wuss-y, as there were threatening gestures involved.