Zaragoza 2023 Women's race

 On Sunday 22nd of October, thousands of women, many of us wearing pink t-shirts, went to the starting place for a gigantic race/run/walk. There were 13,000 of us and we had all previously enrolled to take part. It was sponsored and publicised by lots of big companies; I'm not sure how much of the money for the fees we paid went to the good causes of cancer research and violence against women, but whatever we did we were together and showing solidarity.

I didn't enter out of solidarity, I entered because I wanted to run in a big race. One of my husband's nieces, Alicia, kindly offered to run with me-I say kindly, because she's much younger and stronger than I am so it wasn't the same kind of challenge for her as it was for me. Although I'd done 5km races (two) I hadn't run with another person, and I'd never run that distance (6.4km) without walking a bit of the time.

The day started off bright and breezy. I got to the place I was going to meet Alicia far too early, from nerves and because I needed to pick up a piece of kit from my sister-in-law; (can you run a race if you've forgotten your sports bra?) 

The street was full of women and girls of all ages in pink t-shirts. We flowed up the road to the starting place and found our places in the line; you could choose: aiming to finish in 35 minutes, 45 minutes and....I suppose all the rest who would be walking. We went into the 35 minute slot simply because we couldn't get anywhere else, although my estimate was 45 minutes. 

The noise was incredible: music thumping through p.a. system so loud it made my chest vibrate. There were speeches, presentations and announcements. We jumped up and down when told to. We passed a long white and pink banner along over our heads so the drone could take a photo of it. 

Here's a video from Youtube; you won't see me in it!

Well, off we went, the serious athletes at the front and the rest of the runners weaving our way through the women walking at the front of the pack. The first part was quite complicated, because there really were a lot of women. My sister-in-law and niece, who were walking, said it took them ages to get started because of the volume of participants further back. It's a problem, because if everyone goes to the front, as some of the walkers did, they slow the runners' start. There's a lesson of collaboration there, not to mention excellence and equal opportunities.

I ran. All the way, without stopping. Alicia went at my pace and stayed with me all the way; I wouldn't have done it on my own, I don't think. We took almost twice as long as the winner, Sara Benedí, who crossed the finish line in 21 minutes 34 seconds. We finished in under 40 minutes. 39.19 was on the clock when we reached the finish line. 

 

You can see that the crowds of participants had thinned by then. We were handed pink bottles of mineral water, and went off to have a coffee while we waited for my sister-in-law and other niece. They had a struggle with the masses and arrived 40 minutes later.

I was proud of myself for doing the whole course without stopping (thanks to Alicia) thrilled to be placed 523rd.

Later I was stunned to discover that I had won a (virtual) gold medal in my age group!

I know it's more important to take part than to win, but it's nice whe you do!