Took a run in Ibiza
During the lockdown of the pandemic, I was in LA because I had an apartment lease that I had signed almost a year before I moved in. LA was definitely not the most exciting place to be at the time, we couldn’t even go hiking or go to the beach because they were closed for the first bit of fall 2020. We weren’t allowed to go to public recreational places, but they couldn’t stop us from going on walks and runs around the city! With this being our best way to work out and spend time outside, one of my friends and I spent hours each day running. We had initially wanted to do a marathon in the spring, but with the busyness of school, we weren’t able to squeeze one in.
We both decided to go abroad, and there are some beautiful marathons in Europe, so we decided to do one in Ibiza. We booked it last fall, even down to the flights. This was funny because I thought I was getting an insane deal by booking so far in advance and only spending $27 on my round trip ticket, but it turns out its just RyanAir and all the tickets are cheap because I ended up having to rebook one leg a couple of days before, and it cost me 10 euros to get a new ticket. Air travel is amazing here!
April finally came around, and it was time for us to run our marathon! Well, it turns out so much travel and study make it hard to find time to do long runs, which are critical for marathon training, so we ended up having to downgrade to the 22K run. The trip was still such a treat! We spent the weekend in Ibiza, and got to see the old town and the beaches, and it is just starting to be perfect weather for the beach, not too hot yet.
The marathon was incredibly well organized. There were two fairs in the days before to go and get free goodies from the city convention center, where there were also running shops set up and free tickets to a few other events! The day before, we picked up our bibs and got a good night of sleep before marathon day.
On race day, we showed up to the city center about an hour and a half early to take our bus to the other side of the island. Our 22k ran from Santa Eulària des Riu to the end at Dalt Vila, which is a beautiful more ritzy part of the island with lots of shopping. There were big crowds of people getting ready with big official starting arches, and we were sent off with a countdown. There was such good energy on the course, with families and pedestrians along the edges of the marathon cheering us on, especially as we got closer to the Dalt Vila town center. The run was so much fun, although a little warm at about 76 degrees, and we finished strong at a sub 2 hour half marathon time! There was a great setup at the end, with the podium, a live DJ, so many snacks and free giveaways, as well as a medal for completing the race. It definitely made me want to do more organized runs in the future. If you’re ever in Europe in the spring and like to run, definitely try out one of their races!
Bis zum nächsten mal!
Kara