Yay! I am very excited and honored to be a guest blogger on Z’s (or Ali’s) blog. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? First of all, the flight to Spain was very long. There was only so much reality TV on my iPod for me and LB to watch, and we were only able to sleep an hour or so. We left at 5pm and arrived in Madrid about 10am (8.5 hour plane ride, 8 hr difference). But we weren’t meeting up with Z until 10 pm, so it gave us basically the whole day to try and find stuff to do before we saw her, and gave me the whole day to realize that I wished I had worked a little harder in my Spanish classes. But after getting lost a few times, taking naps at a random Starbucks, and walking A LOT, we finally were able to meet up with Z, and had to kill more time until our 6 am flight.

After a lot of traveling, we finally made it to Malta, exhausted, but amazed at how cool Malta looked.

On our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (I got to sit in the front, on the LEFT), we were able to see the beautiful scenery, but the drive was a little wild, as I thought our driver was going to kill us a few times. 

 


The island is stunning, with lots of stone buildings built upward, not outward, in order to fit on the small island. All of the buildings were made of stone, and looked sort of medieval, a mix of Italian and Greecian architecture, among many other cultures.   The hotel was not as nice as we thought it would be, with the shower head not attached, no shower curtain, and a semi broken tv, but for the price, it was just right for us, and it started to feel like home at the end. 

The Malta trip was definitely fun, but sort of filled with unfortunate weather. We were able to do some touristy things like going to the main city Valletta (before getting poured on), and see the cathedral and a few of the bays.

But the main reason we were there was to watch Z run her half marathon, which she KILLED, and we almost missed haha.

We were trying to find a spot where we could watch her run, and then meet her at the end to watch her cross the finish line. When we were on the bus, we were thinking, we may have gone a bit to far, and she might have already passed this part. So we got the bus driver to stop and we ran quickly to a spot where we could see runners passing. We thought we had fifteen minutes to spare, and Lb almost went to the bathroom, when about 3 minutes later, Z ran by. I was looking down at the camera and at my pictures, not expecting her to arrive so soon, so I almost missed taking an action shot. But luckily, I was able to get one shot after LB yelled, “Ahh its Z!”

After we got the pic, our next thought was, we have to find a taxi to get to the finish line! LB and I looked and looked for a taxi and couldn’t find a single one, so we basically ended up running the race along with Z (a little more than a mile or so), as we were trying to beat her to the finish line in jeans and with a backpack (yeah, right). We finally made it, ten minutes after she had crossed the finish line. Lucky for Z (and us), her race day was the only sunny day, and made the whole day rather pleasant. We were able to go out to the “6^th Street” of Malta later that night, and had a great time, but we were ready to get to Almeria

After a flight and a lonngg train ride, we finally made it to Almeria. When we walked into Z’s piso, we were greeted by her three roomies, Tomás, Martín, and Endika. I was overwhelmed, they were very nice, and greeted us literally as we walked through the door. After talking for a bit, I realized my Spanish is WAY worse than I thought, and I was really rusty. I wanted to use it, but was sort of embarrassed, and knew that I would probably make no sense.

In Spain, Thursday night is what they call "previernes", or pre-Friday, and similar to college, as it is a great night to go out. We went out at about 1am, and stayed out until 8am. So essentially, we were on an American schedule, haha, but it was incredible how long everyone stays out. I thought that by the end I would be really tired, but actually it made it a lot of fun, and we got to meet Z’s group of friends. 

There is Juanmi, who is one of Z’s close friends in Spain, and is essentially the same person as Reese (our friend from college). He knows everyone, knows where all the fun is, and knows a bunch of the bartenders, which is exactly how Reese is in Austin. Then there is Fran, who is very friendly and was up to party every night we went out. We were able to teach Fran how to fist pump and how to chug a beer, two things essential to being a young American haha.  There is also Cheti, the Spaniard who spent a lot of time in New York, and because of this, Z forced him to talk to us in English, and we attempted to have a conversation of both broken Spanish and English. There was Raul, who was really nice and fun to be around, and then of course, Z’s roommates, Martín, Endika, and Tomás. 

Martín seemed to be the head of the household essentially, being the responsible one, but also being the one who knew the some of the best English. He was very friendly, and was able to talk to LB a lot, since his English was so good. Endika was Z’s other roommate, who had just moved into the house in October. He was only there for a few days while we were there, as he went out of town over the weekend, but he was one of the roommates I connected with the most, especially towards the end. He has a very kind soul, and someone I got along with well and was able to talk to, despite our language barrier. And Tomás wasn’t out that night, but Tomás was by far Z’s funniest friend. The thing I wished the most while in Spain was that I could understand what he was saying, because his joke delivery is hilarious, as he always has a straight face when he says anything, therefore I would never know when he was joking or not. We would have to wait for Z to translate what he was saying (he has a very thick accent), and it just wouldn’t be the same (sorry Z). 

We also met up with her other friends Lulu, Luis, Alberto, and Nick Parker look-a-like, Juan, and they were very nice, and we had a great time with them as well.

 




 Before we went to Spain  Z, LB, and I had made the decision that one of the nights we were going to have American night. This meant we were going to show the Spaniards some of the drinking games we played when we were in college, games they don’t have in Spain. We taught them beer pong, flip cup (which they were miserable at ha), and made them take jello shots. 
I would say this seemed to be a great success, and I think they enjoyed beer pong the most, despite the fact that they had to drink the beer quickly. The chugging beer quickly never quite caught on, which I was happy about, due to the fact that I can’t chug to save my life (not even water, right Christina?).

We were also able to see a professional men’s volleyball game, and watch Z play with her women’s team in the game afterwards. The men were absolutely incredible, especially the American David Smith from California, who was a 6’7’’ middle but could jump out of the gym. We met his very nice wife, Kelli, and overall had a great time, despite Z’s coach not playing her due to her missing a practice (due to preparation for our American party, whoopsss). Z, to me, was by far one of the best players on the team, so it was a shame not to see her play that much.

I know this has been excruciatingly long, but there is one more story I must tell before ending this blog. Tomás loves Cola Cao. It is just a known fact, and the first thing I learned in Z’s piso. Cola Cao is similar to Ovaltine, as it’s just a powdery hot chocolate mix. But, in order to drink Tomás’ favorite drink, you must abide by his rules. First off, you have to put A LOT of chocolate in the cup. Second, you must put the milk in on top, but DO NOT stir it yet. You must then put it in the microwave, but not too hot, as Z always does haha. Then, you must stir it to the right, and once you can tell the liquid is moving in that direction, you switch to the left. Then you have to drink within 2 minutes or you have ruined it. Well, I made the mistake of having him make me Cola Cao the “right” way, and that also meant I had to drink it the right way (remember now, I can’t chug….. anything). So, he made me drink it quickly, and forced it down into my mouth, and he kept tilting the cup, and I couldn’t swallow, so…. Yeah, I spit Cola Cao everywhere. It was a mess. But, not as big of a mess as when Z, Tomás, and eventually Fran all tried to light Cola Cao on fire after American night. Cola Cao is flammable, so Tomás wanted to show us how it will light on fire if you spit the dry powder out and hold a lighter underneath. After a bunch of failed attempts in the stairwell and a massive mess they were finally able to light it on fire. 

Step 1: Put on appropriate protection

Step 2: Light the lighter

 

Step 3: Spit out powder above the flame.

Step 4: Fail.

Step 5: Repeat until desired blowtorch effect is achieved.

Step 6: Clean up gigantic Cola Cao mess in stairwell

The next day, the neighbor complained not about the mess, but about some girl who screams when she laughs…Bet you can’t guess who that was…. cough*Z*cough. Anyways, Cola Cao and I became quite close, and I miss its flammable, fake, chocolaty delectableness.

I know I have written way too much, and there is still so much more I wish I could talk about like seeing a soccer game, seeing the castle in Spain, playing volleyball with Z’s team, helping teach Z’s class, and so much more, but I have probably already lost everyone by this point. But to sum it all up, going there made me see why Z wanted and still wants to live there. The people and her friends she has there are amazing, and even now they still talk to me via Facebook and WhatsApp (a text messaging program that works all over the world), after only hanging out with me for less than a week. The kids at Z’s school love her, and her job seems very enjoyable, with few hours but a lot of teaching practice she can forever use. And finally, Z is able to live a different experience and culture that she will always remember and treasure, while also becoming fluent in a different language. For all of this, I am extremely jealous, but happy for my friend, and am blessed that I was able to experience a piece of it myself. Z, you better make room next year, cause LB and I are coming back!

Half marathon number two...CHECK!

As I mentioned in my last entry, I ran the half marathon in Almería at the end of January. I was already planning on doing the half in Malta, and my friend Kelli convinced me to do the one in Almería at least for practice. As it was my first half marathon, I didn't have much of a race strategy or any idea of how I would do or anything. Aaaand, I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty brutal. Although I finished in under 2 hours (1:58:44), I thought I was going to run better. I had definitely underestimated the effect the few hills would have on my performance. Of the few portions of the race that were uphill, they were either really really gradual inclines that were a few km long, or short, steep inclines. Combining those hills with my inexperience and lack of a real race strategy resulted in me having ZERO energy and running at snail pace for the last like 5 kilometers of the race.

With my first performance in mind and only 3 and a half weeks to train, I started getting ready for the Malta half. I was motivated to do much better. I started trying to do at least 1 run a week with Kelli because I knew she would push me harder than when I run by myself. She showed me a set of hills to run and after the first 2 times running her course, I could DEFINITELY tell a difference in my leg strength. This was going to be key in helping me prep for the race in Malta. Additionally, I did my longest, long run (10mi) with Kelli and it was SUCH a big help. We ran it on an especially windy day and I know there is no way I could've run it at 8:30/mile pace if Kelli hadn't been out in front of me making me run faster. The following Sunday I did my a long run by myself (9.25 miles) and I ran it at 8:36 pace, so I knew I had made some progress if I was able to do that on my own.

On Wednesday the 23rd, I headed to Madrid via train to meet LB and Audra. They had landed at 10am and had spent the whole day exploring Madrid by themselves. Needless to say I was quite preoccupied the whole day hoping that they hadn’t gotten too lost and had found enough stuff to do until I arrived at 10:40PM. I had made them a map of Madrid with potential places to visit and with the airport and train station marked so that they would know where to meet me when I got in, but in the rush to get out the door, neither had been able to print it off. In addition, since I didn’t have any way to contact them, I was merely hoping that they would be waiting for me at the train station when I got there.

Sure enough, much to my relief, when I got off the train, they were there waiting! I was so happy to see them as they were the first people I’d seen from home in almost 6 months! We left the station and headed to the Puerta del Sol, one of the main plazas in Madrid, to get some dinner. We got dinner at a little bar and they told me all about their trip and their day. They will describe it in more detail in a later entry as I have told them I want them to be guest writers in my blog!

After dinner, we got on the metro at the Puerta del Sol and headed for the airport. My friend Juanmi had spent like 20 minutes explaining to me the proper route to take to get to the airport, so I knew it like the back of my hand haha (you’d hope so after the 20 minute explanation that should’ve taken like 5)!  When we got to the airport, we spent a good 45 minutes rearranging the things in our bags and shoving the rest of the stuff in a locker so that we wouldn’t have to pay to check bags on the flight to Malta. We were able to get everything shoved into 3 small carry-ons and one checked bag. Unfortunately for us, since we hadn’t previously stated that we would be checking a bag, we ended up having to pay an absurd €35 instead of the €15 you pay if you do it online. Thanks a lot RyanAir!

After a little airport nappage, we boarded the flight to Malta and all crashed since none of us had really slept much (I had pulled an all-nighter the night before so that I could sleep on the train). We got into Malta at 9:30AM and took a taxi to the hotel (of course, they overcharged us). Upon arrival, we found out that we couldn’t check in til 11, so we went and got some breakfast. After that, we came back and checked in. Having once worked at the front desk of a hotel, I found it weird that they charged me for the room up front—what if I had a problem and wanted to change hotels?

But anyway, the hotel was nice enough for the extremely low price we were paying. I was astounded to find that we could get a hotel room with 3 single beds, a fridge, and a fully-furnished kitchenette, for 5 nights for only €165 ($230). That broke down to only like $15/person/night! That would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to find in the states.

The room did have a few quirks about it. The TV was about 12 inches and had 2 available channels, both of which were in Maltese. The bathroom didn’t have a wall mounted showerhead nor a shower curtain…it was a bath with one of those nozzles that was attached to a tube so that it could be used as a shower, but the lack of curtain sort of hindered that. And finally, the kitchenette didn’t have any soap or sponges to wash the dishes.

Despite these minor obstacles, the beds were fine and we were all out like lights in a matter of minutes. I woke up at 4:30, went for a short run, and then came back and woke the others up around 6. We grabbed some dinner later and that was pretty much it for day 1.

I’m going to leave the telling of the next couple days to LB and Aud and get straight to the race on Sunday.      

I woke up Sunday morning at 7:15AM and ate breakfast. I had to get out of the room by 8 because I had to catch a bus to get to the finish line in Sliema, where I would take another bus at 8:30 to the starting line in Mdina, the former Maltese capital city. I caught the first bus just fine, but when I got to the finish line, I realized that I had forgotten my €3.50 bus ticket that I had bought the night before to get to the starting line. Perfect. Having not enough time to go back to the hotel to get the ticket and only 53 cents, I decided just to tell the driver that I had forgotten my ticket. Thanks largely in part to the fact that I am a female, the driver let me onto the bus after a few short minutes of waiting, with no questions asked.

Once we got to the start around 9, I was realizing that the weather was crappy, but to quote Audra’s famous phrase of the trip, “it could’ve been worse!” It was cold, cloudy, and there were puddles on the ground, but hey, at least it wasn’t raining like the forecast had said it would be. I found a little dry spot on the ground and just sat for like half an hour. I thought about my race strategy. I was hoping to break 1:55:00, which would mean running 5:27/km or 8:46/mile. After doing some training with Kelli, she had told me that it would probably be better for me to take it a little slower at the beginning so that I wouldn’t be completely dead at the end. Also, I knew that this course was wayyy different from the course in Almería. If you look at the elevation map of the race below, you can see that the course was almost completely downhill.

Elevation Map

Since there would be no uphills to kill my legs like in the Almería half, that would also affect how I was going to run the race. I'd have to be especially wary about not speeding on the downhills at the beginning. Also, something different that I was going to try was looking at my watch every kilometer to make sure I was more or less on pace. In the Almería half, I looked at my watch only like 3 times and they were all towards the end of the race. I knew that if I didn’t look at my watch, I’d likely catch myself just trotting along much slower than I was capable of running.

Around 9:35, I got up and started moving around a bit. Right before the race start, I put all my things in the plastic bag they had given me with my race number on it, threw it into the bus that would take it to the finish line, and headed to the start. Before I knew it, they had called “Ready, Set, GO!” and we were off! Here’s a summary, kilometer by kilometer of how the race went…

Lined up at the start: Am I the only person wondering why there's not an official starting line? When do I start my watch? That’s annoying.

Km 0-1: I was running on pace at 5:30/km despite the fact that it was super congested because we were running through a really narrow street.

Km 1-2: I was running a little faster than my 5:30 pace...should I slow down? I’m supposed to take it a little easier at the beginning because I don’t want to kill my legs too early.

Km 3-5: I was still running a little faster than my goal pace for the beginning of the race but feeling really good. Pull back some or no? I really have no idea what the better strategy is since I don’t have much experience and I don’t know the course. Also, these were some of the steepest downhills of the whole race, so it makes sense that I was moving pretty quick.

Km 6-7: Wonderful, there's a 150m stretch of ankle deep water on this little country road that we're running on. Do I run through the water, soak my feet, and then get blisters from all slipping and sliding my feet are gonna be doing with all the downhill running? Or do I do what everyone else is doing and walk on the top of the little wall on the side of the road? I choose to walk on the wall and unfortunately for me I lost EASILY a minute or minute and a half doing so. The line of people on the wall was moving SUPER slowly and even came to a complete stop a few times. After I got off the wall, I started hauling ass to get back on track with my pace. Luckily, since I had been going faster than desired at first, I was back at 38:30ish when I reached km 7 (which was exactly on par with where I should have been at 5:30/km pace).

Km 7-9: I had found a few girls who were running about my pace. I stayed with them for a bit but one of them started to drag ass, so I ditched them and looked for some new people off of whom I could pace myself.

Km 10-11: I had reached the halfway point, was feeling really good, and was more or less on pace with the goal I had set for myself. Now it was time to try to speed up a bit, or at the very least maintain the speed I had been going.

Km 12-16: In this stretch, I found a few different pacers.  First, was the canteen guy that was running with water bottles attached to his belt. I kept him at a good 10 meters out in front for a couple kilometers before deciding to pass him. After canteen guy, I found an old guy with orange shorts and an orange star on the back of his shirt. He was maintaining a good pace and I followed him for a good 3 kilometers. There were some unexpected uphill stretches in this section and I ended up running a couple of 5:45 kilometers. However, all of my splits up till that point had been between 5:15 and 5:30, so I wasn’t too worried that they would affect my overall time that much. Also, I was starting to think about when I should pick up the pace. Is kilometer 16 too soon? Will my legs be able to handle 5 more if I start going faster? I feel good, but is there going to be much more uphill?

Km 17-18: Only 4 km to go...it’s definitely time to turn it up. Coming around a corner, I finally saw LB and Audra! They shouted out my name, I smiled and waved, and got back to concentrating on the race. 

Little did I know, they ended up having to run the rest of the race too hahaha! They wanted to see me cross the finish line and there were no taxis or busses in sight to take them to the finish line as planned, so they took off running. At the end of this km, I looked at my watch and saw that I had run it in 5 minutes flat. Perfect!

Km 18-19: I’ve gotta keep this pace if I wanna finish with my desired time. Only 15 minutes left of the race! Finished this km a little slower at about 5:15. I’ve gotta get back down to 5:00/km.

Km 19-20: At this point, I was just anticipating the end, and I don’t think I remembered to look at my watch. I still felt good and I was passing people! What a change from the Almería race where I could barely keep myself from stopping and walking.

Km 20-Finish: This is it! I had to pass as many people as I could and dodge as many of the “Walkathoners” as I could. I saw the sign that said Kilometer 21 and then full out sprinted the last 0.1km to the end. I finished just under my goal time, with a time of 1:54:51! My watch however, said that I finished with 1:54:14, so I'm guessing that extra 30+ seconds came from the beginning of the race when I didn't know when to start my watch.


Overall, I was pretty excited about how the race went. I had knocked 4 whole minutes off my previous time and had finished in just under my goal time. I averaged 5:27/km and 8:46/mile. I had stuck to my race strategy almost exactly and felt great the whole time. Even more encouraging was the fact that I would've finished another whole minute faster had I not had to walk along the top of a brick wall to avoid the flooded road. Since I wasn't completely dead at the end though, I thought that I probably could have run it even faster. Had I not pulled back a little bit on some of the downhills and had I picked up my speed a little bit at maybe km 15 instead of km 17, I think I could've finished another minute faster. Also, knowing the course a little better before running it would have been helpful too. However, despite all that, I was overall pretty happy with my time and with the race in general. I'm definitely feeling much more motivated after this race than after the Almería one. I'm definitely hooked and I really want to do another one to see if I can improve my time even more!


In other news, Audra and LB are still here visiting me. They'll be leaving early Thursday morning :( Be on the lookout for their guest blog entries!