The first time I did the Palma Marathon was in 2012, when it was my 5th ever marathon, and my first one that I had taken part in abroad. I have very happy memories of it, and I was really looking forward to going back. Especially as it was five whole weeks since my last chat-athon with Sarah, and we had a whole four days of catching up to do!
We caught a flight from Gatwick to Palma at Friday lunch time, and arrived just after 4pm. Hopped on the A1 bus from outside the airport and straight into Palma, and walked along the water front past the Marathon Expo, to our hotel - Hotel Artmadams, which is completely fabulous, and quite hard to describe! Sort of a fusion between an art gallery and a hotel - with pictures and sculptures along every wall and around each corner. I adore it, absolutely!
Saturday was spent having breakfast in the square, and picking up our numbers from the Expo.
All participants could do a free guided walking tour of the town, so we did that, which was most excellent, and we learnt all about the history of the city, especially the architecture.
.....and poke bowls (Pokemania!), before catching an early night.
Sunday was marathon day, and was stormy (the rain flooded our hotel room!)! There was a big storm (it didn't have a name, so we named it Stupid Stupid Storm) at around 6am, so the start of the marathon was delayed from 8am to 9am so the organisers could check the course, so we did a photo shoot in the hotel to pass some time.
The weather was hot and humid, and the rain held off for the first half. The route was two laps. The first half of each lap was along and back around the water front and marina, which was fantastic running past all the fancy yachts and boats and the giant cruise ships (which we named - Floating Tower Block of the Sea). We had decided on "cruising" ourselves today, and on enjoying the run and the atmosphere. The second half of each loop was all around the old town. It was an interesting route with lots to see, and had great support on the way round. Just after starting lap two, Sarah and I had a shrimp and salt tablet break, and on setting off again, the next rain storm started. It was completely torrential, and just the best fun running through it! The course was very flooded at the far end, and had a chunk of wading knee high (for short people such as myself) through flowing water. Everyone seemed to be in the spirit of having a laugh about it ("it's raining men!"), and it was all completely hilarious, and I loved it.
The rain eased off after a while, and then everything, and everyone, started steaming in the heat. The finish was such good fun (even if it was a bit uphill) - like arriving into a party, with music, cheering and laughing. The best fun!
Fantastic to see some familiar faces from the 100 Marathon Club! After we finished, we braved the port-a-loos (I have to say, one of memories from 2012 was being traumatised by one of my first big city marathon particularly bad port-a-loo experiences, and the port-a-loos this time were positively luxurious in comparison), and then headed to the finish line in order to cheer on the other runners finishing.
We headed back to the hotel for luxury showers, which we had been looking forward to ever since starting running, and made ourselves presentable again, before heading to the hotel bar for tea and sweets (in a deviation from usual post-run tea and chips), before heading off in search of poke bowl #3 of the holiday..... Disaster struck, when we discovered the poke bowl shop was closed on Sundays. After a brief moment of panic, we found a pizza place, and began the task of calorie replacement.
The rest of the weekend was spent mostly eating brunch....
...wandering round the hotel looking at the art, and sightseeing in this beautiful city.....
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