Lanzaratoe Marathon, 06.12.2025
This is always one of my favourite runs of the year. Especially now I don't see my running pals so often. It's nice and warm, surrounded by friends, and you get to do a marathon too.
Lots of catch ups were had! Reunited with Sarah for a chat-athon, where we had actual months of chat to catch up on, and we crossed the finish line talking about flags and M+S knickers.
Ran past our villa on the route, and saw Tricia and Donald on the balcony! I like the route of this marathon, it goes all along the coast, and being by the sea feels good for the soul and clears out the head.
Malaga Marathon, 14.12.2025
After a few days holidaying in Lanzarote, we headed to Malaga, which I had got confused with I think Magaluf, which from seeing on TV I expected to be beaches full of drunk people. But no! Malaga is a beautiful old city, full of hidden gems around every corner!
We had a couple of days to go to the Expo (and saw Steve!), explore the city, and try out the amazing food and wine. The Christmas decorations were magical! And the old ruins of the Gibralfaro and Alcazaba filled with trees and flowers were stunning.
The marathon was on Sunday morning. It was my first time running here, and it has jumped right to the top of my all time favourite marathons! It was a huge event, far bigger than I expected, and had full and half marathon options. It was all exceptionally well organised and the atmosphere was brilliant, buzzing all the way around. The route was fantastic - parts of it through the old city, some along the marina, and lots along the coast. It even included a lap of the track in the Estadio de Athletismo Cuidad de Málaga!
It was sunny and warm, and I spotted some Jacaranda trees in flower, which was a huge highlight as I love these so much, and haven't seen one in flower since visiting Austraila in 2018 (the one at Kew Gardens never is!) - the purple blue flowers are just gorgeous!
There was just one bad patch between 7 - 10km where my right knee completely went (I pulled or trapped something in it when swimming last week), and I had the simultaneous sensations of loosing power in it and a searing pain radiating all along my leg. I was gutted! I thought I was actually going to have to pull out. But after 10km it eased off a lot, and was sore but not too bad.
Apart from that hiccup, I absolutely loved every single minute of this marathon, and I want to go back and do it again already!
Big shout out to Andrew, who after a whole year of injuries and rehab, smashed the end of his running year with an unofficial marathon we did a couple of weeks ago along the Moray Coast, then Lanzarote Marathon AND then the Malaga marathon, all with no pain, and getting faster each time. Very proud!
I'm also chuffed to have done a negative split myself, as that has been something I've been trying to work on improving at.
Our flight home was on Sunday evenjng after the marathon, which in hindsight wasn't my brightest idea to go home the same day. Especially as our flight was delayed and we didn't land at Glasgow until 10.30pm then had a 4 hour drive back home, which made for the worst Monday morning alarm EVER! Was it worth it? Of course!!!