the first running nerd post

So...I´m going to take a break from my elaborate outline in favor of more recent events (the best laid plans, am i right?).  I thought I could wrap that stuff up when I actually had my camera with me.  Since I´m sitting camera-less in the teacher´s lounge of my high school right now, you´re just straight out of luck I´m afraid. 

Now where was I?  Oh yeah, I hadn´t told you fine readers anything interesting yet.  I´ll start off with the running club.  Last night I participated in a training session with Laister running club.  I went with a friend from the Fulbright program who had gone the other day and liked the group.  I really didn´t know what to expect...but it definitely wasn´t 15x200meter repeats following by a fartlek with 5 fast sessions of 30 seconds.  Hmm.  Against all odds and even against my stomach´s protests (since we ran at 7:15 pm), I had an AWESOME time.  The group was small since they don´t usually run on Wednesdays, but they were all SUPER nice.  In addition to us two Amurrrricans, there was a Master´s Student from Uruguay, a spanish physical trainer or physical therapist (i wasn´t paying enough attention and my spanish vocab isn´t that great) and two Spanish hombres in their mid-40s, both named José, one of whom was a flight attendant.  It was a motley crew, but we had a blast.  It felt so great to have some direction and purpose to my running.  Up to this point, I feel like I was still feeling out the territory; my runs had consisted of riding the metro to a random park, getting lost in said park, and riding the metro back home, all nice and sweaty.  I´ve only run 5 or 6 times here, and while the majority of those runs have been nice, with interesting scenery and the like, they´ve felt pretty haphazard.  Though in Spain an attitude of "go with the flow" is compulsory, I like having some structure and routine to my running.  That´s not to say that I want to be some rigid hardcore run-every-day type of hombre, but it´s nice to have some regularity.  My first few weeks in Madrid have been very structure-less and a bit all over the place, so it was great to participate in a scheduled activity, even if it was 200 meter repeats. 

After the tons-o-fun speedwork session, those wily Spaniards suckered my friend and I into going out for a post-workout beer, their treat (since we didn´t have any money with us...NICE).  Unbeknownst to us, this bar-run involved a 40 minute walk to another district so we could check out a cycling shop and go to Jose Miguel´s favorite bar, Bar Urogallo.  Gallo means rooster, but I have no idea what an Urogallo is...Jose was trying to explain that it was a different type of rooster, but I didn´t really get it.  Oh well.  Along with our huge glasses of mediocre Spanish beer, we received a complementary plate of Paella to share, which was absolutely AMAZING, especially after a hard run.  For those who haven´t tried paella...you should.  It´s an amazing saffron-infused seafood and rice dish originating from Valencia, and in a nutshell, it is BOMB.  After talking to Jose 1, Jose 2, Sofia (the physical trainer or physical therapist), and my fulbright buddy for a long while (long enough to arrive 2 hours late to tapas with other fulbrighters later that night), we said adios.  Of course, getting home was half the fun.  Jose Miguel tried to explain how to get back to Argüelles, our hood, but his directions involved "oh yeah, you just walk up through those parks right there and you´ll eventually get there."  Since it was night, those parks proved much more difficult and sketchy to navigate.  Luckily, we ran into Jose Miguel again, and he showed us where to cross the train tracks to get to the final hill.  Finally on the "right side of the tracks" (sorry I couldn´t help myself), we rushed home, super late, a little tipsy, and hella hungry.  After a 5 minute shower and super quick tuna sandwich, I met my friend at the metro and we busted it to tapas with our fulbright amigos.  I´ll describe our tapas tradition in a bit; for now, I better go, since I have class soon.  Hasta luego!