How did all this start? I seem to remember a massage table conversation with a patient who had been referred to by another one, because that’s what my job is like as a physiotherapist.
Before then, I had never heard what cumulative elevation gain, race profiles, tracks or a whole bunch of other terms were that I have gradually incorporated to my daily vocabulary, either for information or conversation.
But the best of all was that I wasn’t able to run for an hour without my knees or some other joint hurting, because let’s be honest, until then what I had done was for fun, but with some perseverance. I had been participating in several cycle tours which are of no relevance here.
And from that conversation, the issue popped up in my head of whether or not I would be able to participate, and I’m saying participate and not compete because that is something I’ve always been clear about, in a half marathon. Just thinking about it made me tired but I knew it was a job I could do with enthusiasm.
Along the way I did 10-km races but only with the hope of going one step further in this new activity. Every race was better than the last, I was doing better and my attitude towards the challenge was more optimistic. We could flashback to that film we all remember where Forrest Gump stood up and thought he could go to the corner and then little by little he went further, well, that’s what is happening to me. Little by little I am going farther and farther, longer distances than I could never imagine.
The day of the race came and all could have been ruined by an unfortunate kerb that left my ankle looking like a balloon and with no time to recover. Lying on my sofa, defeated by carelessness or excess confidence, everything fell apart. Ice was not enough to ease the pain my pride had suffered. I was experiencing in my own flesh what for years I treated in the elite athletes I took care of, and my self-esteem and endurance led me to play a risky hand with losing cards. Rigid bandages to avoid feeling anything and a different approach, I just needed to check how I felt and whether I could make it to the finish line. I did, and if it had been any patient of mine, friend or not, I would not have let them run. What moves someone to overcome the hurdles in their path?
Another one of my conversations with a patient, and the best change took place that could ever happen if I wanted to keep running. On the horizon was the possibility of being able to finish a marathon, but it was fate that wanted me to try a mountain race, a short one, but for someone who had never been in a race of this kind, it was like grey clouds over the sunny skies that had been occupying my mind.
Talking to Mario and listening to the adventures he had gone through, my head would try to assimilate how someone could be capable of spending three days and two nights running to finish the ultra mountain marathon on Mont Blanc. The best in this discipline take only less than 21 hours to complete the 168 km of the race, with a positive vertical gain of 9600 metres.
I started feeling the itch… since I was a boy I had liked looking at and being in the mountains but I had always been a little in awe and hadn’t had the chance to do this type of activities with the resources available to me. But now it is different, I can run there without being afraid of the unknown, although I am still fully in awe of nature and the mountains because we must not forget they were there long before us and they are allowing us into their environment, and not the other way around as we have a tendency to think.
So every time I am there I try to avoid always looking down at the ground. No matter how steep the terrain is you need to look up so oxygen can get into your lungs and you can contemplate the wonderful sights.
At my age it is ridiculous to think that I’m going to be better if I run in less time or if during the descent I try to make up for the time lost going up. So, over the last two years I’ve learnt to enjoy running in a spectacular area, to feel fortunate and to thank the mountains every time I finish training in them and they let me return home in peace. I am privileged, I know, although until now I haven’t been able to finish the races I had set out to do in the season. There must be a reason for this. Probably I was not prepared to make it to the end. Someone once told me …”races should be enjoyed”, and if everything goes well on Sunday, on the starting line I will remember this so that I can face the Alpine Marathon of Madrid.
Thank you Mario!!
Rafael Collado. Physiotherapist and, at times, mountain runner.
If you want to know how the race ended and a lot more about this project look for the DECIDE TEAM on Facebook.