The journey to the Valencia Marathon didn’t quite start like something out of a glossy travel brochure. We arrived in Valencia, where there had recently been major flooding.
We headed straight to bib pickup, slightly jet-lagged and with that familiar feeling of “do we actually have everything?”. But once we got there, we were met by impressively smooth organization. Despite the huge number of runners, everything flowed remarkably well. It almost felt like they were thinking: “We’ve handled worse — a few thousand runners won’t be a problem.”
We picked up our bibs without any drama, which was almost a bit disappointing. As runners, you kind of expect a little suffering somewhere along the way. But no — just smiles, efficiency, and everything working as it should. Suspiciously pleasant, really.
And just like that, we were standing there with our bibs in hand, ready to take on our own 42-kilometer adventure. Mostly full of anticipation… and just a hint of “this seemed like a great idea at the time.” 😄