I was riding the high from Russia as I landed in Madrid, it had only been 6 days since I left the USA and in 4 days I would be headed back to the US completing my 10 day around the world trip.

But first I was in Spain for my 2nd Skyrace of the series, Zegama-Aizkorri 42k.

As I found the town of Zegama, I wandered around and easily found the only restaurant that was open which happened to be seating fellow Skyrunner, Stephanie Jimenez who invited me to sit and eat. They were drinking a beer so I joined which I only mention because it was best beer I have ever had.

Upon lunch I connected with the race committee who pointed me in the direction of my room for the night which was a quite bed and breakfast in the countryside near town.

The next day, I did my best to try to find the beginning of the course but didn’t really have much luck so I headed to the B&B where I spent the day totally relaxing. In retrospect I probably should have been worried that I was about to run a marathon the next day and I had not run even a single mile since November. Not that worrying about it would have done any good, its just that the thought didn’t even really cross my mind. My head was still in Russia and I was mesmerized by how low my resting heart rate was since I was practically at sea level. I had been skiing, so I was in good cardiovascular shape but skiing and running really are not quite the same and the Skyrace in Russia was a VK on snow.

The night before the race, I was excited for a meal at the same restaurant with the good beer and food as before. I sat down just to be told that the only food available was rice pudding. I was a bit confused as I was looking at other people eating from plates of salad, meat and pasta but upon maximum inquiry it was apparent that if I wanted anything to eat it was rice pudding or nothing.

If I have ever felt a sandbag, this was it. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was an American, if it was because I was a woman, or if it was because I was speaking the bit of Spanish I knew which was perhaps an insult to the Basque. Whatever it was, I was sitting in front of what I thought to be the worst pre-race meal I could think of, sweet, milky, fatty rice pudding.

And yes the next day I felt the wrath. It was only about 6 miles into the race when quite abruptly my back started aching. And I will tell you it was a long long 42k run. I am definitely not saying it was the rice pudding, and I am saying my lack of running was, most certainly, a factor. I was warned that the last few miles were muddy but i could care less what surface I was running on I just wanted it all to end.

It is not wise to come to a Skyrace in off-the-couch fashion.

When I thought about it more, I realized I was something like 3/4 of the way through a full trip around the world in 10 days time half of which were full travel days. Crazy.

Not all was lost though, when I made it back to the lodge, my hosts invited me downstairs explaining that they had some of the regions best apple cider (the fermented type). I walked down into the basement to find a mid-day pub, a sagardotegi, with a number of tables and locals enjoying their Sunday by sipping on cider.