Volver al asfalto

18 chapters. 18 marathons. And the 18 months that pass from February 2020 with the suspension of the Paris half marathon due to the pandemic until September 2021, when the author returns to the asphalt to compete in the Madrid marathon. In between, for much longer than we thought, our lives were put on hold, and activities like a fun run moved to a fifteenth or twenty-eighth plane. This is not a book just about marathons, much less a guide that will help you prepare for such a tough race. It is a book about travel, music, books, reflections of the runner... and about the way of living and enjoying sports. Rome and majesty, New York and the power of money, Copenhagen and marathons, Madrid and Rock and Roll, Saint Petersburg and mistakes, the inner voice in Australia or the inexorable advance of age. If this book can be of any use, it is to find reasons to keep running, to enjoy every minute of the race or training, to pay attention to the details of each site covered or to find reasons to smile even in those last exhausting kilometers. Always a smile as the best travel companion, because we never know when the next race will be, the next marathon, and we don't even know if there will be a next because our body has said "enough, I'm exhausted, I prefer to see Budapest on a double-decker bus, like all the world". Of course, a marathon runner is not like everyone else.