Running in Madrid, Spain

This morning I'm heading for the Parque del Retiro in downtown Madrid and Karen is running by my side once again. It's a silent run. We did all the talking last night, when I finally met her again. She's Run The Planet's special guest this morning and here are some of her running thoughts.

[By Karen Mitchell] - I hear Madrid is beautiful, but it's done nothing but rain since we got here. And, although we had a really nice evening with Giorgio last night, I woke up this morning - sick. You see, my husband and I spent the last week in a refugee camp in Africa - a wonderful experience and great marathon, but the food and water... The only thing that got me out of the hotel room this morning was my promise to meet Giorgio and the fact that I've been looking forward to this for months. How am I going to tough this out when I feel so sick? But I wouldn't miss this run for the world. We met well over a year ago, and I haven't seen him since...

What an amazing way to meet and become good friends. I grew up during the days of Ozzie and Harriet and black and white TV, but Giorgio's and my story is more like The Twilight Zone. With today's ease of transportation and communication, it is possible to travel thousands of miles from home to run a marathon, and meet a person from another country who happened to live near you for several years. Then you can part, assuming you'll never see each other again. But with the Internet, a search engine, a bit of good thinking, and a few minutes, it's possible to locate the person and then communicate regularly via email. If we had only the postal service and snail mail, it'd be nearly impossible, because who would take the time to write or wait a couple weeks for a response...

So here we are, enjoying a short run in Madrid in a beautiful city park with flowers, a rare treat for a northeastern American in February. My stomach et al. is holding out, we have another chance to talk, and we will finish the run by dripping into the hotel dining room for our morning coffee as I'm sure we'll do together again many times in America and other countries as our second millennium unfolds.

Credits:

Giorgio Pogliano’s morning coffee doesn’t come in a cup, but he can still find it everywhere. Running each morning is his daily “coffee” – it gives him the surge of energy, something good to reflect upon during the day, and a reason to look forward to tomorrow. Just like the different types of coffee found around the world, Giorgio finds different surroundings as he runs.