Retiro

Here is a bit of a paradox: I love literature (so much that I made it my livelihood), I love books, but I really do not like Madrid’s huge annual book fair: La Feria del Libro.

Every year, the first two weeks in June, hundreds of bookstores and publishers set up camp in Madrid’s beautiful Retiro Park. Every day, there are book signings, conferences, debates, colloquia, and, of course, bars, ice cream stands, and all sorts of other associated entertainment.

I try to avoid it, but I still go and walk around together with thousands of other folks who are looking for celebrity author sightings and signings and are willing to stand in line for hours to get a book signed.

This year was a bit different for me. Celia found out that Carmen Lomana, an old employee of my dad’s in London, who is now a bit of a celebrity, was signing her memoirs. We went to her booth, chatted with her for a few minutes about life in London in the early 80s, and bought her book for Mom, which Lomana kindly signed.

We also walked around, bought a couple of books, some overpriced ice cream, and enjoyed the throngs of people.

So if you are in Madrid the first couple of weeks in June and you love books (or don’t), go to the Retiro Park and enjoy the Feria del Libro with hundreds of other book lovers.

PS: Statistics show that for the last few years, while book sales are up, book reading is down. Someone explain that to me -or don’t bother.

The San Silvestre Vellecana race has been going every New Year’s eve since 1964 – that’s one year before I was born! I ran it in 2015 with my cousin and again a few days ago. It is not the oldest race, longest or anything like that, but it might be the funnest.

My story with the San Silvestre started with my grandfather who every evening of December 31 always said he was going to the race when in fact he was just going to the corner taverna for a drink or two. My dad continued the joke but he didn’t even go to the bar, he just said he was going to the San Silvestre only to go sit on the couch and watch TV. So when he passed in 2015 I committed to running it, simply so I could say I was going to the San Silvestre and actually run the stupid thing!! And I did, and it was great fun. My cousin Alex is a talented athlete so running it with him was fun and competitive at the same time.

Then I forgot about it until I started training again after my motorcycle accident in 2017 – when I promised myself I would run the San Silvestre again.

The recovery from the shattered pelvis was very slow and painful, but I slowly added the miles, finally running 10 kms in training at the Retiro Park when I got back to Madrid in the fall. I am happy with the results which, while not impressive, are ok. I ran a 1:06 with a 6:39 pace which put me in the middle of the pack finishing in position 20.872. Keep in mind that there were 42.000 of us, so there was a lot of traffic slowing things down. In fact as the crowd thinned I was able to speed up!

According to Wikipedia, this 10K race is based upon the Saint Silvester Road Race, a Brazilian race (held since 1925) which spawned numerous other New Year’s Eve races. It starts at the Real Madrid Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and finishes at the Rayo Vallecano Stadium, across town. Along the way it passes right by my mom’s house, so every year -even when I’m not racing, we take a walk to check it out. The Pro race held after us amateurs is a thing of beauty as those folks blister the streets in 26 odd minutes. Maybe next year…