Seville
Some Sherry and a Half Marathon...
Way back in February 2025 I clicked a few buttons and entered the Seville Half Marathon 2026. At that point I had absolutely no idea how much my life would have changed by the time we actually were going!
I had already handed my notice in, so I knew I wouldn’t be teaching, but I had no idea where I would be living or if I would be working in a different job.
As it turned out I wasn’t working and we had literally moved into our house a few days earlier. Perhaps not the best lead up. However things often have a funny way of working out and sometimes life gives you just what you need.
We had planned to travel with our friends Kate and Emily, having been to Barcelona together in 2024 for the Half Marathon. It had worked out really well then, so we thought it would be fun to go again. I mention that trip in the link below:
This trip well and truly crept up on all of us, we all had so much going on in our personal lives that we had zero preparations really. We didn’t have any planning meetings. I’d done no research at all. Luckily Kate and Emily had been before and Kate had some work connections that meant she had booked us a trip to a famous Sherry house or Bodega.
So on Thursday afternoon we boarded a plane bound for Spain. We left in the rain and landed in the dark and in the rain. We managed to find our Air B&B, booked to be close to the race start and finish. Arriving in the dark it felt like we were right out in the suburbs. I went to bed thinking we had made a bit of a mistake and worried that we were all going to have a terrible time, which would of course be my fault for booking a race that I couldn’t even run properly.
Luckily we awoke to blue skies on Friday and everything looked better. We headed off to Barbadillo Bodega in Sanlucar de Barrameda for a tour and Sherry tasting. I didn’t know very much about Sherry to be honest, but it was fascinating to see the enormous site, spread over multiple buildings. The tasting was great, we even tasted wine made with the same grapes that they use for the Sherry. I am definitely no expert but I would definitely think about choosing Sherry to drink more often. A delicious way to drink it on a hot day was mixed with lemon/lime (they sell it in a pre mixed tin). I tried that after my run on Sunday. Yum.
Afterwards we headed for a lovely long lunch in the town. The town is set on the river, heading out to the Atlantic Ocean, so there is a beach. It reminded me of Whitstable (ha!). We managed a little walk before the rain set in again and we headed back to our apartment in Seville. Kate was an absolute hero at driving through the torrential rain.
Saturday was set aside for some sightseeing in Seville. We used the local bus to get into the centre (you could pay by card/ phone) and the meandered back to the apartment with lots of stops for drinks and food. The main sights we looked at were the Setas de Sevilla (a kind of modern structure), The Cathedral and the Plaza de Espana. All were really interesting, but often it was nice just to look at the architecture all around.
Sunday, race day, arrived and I took a short walk to the start. I was lucky we were staying so close. It meant I avoided the queues for bagdrop and the toilet. I got into my start pen easily and waited for the start time. Just before we started it began raining again, but it wasn’t cold so it was ok. I set off on time, and started steadily, hoping to run 5km and then decide on a run/walk strategy. 5km became 10km. 10km became 15km and then I just wanted to run the whole thing. I turned my watch to the clock face and ran to feel rather than pace. I was surprised how consistent I was. The route itself wasn’t that exciting, but the last few kilometers were through the old part of town (which meant cobbles!). After I finished I picked up my medal and some Cruzcampo and headed back to the apartment.
Our final evening was spent wandering around the old town again and eating delicious pizza.
It was a great escape from the madness of unpacking and organising a new home. There was plenty of downtime between the sights and the running, which was definitely needed.
Thank you to our friends for making it a lovely trip.
Next up is Lisbon in March.