This coming Sunday, 16 June, Mario Yllera and Rafa Collado will start running… Start? As if it were so simple. On Sunday they will be surrounded by people in the Alpine Marathon of Madrid, with the support of sponsoring companies such as Decide and apparently even with good weather; but as far as running…they haven’t stopped doing it in the last two years.
What are these races like? When they told us about it a few weeks ago, we couldn’t believe it. They are true tests of will and in the case of this pair, of teamwork. Initially they are going to participate in four mountain races; the first one is considered the most demanding of this kind of marathons worldwide.
The Alpine Marathon of Madrid covers 42 km with a cumulative elevation gain of 5,300 metres, going through some of the most emblematic areas of the Sierra de Guadarrama (Bola del Mundo, Peñalara, Dos Hermanas and Cabezas de Hierro). Runners reach the 2,430 metres of Peñalara over a course where 30% of the route is above 2,000 metres. More information on this race is available on the Marathon’s official website.
For Rafa and Mario the objective is finishing … if possible, because what matters is enjoying the race and thinking long-term. They make the effort day by day, training in the cold, snow or rain, sacrificing their free time and hours of sleep. In this team Mario is the “master”, he’s been running since he was a kid, demanding more and more from his body but without ceasing to enjoy all the elements of a race, the incredible scenery, interacting with other runners, the satisfaction of every challenge achieved, this and a lot more is what has got Rafa hooked.
We at Decide are also hooked, we’re excited about their project for the values it represents, and because they prove they are a team, with the effort and perseverance necessary to continue, when stopping would be humanly expected, as Manu described in an earlier post, any challenge is possible, it just depends on you.
If you want to know how these races are doing and a lot more about this project look for the DECIDE TEAM on Facebook.
