One of the images that the last Barcelona marathon has left us is that of Salvador Illa crossing the finish line. The former minister and PSC candidate for the Generalitat started running in 2018, although with the pandemic he had to stop. But since he regained his hobby he has not stopped: in December 2022 he did his first marathon in Valencia with a time of 3:49:01. In 2023 he participated for the first time in Barcelona and also ran some half marathons and the famous Behobia-San Sebastián. Now, at 57 years old, he has just achieved his best record by completing the 42.195 km in 3 hours, 40 minutes and 27 seconds.
More and more people are encouraged to run this distance. This year, the Valencia marathon has exhausted the 35,000 bibs available with more than nine months left until the event, which will be held in December. And more and more runners are starting or maintaining the hobby over the age of 55. This is the case of Salvador Illa (57), but also that of Gustavo Gómez (67), Magdalena Vila (68) or Jon Arzubialde (60). Two Spanish champions and a world record athlete tell us how they got here.
“The first time I participated in a race I remember it as a traumatic experience. I did it to accompany my 12-year-old son, it was eight kilometers and I ended up completely broken. I didn’t move for a week. But then I thought… ‘this looks like it’s engaging.’” And boy did he do it. Gustavo Gómez Guerra was 48 years old at the time and from that day on he decided to train in better conditions. He learned from teammates and friends from some clubs, reading magazines on the subject and participating in all kinds of competitions. In 2021 he decided to federate. And last year his work was rewarded: he won the Spanish Master Marathon 65 championship in Murcia with a time of 3 h 14’. A few months later, he achieved his personal best in 20 years in Valencia: 3 hours. “It’s unnatural, my friends call me Benjamin Button,” he explains, laughing.
He has competed in all distances, whether on the road or on the track: he has completed more than 100 popular races, more than 50 half marathons, more than 30 marathons and a 50 kilometer race where he came third. Just a few days ago he emerged as Spanish 10-kilometer champion for the second time in Crevillente. “It’s amazing to see how attracted you are. Even if you have suffered or had a bad time, in the end, if you finish you say: ‘I’m going to do it again because I’m going to do it better.’”
Gustavo is a member of the A.D. Marathon and competes in the Masters 65 category, which groups federated runners between 65 and 70 years old. Because the categories in athletics are grouped every 5 years, starting at 35. And although many marathons are held in different cities, only one a year serves to choose the Spanish champion in each category.
“Why do I run? I have always liked sports, although I had not practiced much. Until I started seriously and saw that I had capabilities. And as you learn and improve your physical conditions, you will achieve results. And you set goals.” The next one already has a date: it is May 12 in Ávila, where the absolute and Master 50 km and 100 km championships will be held. “I want to go for the Spanish record of 50. The time is now 4 hours 17 minutes and I want to lower this mark. If I achieve it, I would have the record and I would be champion of Spain too.”
To reach his goal, Gustavo has some routines that he follows to the letter. He trains 6 days a week, an hour and a half, and does “a total of only -he says- 80 or 90 kilometers per week. Before I did 120!” He only runs, he doesn’t bike or swim because it would take too much time. And he takes care of the food. “Eating carbohydrates and strengthening muscles is the most important thing. Because when you run a marathon, he explains, the muscle depreciates. A person after doing a race like this goes to the emergency room and is admitted, because your body really is destroyed, and this requires regenerating everything you have worn out.” He lives in Vallecas and runs on the bike path that goes around Madrid. He also does it for Retiro, Casa de Campo and the circuits in different parks. Two days a week he does it with his trainer, Jerónimo Bravo, the rest he generally trains alone and without music. “I was recently given some sports headphones and although listening to songs you like motivates you, I can’t hear my breathing and that’s a problem.”
Of these “only” 20 years of training, this athlete explains, he remembers “impressive” moments such as his participation in the Paris marathon in 2009. “It was the first time I went out at a competitive level.” And also having beaten his own record just a few months ago. On the opposite side, on the list of difficult moments, is the break of the fifth metatarsal and he thought that he would not be able to run again. But two months later he was already in a marathon. He also doesn’t like it when things don’t go as he expected. “If you prepare for a race and you are sure of what you can do, if something fails you are more traumatized.”
And in races there is a moment that not all athletes overcome: it is called the “wall.” “A point – Gustavo explains to us – where the body tells you “enough”, because the body has some stores of carbohydrates and you run out of them. Gels, energy bars and isotonic drinks help you get there. But at this point — which happens to me between kilometer 28 or 30 — if you are not mentally prepared, you give up.”
Magdalena Vila places the famous “wall” between kilometers 35 and 37. “I am of the opinion that up to 30 kilometers is an acceptable distance. But after 35 you ask yourself… “what am I doing here? If you overcome this, you are already finished, because the goal is there”: Vila is the Spanish Master 65F champion of 2023 and 2024, and also holds the Spanish record of over 65 in 3 hours 25 minutes. He is 68 years old, but despite this surprising record, he warns: “Achieving a rhythm or a goal is difficult, but losing them is very easy.”
She does it at the Club d’Atletisme Correliana. “I am the oldest woman in my club.” But in this case it doesn’t seem like her age has played against her either. “I make better times than before,” he admits, and he believes this happens because he also started when he was older, at 45. “I train 4 days a week, and when a marathon is approaching, I extend it up to 5. I go out for a run, but I also go to the gym”. She appreciates doing it with her colleagues, because before she lived in Madrid and for 10 years she was running alone and so, she explains, she did not improve. “Now I have a training plan and I have to work hard.”
It started because I lived near a park, and I always saw people running in the area. One day she tried it too. Since then, she has competed in more than 40 marathons and has finished them all, including Berlin and Budapest. “I’m not excited about going to New York if I go alone. For me the important thing is to go with a group of companions who run. If I go out, I do it with the club, and for me this is the best. Furthermore, when I run a marathon I don’t know where I’m going, since I enjoy the atmosphere and the sensations I feel.” She says she’s lucky too because she hasn’t suffered any injuries.
Jon Arzubialde is another case study. When he was 16 years old, and without any training, he signed up for the San Sebastián Marathon and completed it with a mark that many would sign, 4 hours. Now, almost 50 years later, this Basque has broken the M60 marathon world record with a time of 2:34:06 and has lowered by more than 2 minutes the mark that the Japanese Yoshihisa Hosaka had since 2009. He is still lazy train – he assures – but admits that he appreciates the reward afterwards. In the case of the world record he was clear that his mark could be 2:34. “It can be foreseen,” he tells us. Now, almost 61, he already has a new goal in sight: breaking the M60 100-kilometer record. “Now it is at 7 hours 30 minutes, but I want to lower it.” The event is the second Saturday of September in Winchoten, Netherlands. He believes, however, that he will run without his teammates, “I don’t think anyone else will be encouraged.”
Arzubialde has practiced sports almost all his life. “First he played football. But when your friends stop playing football you are left alone and you have to do something else: so I started riding a bicycle and running all kinds of races.” At 33 years old he joined an athletics team “to make a good mark in the marathon and compete in popular races. For me it is a totally personal challenge. Since I’m not a professional, it’s different. In fact, I have no interest in competing in the Spanish championships, for example.”
Another of his great achievements – which he remembers as a funny anecdote – is that he took the Spanish M55 3,000 meter indoor track record from Martín Fiz. He did it by stopping the stopwatch at 9:20.60. But he prefers marathon. “It’s what I do best”
How is it prepared? “Now I train 5 days, before I did it more. At 45 years old, I ran about 100 kilometers in 6 days and achieved my personal best time in a marathon: 2 hours 28 minutes. Now I “only” do 70 kilometers a week.” Run along the Paseo de la Concha, which you already know down to the last detail. “It’s 12 kilometers round trip,” and during the week he also trains in Anoeta with his teammates from Club Atlético San Sebastián and a coach. “We do speed work there.”
We will have to be attentive and follow these three athletes as closely as we can. Because they may soon break other records. Gustavo hopes to do it on May 12 in Ávila, in a 50-kilometer race. Magdalena’s next goal is the half marathon to be held in October in Albacete and the Valencia marathon in December. And Jon has his sights set on Holland to beat the 100 kilometer Master 60 mark.
