«They showed it to me, I touched it and fell even more in love with it»

How I got here

I found Victoris in a weird but curious way. I made the podium at a race and they gave us the medal, which I thought was absolutely amazing, and there they were. They were showing the rest of their medals and I saw the medal for this Artemis challenge.

The funny thing is I'd seen that medal on social media and I liked it so much I thought it couldn't be true, that it was one of those many Facebook scams... Well, no, it was real: they showed it to me, I touched it and fell even more in love with it. That was my first challenge and, for me, the most special one.

I got this challenge done by consistently adding up the kilometres from every training session. The hardest part... well, like every working mum with two kids, finding time where there isn't any, even going out to train at night knowing it's not that safe... But wanting to get the Artemis challenge done soon added up that drive that some days, because of stress and tiredness, disappears.

When I finished the challenge I was already thinking about doing another one... since I was going to have two Victoris medals designed by them... They're different from the rest.

They're not for hanging up, they're for putting on display.

My advice is to give these challenges a go, because they give you a different kind of excitement from the medal you get when you finish a race. It's adding up your own kilometres, which you squeeze out of your time however you like: swimming, running, walking, cycling... and nobody but you knows how hard it was to earn the reward.

They give you the finisher medal when you finish the race (also with effort), but Victoris challenges depend on your work, your consistency and perseverance. It's the time you take from your family to give to yourself, it's your own medal, which you earn for all that effort.

Bittersweet

In my first challenge I already told how I met them, so now I'm telling how I keep getting to know them. Once I'd done the Artemis challenge, I set myself this other challenge: getting the Fanpin Race medal with Miguelón in black. I saw this medal at the launch of that race and thought it was incredible, so I didn't think twice and signed up for the challenge.

At that moment nothing was hard for me... The hard part is writing it now. It's not a happy story, but it is one of overcoming... one more time that life puts you to the test, so you keep learning that life has to be lived to the full, but looking only at the present and not so much at the future. We don't know what life has in store for us, that's why you have to make the most of every moment.

The Fanpin Race is a race that has always been very special to me, and fun... I love being in the mud... like the piggies, hahaha, well, in this case next to those wonderful crabs that come out to say hello, hehe. But it's become a race that, if I'm lucky enough to get a bib, I'll dedicate to my brother, who passed away just two days before the 2024 edition was held.

I don't know how I did it, I don't know where I found the strength... My breathing wasn't the same, nor was my heart, but I finished it so my finisher medal could be with his ashes.

He did his last training course there, at the facilities the race goes through. He showed me his photos with his classmates in the courtyard we run across, proud to have finished, and... all of a sudden he was gone, for no reason at all, young and healthy.

This race, its medals, the virtual challenges named after and related to the Fanpin Race will be bittersweet for me, but always, as long as my body and my mind allow it, I'll be there.

Getting the challenge medal made me really happy and it's in my collection of beautiful, special medals. Just by looking at it I know what it means: Victoris's work and a lot of my own feelings, because of what I explained above.

My advice is that if you like the medal, do the challenge, not just because it's about sport and adding up kilometres... but because there's something emotional behind it that only you can make sense of. In my case, the medal for this challenge doesn't just mean that, a medal: it means so many memories that the wonderful Fanpin Race gives me... Thank you, Victoris... because just looking at your medal brings the memories back...

The finish line

Once you find Victoris you can't stop... If you don't believe me, ask my partner, Sergio. The Hermes challenge started because Victoris (who loves me very much) gave it to me for my birthday and the very next day we left to walk the Camino de Santiago. I wasn't expecting it; honestly, it made me really happy that they remembered me, and in that way.

To get this whopper of a medal we walked the Camino de Santiago as a family. The toughest stage was the fourth day, when we did about 32 km, and my son, the 12-year-old, had a rough time over the last few kilometres. Then I kept completing the challenge with my training for the 101, since there are lots of sessions and each of them is very long.

That medal is one of the giant ones, it's gorgeous, it's got presence, it's got, as I say when I see dust bunnies that have been in my house for ages... it's got a first name, a surname and its own house, hahaha (sorry... I get carried away, hahaha).

I've shown it to friends, family and workmates and they're all amazed by how it's made. It deserves admiration. María is a machine at designing, but she gets embarrassed when people tell her... So there you go... You're a star!

My advice is: if you want medals that are worth showing off and bragging about, do these challenges... because medals like these, which I treasure like gold and don't keep in a drawer or hang up piled together with the rest, you won't get easily... unless you sign up for a race whose finisher medals are made by Victoris.