Saturday 30th January 2010
This year the day before the half marathon was a little different since the expo was at another hotel and there was no pasta meal offered by the organisation, which I find great since it was awful to have to queue for a long time in order to help yourself from a buffet at the hotel restaurant. It was much better when the meal was at the VIP area in the Mediterranean stadium although we also had to queue.
I went with Santi to the Tryp hotel where we met Sweder, Simon, Ladyrunner, Tracey and Elgordo at 7 pm. So, Tracey was the new participant this year. Unfortunately, Marion couldn´t come because of her boyfriend´s sudden illness. I hope he is already better.
We walked to the Vincci hotel to pick up our race numbers. There, I greeted a few other runners such as Diego, Adolfo, etc. Afterwards, we took the van and got to the Italian restaurant La Tagiatella where we had a delicious dinner and had a good time all together talking about our aims for the half next day, etc.
WWW.tagliatella.com
Sunday 31st January 2010
It was a wonderful sunny morning. In the stadium, I met the RC team and we did some stretching. Elgordo still noticed some discomfort in his calf so he decided to do a part of the half so as not to get more injured.
When we were going to the start line, we noticed that people were going back towards the stadium, so we turned back and went along the stadium but under it to get outside to the start line. It is the first time it had happened. This year, we were expecting to have to stop after a false start but it didn´t happen. So, we went along the avenue to turn left, which was new, and continued along a new avenue with new blocks of flats to turn back and go along camino de la Goleta as in previous years. I really felt fine in the first kilometres at a 5´ 30´´ pace the kilometre. In the middle of La Rambla I saw Cristina, María and Lázaro, teachers from Galileo secondary school, cheering. Later I saw Encarna at the top of La Rambla. I thought that if I could do 11 kms under one hour, I could manage the sub 2 hour half. However, I did 10 kms in 58 minutes, so I realised it was not possible, so I took it easy enjoying the atmosphere, the views, the sunshine, taking photos …… Besides, my legs started to feel stiff. I greeted Simon, Julie, Sweder, Manolo, Alberto, AntonioL , Elgordo when I saw them on the other side of the road. On the second lap along avenida del Mediterráneo I heard “Antonio, Antonio, Antonio ….”. I had a look and it came from Carmen, my wife, and some friends : Encarna, Filo, Luz, etc. After such cheer, I went on feeling that 4 or 5 kilometres more was nothing. On my way to the stadium, I met a man from Jaén called Agustín who told me he had had to go to the toilet in a bar. He said that he has a flat in Roquetas de Mar and he is looking forward to getting retired to be able to spend there many months. In the last kilometre I felt stronger and pushed a little passing a few runners and at the stadium I took some photos while running so some people told me to take a picture of them at the stands, which I did. I managed to do 2 hours seventeen minutes, which is not a PB but I don´t mind. One minute more than last year. After going through the finish, I saw a long queue. There, I met Manolo who I had seen i before but I hadn´t been able to keep his pace. We had to wait for a long time although they gave out bottles of lemonade to share while we were waiting. Finally, we arrived at the stall where we were given a bottle of lemonade, water, a banana, a T-shirt after leaving our chips.
Then, when I was going to pick up my sweatshirt, I met Manolo, a colleague from Galileo school. He had done his first half marathon in 1 hour 42 minutes. He was very glad. I also met Jose, who had got injured and I saw Encarna, Pepe, Javi as well.
In the afternoon, we met to take the official post race photo with the half marathon T-shirt at the bottom of La Rambla and walked to the restaurant where we had a delicious meal with all the drinks we wanted until the dessert.
WWW.plazadecanas.com
We had “salmorejo”, salad, “patatas a lo pobre” with egg, some sort of small pizzas and veal in several slices as the main dish. For dessert, assorted small cakes. We drank water, beer and wine from Laujar de Andarax which tasted very good. We also had coffee or tea.
After that, we all went to the new Molly Malone where we had a drink.
Monday 1st February 2010.
Another sunny lovely day. I went to the hotel Tryp Indalo at 3:15 pm where I met the British armada. They were tired after many hours drinking in pubs the previous day, especially Elgordo and Sweder. The former preferred remaining at the hotel , so we took the van and went along a road by the sea to San José in Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park. We took a path and got to Mónsul beach where there were a few caravans. This beach has been used for a scene of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. We decided to go for a run from there to another hidden beach along a sandy track, Barronal beach. After taking some photos, Simon went up a dune, so we followed him and decided to climb a hill to see the view from there. It was tough, especially going down. From there, we went back toward Mónsul and decided to go up the path as far as La Vela Blanca. Simon and Sweder went ahead while Julie, Tracey and me at a slower pace. It is a bit steep but it is worth going since the views are great. From there you can see Cabo de Gata cliffs and lighthouse. Then, we went down to the beach and the van where we did some stretching and drove back to the hotel.
At nine pm we met outside Molly Malone to go to “El Quinto Toro” where Manolo, Cristina and two of her friends were waiting for us. We took a table and had some Rioja, beer, water and “raciones” of ham, cheese, pork fried with garlic, salad, anchovies, etc.
Another intense weekend is gone. I have really enjoyed it and found that the relationship that started as something virtual unlikely to become real turned real quite soon making it possible to meet people somewhere in the south of Spain and. surprisingly, in spite of direct flights to Almería, it is consolidating and meeting new friends every year although not forgetting those who have come once or twice, especially Chris “Moyleman” who would have loved to be with us here.
XIII Medio maratón de Almería 31st January 2010
