II Carrera Popular "Villa Inés"

[Antonio247]

On Sunday 5th June, I took part at a race at Huércal de Almería, a town near Almería. I arrived at 9:15 am. It was at a resort called “Villa Inés”, at 5 kms from Almería. It is a place with terraced houses and some low blocks of flats to the north of Almería.

The race was organised by a sports shop called “Verdegay” since it is owned by a good athlete from here called José Antonio García Verdegay and his fiancée. When I arrived there, I met a few fellow runners that I´ve known for a long time such as Florencio, who is getting on for sixty but he is in a very good shape and runs quite fast or Pepillo, who came to help as a volunteer but he is a fast runner too. I picked up my race number which was free and started warming up with Florencio and other runners. It was a bit hot, around 30º Celsius. I also met Juan Pedro, another runner who is also a teacher of English and his friend Antonio G. They had come to help as volunteers and told me that they were going to Albacete half marathon next Sunday.

The race consisted of a two lap course. It started at Villa Inés and went along some avenues and after climbing a bridge on the railway, it went down to reach a quiet road which led to Huércal and along a street to the point where we had to come back to the start to do the same course once more. Before this race, there was a small one for children. Seven or eight children went quickly around a square and afterwards our race started. There were just 30 or 35 runners, only one girl. Soon I was the last one with another runner from Vera whose name was Manuel. We had a good time talking a little. When we reached the start again after 4 kms and a quarter, we were given a little bottle of water. When we were near the finish, Manuel felt some discomfort in his calves but I encouraged him to go on and we arrived together in 50 minutes sharp. The whole course was around 8.5 km long. We were given a bag with some fruit, a sandwich, leaflets, water. It was an interesting experience which helped me decide to take part in Albacete half marathon next Sunday.

[Bierzo Baggie]

And how did the Albecete half go? It came in for a bit of criticism on the forum elatleta.com . Saludos.

[Antonio247]

Well, at http://www.carreraspopulares.com/foro/home.asp?tema=1 there was also some criticism.

I think it is a very good half marathon, very well organised and with a lot of things in the goody bag, a T-shirt, a towel, a penknife, drinks, chocolates, cereal bar, etc. However, they have reduced the closing time to 2 hours fifteen minutes. Then, a few runners, among whom I was, arrived just two minutes later and we weren´t allowed to get to the finish when it was just 50 metres away. Luckily, we were given the bag of goodies. It is something unusual since there´s usually flexibility in other half marathons for those who arrive after the usual time limit of two hours thirty minutes. Fortunately, we were given the bag of goodies, pieces of water melon and of orange. Besides, we were allowed to go to the swimming pool where we had a shower.

I really enjoyed the race but I was a little disappointed because we couldn´t get to the finish. What a difference with the UK where there are people who finish in more than three hours.

Anyway, when I can I´ll write a longer report.

Best of luck at Toral, Bierzo Baggie and Riazor Blue!