On Sunday morning I took part in this race which is held in Adra, a small town 50 km away from Almería. It was a cold windy sunny day.
The race started at 11 am. there were around 200 runners taking part such as Felipe, Mario, Santi, Encarna, Manuel, Juan Pedro, Diego, etc.
The race started from the sports pavilion. Santi, who took part at San Sebastián marathon three weeks ago finishing it in 3 hours 56 minutes, decided to keep me company. We went together all the course talking and enjoying the view. At the beginning we went near the port, then we took an old road that went near greenhouses and then the main avenue. We went at a steady pace talking to other runners and taking photos. The first kilometres the pace was a bit high for me under six minutes the kilometre. However, after about six kilometres, I felt some pain in my right calf so I told Santi, Juan Pedro and another runner to go ahead but they didn´t want to. I had to slow down but Santi kept me company as far as the finish. We got there in 62 minutes but the course was only about 9.4 km. If he hadn´t been with me, I´d probably had got onto the support vehicle.
When we got to the finish, we went in with our arms up and people clapped a lot. We were given a technical T-shirt, a can of Coca Cola, Aquarius or a small bottle of water, a banana, a pear, etc.
When I was in my car before leaving, I met a couple of runners I had seen in the race. They happened to be from England. Their names are Roger and Hilary. She works in an English school in Roquetas de Mar.
It was nice taking part in a race after seven months but I should have warmed up a little more before the race.
New objective : Almería half marathon
