Objectives: Under two hours and under eighty kilos

[Antonio247]

On Sunday 29th January, I picked up Cam, Julie, Andy SP and Ashley at their hotel and went to the staium car park. Unfortunaletly, Andy EG couldn´t come because he didn´t feel well. When we got there, we did some plodding to get into the stadium. There were a lot of people who were going to take part in both races. I started with Ashley and Andy but soon I was on my own. I felt really well going at a 5´20´´ pace for the first five kilometres along the new avenues near the stadium and the avenida del Mediterráneo. However, at kilometre 5 I noticed a pull in my right hamstring and had to go on walking for two kilometres. I saw a volunteer on a bicycle and asked him if he had “Reflex”. He lent me a bottle and I put some in the sore area. As I felt better, I decided to go on plodding. When I was getting to km 8, I saw Antonio G. who was on the other side to do the half marathon course. I told him I´d have to do only the 9 km race because of my injury but when I got to the notice where the 9 km runners or walkers had to turn right towards the stadium, a marshal told me to go straight on to do the half marathon. I told her that I didn´t know whether to go on or do just 9 km. She told me to do what I thought better. So, I did some stretching there because I didn´t want to be the first half marathon runner to reach the stadium and as I saw there were two half marathon runners who were still coming, I decided to wait for the last one, Rafa, who I had met a few years ago at Albacete half marathon and we had done it together. He is well known in the running world because in spite of being quite slow, he takes part in races all over Spain every weekend, sometimes two or three races every weekend. So, we went together talking and I felt fine since I could keep his pace very well. At avenida Gregorio Marañón, I saw my wife with two colleagues of mine, Pablo and Isabel. She was worried because she hadn´t seen me before. She tried to persuade me later at la Rambla to leave the race. I went on talking to Rafa towards avenida del Mediterráneo where we met another runner who was limping. As I felt too comfortable, I decided to push a little bit in order to get to the finish under 2 hours 30 minutes. I was encourageg by the volunteers who were on bicycle and on motorbike and by some spectators and runners who had already finished. I got a phone call from Santi when I was near the stadium asking me how I was. Later, I saw him with Ashley, Julie and Camilla cheering me at the car park before getting to the finish. I got to the stadium followed by a volunteer on bicycle. I managed to be arrive in 2 hours, 29 minutes, 30 seconds real time. There I saw Andy SP who congratulated me. I waited for Rafa who arrived with another runner I had passed before the stadium. We congratulated each other. We picked up the drinks, fruit, T-shirt, etc and went quickly to the car park where they all were waiting for me to take them to their hotel. I apologised for having made them wait for me so long. The rest is post race celebrations where the RC team and some Spanish friends such as Carmen, Santi, Manolo, Antonio G. we all had a fantastic lunch at Plaza de Cañas or a lot drinks at Molly Malone´s where Andy SP and Julie were allowed to pour Guinness in a proper way or on Monday we all went to the Bodeguilla bar to have beer, Rioja and tapas. Some people even managed to go to Vértice pub at 12 am.
On Tuesday at 7 am Ashley, who in spite of having slept very little, came with me for a hilly run near the Alcazaba and the old town from where we saw the sun rise in Cabo de Gata.

I had a fantastic time with the RC amigos and my local friends.