Ides of March.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Did the circuit that includes a section of St James’ Way (last ran along here in February) and this time the pilgrims outnumbered the storks. Saw 5 walkers struggling along with their heavy rucksacks and walking poles. The St James’ Way is Spain’s top long distance footpath and it extends some 500 miles from Roncesvalles on the French border to the cathedral of Santiago where the remains of St James are supposed to lie. From April onwards the Bierzo section of “el camino” is a procession of modern day “pilgrims” walking, on mountain bikes or even on horseback. Funny enough the first time I passed through Ponferrada was in 1993 when I did the St James’ Way on my trusty old racing bike from San Sebastian, but that’s another story.

Nothing much to report from the run except that I crossed with a bloke called Jacinto who was Spanish 100km champion in the 90s. As I’ve mentioned before there aren’t many fun runners around here and there isn’t even a proper running club (it is all much more organized in neighbouring Galicia) but Bierzo does seem to produce more than its fair share of top-class ultra runners. Most of them are extremely self sufficient and unimaginably tough characters who work hard and run hard. Our local butcher is a lad called Miguel Martinez Basurco who decided to enter the famous London to Brighton ultra run last year. He finished third. I’m convinced that in the north of England Pedro the lumberjack and Carlos the copper would be top fell runners. Then there is ex-Spanish marathon record-holder Rodrigo Gavela and over 40s veteren boss-man Chus Alonso who are both from local villages. Bierzo seems to be an authentic laboratory for distance running. Something in the water perhaps?

Here’s something that happened to me in a half marathon back in the 90s that highlights the situation. It’s September, it’s the annual half programmed into the fiestas of Camponaraya and 30 or 40 runners set off to run 5 or 6 laps of the village, Jacinto, Basurco and Chus Alonso included. Half way through the first lap I realize that there’s an ambulance behind me flashing its lights. I’m last! Ran the rest of the distance convinced that I must be in seriously bad shape although I did manage to overtake a few people in the second half of the race. Anyway I was still well in the last third of the field on crossing the finish line. My time? 1hour 24minutes!

TRT today 67 minutes.