December; festive running.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Hi Sampedro. The extra 30 metres took me over 10 minutes (in the queue for the T-shirts afterwards). Hope you had a good race…sorry we didn’t meet up.

The race reports are the ones I find most difficult to write. So many things happen that you don’t know what to leave out and running with 1000 others instead of on your tod makes for a pretty eventful morning. Bumped into the mighty Basurko and others from Ponferrada, met a little fellow who’d done the Toral de los Vados marathon 14 times, ran most of the way behind a Mick Hucknell look-alike and so on…..

Set out from Ponferrada in semi-darkness and with a chilly -2ºC on the thermometer. Arrived at Lugo an hour and a half later with a slightly warmer -1ºC. As I got out the car I noticed that the aerial had frozen.

Got my race number and met up with Riazor Blue, Mrs Riazor Blue and baby Blue who’s certainly a chip off the old block! We skipped the warm up routine and took refuge from the freezing fog in a nice warm café, a gentile sort of place where the waiters wore bow ties and carried silver trays. Nobody seemed to mind us using one corner as an impromptu changing room come kindergarden. I can think of a few places where we’d have been chucked out. Shared a few baby stories from the last few months before shooting out at the last possible moment in search of the start line.

Top notch circuit, firstly alongside the ancient Roman walls which enclose the old part of town and then magically on top of them for the final 2k. I can hardly imagine a finer finish for a 9.97k, eventually coming off the walls to finish the other side of the plaza mayor. An Ethiopian won in 29 minutes. I thought he looked like Bekele’s brother but then again he might have been Mick Hucknell for all I know. The first woman crossed the line in 32 minutes. I finished just behind the first over-60 and a sprightly old chap he was too.

And I’m beginning to like Lugo. I now see decadent old world charm instead of dilapidated old buildings. It’s a bit like Ponferrada before the cement mixers went haywire.

Total running time; 42 minutes. 3 minutes slower than last year but felt good and thoroughly enjoyed the communal running experience.