Almería half marathon. 29th January 2006

[El Gordo]

Just a summary at this stage.

A wet and cold start to the race. It teemed down for perhaps the first 5 or 6 km before starting to ease off.

Sweder was today's hero, clocking somewhere between 1:46 and 1:48. The GPS watch said 1:46:51 but that was probably a little short of the actual race distance. A great time, as his target was 1:50.

Antonio did around 2:07 and I trailed home in 2:12. I was hoping to dip under 2:10 but the conditions made it tough for me. That said, I felt good all the way round till 3km out when suddenly my legs turned to lead. Still, it was 3 minutes or so faster than last year, so I'm happy with that, especially as it was raining this time round.

Full details to follow. For now, time for a quick shower then a couple of swifties in the hotel bar, followed by a leisurely lunch. It's stopped raining now, and the sun is shining.