Sunday 11th January Although I intended to do part of Almería half marathon today, we finally decided to spend the day at
Roquetas de Mar where we´ve got a flat.
http://www.info-roquetas.com/english/photos.htm So we prepared everything and left at 11.15 a.m to
Aguadulce, which is 11 km from Almería and it is a tourist resort belonging to Roquetas but it is a town where a lot of people from Almería live all year long. Although it was sunny in Almería, there it was a little misty at the sea. My wife and son left me at Hotel Portomagno in the seafront and I went along the seafront to a ground path that leads to Roquetas along the coast. I saw many people from Germany on their bikes and a man with the Daily Mirror at the seafront. Along the path there were some caravans from Germany and one from Uk. I also saw many people running over there. I stopped to walk when I had been running for 30 minutes. Then, I got to the place where the flat is. Carmen and Víctor were waiting for me. I had some water, a banana and a chocolate bar and went on along Roquetas seafront. There were many people having a drink and some tapas at the bars near Roquetas port. They were mainly foreigners because Spaniards usually have a drink later. I went on and got to another tourist resort at Roquetas. There were also many people walking. Most of them are retired people from other countries, mainly Germany- the British prefer Mojácar area- and Spaniards from other parts of the country who spend a few weeks at the hotels along the Mediterranean seaside. They get special prices at low season with the help of the ministry of Social Affairs. Well, I went on and got to Hotel Playaluna where my wife and son were waiting for me. I told them I wanted to go on a little bit more. So, I went to the end of the new seafront that has been built. It´s a pity that the local council has made it in a natural protected area called Paraje Natural de Punta Entinas-Sabinar. I remember I have walked along that path or ridden on bicycle many times. Now the seafront has been enlarged one kilometre which wasn´t necessary just to build new hotels and blocks of apartments. The mayor of Roquetas thinks that Roquetas has to be be a city not a little town and he even wants to build a 28-storey building in a football stadium near the city centre. He doesn´t realise that most people who want to spend their holidays there are fed up with concrete, asphalt and they want to relax in a place not too overcrowded. Fortunately, there are more kilometres of free beaches and natural countryside but speculation is very high around the coast. This reminds me of a graffiti I saw on this route which has always impressed me a lot: Cuando el último río sea contaminado, el último árbol talado, el último animal aniquilado, os daréis cuenta que el dinero no se come which means When the last river gets polluted, the last tree cut off, the last animal annihilated, you´ll realise that money can´t be eaten.
In all, I did
105 minutes, with three or four minutes walking instead of running and about
15 kilometres. The day cleared up and it was quite sunny when I was at 1 pm. I didn´t feel very tired and we had a nice day. We had lunch there and I rested a little on the sofa after lunch.
Summary of week 16. I´m feeling more confident since I don´t notice any discomfort in my right calf and I´m looking forward to taking part in my first competition in the year which will help me to see how I am for Madrid marathon. I´ve done 35,5 km and 80 minutes´ walk instead of riding on bicycle as the cross-training activity.
