week 15

[Antonio247]

Saturday 17th January 2004 I´m really happy this morning. Although you won´t probably believe it, I did Almería half marathon this morning on my own. It took me only one hour and ten minutes. Yes, it´s true but I did it on mountain bike.In fact, I did it slower than the winners. The record in men is in 1 hour 3 minutes 26 seconds and in women one hour 15 minutes 53 seconds. I Like the experience of doing the half marathon course on bicycle. Every year I do it on bicycle. It reminds me previous races or what I can expect on the day D. The morning was sunny. I started in kilometre 2.5 just a few metres off my block of flats. There were a few runners doing part of the course. The worst part is going up the “Rambla” for about two kilometres but it´s not very steep. Besides, you have to go down it later when you turn round at the end of the “Rambla”. When I was a child the “Rambla” was a sort of dry river in the middle of the town with mulberry trees which we used to climb to get leaves to feed worms that we kept in shoe boxes with little holes that we did for the insects to be able to breathe. There were also driving school tracks to practise how to park and so on. About ten years ago, the local council closed the “Rambla” and it became an underground parking and on the surface it´s become a big promenade with gardens and playgrounds for the children. Then, near the port you go back to avenida Cabo de Gata to Universidad de Almería. It´s quite flat and with a wonderful view of the bay of Almería, especially Cabo de Gata. The only problem is the wind. If it´s very windy it can be very hard. I´ve been lucky in the three editions I´ve taken part because it wasn´t windy but it was hot. They were at the end of May ,beginning of June and in October. Another problem in this part is the loneliness you can feel since it is an area where, fortunately, there are no buildings and then you see very few people cheering. After getting a little further the university you go back along the same road to the stadium “Emilio Campra”. As I hadn´t started at the real start I took avenida del Mediterráneo where it is. There was a street market that is held every Sat at a splanade nearby. There you can get fruit, vegetables, clothes, etc. Then, I went back to avenida Cabo de Gata and turned into Avenida Juan XXIII to get to the stadium. I went on and got home in one hour 15 minutes. In all, I did about 22 kilometres. That´s the course I´ll have to do on Sunday 25th January.