|
A Silva (Cerceda)
February was a good month in the end. 250odd kilometers, one session of 1000 intervals, one tempo run and a 12 x 400 session. Fully recovered from Carnival aswell.
It's been nippy here recently, nothing like what Bierzo Baggie has to put up with, we're protected from all that podery white stuff by the humid Atlantic air. However, you do notice the humidity, and the breeze. So, I've been plodding away, sadly most of it has been on the Paseo Maritimo as it's been dark. Recently I've upped the KMs so that my standard run is about 13km, which is a little too long to do at lunch time (and still fit in a whopping 3 coarser) so I've reverted to either late at night or pre-dawn running. Pre-dawn definately being the more unpleasant of the two.
On Friday I decided to stick my name down for a 5.5km race in a villiage called A Silva, about 40km from La Coruña. There were other shorter races for the kids first, and our one was to start at 1PM. I got lost on the way there, but managed to arrive in time to get my number and have a 15 minute warm up. We were a small but select field of about 50 runners. The field could be divided into two groups - those from the villiage and about 30 club runners who turn out for all the road races in the province.
I had time to chat to a few of the guys, they informed me that the course was two laps of the market square then four bigger laps which took in a 200 metre hill, followed by an off-road section which dropped back to the market square again.
With a 'tres - dos -uno' countdown, we were off. Those up front shot away, those following shot away aswell. Even Julian, the 80 something year old who must have more 'oldest runner' trophies than anyone else in the world, shot off. Being a middle-of-the-packer I must have shot off aswell. We turned right, then right again up a little hill, then down the other side of the square. Round again then off on the longer circuit. The hill was quite steep and I was already puffing a bit. Uphill is not my speciality, but I managed to keep my place (perhaps there was nobody behind - apart from Julian). The HRM indicated 188 at the top as we rounded the corner to start on the cross country section. It was a mix of mud, grass and stones, not ideal but I managed to pass a couple of guys here. Leaving the grass, there was a steep gravelly downhill 100m before entering the square. I usually enjoy downhill running but with the gravel it was hard to get a good footing so I didn't gain as much as I usually do on the road.
The second and third laps were much of the same, the HRM reading 183 at the bottom of the hill, 190 at the top. I passed two more guy on the second lap, but after that, those in front were well in front and I lost them from view. The last lap was a bit in no-mans-land, there was nobody to reel in, behind me I could hear another runner, but every time I checked he was about 20 metres away. So I cruised home, finishing in 21'25" . Not spectacular, but not bad given the course and the field.
After collecting the tee shirt and the can of powerade or whatever, I changed quickly (as it was a bit nippy at 8 degrees), had a coffee and waited for the trophies to be handed out.
And here's where my only gripe comes in. It's a general thing here in Galicia. The 'carreras populares' are generally free to enter, there's nearly always a tee shirt at the end, always a can of drink, nearly always a piece of fruit to eat and on longer runs there will be bottled water on the course. There are usually childrens' races beforehand, so that's good aswell. The only thing is that the tropies / prizegiving usually takes soooo long. It's not a problem really for me, as I don't win trophies. But for example, there was a guy from Ferrol there today with his wife and two sons. The two sons, aged around 6 & 9 ran in their respective races and won their tee shirts and medald for finishing. They waited, playing with mum while dad warmed up then raced. Dad finished second in his age group V40 so was up for a trophy. The prizes started at 2pm (lunch time) and by 2:45 we still had not started with the main race. I left at that point, as they held things up again due to a hail storm. But I would imagine that if Miguel had waited for his trophy, it would have been too late to find a cafe still serving lunch, and to drive all the way to Ferroll with two hungry kids...
It's only a small thing, but happens in nearly all the races. Hats off to the Organization of A Silva though, any new race is to be welcomed, and they put on a good challenging run.
|
