Val Doonican

[Bierzo Baggie]

2013 Playlist:

Last season went something like this...

March: Alto Sil. 30ish kms in mud, snow and pack ice. Monster climb at the end. Legs hurt. Took me exactly 5 hours.

Cacabelos 10k. Road race. First 10k for a few years. Struggled at the end and legs were still screaming from Alto Sil. 46 minutes.

3 days later, Pajariel Vertical (NEW) Individual time-trial from river level to the top of Monte Pajariel. Spitting distance fom home so I couldn’t miss this one. 300 metres climb in less than a km. Took me 18 minutes!!!

April: Tebaida Berciana. Usually do well in this one. 20ish kms and some good stiff climbs and descents. Bonked over the last few kms and ended up walking down hills. Nearly 3 hours!

May: Truchillas. Arrived 10 minutes late and had to chase the field down. Course modified due to snowy conditions. Straight up and straight down. T’was fun but icy underfoot.

June: Aquilianos short route. 6 hours 15 minutes. Not a bad time but really suffered at the end. Knees ached, achilles ached, arms ached, getting old...3 guys from the long route passed meon the final section by the river.

3 weeks later. Pajariel Nocturna. Night race over 12k. Ran with Jose miner sharing a head-torch which illuminated less than a geriatric glow-worm. T’was fun once again.

August. Milla de Sada (Galicia) (NEW) The surprise of the year. Ran a mile race in the Vets-only contest and loved it. Very satisfying to discover that I can still run that distance in 6 minutes. Lovely finish along the sea front. Would like to do more of these next year.

October: Barrancos de Santalla (NEW) First visit to this off-road race in a nearby pueblo. 13k with moderate climbs. Wild boar stew in the post race knees up and blokes in skirts.

November: Dragonte. Another year chasing the dragon courtesy of Basurko the ultra running butcher. 2k flat and 6k climbing up to the village in the sky. 50 minutes and middle of the pack.

With runs and races I clocked about 700k for the year. I know coz I write it all down. It’s been 6 or 7 years since I topped 1000k. I’m getting noticably slower and it’s taking me longer to recover. More bits hurt and for longer. Even putting on a few extra kilos for the first time ever. Time to take up carpet bowls? .....nahhh.

Now for 2014...