A miserable December, out with a back injury - reduced to sleeping on a recliner for a week. Luckily some strong painkillers sorted the problem and my first year as a veteran began.
2 Sunday runs under my belt helped reduce my Xmas girth a tad, but I still went to Almeria heavy and a bit trepidatious about my chance of producing a good half and keeping my injury at bay.
We all had a cracking time with Antonio doing a brilliant job as ringmeister, helping us soak up the culture and introducing us bloggers to some of the lovely local people. I'll leave the gorier details to the likes of Ash, et al who possess the literary skills to do the weekend justice.
The race itself was a nice event with lovely weather, albeit for the poor 10k runners having to run an extra 3k. I tagged along with Ash and we churned out 5 minute K's like a metronome. Breathing was good, light - managing some conversation and banter along the way. The ol' boy kicked around 17-18k along a slight inclined stretch, I couldn't respond lagging some 250 metres as I entered the stadium and the lap finish. Relieved to be finished with no twinges, a comfortable 1:49 and my first vets race complete.
Andy, Ash, Steve and myself completed a great mountain, downhill traily run the day after which helped our stiff limbs and shifted some of the post-race lactic. We ended up in lovely Peschina for a post-run beer, which was quaint.
I finally got to sample the in/famous Molly Malone's last night and a great pint of Guinness they serve too. A light tapas, also followed by a late night feast in a local taverna polished us off and we headed to the hotel with full bellies and some fond memories of our brief stay in a lovely part of the world.
