Races and stuff.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Carrera y marcha popular de La Placa
Hey, in the end it was fun.
Arrived just as about 30 walkers of all ages, shapes and sizes were being sent on their way. 30 more runners were limbering up in the background waiting for their start 30 minutes later. With regards to numbers this was a big improvement on last year.

Everybody seemed to be wearing little stickers on their vests instead of race numbers. When I found the organizer, who turned out to be the great Chus Alonso, he told me not to bother with a number as it’d probably fall off and he hadn’t got any left anyway.

Lots of familiar faces. Mad dog Jorge the kamikaze of Truchillas was there. So was The Mighty Basurko, ultra-running butcher of Villafranca, full of tales from the Lanzarote Ironman ( 11 hours !!) Mr Villanueva the Minister of Sport was shooting around on a shopper bike with very small wheels and Chus Alonso was both “organizing” and running as usual.

The evening was cool and ideal for running. Everybody seemed happy and relaxed in the plaza of La Placa, so relaxed that when somebody shouted “ya!” at 9:30 dead it seemed a shame to spoil it all by running away. Anyway, we all set off and ran one lap of the barrio which I suppose was the non-competitive bit. Then it was each to their own.
I felt like I was running quite well but soon found myself right at the back of the field. Luckily the “secret” circuit was no secret to me as it went via the lanes, allotments and canal where I run every week and which is probably the most attractive part of Ponferrada for road running. 7 or 8 of the runners in front of me got lost though so I gained a few places .

We soon caught up with the walkers, many of whom decided to run as well, in particular the kids. Ran the last couple of kilometres with an 11-year old who was intent on beating me but we ended up finishing together. Cheeky young scally he was. By this time they’d run out of water at the finish line so I had to make do with… beer :o .

In the end it was closer to 9K than 10 but nobody was timing it in any case and I must say I enjoyed myself immensely and so did everybody else. Also enjoyed an afterglow of having run a tad faster than normal and a satisfying tiredness which helped me sleep later on.

I’m averaging a race every month at the moment and after chatting to fellow runners I’ve got another one ear-marked for August.
August 11th. 10K Losada del Bierzo. Homage to… Chus Alonso.