I was anxious to take part at Cartagena half marathon because I had worked as a teacher of English in that beautiful town in the region of Murcia in the years 1984, 1985 and 1986. I have very good memories of those years when I was younger and single.
Cartagena is by the sea. Its port is natural and it has seen very different civilizations. Besides, there has always been a big rivalry between Cartagena and Murcia, the capital city of the Region of Murcia.
On Sunday 5th March at six am, I picked up Juan Pedro, another teacher of English who also likes running. Actually, Cartagena half was going to be his 49th half in a few years since he started running. Unfortunately, Juan Pedro didn´t feel very well since he had a strong cold and was taking some medicines.
Cartagena is 240 km away from Almería. We stopped at a petrol station and had a cup of coffee near Almería. Juan Pedro was sleepy since he hadn´t managed to sleep until 1 am, so he fell asleep some time in the car. It took us around two hours and a half to get to the stadium where we picked up our race numbers. Although he wasn´t in the list and he had forgotten his copy of the fax he had sent with his entry and bank order, they entered him quickly without any difficulty.
Afterwards, we went to a bar nearby where we had some more coffee and a slice of toast. We met some other runners from Almería before the race start. This half consists of three laps of about 6 km around the city and then you get to an athletics pitch where you have to run for one and a half lap. The course of each lap is going down a little to go a little uphill, then a little downhill towards the port and then go along flat avenues to Plaza de España, where Jiménez de la Espada secondary school is. That was one of my schools there as well as Isaac Peral school. Then, we went a little uphill along Alameda de San Antón to turn right to get to El Corte Inglés department stores and go downhill to the start two more times.
The race started at 10:05 am. I started with Juan Pedro but after one kilometre, I felt I could go faster and I left him behind. I was going at a 5 minute fifteen seconds pace feeling really well. However, in km seven, which I did in 36´50´´, I felt a strong discomfort in my left shin, which made me go more slowly. I reached km 10 in 55 minutes. I met a man from Cartagena also called Juan Pedro who reached me and we talked for a few minutes. Then, in km 12, Juan Pedro from Almería reached me. We went together for a few kilometres but I felt more discomfort, so I let them go. I met a young man from Cartagena, Guillermo, who also had some discomfort in his left knee. He happens to be working in Almería at a savings bank and he was a student at a secondary school where I had been a teacher in Cartagena, Jiménez de la Espada secondary school. So, he had had as a teacher some of my colleagues. By the way, he speaks English very well and we talked a lot in that language. The last kilometres were very hard because of my injured shin and the wind blew more in some parts of the course. When we were near the athletics track, I couldn´t keep Guillermo´s pace and he arrived one minute and a half earlier than me. Actually, I did two hours 10 minutes thirty seconds and Juan Pedro did it in two hours five minutes while Juan Pedro from Cartagena finished in two hours four minutes. After arriving, we were given a technical shirt after asking what size we wanted. Then, a bottle of wine from “Campo de Cartagena” and a bag with a beautiful trophy,a cup, a key ring from the city of Cartagena, a pin with the Isaac Peral submarine, a symbol of this city, a cake, juices, etc. It was a really good bag. We could also have water, beer, pieces of oranges. I met Juan Pedro who was resting and tired after the effort of running with a strong cold and In also met Guillermo and his wife. He was glad of having finished in spite of his discomfort in his knee. I felt a bit disappointed because I could have done a PB but I made the mistake of starting too fast and I got injured.
Afterwards, Juan Pedro and I went to my car where we got changed quickly and went to meet my friend Julio, a teacher of Philosophy I had met many years ago when we both were teachers at Jiménez de la Espada secondary school. I told him to get into the car because it was windy in the street and talked about many things. Now, he is married with a Cuban young lady and they have got one son.
We decided to go to have lunch and he suggested going to a Chinese restaurant nearby. I hadn´t been to a Chinese restaurant for ages. However, I really enjoyed the meal. We had a lot of dishes and they all tasted really well and were so big that we had to leave some. Actually, we couldn´t have the dessert but we had a cup of coffee instead and alcohol free liquor. We had a very good time there talking about the old times and old friends. After saying goodbye to Julio, we drove back to Almería. It had been an interesting half although too windy and a bit frustrating for me since I could have done better and avoided getting injured. Fortunately, after five days without training, I´ve managed to go for a soft run along Almería dry river, Andarax, today.
XIII Medio maratón Cartagena 5-3-2006
