Last Saturday I went to Aguamarga to take part in the race from that seaside little town to Carboneras. I went with Felipe, who is also a teacher of English , and Encarna, who took part at 10 km fun run when Almería half marathon. We arrived at Carboneras , left my car there and took the coach that the organisation offers for those runners who want to leave their car at the finish. We met another runner from Madrid, Juan Carlos, who was spending his holidays there with his wife and two little children. After the race, we happened to learn that he was also a teacher of English at a secondary school in Madrid.
When we arrived at the square at Aguamarga, we saw a lot of people queuing to enter. We were in front of a couple of French people who were from Avignon and were spending a few days in Carboneras while travelling along Mediterranean Spain. As the queue was slow due to the fact that the entry, which was free, could be done only on the race day and there was just one computer and the runners were nearly the double that the previous year, the start had to be delayed for half an hour. So, it the race started at 8:30 pm, which meant less heat. Before the start, I met Riccardo, an Italian friend who has a house at Aguamarga, and his family. I also met Antonio L., a friend from Dalías, who was with his wife and two girls. I´ve trained with him a few days before the race. Encarna also introduced us to David, who is a triathlete who takes part in European championships. Actually, he´s taking part in one in Hamburg on the first weekend of September. David introduced us another triathlete from his club.
There were around 250 runners at the start. There were a lot of people cheering at the little town. My aim was just finish it without being exhausted. As I couldn´t keep Encarna or Riccardo´s pace, I went on my own most of the race. I met a young man with an SOS t-shirt who was changing his pace continuously. He said that his aim was to finish.
At the beginning, there is a steep hill, then it went a little downhill but again uphill as far as the path that leads to playa de los muertos. There, there was a drink station and people cheering. After that, it was downhill as far as Carboneras seafront. I managed to overtake two runners. At the seafront there were a lot of people cheering. I heard several times Los últimos serán los primeros which means The last ones will be the first . In the last two kilometres I went faster and saw two more runners in front. I tried to reach them but I couldn´t. So, I arrived in 67 minutes, the fourth at the back. The distance is 10200 metres. At the finish, I took a bottle of water and a piece of fruit, a pear or an apple but there were no technical singlets left. I told the organiser and he told me he would solve it later when the race was over but Lionel, the French runner, insisted on giving me his singlet since they had another one which they could share. I didn´t want to accept it but they insisted so much that I had to. I also met their daughter who had taken part in the 5 km race for runners under 16 years old and she had been the winner in her category. I also saw there Felipe, Encarna, Juan Carlos, etc. We had a good time talking and taking some photos before coming back to Almería. I really enjoyed the race mainly because it was a good excuse to travel a little, meet a lot of people and do some sport.
Thanks, Andy. That´s Felipe. I think you met him after Almería half marathon last January. He didn´t take part because he had been ill for a few days previously.
Carrera popular Aguamarga - Carboneras 2007
