I hadn´t been to Benidorm for many years. The first time I went there, I was around eighteen years old and I went with three friends to a concert on an chartered coach in summer. It was nearly thirty years ago and then it was already a symbol of crowded tourism. Nowadays, it is still a place crammed with tourists although in winter it is mainly for third age people. I must admit that I don´t like skyscrapers but I fancied going back to see the changes and run its cosmopolitan half marathon.
I arrived at about eight o´clock in Benidorm after a three and a half hour drive with a stop to have a cup of cocoa milk and two little cakes in Puerto Lumbreras in the province of Murcia. I found a place to park where a kind local policeman ,who I had asked where the town hall was, told me there was room for me to leave the car. I arrived at the town hall where the marathon race started at 8:30. There were about five hundred runners ready to run. The day was a bit cold, around 12º Celsius but the temperature went up a little later when the sun started to shine.
This race is amazing since on the same day they hold a marathon and a half marathon, with different km signs for both distances. The former starts at 8:30 and the latter at 10 o´clock. After the beginning of the marathon, I picked up my race number and was given a bag with a T-shirt, a juice, a chocolate, some leaflets After that, I went to a café where I had another cup of cocoa milk and another cake. After getting changed at the car, I went back to the start line where I saw a lot of runners. There were around 1700 entrants with a lot of runners from different parts of Spain but also the UK and a few from The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark.
At the start line, I met two men from Nottingham who wanted to do it in under two hours since they were recovering from injuries. The race started and the first half a kilometre, we had to go slowly due to the amount of people. I saw at kilometre 4 that I was doing 21´30´´ . We went towards the sea front meeting marathon runners on their way back. In km 10, I did 53´, which is very good for my level. After doing km 11 in 59´, I thought it could be possible to do the remaining ten kilometres under one hour. We went along the sea front with a view of those skyscrapers, one of them with the awful honour of being the tallest hotel in Europe. There were people cheering us along the course. There was a man disguised in Father Christmas clothes and a couple of British men said something about being delivered some presents. When they reached me, I said that it was too hot to run with those clothes and they agreed. There were also two young women dressed in a sort of uniform with trainers and an English flag doing the half marathon. At the sea front, you could see bars selling English food and beer. There were many people standing or sitting who cheered us. I met a man who was doing the marathon who was from Amsterdam.
Later, we went out of the city centre to go up a long straight soft hill reaching the marathon half marathon notice with an arch. Afterwards, we went up a little further to come downhill and afterwards we went back towards the start / finish climbing another soft hill. I remember that a man in the public who was with his wife, I imagine, saw that I was wearing my Reading half marathon T-shirt and said :Reading, come on. In km 18, I saw that I was doing one hour forty-two minutes. According to a friend who I met in Almería on Saturday before my local half, if you are doing one hour forty minutes or less in km 18, you can finish the half marathon under two hours if you can do the remaining three kilometres and 97 metres in twenty minutes. Therefore, I had to force too much and my legs felt stiff. So I managed to finish in 2 hours one minute 48 seconds real time. A few metres before the finish, there are two carpets, the red one for the marathon runners and the blue one for the half marathon runners. Unfortunately, there was a man lying on the carpet a few metres in front of the finish who several Red Cross volunteers were carrying on a stretcher .
I felt a bit tired with stiff legs but glad to have lowered seven minutes my time since Granada half marathon. I had coke, Aquarius, chocolate bars that were given at the stalls and went back to my car to come back home.
In conclusion, I´m glad to have been in Benidorm and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the experience of taking part in a half marathon with people doing the marathon as well.
Many congratulations on a great run, Antonio - which must surely have been your personal best, or very close to it. That was with a slow start and some hills, too, so you're really very close to your target now.
That two hour mark is there and ripe for the taking in 2006.... !
I'm very impressed Antonio - you'll be flying past me in races now. I can't believe you drove all the way there and still were in great shape for a PB half marathon. Very good run. Under two hours is so feasible.
Wish I could commit to Almeria, but it's not looking good. Hopefully I see you in London for the marathon!
Well done Antonio, the 2 hour barrier will go in Almería, surely. Six minutes improvement even taking the course into account is a hell of a difference.
Thank you very much, amig@s, for your support. I think that the two hour barrier can be reached but I don´t mind if I don´t succeed. I´d like to go on enjoying in training and races.
Benidorm half marathon. 27th Nov 2005.
