Last Saturday on 14th August, I took part in a race that goes from Aguamarga to Carboneras in the east part of the province of Almería. It Is a traditional summer race but it is the first time I´ve done it. It started at 8 pm so my wife, Carmen, our seven-year-old son, Víctor, and myself left at 5.30 p.m from Roquetas de Mar, a town near Almería, where we usually spend our summer holidays in a flat we have there. It was a sunny afternoon but not hot. We arrived at around 6.30 at Aguamarga and decided to go by car along the route to look for a place where we could meet after the race since they would pick me up there. I noticed the route was steep the first kilometres but it was downhill the next ones and flat the last ones. After deciding where to meet, we came back to the village of Aguamarga which is crammed with tourists in summer.
Then, we went to get a race number at the start line. It cost nothing. There was a long queue of runners from Almería, Granada, Murcia and other Spanish provinces and even some from other countries such as Italy and France. When I got my number, 130, I went to the car where I had left my trainers and T-shirt. On my way to the car, I met Riccardo, an Italian friend I met last year at Mojácar and Dalías races. He was very glad to see me since he had phoned me but he couldn´t talk to me because we were in Roquetas and I had changed my mobile phone. I told him he could come back with us after the race but he told me that he had left his car in Carboneras a few hours before. Then, he suggested Carmen and Víctor could stay there with his wife and I could come back with him. That´s what we did.
At 8.04, the race started. There were around 140 runners, most of them men. We left the village square to go along a street to the road to Carboneras, going up a steep hill with a beautiful view of the bay behind and a high mountain called Mesa Roldán with its lighthouse. Along the route, there was sometimes a nice smell of fig trees. It was good to run late in the afternoon when it isn´t hot . I had started with Riccardo but I couldn´t keep his pace since he has trained a lot to take part at Venice marathon on 24th October. I tried to jog with other runners but I couldn´t keep their pace so I went alone from the second kilometre but I felt all right. A man on a bicycle cheered me up. He is a runner living in Carboneras who belongs to the race organization. He has taken part in a few one hundred kilometre races and marathons. I thought I was the last one but he told me there was a man from Lyon in France who was behind me but I couldn´t see him. There was a drink station at the place where the path to playa de los Muertos starts. It means beach of the dead because there were dead people from ship wrecks who got to that shore. There were people there cheering, saying ánimo, which means courage and I went downhill seeing some runners around 200 m ahead. Then, I went on to see some ugly industrial buildings at the entrance of Carboneras, a concrete factory and an electric plant. It´s a pity that in such a beautiful place those awful buildings where allowed just opposite the seaside and port. Then, I got to the sea front where a lot of people were sitting in cafés and strolling. They also cheered me up. Finally, I got to a street leading to the castle square where the finish was and where the town fair was. I managed to arrive in 65 minutes but I felt quite well since I didn´t feel too tired and without any discomfort, which is wonderful since I haven´t trained much this summer, just one or two days a week . I was given a bag with a T-shirt, an apple, a bottle of water and some tourist leaflets. I remembered Nigel, who had been here on holidays in 2003.
http://www.carboneras.com/
While we were waiting for the prizes - since Riccardo had won a fourth place in his category, Veteranos C ( people over 55 years old ) - I saw a student of mine, José Vicente, who had won the first place in his category, runners from 14-16 years old. He has taken part in regional and national championships in 1000 m and 2000m obstacles. He was with his parents and told me he had done five thousand metres as all runners under 18 years old. After getting Riccardo´s prize, we went to his car and got to Aguamarga where Carmen and Víctor and Riccardo´s wife were waiting for us. As it was late for our son. We left quickly to drive back home arriving at Roquetas at about 11.15 pm.
