Once again sincere apologies for inappropriate Road Crew vernacular.
Felt it risque yet, with indefinite third party reference, just about acceptable. Mortified that offence might be caused; shan't happen again.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(30-11-2009, 10:12 PM)Sweder Wrote: Once again sincere apologies for inappropriate Road Crew vernacular.
Felt it risque yet, with indefinite third party reference, just about acceptable. Mortified that offence might be caused; shan't happen again.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
This last minute addition to the race calendar took us to La Maragateria, the land of a mysterious race of people who were once responsible for the mule trains which criss-crossed the Iberian peninsula in bygone days. If you like, they were the original long distance truckies. Many a legend surrounds the Maragatos, one of which is that they descend from a lost Berber tribe from the Atlas mountains of Morocco.
But the only vestige of the Maragato’s cultural legacy when we arrived in the nondescript village of Torneros de Valderia was a merry band of 3 pipers and 2 drummers who had taken shelter from the rain in someone’s doorway. The band of Maragatos in their regional costume had turned out to add a bit of colour to the proceedings, poor buggers…it was pouring down with rain and blowing a gale.
We parked the car and walked across the village square to sign up for the “1st Cross Alpino de La Peña del Tren”. A couple of fellows were struggling with a big inflatable finish arch and the organizers were installing a table in the basement of one of the houses, a makeshift haven from the elements. In the murky half light of the basement a plump woman was stripping garlic cloves over a bubbling cauldron. She looked like the race organizer’s mum.
While we were waiting for our numbers we watched the inflatable arch break its moorings and literally fly across the square. It was reeled back in again by the men and deflated. Today was not one for much paraphernalia.
The rain teemed down, the wind came and went in hearty gusts and the assembling runners took cover in the basement, occasionally peeking out to look up at the “peña,” a serrated line of crags above which resembled the spine of some cartoon stegosaurus.
Not too many familiar faces this time amongst the 120 or so starters. It’s just a little too far away and December is not a good month to cross the lonely Morredero pass (we didn’t, we took the long way around via Astorga).
The Race
Didn’t register much during the race which was a shame. Each climb seemed to head up to the same cluster of crags which formed ghostly silhouettes in the mist and I spent most of my time looking down at the floor and wiping drizzle from my glasses. The stones which littered the way were slippery and on days like these I’m an accident waiting to happen. Caution was the order of the day.
The biggest climb came at the start through uncomfortable stony terrain and along an ever increasing gradient. Combined walking with the occasional skip forward but didn’t push it to calf popping extremes as it was the first time I’d done this sort of distance since Busmayor in July.
Then we followed a flatter high-land section where the trail was mostly flooded. Here I noticed that some people were actually trying to dodge the puddles. Waste of time that.. I suspected that there was a lot more to come. In fact it was ankle deep much of the time and on some of the descents the water had cut furrows which had transformed into minor torrents. Plenty of people set out in Gortex trainers but it didn’t make a jot of difference, everybody ended up soaked to the skin.
Then onwards to the descents which included a couple of fairly vicious firebreaks. The first one was steep, stony and rutted by little streams of rainwater which you had to skip across. I tried to follow the safest line as opposed to the most direct one. The only person I overtook was a young Moroccan lad (or was he Maragato?) who had come expecting a cross country and had by now lost all interest.
The second firebreak was a continuous line of sludge which you just surfed down encouraged by the sight of the village far below.
Finished the 19 km circuit in just over 2 hours which put me in the bottom half of the field. There were a lot of very serious runners out there though, I’d felt OK and I didn’t fall over so that was fine.
Interesting to note that the guys who were first and second came from Valladolid which is probably the flattest province in Spain and third was the tri-athlete who broke the Aquilianos record this year.
Signed up for 2 more races. Next Sunday: II Subida de Monte Pajariel and on the 20th the Lugo 10k.
StillWaddler, I assure you that my life is very mundane. It's just the running that's a bit out of the ordinary
I had to go back to re-read the race report. It's hard to read from a backlit screen when your eyes are filled with tears of laughter.
Wonderful stuff.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Three race reports to record as succinctly as possible.
13th Dec. II Subida de Monte Pajariel. 17km. 650m ascent 650m descent.
This was the long awaited race that Pinilla the miner had been promising to organize again ever since the first edition in February 2008. I took part in that one although for some reason I can’t find any record of it in my running diaries.
It was worth the wait for the course alone, an attractive loop around Monte Pajariel followed by a sadistic roller-coaster of firebreaks up to the summit and then a superb semi-technical descent. This was the race I felt best in, possibly due to a conservative start and familiarity with the trails and descent (but not the firebreaks!)
20th Dec. Lugo Monumental 9.8k. 2 laps below the Roman walls followed by one lap on them.
This is a race that I have much lauded on other occasions. Went again with Baltazar from the cement factory. As ever, it was cold, very cold, 10º below just outside Ponferrada and not far off that in Lugo itself.
Parked the car and made our way to the Plaza Mayor. On the way we met Saad Kaiche, Spain’s tallest man, in a flea market. He wears size 59 shoes you know.
My heart sank when I found El Cafe Central had closed and all my pre-race rituals went to pot. We were forced to perch on high stools for 3 quarters of an hour in the soulless modern establishment next door surrounded by elite athletes. Here I followed up my strong coffee with a hot chocolate chaser which settled uncomfortably at the pit of my stomach. I should have known better.
Suffered indescribably from 7k onwards by which time we were running a circuit high up upon the Roman walls… no bars to nip into and discreetly finding some gap in the wall would have incurred the risk of crapping on the backmarkers who were still on the penultimate lap 10 metres below. I didn’t even consider this option. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site after all.
Huffed and puffed and dragged myself home for my slowest ever 9.8k. And Lugo somehow lost a little bit of its magic although I did look up to one of the tallest men on the planet.
1st Jan. The Morning After. Church Stretton, Shropshire. 5 miles, 300m ascent/descent.
This one’s listed as a fell race. Last year I came here with my dad and it was appropriate that dad’s brother Trev should come to walk the 2010 edition. Great race run almost in its entirety on snow and ice, but once out of the shade the sun helped thaw us out and provide ideal conditions. There were runners, walkers, juniors, families, dogs and even one bloke with a Santa hat and a pair of Speedo swimming trunks. I coughed and spluttered on the ascents and finished a couple of minutes slower than last year. We pledged to come back for more next year.
This drew to a close the most prolific period of racing in my life. Have run 5 races in 6 weeks. Can’t say the same for “training” as in the same period I’ve only done 2 half- hour runs along the canal but the races have been fun and I’ve been careful enough not to get injured. Now where are those New Year’s resolutions….
Who needs training when you have so many wonderful races?
I sneaked a peek at the pictures before reading the reports. I just knew that half-naked nutbar was English.
Brrrr!
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Congratulations, BB. It must have been hard to take part at the same race you did with your dad last year but without him.
Is 101 perigrinos one of your New Year´s resolutions? It is held at El Bierzo as you probably know, BB. I´ve read about it this morning and I thought it must be really tough to do 101 kms running or walking in less than 24 hours although it can be done on mountain bike as well.
(07-01-2010, 07:08 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: Looks great BB... I mean rather. it looks astonishingly tough. Great running!
Not as tough as you might think. All the races on this paticular thread were open to runners and walkers (except Lugo which was a straightforward 10k road race). You can set your own pace and try to enjoy it... there's probably less pressure to actually compete and the random distances mean that you're not too obsessed with time. The emphasis is more upon "getting round".
Funnily enough the toughest race for me was probably the Lugo one. I set off too fast, spent the first part of the race dodging people and then had waves of people passing me at the end which was very demoralizing!
Antonio.. I have no intention of running the 101km race. Too far, too much commitment and not my idea of fun! I might consider doing the bike ride though... would you be interested?
(07-01-2010, 07:08 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: Looks great BB... I mean rather. it looks astonishingly tough. Great running!
Not as tough as you might think. All the races on this paticular thread were open to runners and walkers (except Lugo which was a straightforward 10k road race). You can set your own pace and try to enjoy it... there's probably less pressure to actually compete and the random distances mean that you're not too obsessed with time. The emphasis is more upon "getting round".
Funnily enough the toughest race for me was probably the Lugo one. I set off too fast, spent the first part of the race dodging people and then had waves of people passing me at the end which was very demoralizing!
Antonio.. I have no intention of running the 101km race. Too far, too much commitment and not my idea of fun! I might consider doing the bike ride though... would you be interested?
Well actually, Antonio seems to have developed a penchant for ultra-marathons, so you never know. (I'll leave him to reveal his bombshell news...)
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
