This is the fourth year I take part in this race. I started in 2002 because a friend of mine, Antonio L., encouraged me to go to El Ejido and end the year doing a 11 km race. So, this year, as the previous ones, my brother, José, came with me in my car. We arrived at about 4 pm at El Ejido, a town 35 km away from Almería in the west of this province. It is well known because there are a lot of plastic greenhouses in that area. We went to the town hall where the race numbers and chips are picked up. I met José Antonio García Verdegay, one of the best local runners and owner of a sports shop in Almería. Afterwards, I also met Juan Pedro, a teacher of English, who took part at Albacete half marathon with me. He just went to have a look at the race. Later, I met Antonio L., his wife and two daughters. We all wished each other good luck and a happy new year. There´s a big crib at the town hall near the toilets. Afterwards, when I was warming up, I met Tony, René and Encarna, who are friends of a new colleague in my school. Tony and René come from The Netherlands. This was going to be Encarna´ s first race and she was a bit nervous. Tony took part at New York marathon last November but he hadn´t trained since then. René is the fastest of all of us. I also met Jorge, a friend from Almería, I met in a Spanish running website
http://WWW.carreraspopulares.com . He has also taken part in Almería half marathon, Roquetas 10 km race, etc.
At five o´clock, the race started. It is a five lap course. Each lap is 2200 metre long. It is along the main avenue in El Ejido, known as El boulevard. The start/finish line is in the middle of the avenue and it starts uphill for around 500 metres to go down for about 1100 metres to go uphill again as far as the start/finish line. The weather was all right since it wasn´t cold or hot. I started with Encarna for about 800 metres. Then, I went a little faster and reached Tony who had an isotonic drink which he offered me but I rejected since I didn´t feel thirsty. This race is interesting since you see people going down when you´re going up or overtaking you and you can encourage them or vice versa. I did the first lap in 11´30´´ which was quite good for my level. In the last lap, I took a bottle of water and offered Tony some. Nearly in the middle of the lap, Tony asked me if I would manage to finish under one hour and I told him that I´d probably finish in 62 minutes. Then, I decided to go a little faster and see If I could do it. I saw a young man and his girlfriend in front of me and decided to reach them but I couldn´t for very little. However, I finished in around 60´40´´, which is not bad since last year it took me 66 minutes. Anyway, last year I had had some lumbago pain for some previous days which had prevented me from training. Nevertheless, this year I felt fine with very little muscle stiffness afterwards. A little bit after me Tony came. He felt some discomfort but he managed to finish quite well taking into account he hadn´t trained for nearly two months. René had finished in 45 minutes and he went back to go with Encarna in her final metres. I also went back to encourage her and offer her some water but she didn´t want any. There were more people running with her and two women who arrived behind. She was very glad to finish her first race and I encouraged her to take part at Almería half marathon as well as Tony and René if they can come from Holland. We wished each other a very happy new year which I also wish to all of you. Feliz año Nuevo.
