Although I still had some discomfort in my right calf, I decided to take part in the first San Silvestre in my home town. I thought that I could do at least one lap and leave if I didn´t feel well.
When I arrived at el paseo, I saw a lot of people warming up. It was a nice evening. The temperature indicator showed 16º Celsius. After leaving my sweatshirt and tracksuit trousers in the stall, I went to warm up a little in the avenue. There, I met Jose, who had been at the Baños on bicycle in the morning. I also saw Encarna but she had to go to the toilet. Later, I saw Jose and his son Javier. The atmosphere was great with a lot of people with Father Christmas´ caps. The race started at 7:05 pm and we went down the main avenue going past cafés and pavements with a lot of people cheering. We had to do three laps. I was in a group of four people in the back. After doing the first lap some former students of mine saw me and said: Ánimo, teacher!, which means Come on. I greeted them and when I was going up the Rambla, they were there again cheering. They had taken a shortcut. I also saw Carmen, a teacher of English, with Tony and her son Paquito. As I didn´t feel too bad, I continued to do the three laps, around 7.2 km in 41 minutes. I wished my mates a happy new year and went to look for my bag with a technical T-shirt, a bottle of water, a can of Nestea, etc. I also met Felipe and Mario who had done it in 33 minutes. With them were Carmen, Tony and Paquito.
I was glad to have taken part in it. The organisation was great and the atmosphere was wonderful with around 500 people taking part.
At 10 pm, I went to have dinner at Bar Restaurante Baviera in the city centre with Felipe and his wife, Mario and his wife, Jesús, Carmen, Encarna, Pepe, Carmen, Tony and Paquito. We had a good time upstairs eating alone. We had salad, fish, clams, mussels, dessert, beer, wine and a sorbet to end.
Happy new year, everybody. Feliz año nuevo a tod@s.
New objective : Almería half marathon
