RunningCommentary

XX Carrera San Silvestre El Ejido 29th Dec 2007

On Saturday 29th December I went to El Ejido San Silvestre race. This is the seventh consecutive year I go. However, this year it is one kilometre shorter since it is ten kilometre long. It is still five laps but each one is 200 metre shorter so that it can be included in the Spanish federation calendar as an officially approved 10 km race.

I went with Felipe, another teacher of English and Isabel who owns a company related with sea sports in Almería such as windsurfing, canoeing, etc. It is called Eolo. We went in Felipe´s car and went to the town hall to collect our race numbers, chips and a goodie bag with a vest, a balaclava and a cord to hold a mobile phone. As every year there is a crib at the town hall. This year the race entry wasn´t free. It cost five euros. Isabel had a problem with her internet entry but she was allowed to race without a race number and after the race she was given a goodie bag.

At the race I talked to some runners I know. We usually meet in races or while we are training in Almería such as Diego, Jorge, Juan Jesús, etc.

At the start we saw that there were famous Spanish runners such as Antonio Jiménez Pentinel, Reyes Estévez, Zulema and Iris Fuentes Pila Ortiz. Óscar Pereiro, the cyclist who won the 2006 tour de France after Floyd Landis´ disqualification also took part invited by the organisation.

It was a wonderful sunny afternoon. The temperature was around 16º degrees Celsius. After finding a position at the back of the race, we started at 5 o´clock. It starts a little uphill, then downhill to go to the start line uphill again. Isabel left us soon and I kept Felipe´s pace for a lap but afterwards I couldn´t follow him. I did the first 2 km lap in around 11 minutes. There were a lot of people cheering along the Boulevard where the race takes place. In the fist lap I heard “Antonio”.  It came from a girl, Alicia, I met in 2002 when I first took part in this race. We did the race together then and the next year but afterwards she got an injury and she has been a spectator all these years. She used to play handball.

I felt all right all the laps although I was the fourth or fifth behind. One advantage of theis race is that you see the people many times going up or down the avenue. However, in the last lap I managed to overtake three runners which is something good for me since I usually start faster than I should and the last kilometres are very hard. I did the 10 km in 58 minutes while Isabel and Felipe finished a few minutes earlier.

After giving back our chips, we came back to Almería thinking that we would like to do El Ejido half marathon on 16^th March, which will be its first edition.

Best wishes for the next year which is so close.

III Subida a los Baños de Sierra Alhamilla

On Sunday 23rd December I arrived ar Pechina, a small town just 12 km from Almeria. It was time to go up the road to Baños de Sierra Alhamilla, 8,3 km away and come back along a dirt track to Pechina doing around 7 km more.

It was a cloudy day although the sun was fighting to shine. When I got to this small town which, in spite of being so near a big town, fortunately still has a village like appearance, I saw some cyclists and runners near Manuel´s mother´s house. You probably already know Manuel, who lives in Barcelona, but he ´s from Pechina.  He has taken part in loads of  races all over the world. Last summer he took part at Limamarathon and went to Machu Pichu and he also took part at a 100 km race in the province of Zaragoza in August. He is the soul of this race which started as a sort of training announced in a Spanish running website and has found help from the local council.

After greeting Manuel, his mother, brother-in-law who was taking part in the bicycle race, other runners I knew such as Corretón, who came with his wife and daughters to cheer or Raúl, who is the sports councellor taking part this year in the race as tin the previous edition. I also metother runners that Manuel introduced me such as Artés, whom I knew from the forum. He lives in Yecla, in the province of Murcia or Currupuy, who lives in La Rioja and brought some bottles from that area. I also greeted Manuel´s mother and his niece, who happens to be a pupil of mine this year.

At 10:30 Manuel gave the signal to start because he couldn´t take part in the race since he had a terrible cold. I started with the last ones going  up the street that led us to the road toward Los Baños. I managed to keep their pace for one mile but I had to slow down and follow my pace which allowed me to take some pictures. It was a bit hard since I went on my own all the course but I felt all right. I managed to get to the top in sixty minutes, four more than the previous year. The last kilometre to the top is the toughest reaching a sort of oasis in the desert with a spring with hot water. There I was given a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate.

Then, I went downhill along a steep dirt track. Whenever I do this course, which I had last done with Sweder last January, I do a different one because the course is not clear and there are several tracks. I had to turn back a little because I missed the right turning but it didn´t matter. Finally, I arrived at the town hall square where Manuel, his brother-in.law Jose and his nephew José María were waiting for me. I was glad to have been able to do this wonderful race once again. Then, after getting changed at Manuel´s house, I went to the secondary school sports pavilion where all the other cyclists and runners were having a drink and some tapas such as “embutidos” cold cuts?, “langostinos” king prawns?, olives, almonds, etc. We joined them and took part in a draw where the winner got a “jamón Serrano”, cured ham. Three cups were given to the first three runners and a T-shirt to everybody.

I think that the atmosphere was fantastic and everybody is looking forward to doing it again next year. Is there a better way to wish each other a merry Christmas. I also wish you a happy Christmas and a wonderful year 2088.

A new life

Well, I thank Andy for inviting me to this blog. I had some problems to log in but Andy has managed to get me in.

I have some experience in posting a comment in other people´s posts but this is the first one I´m sending in this blog although I started some threads in the running commentary forum.

I´d like to know how to attach photos in this blog. Is it in the "manage" button?

I wish you all best of luck in your running aims and I´d love to meet you at Almería half on the last weekend of January.

Saludos desde Almería

Antonio