Half Marathon Santa Pola

My favourite event of my half-marathon calendar came around again last Sunday, and once again it didn't disappoint. Santa Pola has one of the biggest popular races in Spain, more than seven thousand people finished this year, and its one big party with what seems like the whole town on the street cheering. There are bands playing at various points on the course, when the course leaves the populated areas of the town they have speakers blasting out music, it really is one big party.

The race has a great atmosphere, is well organized and has a pancake flat course, when I raced in Benidorm there were lots of running tourists, personally I think they are missing a trick by not coming instead to Santa Pola. The one negative point is just a result of the race being so popular, despite the wide boulevard used for the start of the race it is very difficult to avoid getting held up in the first few kilometres, but with the exception of the 10k in Valencia I've had the same problem in any race with more than 2,000 participants.

I think its clear I like the event, but how was my race? I enjoyed it but I'm still not running as fast as I would like. I finished in 1557th place with a finish time of 1:35:51 and a chip time of 1:33:57. It was my quickest half marathon this season, but was more than five minutes slower than I managed in the same race last year. I didn't go into the race expecting to challenge my time of last year but I was hoping to be alot closer to breaking 90 minutes.

Looking at my splits though there is enough there to suggest I'm not too far away. Discounting my time to cross the start line my 5k splits were:

• 22:42
• 21:59
• 21:56
• 22:36

In the first 5k I was inevitable slowed down by the sheer number of runners, in a less popular race I'm sure there is a good bit of time I could make on the first split. The other thing to note is that in my training cycle my longest run has been my half marathon races, the lack of stamina told in the last few kilometres, I was really just hanging on for the finish. I'm pretty sure with a couple of longer runs over the next month I'll be able to get closer to my best.

So now we get to the bag review. As in the previous two years, Santa Pola did not disappoint. Check out the goodies:

A bag, good quality t-shirt, towel, discount vouchers for a safari park, drinks and snacks, and last but not least the traditional Santa Pola gift of a year's supply of Santa Pola salt, I say a year, I still haven't finished the bottle from two years ago. It is a top quality race with a top quality bag.

Well done Santa Pola! You are in pole position for goodie bag of the year.

Happy Running
El maratonero

My cross-country experience

Like pretty much every English school child, at least in my generation, I ran my first cross-country race at school and much like everyone else, hated it immensely. Normally the way it works is that the PE teacher waits for the coldest, wettest day of the year and takes the kids outside and makes run around a boggy field for half an hour. We would arrive back to the changing rooms completely covered in mud, so much so it looked like I'd been swimming in it. I pity my Mum now for having to get that kit clean week after week.

While I didn't like the cold, or the wet, the one compensation was that I was reasonably good at it, at least until I got left behind as others experienced their puberty related growth spurt before me. When I did my last school cross-country at age 15 I thought I would never run one again, but this past weekend I was back playing in the mud.

I was back in the UK for the weekend and since I knew I needed to do at least one run while I was away I looked for a local race to take part in, and to my surprise I found one. I ran in what was supposed to be a 15k cross-country in a place called Irchester. Here is a link to the event:

http://www.justracinguk.com/event/wellingborough-mt-1-run-series-round-1

My thinking was that it would be harder work than a 15k on the road, so would be good training for this weekend's half-marathon in Santa Pola, while running on a variety of surfaces is supposed to be a good thing and I don't get much opportunity to run in the mud given how dry it is in Alicante.

It worked out ok, it was a nice run, there had been rain in the days before but not too much, the ground held up fairly well, it didn't turn into a mudbath as I'd feared it might. It was a fairly slow run, I put that down to not being very sure-footed, but was good exercise nonetheless.

I finished the race in 1:09:56, in 44th place of 109 runners. If you believe that it was 15km that means an average of 4:40min/km, however my GPS suggested the course was short and I'm inclined to believe it. You can see the run here:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63936967

It has me at 4:57min/km, which I feel is closer to the truth.

I finished feeling good and able to go on, which is a good sign for the challenges to come.

No race report would be complete without a discussion of the goody bag, and I have to say in this regard the race was a huge disappointment. I'd paid 15GBP to enter, so I was expecting something half decent, but no, there was no bag whatsoever! All I received was a few flyers for other events managed by the race organizers and at the end a tiny little medal. I've only taken part in two events in the UK in the past two-and-a-half years, but with such poor value for money I won't be in a rush to go and do many more. It was really a missed opportunity for the organizers, with 400+ people taking part in the event I'm sure there are plenty of companies out there selling running related products only too happy to be able to provide samples to a captive audience, but they were just not there.

That's all for now.

Happy Running

El Maratonero

Valencia 10k

Another week, another race, this time in Valencia. I have to say, I've seen alot of Spain over the past five years, I've been to almost all the major cities and plenty of small towns too and Valencia is one of my favourites. It just has a nice balance between modern and historical buildings, the centre of the city I guess has changed little over the past one hundred years, but it has aged well while there are iconic, modern buildings a short walk away, the prime example being the Palau de les arts Reina Sofia.

Anyway, now to the race. As I expected it was a flat course that was perfect for attempting a PB. I was on course up until about the midway point, I was at the 5k mark in 20:05 so a sub 40min time was still within reach but it the second half I just didn't have the strength to maintain the same pace. I completed the second 5k in 21:47 to finish in 41:52 and an average of 4:11min/km.

This seems to be a familiar story of my last few races, I haven't reached my goal but I'm not too disappointed as I understand why I'm not running as fast as I'd like to be. Through the first half of the race I had the pace to get a new PB but I just didn't have the stamina to sustain it, and for that I have to look at the enforced break over Christmas as the primary cause. Since I returned I've been gradually building up the mileage again but I hadn't been beyond 12k before today, and it just isn't enough. Hopefully I can get up to speed quickly as the half-marathons come thick and fast from here with three in the next six weeks. I set PB's at the same races last year, while I don't expect to do the same list year I'd like to think that by the time the third comes around I'll be close to my best.

Before I close this post I'd like to say how proud I am of my girlfriend. In Valencia she ran her first race, a year ago taking on a 10k was probably the furthest thought from her mind when she took her first tentative steps to take up running but the transformation has been huge and well-earned. A 10k is a big landmark and to get round running all the way is a great start, I'm already looking forward to joining her on the start line for many more races and watching her improve.

All the best

Maratonero

San Silvestre Crevillentina 2010

At the start of December I said on this blog I was entering the San Silvestre with the aim of improving my speed. I also said I was aiming for a PB. It turns out I was being wildly optimistic!

I finished the race in 45:31, with a chip time of 44:34, in 469th place of 1559 finishers. After two weeks without running I wasn't quite ready to challenge my PB, although I'm not overly disappointed. I underestimated the time I would need in the queue for the toilet before the race, I finally got done only five minutes before the start of the race, by which time it was impossible to slot into the crowd of runners before halfway in the field, this inevitably meant that I lost time trying to work my way through. I underestimated the number of runners in the event, with 200 arriving to the start I would have been fine arriving when I did, with over 1,000 its more of an issue. Added to that the course was a difficult one, there were endless ups and downs with lots of tight corners, it wasn't a course anyone should expect a PB on.

My 5km splits were 23:20 for the first and 22:11 for the second, if you take off the time to reach the start line from the first 5km split it looks more even, 22:23 and 22:11. My GPS told me I took 5:00 to do the first kilometre, based on that I think starting further up the field would have cut at least 30 seconds from my time and who knows the difference that came from my lack of training in the two weeks before.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. The race was very enjoyable, lots of people went in costumes, the first time I've seen that in Spain, and it was a great atmosphere, I'm already thinking of what I'll go as next year.

A race report wouldn't be complete without a review of the goody bag, and Crevillente you provided a top notch bag.

A bottle of water, carton of juice, a couple of sachets of glucose gel were basics, but the long-sleeved t-shirt is a very good quality one, a Saucony no less. However, the pièce de resistance was the doormat. Who would ever think to put a doormat in a goody bag for a 10km race? Whoever it was, thank you! It now sits proudly outside my door, I've been thinking for a while that we needed one for the flat, I'm just glad I didn't get to buying one.

It won't be long before the next goody bag review, I've lined up another 10k for next Sunday, this time in Valencia. It should be a fast race on a flat course with a couple of world class elites running, the Spaniard Chema Martinez, the silver medallist in last year's European championships and Kenyan Kiprono Menjo, the fastest man over the distance in 2010. It should be a good race, although I don't expect to see much of it! I'll just be hoping to get closer to my PB than I managed in Crevillente.

That's all for now, happy running.

El Maratonero

Christmas Break

I left my home in Alicante on 20th December to spend Christmas with my sister's family in Germany. When I left I had intended to continue training so that I was on form when I returned to Spain on the 30th I was in good form to run the 10km San Silvestre race in Crevillente. Well that plan went entirely out of the window.

When I arrived in Germany I was faced with blanket snow, and it proceeded to fall on almost every day that I was away, training was a complete impossibility. The pavements that were cleared were all icy, which made any attempt to run treacherous.

I'll let you know how it affected my form in my next post.

Happy New Year

Maratonero