My first race

As I wrote a few posts before, this Sunday I ran my first race of the season. I woke up early in the morning –before 7 am- to have my breakfast and start getting ready for the race. My wife Jéssica decided  to come with me and she got up to come with me. Her decision made me very happy because it was the first time in years that she came with me to a race.

 

We went to the car, that made its last service, and we got to San Andrés de la Barca. We parked in the shopping centre and we went walking to the gym, where they gave me my number. As usually, I met somebody: Pablo Solís. He used to train one of RCD Espanyol academy teams and he was one of the best coaches and more responsible persons that I have ever known.

 

One of the best things of this race is that there are not many people and these helps to run more comfortably. The race started at 9.30 and even though I wasn’t in my best condition I started to get my pace. It is very frustrating when you are struggling in the path and you see the leaders of the race flying.

 

As I remembered, it is a hard race. The circuit had a lot of ups and downs. It is true that you have some parts to rest, but there are also are some parts that are very hard and sometimes you are not capable to measure your strength.

 

I finished the first lap over 22.30 minutes and I thought I would be able to be around 45 minutes but in the second lap I didn’t do so well. The sun start to come out and it was really warm outside there. However, I was able to finish in 46min 3 seconds with the feeling that I could have done a bit better in the last kilometres.

 

The best thing was yet to come: the butifarra (a typical Catalan sausage) sandwich. It was great! I wouldn’t have minded to have another one. My race was a great experience. I improved my mark nearly 1min and 30 seconds compared to 2012 and I am sure that if I can run it next year, I will be there again. The Cursa de la Tardor is great!