Cursa de Fons de Canovelles

Yes! I did it! I run the Cursa de Fons de Canovelles, a 15K. Had second thoughts about it this am upon having to get out of bed, but so glad. I went. Lovely people, good organitzation, beautiful route... too bad they run out of coke/water at the end. Only beer available... NO WAY!

So, left the house late, about 20 minutes later than I wished, got there, got lost, then couldn't park. In the end I made it at 9:40. Race was starting at 10. Got my bib, went to the toilet, left my bad and off I went. No time for warmup :o The race starts... uphill for about 1/3 of a mile, really steep but hey, it's the beginning and I'm fresh ;) BTW, no breakfast for me... only a coffee... couldn't get anything down. Make it to K5 great and then, turn into the woods. Steep hill that I walk. At the top I see some runners and I get to pass them, yay! I keep running until K8.5 approximately when there's another hill, not as steep but very long, so I decide to walk it. An older man who passed me at the beginning and then I passed again, catches up with me and we've gone together til the end. He really made it easier. Having someone to run with and talk to was great! We even sprinted to cross the finish line ;)

In the end 1:51:03. Very happy for having finished and seeing I'm not scared of the distance. Loved it! Beautiful sorroundings. I'd really like to do it again next year or whenever!

England, here I come!

Hi!

So yes... I am going to England to see my Oma next Friday! Back on Sunday, short and sweet but will be great to break away and spend some time with my brother and grandma!

Will take my running shoes and my Garmin, hoping to fit a little run over there :p

More on the "adventure" as it approaches ;)

Yay!

Yay for lots of things! On the one hand I'm on Easter Break, yay! On the other hand, Paula competed last Sunday in Salt (in her very own gym) and won again and her team placed second.... yay! I went for a run on Monday evening, 8kms total, yay! Jan turned 6 on Tuesday, yay, yay, yay! I went for a run, 7kms on Weds evening, yay! And... I went on a 14.150km run yesterday (Thursday), a big YAY for me!!!!!! I went in the am after dropping the kids of at camp. Paula and Jan have gone Mon-Thurs and loved it, so I went running on Monday and Thursday after dropping them off... priceless being able to run in the am when I can see exactly where I am going, LOL!

On Wednesday I went out in the evening for a short sweet run just to keep things going. The plan calls for a short easy run tomorrow Saturday and then my 15K on Monday. 1:45 is the time frame the organitzation gives to finish. I'll try my best :D

So, all in all a great week, almost 30km so far. Amazing all that can be done when one's got time for it :p

Oma sent Jan a parcel and it got here right on his brithday. He was soooooooo happy! We called her and she's been poorly. Might go over next weekend to see her. Need to get organized and see if it's doable.

Attached a photo of the bike path where I run... pure nature right next to the city :D Also attached a photo of Paula (both taken with my mobile phone) after the competition while helping put things away.

Wednesday

Hi! It's Wednesday already... 2 more sleeps and... Easter Holidays... yippee!!!!!

Went out for a short run today... almost didn't go because I was soooooooo tired. But so glad I did, it was short but sweet and great... I loved it, felt good and was "faster" than usual, LOL! Still beautiful although the temps have dropped a bit which is nice too!

So 7 more kms under my belt, next kms will be on Friday I guess!

I have posted these pics from the race on Sunday. It was BIG!

We Run Barcelona!

Hi! Another edition of the Cursa dels Bombers in Barcelona, was held today... 20,000 runners in bright yellow t-shirts invaded the streets... it was amazing!

I did a short training run on Thursday, 4Ks, just a little something. This am, the alarm clock went off at 6:30, got up, fed Pol, showered, got dressed and headed to Barcelona. Met my brother and headed to the race site.

Seeing lots of bright yellow t-shirts was very encouraging. Got there... thousands of people... 17706 finishers... wow! It was very very hot already before 9am and when the race started at 10 we were all sweating and I had already poured a bottle of water over my head :o

I suffered and I enjoyed the race today. I was tired... I've not been sleeping properly and I could tell, still I went ahead, moved by the cheering crowd... it is wonderful how they put animation all over the city: music, drums, bangers... breathtaking really! K2-3 there were volunteers clapping and cheering along with trumpets and whistles, K5-6 drums and more drums... K9 more and more drums... upbeating!

The other side, which was scary to me was seeing lots and lots of people get dizzy, pass out, throw up... I have seen people faint or get dizzy before but not what I saw today... 30 at least... impressive to say the least... guess it was the heat, we're having a sort of a heat wave, temps have climbed a lot over the last days reaching well over 30ºC. I don't think our bodies have had the time to get used to that. I just hope that everyone is safe and sound now.

Disappointed a bit with the result, then again, another 10K under my belt done in 1:10:10, 34:30-35:30, looking at it that way, it even is cute ;)

Organization was perfect, just like last year, volunteers amazing, animation awesome... definitely going back next year :D

And 10 more...

Hi! Wednesday and 10 more ks done today in my training run-walk. I run 7.600 and walked the rest up to 10.300. Felt great. Was able to leave at dusk so it was really really nice! People around... didn't feel as lonely although I must admit I like being on my own :p

Race on Sunday... can't wait... loved that my run today got faster, ks 5, 6 and 7 were each a bit faster than the previous... how cool is that? I'm adding hills to my training runs and I think they're doing the trick!

If I could only control my eating, everything would be almost perfect ;)

Sleep deprived week

It's been a week since my last post...oops... I've been very very busy but I've been good. I did 2 training runs this week, a 10k total on Thursday and a 7.3K on Friday. Both great and progressive, amazingly enough. I added loops and hill on Thursday and it went really well. I haven't gone to bed before 1 any day this week, ugh... I am very very tired... I went out for both my runs at 10pm...

I had a 10K today here in Girona... I had a dinner last night and a birthday party in the afternoon... a bit hectic... left the restaurant at 2am... got home, went to bed and Pol woke up twice before 3... ugh... he slept through after that. My neighbours woke me up before 7, how nice... NOT! I got up at 8, fed Pol and put him back in bed. My left knee hurt and my right ankle was funny... the thought of not going crossed my mind but I decided to give it a try... as I walked over to the race site I started feeling better. I did the warmup and all was good, so I gave it a try... and boy oh boy, am I happy I did!!!!!! It was a lovely warm sunny morning and I started slow but feeling good. Trying to keep up with the people around me. I only walked about 20 seconds when I got my bottle of water. I somehow managed to do the last 2 k really faster than any of the ks in the race :p I finished in 1:07:16... a full 4 minutes faster than my 10K last week!!!!! Feeling good and wanting more! Splits were: 6:24, 6:29, 6:37, 6:35, 6:42, 7:03, 7:07, 7:03, 6:44 and 6:32, so the 2 last ones were NOT the fastest but lot faster than the previous... what a wonderful feeling!

Next Sunday, 20,000 runners will take Barcelona... woohoo!