I'll go with the flow regarding the restaurant. If you're happy with the same place Antonio, then go ahead and book it. We can always change if you have another idea.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
How are you doing? Just one week to meet you here. I wish we had such good weather as today. After an 84 minute run, I had a swim in the sea which I really enjoyed. The water was very cold but it was sunny around 20º Celsius and it was very relaxing.
Would you like to have "tapas" in different bars in Almería next Saturday for lunch?
SP, it is not allowed to go on bicycle but the police doesn´t usually object as far as you ride carefully. By the way, I advise you to enter so that you get your T-shirt, other goodies and the pasta dinner ticket for Saturday.
I love tapas but I've also been on a health drive for 4 weeks, and I can't blow it all the day before the race. I need a bit of carbo-loading I guess, but I can't go mad. I suppose I can sit and watch you all eat. I've no doubt that Sweder and Andy will be willing to participate.
One thing to remind you of is that we'll have been up since about 4am, and will need to catch up with some sleep. I won't be having a late night before the race.
After the race I'll make up for my pre-race abstemiousness....
I hope the weather is good too. Last year, the morning of the race was a little bit colder and more windy than ideal, even if brightened up after the race, and for the following few days. Here it's been cold, so any warmth that's going will be gratefully seized.
I'm looking forward to it.
Is there anything you want us to bring with us for you?
Andy
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Please can you enter for me. I won't be able to run but I accept that entry is necessary for the Saturday night festivities... Although just dumping me in a local pub may suffice...
As for the bike, What can the police do with a foreigner who speaks no lingo. Sweder has already asked me if the bike can carry a polypin (now there's a word) of Guinness.
I just hope I can do what your brother (in-law??) did last year and cycle up and down with a camera.
Can you send me your data to enter you, AndySP? You can send them via a private message. You can also enter on Saturday but it would be thirteen euros instead of ten.
I hope you three sleep well on Friday night but please don´t oversleep! You can have some siesta on Saturday afternoon before dinner. I suggest having breakfast on Saturday morning after leaving your luggage at the hotel and doing some sightseeing such as Alcazaba, cathedral, town hall, etc before having some tapas or lunch. At eight pm, we can pick up our race numbers, chips and bag of goodies and later we can have the pasta dinner.
If you could bring me some old magazines not only about running but also with interesting articles for my students such as those in "Best" and similar magazines.
I'll be thinking of you guys this weekend. Hopefully the weather will be sunny and warm...running in the rain can make it a little uncomfortable. But I know you'll have fun, especially after the race.
SP - you'll have the best time. No stress about the race, no worry about what to eat...you can just enjoy!
I'll look forward to hearing all about it. Run well and enjoy!
Arrived in Almeria about 8 hours ago. It's been raining for 24 hours, and is still going strong.
Antonio collected us from the airport, then led us on a trail through some of Almeria's backstreet tapas bars. I've managed to keep my teetotal credentials intact, though Seafront Plodder has set an impressive standard in the opposite direction.
Update later.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
A quick post after the pre-race Almería Pasta party, where I manfully managed to consume what Antonio alledges was part of a very large chicken along with servings of pasta and pudding. As per last year, the City of Almería has proved to be a most generous host.
Here's a couple of snaps from the evening.
The first is the view we'll be getting just before or just after 12:00 tomorrow as we enter the Estadio Mediterráneo.
The second is just for Niguel
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Yeah, after a month of abstemiousness, somewhat ironic that I should succumb to a pig-out 12 hours before the race. But it would have been culturally unacceptable of course to have turned down their splendid hospitality.
At least no alcohol has passed my lips. I suspect tomorrow may be less holy in that respect.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
A wet and cold start to the race. It teemed down for perhaps the first 5 or 6 km before starting to ease off.
Sweder was today's hero, clocking somewhere between 1:46 and 1:48. The GPS watch said 1:46:51 but that was probably a little short of the actual race distance. A great time, as his target was 1:50.
Antonio did around 2:07 and I trailed home in 2:12. I was hoping to dip under 2:10 but the conditions made it tough for me. That said, I felt good all the way round till 3km out when suddenly my legs turned to lead. Still, it was 3 minutes or so faster than last year, so I'm happy with that, especially as it was raining this time round.
Full details to follow. For now, time for a quick shower then a couple of swifties in the hotel bar, followed by a leisurely lunch. It's stopped raining now, and the sun is shining.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Impressive results and greetings to all in Almeria. Ironically enough, it has been wall-to-wall sunshine in the UK, all weekend, although very cold.
Good to see my PBs under threat from Sweder as usual. That's 1:47:22 for the Half (on a flat course in Bath in 2003), and 5 pints for the Guinness (Almeria 2005).
Enjoy your celebrations - sounds like you have all earned them...
Thanks very much for posting the picture of the floodlit stadium. It put me right there with you.
On further reflection about the results from our outside broadcast team, though, I think some additional clarification and certainly a greater sense of humility is called for, on two very salient points.
1. Almeria is a troublesomely hilly course. Twice up the Rambla is worth two minutes each time, and once up to the stadium at least a further minute. By my reckoning, you need to subtract around 5 minutes from a time at Almeria to give a fair equivalence to a flat course.
2. Sweder can handle the black stuff most effectively, whereas I've always preserved my distinctly amateur status in that particular arena.
That leaves me definitively outclassed on both fronts, then, so I'll go quietly. Have a great evening !
