Aquilianos for the 21st time.
The short route this year had been extended to a nicely rounded 50k.
Set out with a conservative strategy vowing not to get too excited on any of the early descents. Spoke to a few of the regulars over these first few pre-dawn kilometres, the dentist from the Dominican Republic included.
Then pushed on only accompanied by birdsong until an abrupt silence and the smell of charcoal signalled that we had reached Ground Zero. Hardly 6 weeks after one of the biggest forest fires in local memory a few optimistic green shoots were already poking through and speckling the blackened hillside.
Got to Montes de Valdueza in good shape accompanied by Moses who had finished last in this year’s Alto Sil, beating the time limit by 20 seconds in a heroic rearguard action. We compared the two events.
The Aquilianos (at least the B-version) is very much a trail run. It’s longer but contains faster and far less technical terrain. Also there are no real “time-out” pressures to contend with. A lot of participants approach it as a daylong walking route and it indeed was just this for the first few editions. Then one day Pedro Lumberjack decided to run it as fast as possible and the rest is history.
Didn’t visit “la Cantina” in Montes this time, there was more than enough to eat and drink on the tables they’d set out in the village car-park. Then, the final big climb up a wide forest track to the highest point of the circuit at 1400m. And onwards to Ferradillo, everybody’s favourite place to crash out and hang out with the cows.
Joined up here with Ruben the Russian, another Aquilianos veteran who with age and injuries had downgraded to the shorter route. He accompanied me on the long, muscle punishing descent until the next village, Rimor, where he disappeared to visit a relative. The food station at Rimor was well-stocked with delicious local cherries as usual. The humid conditions had meant that up to now I’d been drinking copious amounts of water, aquarius, coca cola (and beer!). Ate less, water melon, banana, an Iberian ham sandwich in Ferradillo...
As we left Rimor the first 2 runners on the long route shot past. They’ll have covered 15k more but with an extra 1500m of ascent.
The final section is the least attractive as you are eager to get to the finish. Moses caught up with me again. Felt OK but the big descent had made my right knee ache and I was walking most of the time. We finished in a shade under 7 hours. I estimate about 2 and a half hours were spent running, often sporadically. The winner returned to Ponferrada in 4:23.
One more race for me this year and then an extended rest.
https://goo.gl/photos/TGwN6hgiu59EMy5S7
Diary of a middle aged runner
