Torremolinos Half Marathon

Ok..where to start. To start with it seems very odd typing Torremolinos Half Marathon into the title box of this blog, mainly because it's all happened so fast from booking it back in July to feeling as though it never really happened at all... leaving me today feeling rather low.

So back in July I booked my flight to Malaga airport and booked the race and hotel as a package through a company called Running Crazy. I was all set to go on my own into the big wide world mainly to prove to myself I can do anything on my own. With unexpected stress of my car breaking down the day before flying I wasn't feeling too confident. My sister came to the rescue and I had the keys to Molly Moo her little green KA and a note to say I am allowed to drive it in case I got pulled over for stealing it! Friday afternoon my sister and her partner Simon came to drop the car off for me and visit and they bought me a lovely card which read "If you can believe it you can achieve it" When I saw them off again at 7.30pm crying saying I didn't want to go I didn't think I could do it. I realised I needed to man up as I did believe I could do it. I knew no one that was going to the race, no familiar face to meet me on the other side just me and my hand luggage. At 2am my alarm went off! Oh my god! This is it... I decided to deal with it all like the Friends episode where Chandler and Monica get married... just take it one step at a time.

First step get to the Airparks in birmingham, I'm pleased to say Molly Moo didn't let me down. I got there in good time at around 4am I parked Molly in bay 2 then handed my key over telling the woman I was parked in Bay 1... fantastic start! I got that sorted and got chatting to some guys in the bus that were going snowboarding but they had been to Malaga airport before and were helping me out with how to find the airport train station. As we got to the airport I was in phase 2 of my plan.. within a few minutes I had found my check in desk, got through passport check and security, I was highly disappointed when my abs of steel didn't set the detector off I think it must have been faulty. Before I knew it I was at my gate boarding the plane.. I got the front row window seat with loads of leg room excellent and what made it even better the lady sat next to me runs half marathons, she had ran Wolverhampton last year so we chatted about running a bit. I landed in Malaga at 11.05am made my way off the plane and starting looking around for signs for the train station.. this was harder to find than I imagined it would be but low and behold I made it and there was Malcolm the organizer of Running Crazy awaiting my arrival at the ticket machines. He had already bought my train ticket and we met three other runners in the group and away we went 4 stops on the train later and I'm at the hotel. Amazing I had done it all on my own I had left the country there was no stopping me now. After checking in the hotel I decided to go out for a venture around and see what was what. I didn't go too far from the hotel being a lone female with the crappiest sense of direction it seemed wise to stick close to the hotel until I made friends. This didn't take long.

my first international race number!

At 7pm the race briefing was taking place in the hotel lobby. This is when I met the Judges my adoptive family. Emily and her son Louis had come over to support her husband Gary who was running. He ran fast times locally and quite often made into the papers. I couldn't help but wonder how fast he actually ran and you will also find out a bit later on. I also met Patrick who had made friends with Emily and Gary the previous evening.The race briefing consisted of us collecting our race numbers, a goody bag, and having a course description. It was described as undulating with two main hills, a 5.5 mile flat stretch running alongside the beach and start and finish 2 minute walk away from the hotel. The cut off times I had previously been worrying about were brought up too.. the main cut off time to worry about was the 10k cut off at 1 hour 10 minutes. At 1 hour 10 minutes the motorway which they had closed would be reopened and you would be pulled off course and put in the back of the dreaded sweeper truck... basically we had to run our arses off before the motorway reopened and we couldn't get across!

After the race briefing we went to dinner and got to know each other a little better, I retired to bed around 9pm in the hope of getting a decent nights sleep so I could smash this race the way I wanted to. I was awoken three or four times in the night with gale force winds blowing the table and chairs on my balcony around. Fantastic I come away and the weathers worse than the UK. By 7am it was still terribly windy. I realised I hadn't bought a clip to pin my fringe back (I knew I'd forget something) I got up around 8.30am as I still had an hour until I had to be in reception to meet the rest of the group to go to the start. That didn't leave me alot of time made worse by the fact all the lights tripped out when I turned the bathroom light on! I was in total darkness but I'm pleased to say I found the fuse box and sorted it, much better option than running down to reception in my pants! At 9.30am we had photos taken by Malcolm and he was also going to be taking photos and videos of us in action around the course for our Running Crazy dvd. Patrick and I set off with a little jog to start line it was like no other race I've done before! People were everywhere literally eveywhere, the spanish were dominating everything. Many of them were running in Tri suits which I found strange. I was aware from the strict time limits that this race is not a fun run not to be taken lightly, it is a race for club runners and elites. I know you're now wondering why I was there right?

Vanessa, Patrick and me at the start

Either way I was doing it, I had opted to put my baseball cap on to stop my fringe from blowing around but I didn't need to worry as at 10am when the race started the wind had gone completely and it was already 13 degrees. This was going to be fun. Patrick and I made our way to the start line although we were very near the front.. too near for my liking.

the starting line

Patrick runs halfs in around 1 hour 40 minutes so I tried to push my way back to the end of the tunnel. There were no starting pens based on times etc I was surrounded by spanish men who all looked pumped up ready to go and fast! What really surprised me was the ratio of men to women in spanish racing. I don't want to ruin the result for you but out of nearly 2000 runners I finished  182nd female. There were only around 30 other female runners behind me in the results.  I was in a very tight pack there was no room to move, the tannoy was booming out spanish none of which I understood. Then I saw a pacer! I have never had an actual official pacer in a race before I always follow the men in the tutus remember. I was going for a pb of 2 hours 8 minutes or less so kept my eye out for the 2 hour pacer, they were runners with backpacks on with a bright yellow balloon floating high in the sky above them with the estimated finish time on them in black marker. All of a sudden there was a loud bang and Rhianna and Calvin Harris we found love boomed through the speakers and it all went quiet apart from the music and a solitary yellow balloon sailed free into the sky.. this moment was epic and bought a tear to my eye.

I was off I was running the Torremolinos half marathon! Straight away the pace was fast I knew I wanted to run 9.40 minute miles to get my pb so had no issues keeping up, the main issue was the male racers. I'm not being racist or even sexist with what follows but the spanish men are awful to run with truly awful, they literally push and shove to make their way past then when along side you they don't even look to the sides or behind them they literally just across in front of you. I was worried I was going to get tripped up but held my own for the first mile coming in at 9 minutes 16 seconds well above pace. There was also alot of spitting and I mean proper hawking it up bringing up vile flem in the back of your throat spitting and again not looking if anyone was to the side or behind you that may be the unfortunate victim of the flem and the breeze, Yuk. Mile two came around at 9 minute 10 seconds  pace still getting quicker and running well although I had pain in both my shins but the week leading up to the race I hadn't really ran so thought I was just warming up. Miles 3 & 4 were at 9.40 and 9.30 pace so sticking well to my target but now I was faced with the first of the hills and it was a hill. My 5 mile pace was 10.40 as I has to walk up some of the hill. It was really hot by this point as well and my shins were still giving my grief but I was trying to ignore them.  I had also not bought a drink with my instead opting to utilise the drink stations, I made this decision based on wanting to run fast and not have the water in my camel bak sloshing around and I didn't bring my water bottle over with me. Just after mile 5 the 2 hour pacer runner ran past me literally ran past me super fast with his yellow balloon bobbing around above him. No way was he running a 2 hour half I had maintained an excellent pace until mile 5 and he was flying. "Ok Sarah let him go you won't catch him, just keep ahead of the 2.15 pacer" I said to myself though I was pretty miffed off at this point. Mile 5 will always be remembered as my first really low point, the hills just kept coming, the 2 hour balloon was mocking me and this course wasn't undulating it was simply hilly. Mile 6 came and I knew I'd be heading out onto the flat along the beach and I was also nearly half way through. I ran mile 6 at 9.29 pace which reflects well with my mood at that point as I had cheered up a little. I had made it past the 10k cut off with a time of 1 hour 4 seconds. No sweeper bus for marathon morris no thank you. The beach was stunning I could see the sea for miles with the mountains in the background simply beautiful. The spanish were very upbeat here clapping and cheering although I have no idea what they were saying. I still would have welcomed an english speaking person to come along just to say something, anything that I could understand as I began to feel quite alienated and alone which bought another low point and mile 7 was 10.43. This is also around the time my hamstring decided he wanted to join in the fun and a wave of sheer agony spread from just below my butt cheek down to my knee it was a radiating pain I can only describe like when you have a really big shiver that makes it's way down your body. This is not happening! Running past a pharmacia the temperature on the sign outside read 20 degrees I was struggling with the heat now there was no shade, there was a silly old elderly lady on a mobility scooter trundling along on the runners side of the pathway with her back to us so she was weaving from side to side trying to dodge us all running up along behind her trying to get around. She was also spanish but I reckon even I know they were swear words she was shouting at us all. By mile 8 and 9 which came in at 10.22 and 10.58 my hopes of a pb were lost and I knew it was silly to push on at anything less than 10 minute miles as I kept going dizzy. Then I saw Malcolm at the side of the road he asked me how I was doing and I told him I was struggling alot he ran alongside me filming me telling me I was doing great and to stick with the pack I had found myself with. It was so nice to just speak to someone and have a friendly face in the crowd. Just before mile 10 I was tootling along thinking how nice it would be to get to the next water station and have a drink and that the 2.15 pacer was still somewhere behind me and I'd be pleased with a 2.15 half marathon when something bopped me lightly on the head, I looked up and Nooooooooooo it was the 2.15 pacers yellow balloon he had overtaken me and was now running away. I must have looked like a mad woman chasing a man with a backpack and yellow balloon bobbing around with my arms outstretched. I couldn't believe it.. all my fast running and pb's leading up to this and here I am chasing yellow balloons like my life depended on it. I was in Torremolinos, the sun was shining, the beach was stunning I was just going to finish. Mile 10 came in at 11.21 I was fighting a lost cause and now was no longer fighting I was walking. All the way through the course there were oranges cut in half being given out at the water stations but because I was in the back of the field there were never any left by the time I got the station, instead I was being tormented by the empty peel on the floor left by the faster, club and elite runners. Mile 11 came in at 11.21 another slow one and I knew from the course briefing mile 12 to the finish was a big hill, I had actually walked part of this hill the day before. Suddenly an english runner spoke to me, it bought me back to reality she was also with Running Crazy she was part of the Chippingham Harriers, she spoke to me for a while gave me a pep talk then we came across the last water station and I was handed an orange. It was heaven it was the best orange I have ever tasted in my whole life. I was like a starving person being presented with a big mac meal but this was half a dried out orange it was wonderful like nectar going down my throat.  By mile 12 I was walking with a time of 13.27 minute mile it was nearly over I just had 1 more mile to go and mile 13 was ran in 12.58, as I rounded the final corner Malcolm and the lady from Chippingham Harriers were stood to the side cheering me on telling me to sprint and sprint I did, well it was faster than 13.27 minute miles anyway, I came through the finish line with a time of 2 hours 19 minutes and 53 seconds. I then had to get my number scanned and received a print out with my results.   Finished position 1674 / 1738. 182nd female and 66th in senior category.

my finishers tshirt

I was hot I was tired my hamstring still thought we were having a party and he was invited but I had done it, my first race abroad. I met up with a group of the Chippingham Harriers and then went back to the hotel where I proceeded to throw up a few times and had to sleep in my dark hotel room, the heat had really gotten to me and I possibly hadn't taken on enough fluids throughout the race. By 7pm though I was ready to party and met up with Emily, Louis, Patrick and Gary. It turns out I had pretty much been sharing my meals in the hotel with an elite athlete! Gary Judges finished in 1 hour 18 minutes and he got tripped up at the start, that's a whole hour quicker than me! That's only 18 minutes slower than Mo Farah runs half marathons, he had picked up 1st international male runner prize which was a trophy and money. The winner was spanish and finished in the same time Mo Farah runs half marathons of 1 hour that should give you an idea of what I was running against. This certainly was no fun run but I had so much fun doing it. The perfect end to the perfect race and weekend was the Running Crazy party held in an irish bar that we completely took over. The drinks were flowing as we as a team had won third prize of 100 euros for everyone of our runners finishing in the team category. My favourite running song Pitbull and Kesha came on and we were dancing and chatting away before sitting down for a rather excitable and rowdy dvd of us all in action. I am hoping to get the link to the video when it's available and put it on here for you all to see me Running Crazy in Torremolinos.