10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Carrera in Villanueva Del Trabuco

1. Three Races

I think that this was the first time that I have entered three races on the same weekend and only turned up to one. I wanted to run a race in Artarfe at 10pm on Friday night but my sister couldn’t be persuaded to get the bus up to Granada on her own so I had to wait until Sunday to race. Then it was a choice between a 10k in Motril and an 8k in Villanueva Del Trabuco. I chose the 8k because it looked more random and less commercial.

2. No to Vermouth

I think my decision not to drink the vermouth I ordered after dinner was key to my success. It is a very bad idea to mix wine and vermouth. I had forgotten how bad it was until the third or fourth sip, then I remembered Cask in the summer and that sickly sweet acidic stomach so I swapped my vermouth for my sisters wine. Wine is far better.

3. Value

I think that races in Spain are great value even if you end up entering three and only turn up to one. My race was €5 for which I got a nice pink t-shirt and a race number with my name Coakley, Donal printed on it. They were even selling pink sunglasses for €5 so I bought two pairs. They’ll go nicely with my Vaporflys.

4. Insider Information

I think that it is very important to do your warmup within earshot of the start when you’re in a new town. I did a little km loop around the town to make sure that it didn’t start without me. On the warm up I met Carlos who I knew from the race in Alfarnate in the summer. He told me valuable information about the big hill after 3km which was very helpful.

5. Vino

I think I had a subtle hangover from the wine the night before the race. Wine is a very good drink for running, so long as it is good Spanish local wine it doesn’t have any major effects. The only real effect is that at the start of a run you feel a sort of subtle roughness that has to be run off. At the start of the race it took me about a km to get going by which time Carlos and three other Spaniards had gone a good bit ahead.

6. Mirador

I think that this was the first time ever in a race that I was the fastest person up a hill. After about 2km we turned left onto a gravel road up a twisty turny hill up to a Mirador. I was in fourth place but suddenly the guys in front started to come back to me. By the top of the Mirador climb I was level with the final Spaniard. Imagine if I’d of had my cheating Vaporflys, it would have been very unfair.

7. Descent

I think that my favourite part of the race was the decent off the mirador climb. It was super steep. I was with the last of the Spaniards racing down into the hairpin turns like the guys on the Tour De France. I was very glad I didn’t have my Vaporflys as I definitely would have broken my ankle.

8. No to Vaporflys

I think my favourite thing about this race was that there wasn’t a single Vaporfly on display, not one, not even a shoe that looked like a Vaporfly. One of the guys had a pair of the New Balance Green FuelCell propels, everyone else was in regular racing flats. I wore my trusty Brooks Ghost.

9. Second Last Lap Sprint

I think that leading a race is a very stressful experience. I’ve never actually won a race in Spain, primarily because John or Conor have been there to beat me so this was the first time I had the chance to win. I could hear the guy I descended the Mirador with right behind me the whole way to the finish. When we came into the finishing straight I did my choppy hands thing and sprinted like Mark Walsh on the second last lap of cross country race. I just about held him off to win.

10. Podium

I think that the podium in Villanueva Del Trabuco was my favourite ever. It was my first time standing on the top in Spain. It was outside in the warm sunshine with a fountain behind us. I got a lovely trophy and excellent photos. It’s just as well my sister refused to get the bus from Malaga to Granada, I’d have missed out on this excellent race.