10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Cursa D’Age

1. Four Years

I think that it is amazing that it is four years since I last did this race back in 2019. Time evaporates. I wasn’t even an old man the last time I raced, there were no magic shoes and there was no Billy. The course had changed from an approximados 6.4k to an approximados 8k in the meantime so there could be no assessment of the impact of the changes.

2. Forty Years

I think that it is great when races have history. The Cursa D’Age has been going for forty years which is as long as the Ballycotton 10 lasted for. Age is very similar to Ballycotton as it is a tiny little town on the edge of a country. They had photos and results of the very first race displayed at the race headquarters which was outside it being Spain.

3. Roads Closed

I think that we were lucky to make the race. There are a number of ways to get from Font Romeu where we were staying to the race in Age. I had seen that the steep road through Egat was closed due to a rally so I went via Saillagouse which would be a wonderful name for a town in Kerry. John Meade and Conor took the Irish meaning of road closure and tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with a French policeman. Either way we all ended up arriving 20 minutes before the start.

4. No Warm Up

I think that you can get very used to having a minimal warm up. I normally blame my lack of a warm up on Billy and Rhona making me late but in reality it is nothing to do with them and it is just that my lateness has deteriorated over time due to doing too many races and losing the ability to get worried about being on time. As a result arriving 20 minutes before the start wasn’t an issue. John Meade doesn’t do warm ups and Conor wasn’t particularly worried about the race it being his first race in months so we were all fine at the start.

5. Usual Madness

I think that BHAA races down the Marina would be lethal if everyone started like they start races in Spain. I had forgotten how utterly mad it is. They all go off at sub 5 minute mile pace regardless of ability or past races. After about 400m I was in about 15th place way back. As we wound our way through the narrow short streets of Age everyone suddenly started to come back to me. 500m into an 8km race is a bit early to be blowing up but that seems to be the way to run in Spain. Once we had left the town of Age after 800m it was down to myself, John Meade and three runners who looked like me but who were from Spain / Andorra / France / Catalunya.

6. Decathlon

I think that I was most worried about the guy who appeared to be sponsored by Decathlon. The last time I raced a Decathlon athlete I got a bad beating. My suspicions were wrong as after about 4k when we turned left just before the town of Puigcerda it was down to myself John Meade and a strong looking athlete in a high viz singlet and a pair of orange Alphaflys. Always beware the fella in Alphaflys who is still there after 2 miles.

7. Deadly Rocks

I think that one of my favourite things about racing in Spain is that it is actually bright enough to wear sunglasses. The truth is that in Ireland the sun is watery and even on the sunniest day unless you are cycling a bike and need to keep the flies out of your eyes sunglasses are for appearance purposes only. In Spain they are almost essential unless you are John Meade. Unfortunately after 5k the race moved from smooth tarmac to a section of shaded trail sprinkled with deadly rocks. Deadly rocks are my nemesis so in order to ensure that I could see them I had to place my sunglasses on my head reducing the potential for excellent photos for Instagram.

8. The Trail

I think that the guy in the high viz singlet did very well to destroy John Meade on the 2k of trail that we had to run on. The key thing on a section of trail is to make sure you are at the front as you have to leave a gap to the runner in front to see where the deadly rocks are. As we made our way onto the part of the trail with the greatest number of deadly rocks the high viz runner pushed his way past John Meade and gradually opened a gap as we navigated our way uphill through the deadly rocks. I had to leave a similar gap to John Meade and soon enough we were equally distanced from each other.

9. There’s Still a Chance

I think that if John Meade had cooperated with me on the last downhill kilometre I could have got him close enough to the high viz runner in order to launch his trademark final sprint. Instead he was more concerned with staying just ahead on the downhill into the finish. I got very close but never close enough to help while the high viz runner stayed agonisingly just out of reach. As we passed the 8k marker which was about 200m from the finish the high viz runner looked behind before picking the pace up again to ensure that he was well clear of John in second and myself in third. Conor finished eventually in seventh and will soon return to destroying us all.

10. Podium

I think that my favourite podiums are in Spain. It doesn’t matter that the podium isn't until 12 when the race started at 9:30 as the weather is lovely. I had hoped that Billy would do the 150m race for the three year olds but we had a refusal at the start so we had to abandon. Thankfully he was much more interested in the podium and went up at least three times. On the podium the man with the mic was convinced that myself and John Meade were from different countries. I was from Scotland and John Meade was from Ireland. I’m unsure why, are Scottish people more tanned than Irish people? Sure what harm. We got lots of trophies and lots of goodie bags, exactly what you’d want from a holiday race.