The day of our fourth Super Half had arrived. My start time was about an hour ahead of Carmen, and unfortunately due to the time of the first train on a Sunday morning, I’d be arriving at the start less than an hour before I’d be starting. My main hope was that the toilet queues would not be as slow as in Copenhagen.
In order to offer a better and more sustainable service, this year, if you want to use the bag drop-off area before you run the Valencia Half Marathon Trinidad Alfonso Zurich on 26 October, you need to make sure you have reserved one.
Considering they don’t provide a bag to use like some races do, so there isn’t unnecessary use of plastic, and the start and finish locations are together, it did make me wonder how charging €6 for a bag drop makes it more sustainable. Carmen wondered if it was to help recover other expenses from organising the race, which seemed like a good point. I also wondered if maybe they charge for bag drop to discourage people from using it - and in doing so reducing potential chaos of drop-offs and collections in an area with limited space. We’d seen the carnage of that in Cardiff. Perhaps that’s actually a pretty good idea.
This course is a fast one, and has held three world records. I’d planned on training properly for this one after the Rwanda Impact Marathon, thinking this could be my fastest Super Half yet. I did not plan well however. I found myself training for a marathon at Track Wars instead, and didn’t really have time for suitable speed work after that. My times so far have been 1:33:41, 1:33:33, and 1:32:43. So I decided on the following tiers for my goals:
Bronze: sub-1:32:43, Silver: sub-1:30 Gold: sub-1:29
I did feel it was very unlikely I’d achieve any of them though considering how warm yesterday had been, and was sure today would be similar - however rain had been forecast so anything could happen. I could only run to how I felt the conditions demanded. The clocks had gone back an hour overnight, so it was dark when we got up, but it was at least dry. For now.
After breakfast we headed for the bus, unsure if the metro was going to be any use as we’d heard about cancellations. The C3 bus stop wasn’t that far away, and it was a short journey to where we needed to be. As we got off the bus, we followed the other runners to the university where the event village was, and by this time the sun had risen, not that we could see it through the dark clouds. Rain was likely, but the temperature wasn’t too bad.
I dropped my bag off, and then we joined the toilet queue. This was much faster moving than the queues in Copenhagen and Berlin had been so it was a relief of sorts, but none of them had paper in to the dismay of many runners. At 07:45 they already weren’t in the best of states either. I won't go into describing what we faced, but somehow they weren’t quite as bad as Limassol a couple of years ago.
We both headed to our start pens, and for the first time in this series, I didn’t need to rush. I was quite far back in my pen though, and I could see the 1hr30 pacer was right at the very front of the pen. Even if I got a sub-1:30 there’d be no chance of me seeing them out on the course, but that’d be okay. The first few waves set off, and we moved forward, and because a lot of people jogged to the front of the next pen to then wait for our start, rather than just walk, I ended up even further back. Not really a problem, and it’s not uncommon for me to start off in races like that.
When the race started I stayed patient, assuming it’d thin out after about a mile as it often does in similar sized races I’ve done. People were running practically shoulder to shoulder to start with and all I could do was just move with the crowd, there wasn’t really any space for me to go anywhere to try and overtake. I was not weaving, and didn’t think it was possible to. It didn’t stop people from trying to create space though, as in the first half mile one runner cut across me so tightly that even with trying to slow down I almost tripped them up accidentally. Having people shoulder barge you, or even try to run through the back of you as if you weren’t already there, I’ve had happen, but not this.
What was unexpected was how much focus was needed constantly on where you were, and who was around you - zoning out and just running was not an option. You had to be 100% focussed to avoid any collisions, but that did mean for the most part I wasn’t really aware of where I was beyond the runners around me in the early miles.
It wasn’t all bad though. After the first mile or so of running alongside what seemed to be fields, we reached a roundabout which went into a left turn. I actually saw really good etiquette there of runners pointing where they were moving to when the course narrowed.
Just after 5K into the race I’d managed to make my way to the edge of the course, and reached the first water station, and it couldn’t have come soon enough. It was already 20°C and 77% humidity - I didn’t know exactly how high the humidity had reached until after the race, but knowing how close the air felt, it made sense. Although I was questioning the sense of a runner next to me throwing his half used water down the ramp of an underpass, some space did open up for a while so I could occasionally speed up to try and recover some time. This early on though it was very short lived, and was mostly stuck at running 07:30-07:45/mi with the people around me. I also realised the route isn’t as flat as you think, there are inclines, they’re just not that steep.
Around 8 kilometres into the run is Plaça Espanya , and I was thinking it seemed familiar. It should have been really as it was where we’d caught the metro from yesterday to get to the expo. The course was starting to thin out now, and with the exception of whenever then road narrowed, I didn’t need to concentrate as much. I’d wished there’d been another water station though as I really did need some more. Somehow I managed to miss that we’d run past Torres de Quart (Quart Tower), but shortly after 10K and the second aid station I did spot the MotoGP helmet on Pont dels Serrans, and the Torres de Serranos on the other side of the road.
10K down, and at last I could find spaces to move into to hit my target race pace. I wasn’t sure how far behind ‘schedule’ I was, but thought I’d probably need to make up about two minutes across the remaining 11K to get sub-90. That meant needing to be about 11 seconds faster than target for every kilometre remaining - maybe on another day that wouldn’t have been a problem, but I felt I couldn’t do that today. I wondered how I was going to get to the next water station without needing more before that. When would that be? 15K? I should have held onto the water bottle instead of draining it and throwing it into the bin.
I started to look around at the buildings around me, and in part wondered if any of them were ones on our list of sights to see, and if any of them are ones that aren’t but should be. We ran with the Turia Gardens on our left until we reached the Convent de Sant Doménec and the Porta de la Mar where we turned onto Carrer de la Pau. It was a long road with shops on, and Christmas decorations suspended above us in shimmering strands. Ahead of us was the bell tower of Església de Santa Catalina. I hoped this was a place we’d find again when sightseeing.
When I could see the City Hall ahead I knew we weren’t that far from the AirBNB so felt it likely we’d be seeing some of the places we’d already walked soon. Sure enough, the route turned onto Avenue del Marqués de Sotelo and could see the Estació del Nord ahead. Just as the Plaza de Toros came into view, the rain started. I glanced at my watch, and Carmen was less than two minutes away from starting. I started to wonder how she was doing, if it was raining over near the university too, and whether or not she’d have to face the rain for the entire course.
The rain didn’t last long, and had stopped by the time I reached Placa dels Pinazos where I could see the Colón metro stop we’d used yesterday. I thought maybe we’d run past the Mercat de Colón too, but we did not. Instead we reached the Turia Gardens again, and ran alongside those. We passed the Palacio de la Música, and I could see the City of Arts and Sciences ahead. I was pleased we were getting to see them already, and was looking forward to seeing them properly tomorrow.
The aid station after 15km was a little different to the ones we’d had already. There were caffeinated and non-caffeinated gels, and then after crossing the Pont del Regne there was finally some water. I looked at my watch after this and having not made up the time I’d wanted to, I realised I could not possibly make up 150 seconds over the remaining 3.5 miles. My maths may have been off at this point, but I figured I could no longer get sub-1:32:43 either, so decided I may as well give my legs a rest, and save them for sightseeing now. I walked for a bit, got running, and then walked briefly around every 0.3 - 0.4 miles for several seconds. In marathons it’s always seemed to help with speeding up recovery.
We ran very close to the abandoned Valencia Street Circuit used by the Formula 1 between 2008 and 2012, but I didn’t know it was there, nor could I see it from the course.
When I reached mile 12 it was not that far from the beach we’d be back at later in the week, the area looked a bit rundown around here so thought that my belief Carmen may get her fresh seafood around here may have been misplaced. It started raining again now, and did not let up until much later in the day.
Not that long after the final left turn there was then a sign saying 19km, and then after that 800m, and a sign every 100m after that. It felt like pressure to keep moving, and to speed up, but I thought I was being sensible and holding off for now. I kept looking ahead for signs of the finish, or that tall tower we’d seen next to the car park at the start. At 21km it was then a blue carpet to the finish line at 21.1km.
As the 21km sign got closer, I sped up and ran fast across the carpet to the finish line to finish in 1:36:28 in position 5,551 of 26,077 finishers. It was disappointing, and the slowest half marathon for me in this series (albeit faster than that toasty half back in May). It wasn’t the race I wanted it to be, not the time I’d hoped for. It was however the fourth Super Half done, and for the rest of the week I could now focus on enjoying Spain.
The long finishing straight had been well supported, as had many points along the course despite the rain. There were times when the course was free of supporters though, and that was surprising I thought. I think if I was to recommend a European half marathon it would more likely be Berlin.
The rain got heavier, and the walk between the finish line and the bag drop was quite long. They gave out a medal, and water, and then a paper bag. This was followed by all sorts of goodies, such as a can of water, and a pack of three persimmon fruit. I don’t think many people really thought about the consequences of walking around with a paper bag in the rain. I kept to the rain shadow wherever I could, but the final stretch to the car park and across it was completely exposed, and I was already starting to feel cold, as the rainwater was washing sweat into my eyes making it difficult to keep them open.
Shortly after I’d picked up my bag I saw the first of many paper bags disintegrate, spilling its contents onto the floor. I could have helped him, but I wanted to get somewhere out of the rain to sort myself out first.
The quickest thing to get was my waterproof poncho, so I put that on, and my running cap, and then went to get my medal engraved. It wasn’t a particularly good race for me, but I’d already paid for the engraving so felt I may as well get it done. It’d still be a nice memento of the trip. The process is so incredibly quick, and just takes seconds for them to do. I’d just had a notification that Carmen had reached 15K, so thought if I was quick walking now I’d find somewhere on the course to cheer her on from.
I cut across the university campus, and actually managed to stay relatively dry due to the amount of tree cover there. On the other side I kept walking until I found a space to stand, which was about half way between the 400m and 500m signs. I stood around for awhile after that, until I got an alert she’d reached 20K. She’d be past me any minute now, and this time I was lucky enough to capture some video.
I then walked quickly back to the event village, and made sure Carmen could get warm and dry quickly before going to get her medal engraved. I took that time to get a warmer layer on too. Once hers was sorted, we started walking back along the route we’d walked earlier, and found a bus stop for the C3 again. This was a very short wait, and hopped on that, which took us close to our apartment once more.
We got back to the apartment around 13:00, showered, and had some food. It was a good job we’d had the foresight to buy some lunch for today yesterday. It meant we could sit around for most of the afternoon until we needed to go out for the next meal.
We weren’t really sure where we wanted to eat this evening, so we set off in the direction of the train station, and then towards the City Hall. So far we’d not passed any of the many food places we’d seen yesterday. We headed towards Mercat de Colón, and I thought maybe we’d end up having paella there, but the place we’d seen previously didn’t have any now. Unsure what to do, we decided to head back to Russafa having decided we’d wait until 19:00 to have Italian food from Mangiamo.
When we realised we needed breakfast for tomorrow, we tried a Carrefour first, but couldn’t find anything we wanted. On the same block as our apartment we found Supermercados Charter and they had a pack of some sort of savoury-filled pastry for €1.25 that would do.
The Italian place was now about to open, and we found they also did takeaway. We ordered a pizza each,whilst the person cooking them sang along to Toto’s ‘Africa’ and Berlin’s ‘Danger Zone’. A bit of entertainment whilst we waited! We took our pizza back to the apartment and relaxed for the remainder of the day.