Happy New Year!

This morning I ran my first of two San Silvestre 10k races in Las Rozas de Madrid. I was convinced it was going to be absolute chaos with 800 runners doubling back on narrow paths through the woods but there didn't seem to be any problems, in spite of the trail being quite steep and technical in parts. Considering I haven't really trained for the distance and it's been exactly a year since the last time I ran a 10k race, I was quite happy with my time of 37:54, especially as the course was really cross country. I finished in 21st place out of 800 which isn't bad. Nobody overtook me during the whole race with the exception of someone who pipped me on the line with an awesome sprint that I couldn't match. I still prefer the Half Marathon distance which isn't so stressful. I do feel as though I have earned my celebration tonight, though. As a friend said after completing the race this morning, we have to pull ourselves back down by eating and drinking otherwise we'd become too competitive and have to make a living from athletics...

This afternoon I have the second San Silvestre "race" - the Vallecana - with about 38,000 other runners including my wife. I'll be getting dressed up for the event so check back here tomorrow for the photos! In the meantime, happy new year to all of you!