Running with an injured foot

Distributed at Exit 3, I had to wait ten minutes after the game started. As enjoyable as those moments were, I only had one small gripe with the entire race, and that was the starting block. It is impossible to have the same bib number, mine is orange, some runners ran less than four minutes per kilometer, and some runners ran four minutes and 35 seconds per kilometer. The difference is huge. In fact, this can create a typical hurdle at the start of any game. The strange thing is that it didn’t happen.

The kilometers kept adding up and the tired pace gradually became painful. However, due to the sheer number of people who came to cheer, any slight temptation to throw in the towel and stop was forgotten. Among them, I clearly remember the image of a mother and daughter that I saw three times. One of them held up Senyela, while the other held a banner reading “Lin Goes Home.” The fact that Valencia’s largest shareholder eats while a 21K match is going on does not drive away a fan who does so as long as he can express himself. Obviously if I remember them they were waiting for someone to pass by, how could I forget my parents who were up at 7am on a Sunday morning trying to watch their son run? I forgot to tell them to get me some water and just five minutes into the start I called them and they went and bought water so I wouldn’t get dehydrated during the race. That was at kilometer 12 and that’s where my special rock ‘n’ roll start in the race, I started accelerating more and more.

In just over 1.27 hours, I reached Tarongers Avenue where the blue tarps were and crossed the finish line. The joy was palpable in me, but like other crazy people, this Valencia Half Marathon was just training. But what a fierce competition it was! I wouldn’t lie if I told you this was literally the best race I’ve ever run so far, and look, I had quite a few on my legs. If the half marathon flight took off at 8:35 a.m. yesterday, the next flight will take off on December 3rd. The Valencia Marathon is just over a month away, and we’ll see you again at this grand running festival.