Alora Half-Marathon

By Margaret Sinclair

Álora half marathon 1st March.

This is the 4th time I’ve done this out and back challenging run. Begins with a mile loop in Álora starting from the Plaza then continues

downhill along the valley to town of Pizarra there’s a loop round here as well. When I looked back the ambulance was following me so I gave

myself a talking to and picked up my feet a bit. My plan was to run, walk and enjoy. I ran for a while with a Spanish lady who had Eye of the

Tiger playing on her phone to encourage us when the going got tough.

I read somewhere, break a half into 4 x 5ks as a way of making it seem less, so applied that thought which worked until I reached 15k on the

way back, then struggled. That’s when the swearing started. It was an overcast morning, in fact perfect running conditions. The last 3k was a

long steep mountain where I power walked faster than I could have run, then a beautifull slope through the streets to finish in the Plaza. I

took 2h 22 and felt great. Very noisy atmosphere with Spanish tapas for recovery. I managed to win 2nd in age category coming in after the

oldest female Molly Warren, who was 70 and had run 72 marathons in a year. She was featured in February Runners World. Lots of delicious

Spanish foods for prizes. I certainly managed to get “10,000 steps a day” for the Cancer Research Walk all over Cancer Challenge. 24,008 in

the Alora Half Marathon.