What I did on my holidays

The standard first piece of school work I used to get in an English class after the summer holidays was to write an essay entitled 'What I did on my holidays'. Obviously in those days it was written in chalk on a slate, or as I got older with a quill on a piece of parchment. OK perhaps I'm not quite that ancient but certainly the idea of writing it on a computer was many years in the future. Well here I am, many years in the future, and writing that very essay on my PC.

So less of the nostalgia and more writing I think. The reason I'm writing about this particular holiday on my MdS blog is because the location was chosen to allow me to do some   running and equipment testing for the MdS. The location was Fuerteventura, Corralejo towards the north of the island to be precise. The reason for choosing this particular location was that a) it has sand dunes and b) it was cheap. There was also the possibility to run along various unmade roads, rocky trails and of course beaches.

I won't go into a detailed breakdown of every run I did as that would get a bit tedious and anyway I can't remember the details of every run. The shortest was 3 miles up and down some cliffs and along a beach, the longest a 27 mile round trip to El Cortillo and back. I also did a few runs up and down some beaches and of course across the dunes. After a while the the sight of naked men (and occasionally women) became just part of the background and not as off putting as it was on the first run I did along the beach. It may not be very PC or even very fair but years of watching Eurotrash makes me automatically assume that all men who are naked in public must be German and so I started to think of my beach runs as being signposted with bratwurst...

Anyway away from the Euro-nudists, in Corralejo main street in fact, we came across a poster advertising 'V ½ MARATON INTERNACIONAL “DUNAS DE FUERTEVENTURA” y II CARRERA 8km "EL QUINTILLO"' from which, with our mastery of the Spanish language, we deduced was a half marathon and a 8km race. Even better it was on the 2nd of November, our last full day in Fuerteventura. Obviously we were fated to enter and after some further research we popped into the local sports shop and left with an entry for the half marathon for me and 'El Quintillo' for Sharon. The day before the event we picked up numbers and t-shirts before going along to a briefing on the following days challenge. Either Spanish takes a lot longer to say anything than English or the English translation was heavily summarised, either way at least they took the trouble to translate the key points, mainly how the route was marked, where the two routes diverged and the location of the drinks stations. Many of the attendees appeared to be from a local running club, and everyone there looked quicker than me. I wasn't too bothered by this as I'd covered over 110 miles in the previous 10 days and knew that because of this, and more importantly the sand and heat, it would be my slowest ever half marathon but I was fairly happy I could beat the 3 hour cut off time and would accumulate some valuable experience on the way.

Two hours and eighteen minutes later I'd run the full length of the dunes and back again, was completely drenched in sweat, clutching my finishers shirt and, most importantly, a free glass of ice cold beer. I was utterly spent but had thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the organisation was good, the atmosphere great and the support from everyone from holiday makers to the police was fantastic. Sharon also did very well in 'El Quintillo', finishing in 49 minutes and cheering home all the half marathoners that finished before me.

So how has this advanced my MdS preparation? Well I'm completely happy with my 'stereo bottle' hydration system. Extensive comparison has left me 99% convinced that road shoes are the way forward, and that a compression top is probably better than a loose one. I also think that a suntan might be a good thing to have to reduce the chance of burning - although that may just be an excuse to go back...

All in all a successful two weeks, around 130 miles run, a couple of scuba dives fitted in and some sightseeing. I also completed my second ever International event and my first in daylight.

On Friday I have a complete change when I go to Buckinghamshire to run 84 miles in 3 days in 'The Druid Challenge', watch this space to see how I get on...