Saturday 18th February MARATHON 29

Fantastic meal in the Hostel restaurant last night. Only one person spoke a sort of English and as I did not quite get to A level Spanish, we went with his recommendation,  local soup followed by Sea Bass to share with vegetables. Sounded good but was much better than it sounded! Back to room, iced, elevated and Ibuprofen taken. In bed by 11:30. Slept well and woke with the alarm at 6:30. They gave us a bag with the breakfast in to take to our room and have this morning as the cafe/restaurant did not open until 10. All fed and organised by 8:00 so we chilled and killed an hour or so until I intended to go for my 5k run before the marathon. Realised when we started loading the van and the cafe was busy, that we had forgotten about the hour forward in Spain! Now 10:30 we loaded the van, did a quick warm up and set off up the coast to do the marathon, warm up 5k run kicked into touch! Shin still a big concern and almost from the start it started to bite! I decided to aim for 5k and see how I felt. The run up to Baiona on the 552 was breathtaking, the road ran almost completely along the sea front. The weather was again great, clear skies and bright sunshine, a bit cold to start but warmed very quickly to become the hottest day so far, mostly without any head wind! I pushed a bit harder than yesterday to see if that made a difference with the pain, it did not but I did get in a rhythm and found the kilometres passing quickly. I pushed past 10k in 59 minutes and 20k in 1'56". As normal the pains got a bit more intense about 26k but I did not stop. The pain mellowed a bit and I got back to 5:40 mins per kilometre pace that seems to suit me better. Got to Baiona with 10k left to run. Baiona looked to be a cosmopolitan town with new running/cycling paths and a big Marina. Across the bridge and left on the local road following the coast to completion. Marathon run, no stops in 4'07"32 Good time but still too painful to repeat every day! Quick drink and video then I ran back 3.5k in 31 minutes as a warm down. Cleaned feet, ate an orange and dad drove us back towards Baiona to a Hotel I noticed called Miramar, 3 star! Booked in, very cheap, and now sitting in the very hot sun with a coffee and a cake! I hope the pains calm down a bit and allow me to continue! Still, got to keep keeping on.