For the second time in Santa Pola with a little more experience regarding this race but also one year older, which made me change the group and join the runners over 45.  The weeks before this race I trained very little because of the cold weather and a cold, so all in all the final result was not so bad despite the fact that I arrived 2 minutes later than last year. The weather during the last edition was not very cold but it was very windy, fortunately with the wind sometimes arriving from the back and pushing forward a bit. Of course, the start as usual among thousands of runners, and also fireworks and confetti at the moment of the start, so a lot of time lost.  Everything organized very well, as usually, and at the end of the race everybody got a backpack, a T-shirt, a medal and a towel, excellent organization also at the finish, water and fruit for everybody. The bid number could be taken also in the morning before the race and there was no need to queue for it,  there was also a big car park for hundreds of cars.  The last 2 km in the midst of thousands of spectators who were cheering the athletes ... in short, a race not to be missed

Details of my race

The halfmarathon of Santa Pola is one of the most famous races in Spain and therefore it is not very strange that the participants are almost 10 thousand runners. The peculiarity of this event is that it takes place in a small town of less than 30,000 inhabitants and it makes the day of the event at least unusual. On the day of the race, of course, the town was invaded by runners and the whole center of it was closed to cars. The organization was perfect especially for the huge car park for hundreds of cars and the supplies that were in a great amount during the race and also in the finish. Many of the inhabitants were of course involved in preparing the event which is the most important one for this little town. Although the race was held in January, the weather was great, with a beautiful sunny day and about 18 degrees. The route was completely flat and it was situated very close to the sea. The wind was not strong, the start was divided respectively to the results the runners had previously (I left after about 1 thousand of participants). It was very exciting with confetti and fireworks. Everything was very easy, from getting the bib number to returning to the car in order to leave the town. The T shirt was very nice, only a pity for the medal, as the organizers had chosen the rectangular plate not a round one. Only downside was the choice of the bottles with water, which had the cap, and because of that area was full of thousands potential traps on the ground. .... I finished the race with the result of 1 hour and 35 m, considering I lost about 30 seconds at the start I was in my own time.