And after the first day, we go for the second day of the bimarathon. If yesterday we got lucky with the weather, which wasn’t as hot as expected, for Sunday there is no escaping the sun.
When saying goodbye yesterday, we agreed on a general start at 7:00 given the expected heat, and the option to start earlier for whoever wished to do so, tracking it via Strava or similar, although without aid stations until the organization arrives. Some runners have a long journey home after the race.
We meet up again at a bit past 6:00 to load the cars with the solid and liquid aid supplies, though already lighter having handed out the runner’s bags the day before.
We arrive at the start area, where we can see some runners out on the course. Opting for the early start were Carlos Barranquero, Miguel Ángel Muñoz, or Elisabeth, for example. Among the volunteers, Marcos repeats today, and we have a handover with María and Molli.
The rest of us take the customary group photo, in which today a few are missing: Jesús Ángel, or Antonio López, who finished badly yesterday, and Marc, who arrives a few minutes after the start, although given his race pace, no impediment for him to catch up with the others.
The plan for today wais to try to put as many kilometers on the clock as possible before the heat begins to take a toll on legs already battered by 42k from yesterday. Each at their pace, though Marc and Juanpa continue a step above the rest, after having clocked times of 2h49m and 3h26m yesterday.
Without monitoring the times too closely, it is noticeable a slower pace than the day before. Here, everyone manages the effort on consecutive days in their own way. The final laps became grueling, but I can already see the completion of my fourth doublet getting closer.
And so I reach the finish line in 4:26:39, completing my first national double.
Finally, a combined time of 8h40m19s, which placed me in fourth position out of the 12 runners who finished both races.
In injury time, while waiting for the remaining runners to finish, one is left with the satisfaction of having successfully pulled off with Gorriti the organization of an event that, at times, we even doubted it could take place.
With these two, I complete marathons 163 and 164 on my list.
Next up on the calendar: the debut in a backyard. Major stuff that I will break down in the next entry.