III Carrera Popular Subida Castillo Almodóvar del Río

I ran this race this morning. First things first: I came in FIRST PLACE in my category and FOURTH PLACE out of all women who ran!

This is the slip of paper I was given after crossing the finish line.

I look silly because that podium was super shaky. I thought I was going to fall off!

She came in third place in my category.

 This was NOT an easy race. Obviously, I knew there was an uphill part waiting for me. It is called "Subida Castillo..." for a reason. However, I thought that the rest of the race was flat and the uphill stint was just at the castle. Not true.

It was all uphill--my first hilly race. It was also the first time in a race that I seriously considered stopping. Once we had finished a truly steep part we had the final "subida" waiting for us.

The castle is truly beautiful so I had to include some shots of it.

This is us at about 10:15am waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the starting line.

And off we go!

This picture is here to show you how high we had to climb. Actually, this pic is not even taken at the top where the finish line is!

If you zoom in you can see me running down there.

This was the heart-breaker running the last few meters.

I was seriously struggling to finish at this point.

But I made it!

Glad it's over because it was a killer on my legs but it was so much fun!

I was also surprised to find out that we were giving a race pack. I got a running shirt, a t-shirt (it's too big so the hubby will use it), and a bracelet. 

This was such a nice race and the weather definitely cooperated. Last year (I didn't run that year. This was my first time running this race) it rained and hailed!

It also turned out to be only 13Km, not the 16Km I thought when I wrote my previous race recap in October.

My next race is on November 24th and it is a half-marathon.