Chiclana Half Marathon: my comeback to long-distance races

Last Sunday, I ran the Chiclana Half-Marathon. This was my comeback to long-distance races, after two years without running more than a 10K race. The Chiclana Half-Marathon has a mostly flat course, which goes near the coast and doesn’t really go through the main streets of Chiclana center.

Although in 2024 I had already run a half-marathon (this same one), I’m still a little bit worried about running such long distances with my valves and all the stuff I have. Moreover, this time I hadn’t honestly trained so much as in 2024. I tried to start not too hard so I could maintain (or even increase) my pace as kilometers passed.

Finally, my time was around two hours (a little less -1h 57m 20s- following my GPS and a bit more -2h 20s- following the official counter). I’m clearly not as in shape as in 2024, when I ran more or less the same course in 1h 41m 19s.

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Viamed Overcoming Prize

I also won a special price called Viamed Superación (Viamed Overcoming), which was a writing contest about telling personal stories of resilience and overcoming adversity through running. I wrote a text in Spanish, but I’m gonna translate it here to English:

I’ve been a runner since my twenties. I run some races here at Chiclana and also at Madrid, where, for work, I was living some years. After all that, during the time I was living at Ronda, I also continued running. I had good records to be a popular runner: 17m46s for 5k, 36m59s for 10k, 1h21m for half marathon and 2h55m for marathon.

In february 2020, when I was 36, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and because of that I underwent three surgeries that year: on March 10th, April 6th and May 15th. I have two valves in my brain which are communicated with my abdomen, to drain the excess of cerebrospinal fluid in my head.

Although this process also left me with a left hemiparesis, my running background was one of the things that allowed me to physically recover very fast. I still have some cognitive (“invisible”) side effects (mainly memory and planning sequels), but, despite my amnesia, my body still remembers how to run.

Already in 2023 I returned to run some races of the Chiclana circuit, but only as a recreational activity, and without so ambitious goals as previously.

In 2024 I was recognized with a total permanent incapacity and in 2025 with a 49% of disability, both physical and mental.

I still run because it helps me feeling alive; feeling that I can still move and, finally, because every bit I wear reminds me who I am… and that I still have goals to achieve.

Next challenges

My plan is to continue running the races in the Chiclana running circuit. Next one is the “Trails Race”, a short (but hilly) race I have already run in previous years. It will take place on May the 31st,