Stubbington Green Runners

IT is now nearly six months since I sent my first 'Postcard from Spain' and consider it well overdue for another one. I thought this time I would try to give a brief insight into what life is like over here and then update what has happened on the running front.

I moved over here three and a half years ago and considering how things are developing in Britain I believe it to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

 

I bought a new villa on a small urbanisation (by Spanish standards) which is situated about two miles inland from Guardamar (between Alicante and Torrevieja) in a rural location about 500 metres from the edge of a nature reserve which has a variety of wildlife and trees. It is very peaceful and quiet, except when the cranes and builders around are in operation as the urbanisation is not quite completed yet.

Having gone through the stages of furnishing the villa and getting the garden sorted out, my thoughts turned to getting to grips with the bureaucracy to make sure my living over here met all the requirements of residency.

 

Obtaining my residency permit, tax number and reregistering my car onto Spanish plates were the priority as these are compulsory if you spend more than 183 days in the country in any one year.

 

I suspected this would be a daunting task especially as the rules change fairly frequently and my knowledge of the Spanish language was distinctly lacking at that stage. So I engaged an agent to deal with all the paperwork and everything went through smoothly, although I had to wait for just over a year for my Residencia Permit, such is the pace at which things progress here.

 

I then had to join the health system, register on the electoral roll and change my driving licence to a Spanish one. But by then I had got more accustomed to the procedures (and learnt more Spanish!), so I managed to deal with these myself with a little prior research.

 

The health service in Spain is very good although in this area is stretched to the limit as there are very few hospitals and a large influx of expats, so it is recommended that health insurance be taken out so you can take advantage of a Private Hospital in order to avoid delays.

Overall I would say my life in Spain is very relaxed and enjoyable, although there are a few frustrations (try getting to grips with Spanish driving habits and the manana syndrome), but after you have been here a while you tend to adopt an 'if you can't beat it join it' attitude and follow the same approach.

 

There is certainly a much lower cost of living with petrol and car tax considerably cheaper and local rates (equivalent to Council Tax) only 260 euros (£180!) a year including rubbish collection daily!

 

And who can forget the superb weather? As well as running, I spend a great deal of time socialising, learning the language (progressing slowly), following FC Torrevieja (Spanish Third Division) home and away and, as a last resort, doing housework and gardening.

On the running front, I took part in a couple of races in San Francisco at the end of a three week trip I did accross America in June.

 

The first, a 10k, turned out to be a bit of an embarrassment as when I got to the start I realised that it was a Gay Pride race but I still competed and finished in a time of 47min 58sec.

 

The following day was a normal 5k event which I completed in 22.35 and was third M55. Then in July I went over to Davos in Switzerland where I took part in the Swiss Alpine Trail races for the eighth time.

 

This year I wimped out and dropped down to the 21k race which I finished in what I consider to be a respectable time of 2hrs 7min 36sec taking into account the nature of the terrain.

 

My other races have been mostly local ones with the following results:-

  August 11th: Hondon de las Nieves to Aspe (11k)  52.26.
  August 19th: Hondon de las Nieves (8.2k) 39.03.
  September 16th:  Crevillente 6.3k 33.47 (2nd M55)
  October 1st: Nerja 8k 38.56
  October 22nd: Petrer Half Marathon 1.45.19

The period when most of the longer distance races take place has just started and there are quite a few half marathons being run between now and April. I will publish dates and venues in a later issue once they are confirmed just in case anyone is interested in taking a long weekend and running a race in the sun (not necessarily guaranteed).

 

I would be pleased to accommodate you so just contact me at john_tussler@hotmail.com.

In the meantime, I am coming back to England for two weeks in November when I am planning to do the Today's Runner at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, the Gosport half and Hayling 10, so I hope to meet up with many of you at either these races or the weekly training runs.

 

But for now, hasta luego.