Day 26 – EU – Spain [Fuengirola to Malaga]

31/12/19

34km

  From Fuengirola (Spain) to Malaga (Spain)

Europe

The last kms of 2019, and I could not have wished for a better start…

Thank you 2019, you have been good to me!

A beautiful morning on the Meditareanean coast again today. I love these early morning runs, among so many other early risers going about their businesses. Dog walking, brisk walking, cycling, yoga-ing (?), running, restaurants and cafes setting up for the day… Sunrise is a great time to start getting out and about.

The only hurdle today was an encounter with the Guardia Civil, which was less amicable than any previous ones. I knew I was asking for trouble though. Having studied my itinerary the night before, I knew that in order to get across the Guadalhorce River, I would have to use one of the two highways, the MA20 or MA21 for a short while. I elected to go with the MA21, which extended past the National road, where I could run safely on sidewalks. This way, I “only” had to run about less than 1km on the Motorway. Then I would meet the bridge, which has a sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists, and could resume the run on safer roads.

I had been hoping to make myself discreet for this 1km of dangerous running. Well, that did not happen! A patrol did catch up with me when it was too late anyway, and their ordering me to leave the motorway at the next exit corresponded exactly to where I had intended to leave it!

Anyway, after they left, I resumed and pushed all the way to bridge – to my relief I did not meet them again! The remainder of the run was seaside, with a lot of New Year’s Eve animations and loads of people out and about. This still requires a bit of adjustment on my end, I still feel “fresh out of the mountains” so to speak, and this is a stark change – but a good one too!

Right, 2019 is nearly over, it’s time to wish everyone the best of celebrations tonight and to have a great time: look ahead, it’s as bright and beautiful as you want it to be! Don’t look back to things that are holding you back. And keep moving! Party time everyone!!!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: