Distance today = 56.61 km; Total distance = 15,946.57 km; Location = Almaraz – 39 47.491′ N, 05 41.816′ W; Start time = 0937, Finish time = 1820

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269270930

At 56.6 km, it was my longest day since September 19 last year. It was also the most hilly since the Andes.

I felt very good for some reason, so decided to run all the way to the hotel tonight – a hotel that is only a few hundred metres from a nuclear power plant. I hope there are no employees like Homer Simpson working at this one.

Once again, I ran the whole day on a former highway that has been superseded by a newer freeway. I doubt I was passed by more than ten cars all day. The road passed over a mountain ridge, resulting in a big climb and an even bigger descent.

I often see the remnants of former roads. As mentioned, I’ve been on the second tier road, which was probably built around 50 or 60 years ago. The freeway is less than 20 years old. However, I regularly see an older road – probably the first car-specific road, which I estimate to have been built about 100 years ago. And sometimes the original horse and cart roads are visible too, which are hundreds of years old. These are most evident on river and creek crossings. Today I passed a group of four bridges over the same river, one on each of these roads – the freeway, the former highway, the original car road, and the original horse and cart road. It’s history come alive!!!

Speaking of history, today is “the day the music died”. Who will be the first to provide the answer to this barely concealed music trivia question?