Tarrega November Morning Run: Larian Orang Putihku

As I’m stepping my feet out for the swinging hotel door, I’m start to contemplate the decision to run this November morning. The morning breeze is colder than I expected. Small clouds of my hot breath start clouding my spectacles.

It had been hard to get up this early in the morning. It was even harder to get fit in my running gear.

It is now or never… To experience my first run in a foreign country. All of it will start in this small town of Tarrega in Spain.

It had been a week that a bunch of awkward Malaysians stepped into this small town. At first glance, this place seemed to be a perfect setting for the Walking Dead. Walking around aimlessly in the Sunday evening, we found ourselves a ghost town.

No men, women, or kids hanging around.

It was only when it almost dark that the Taregians enjoying themselves outside. So they do exist, huh?

The strong morning sunlight betrayed the nature of that morning. 

I started my step slowly. At that time I’m not sure how cold it was that morning, but I’m not risking of cramping in the middle of nowhere in  this foreign country.

A quick googling will show that the November Spain's weather will be around 15°C to 20°C. Not so the case. I can't help giggling to myself everytime I remembered Zainudin's experience.

"Hiush. Aku kena tunggu kat luar 30 minit tengok orang dia buat PDI. Habis aku punya telinga dengan bibir jadi biru. Rasa nak kena ke toilet je. Sampai aku minta kat dia tolong berhenti kejap sebab aku dah terketar-ketar kat luar. Orang dia relax je kat luar."

It was 5°C that morning.

It was not so bad after running for the first 500 meters. The destination would be the Tarrega landmark about 1.5km from our hotel.

To navigate through the roads, I had to run on offline maps on my handphone. Truthfully, running while glancing at the handphone every once in a while isn’t what I preferred. In fact, the locals were like weirded out seeing me a foreigner running so early in the morning.

Tarrega is such a small town, the only way for me to notice it in the google map is navigate it through Barcelona. Never mind the tourist. All the locals here are only come to work.

And now they saw this plumpy brown guy running in the wee morning.

I started to feel the difference running in such a cold temperature. And running in the 5°C, it was like I’m running in a fridge.

The weather is too cold that whenever I’m running, the air piercing my skin. Slowing down wouldn’t make it any better either. The muscle need to be warm to be fully functional in this weather. Make a lot of stops will risk my legs to cramp.

The landmark Tarrega showed the Spanish artistic that they very much proud off. It may be a small town, but they are really proud with their hometown. This point is just in front of the factory that I’ll be going this whole day after this.

The way back to the hotel is a straightforward one. I found that the route is just one straight line. I just have to be aware of the junctions. The thing was, after going through the same road for several days – I’m already noticed all the landmarks heading to the hotel.

The guys almost finished taking their breakfast when I arrived at the hotel. There was only two of them left in the cafe.

It was just a 3km run. For me it was longer than that.

It was my first orang putih run.