This morning, I ran the Barcelona Marathon in Barcelona,
Spain. I’ve wanted to visit Barcelona
for years. I was interested in seeing some
of the work of Antoni Gaudi. In
particular, I wanted to see La Sagrada Famila.
I’ve had this race on my bucket list, but it never quite
seemed to fit into my plans. I kept
putting it off and saying, “Maybe next year.”
I thought 2017 would be the same story.
My passport was going to expire this year, so I mailed in my
application for renewal in November. I
wasn’t going to book any international travel until I had my new passport. I didn’t expect to get it until late
December, and by then it might be too late to plan a trip to Barcelona. The race might be full, the airfare might be
too expensive, or the hotels might already be booked.
Just a day or two after mailing in my passport renewal, I
learned about an airfare sale. Delta and
American were both offering deeply discounted fares to several cities in
Europe. One of them was Barcelona. When I learned I could fly round trip from
Minneapolis to Barcelona for $446, I couldn’t pass that up.
After entering the race and booking my flight, I started
researching accommodations. Marathon
Tours & Travel had a block of rooms at the Crowne Plaza. I might have found something less expensive
if I booked myself, but the Crowne Plaza was ideally located for the race. I also like being in a tour group with other
runners.
Despite pessimistic estimates of how long passport renewals
were taking, I had the new one in about two weeks.
Thursday, March 9
I arrived around noon, after an overnight flight to Paris and
a morning flight to Barcelona. After I
got to my hotel, I took a few minutes to unpack and then had lunch at a nearby
pizzeria.
My hotel was located near Montjuïc, a large hill that
overlooks the city. After lunch, I hiked
to the top of Montjuïc. From there, you
can get some good views of the city.
The climb was more tiring than I expected. It probably didn’t help that I was
overdressed. While I was there, I toured
Castell de Montjuïc. This 18th century
castle was built on the ruins of an older fort that was built in 1640.
I spent a good part of the afternoon touring the
castle. Then I still had to find my way
back to the hotel. To hike up and down
the hill, I took a combination of sidewalks, stairs, and streets that snaked
back and forth. I knew which direction
it was to get back to the hotel, but the easiest route down the hill often took
me in other directions. I had to use my
phone for directions. By the time I got
back to the hotel, my phone needed recharging.
For the rest of the day, I stuck to sights that were close
to the hotel. About two blocks away,
there’s a fountain called Font màgica de Montjuïc (the magic fountain of
Montjuïc). Near the fountain, there’s a
large art museum.
At 6:00, there was a cocktail reception at the hotel, where
I had a chance to meet other members of my tour group. It was just drinks and appetizers, but I was
still so full from lunch that I didn’t really need another meal. After talking to other runners for about an
hour, I finally ran out of gas for the day.
I had no trouble getting to sleep that night, but staying
asleep was another matter. My sleep was
spotty.
Friday, March 10
After breakfast, I met the rest of my tour group in the
lobby to begin a half day city tour. Our
stops included La Sagrada Familia, Passeig de Gracia, Casa Milá, Parque Guell, Plaza
Cataluña, Las Ramblas, Barrio Gótico, and Las Ramblas.
We had great weather for sightseeing every day. Lows were in the lower 50s, and highs were in
the lower 60s with mostly sunny skies.
La Sagrada Familia is the crown jewel of Barcelona. Once Gaudi began work on it in 1873, he
dedicated his life to it, not working on anything else. Gaudi died in 1926, but other architects have
continued his work. The church is still
unfinished and will probably take decades to complete.
Passeig de Gracia is Barcelona’s main shopping street. It’s also home to this residence, which was
designed by Gaudi.
Casa Milá, also known as La Pedrera (the quarry) is a
modernist home, which was also designed by Gaudi.
Parque Guell is a large city park built on a hillside
overlooking the city. It includes
statues and other features that were also designed by Gaudi.
Las Ramblas is a pedestrian boulevard that runs from Plaza
Cataluña to the harbor. It’s lined with
shops, restaurants, bars and markets.
It’s also home to street vendors and street performers. On one side of Las Ramblas is Barrio Gótico
(the gothic quarter). Here, we saw a
gothic cathedral.
After our tour, we walked over to the expo. Then I had a late lunch with two of the other
runners in my tour group. I say late
lunch, because it was already after 2:00, but that’s a normal lunch time for
Catalonians. Restaurants are typically only
open for lunch from 1:30 to 4:00. Then
they reopen for dinner at 8:00.
After lunch, I returned to Plaza Cataluña on my own and
walked the full length of Las Ramblas. I
also explored a few of the narrow streets of Barrio Gótico.
On my way back, I walked by the magic fountain. On Friday and Saturday evenings, they have
light and music shows. I got there just
as they were starting.
Finally, when it was late enough for restaurants to re-open,
I went back out for dinner.
Saturday, March 11
The day before the marathon, they had a 4.2 kilometer race
called the Breakfast Run. Several large
international races have fun runs like these.
Sometimes they’re called friendship runs. The race was free, but I usually skip races
like this so I can have fresh legs for the marathon. Unlike some runners, I don’t run every day. I usually rest the day before a race.
What made this run difficult to pass up was the course. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the
1992 Olympics, the route followed the last 4.2 kilometers of the route used for
the 1992 Olympic Marathon. I remember
watching TV coverage of the 1992 Olympics.
They frequently showed aerial views of Montjuïc, since the Olympic
Stadium was there. The Olympic Marathon
route finished by climbing this hill to reach the stadium. This was my opportunity to experience that
same climb and finish inside the stadium.
The marathon route we were running on Sunday didn’t include Montjuïc, so
this was my only chance to run it.
The Breakfast Run didn’t start until 9:30, so I had time to
eat breakfast at the hotel first. I ate
light, knowing I would have more food after the run.
The race started in a plaza next to the magic fountain,
which was only two blocks from the hotel.
Before the start, I saw a few runners in costumes. This one was the best.
At first the road was downhill, but it quickly turned
up. We had to make several switchbacks
to get to the top. After we ran one
kilometer, I saw this sign. For the
Olympic athletes, this was 39K. I tried
to imagine how hard this climb must have been for them. We had cool weather, but they were running it
on a hot evening in August.
This was a fun run, so nobody was trying to run fast. As we entered the stadium and started running
around the track, about half of the runners were taking pictures.
As we left the stadium, there were volunteers to lead us on
the most direct route down to the plaza where we started. Volunteers there were serving pastries and
fruit with coffee, tea or water.
In the afternoon, I went on a guided tour of La Sagrada
Familia. I could have done a self-guided
tour, but by going with a tour group I was able to skip the ticket lines. You can easily spend two hours waiting in
line. I saw the outside of the church
during our city tour in Friday, but you have to see the inside. Our guide explained some of the architectural
details and the symbolism of the artwork.
There’s a lot of light from outside, and the stained glass windows fill
the nave with different colors.
Our tour package included a pre-race dinner at a nearby
Italian restaurant. Most of the runners
had pasta, but the menu also included pizza.
Naturally, I had the pizza.
Sunday, March 12
Sunday was race day.
The race didn’t start until 8:30, so I had time to grab a light
breakfast at the hotel before the race.
The start area was close enough to the hotel that we could walk.
The weather on Sunday was just like the previous few
days. It was low 50s at the start of the
race, but warmed into the low 60s. It
was mostly sunny.
Ted, another runner in my tour group, was assigned to the
same start corral, so we walked to the start together. Because our hotel was so close, we didn’t
need to use the gear check or the port-o-potties. Ted’s goal was to break 3:50. I wasn’t sure if I could run that fast, so we
each started at our own pace. Before
long, I noticed we were both running at the same pace. Before long, we were running together.
In the early kilometers, we were on pace for roughly
3:45. I had doubts about sustaining that
pace, but I felt OK, so I decided to stay with Ted for as long as I could.
I never took the time to study the course map, so there were
times when I didn’t know where we were.
Other times, I saw familiar landmarks.
The course was one big loop, with a two out-and-back segments. I like courses that start and finish in the
same place. It makes the logistics easy.
Some European races only have aid stations every five kilometers. We had to wait 5K for the first one, but
after that they were every 2.5K. That was about right. It warmed up quickly, so I needed to drink at
every aid station to stay hydrated.
Early in the race, we passed two different drum groups. I’ve seen those in a few other races, but usually
only once. Every so often, we would pass
another. There must have been at least
10 along the course. The sound of
multiple drums carries much better than a rock band.
We must have been at least 10K into the race when we passed
the runner who wore an Eiffel Tower costume in the breakfast run. He was also wearing it in the marathon. It looked heavy.
The first time I knew where we were was when I turned onto Passeig
de Gracia. This street has a noticeable
grade to it. This race didn’t have any
steep hills, but there were several long gradual hills.
In races that are marked in kilometers, I divide the race
into three 14K segments. We reached 14K
in roughly 1:15. So far, the pace was
fast, but felt manageable. In the middle
third of the race, the same pace started to feel tiring.
The highlight of the course comes between 16 and 17K, when
we ran directly in front of La Sagrada Familia.
From 18 to 22K, we were on the first out-and-back segment. Going out, it was mostly uphill. By now, the sun was high enough in the sky
that building no longer provided shade. I
started to feel hot and tired.
Just before the halfway mark, we turned around. It was a relief to run downhill. We reached the halfway mark in 1:54:11, but I
had serious doubts about holding that pace in the second half.
About this time, I felt a nice cool breeze from my left. I also noticed that the sun had gone behind
some clouds. The clouds and wind were
the only things that kept me from overheating in the second half.
Increasingly, we started seeing spectators crossing the
street. Some ran, some walked, but none
of them seemed to do a good job of watching for runners. They seemed to expect the runners to avoid
them, which wasn’t always easy. I saw a
few people crossing the street while looking away from the runners. This was a common problem throughout the
race. I’ve never seen this at any other
race.
From 26 to 31K, we ran another out-and-back segment. On the way out, we were running toward Torre
Agbar, which is one of the most recognizable buildings in the city. We turned around just as we reached it.
We reached the 28K mark in 2:31 and change. We slowed a little in the middle third of the race, but not as much as I thought. Now I was just hanging on. I decided to stick with Ted as long as I could, but I was worried that I would fade. If I couldn’t keep up, I would focus on breaking four hours. At this point, I was pretty sure I could do that even if I struggled in the late kilometers.
Around 32K, we turned and ran along the waterfront. Now I started recognizing lots of landmarks
ahead of us. Ted was also struggling to
hold the pace. I realized we were
slowing down when I found it easier to keep up.
We made a detour through the old town that took us right
under the Arc de Triumf. I hadn’t seen
it before, so I regretted not having a camera with me.
Between 39 and 40K, we turned onto Avinguda del Paral.lel. From there on, I knew where we were. We were on the most direct route to the
finish.
After struggling through the last few kilometers, we both
finished in 3:50:43. It took a few
minutes to work our way through the finish area and get our medals. After that, it was barely more than a block
to get back to the hotel. They were also
handing out plastic ponchos. I didn’t
need anything to keep warm, but I’ll save it to use as a warm-up layer for a
future race.
Race Statistics
Distance: 42.2
kilometers (26.2 miles)
Time: 3:50:43
Average Pace: 8:48 per
mile
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
330
Countries: 24
