Barcelona Marathon 3rd March 2009 by Richard Raw
March 16th, 2009I had finished the 2008 season with the Hastings Marathon. I had a chest infection and my asthma was quite bad during that run. Roll the clock forward three months and with a good winter’s training behind me I flew out to Barcelona on a cheap flight to run my first marathon of the year. I finished a couple minutes short of an hour quicker than at Hastings, which was slightly quicker than anticipated, and five minutes outside 2008’s best time for me, Loch Ness.
I went out to a Lebanese restaurant the night before the race with a few people from the hostel and had my favourite meal, falafel. Being a tea-total vegetarian, I always treat myself to a nice meal either the day before or the day after each marathon that I do as a celebration.
I think it’s an important part of the marathon weekend to do this.
The atmosphere at the Barcelona Marathon was really good. It was a truly international event. I was speaking to runners from Spain, Morocco, France and Ireland during the race. We started at the Plaça Espanyol, one of the main squares in the city, and the route followed the city in a clockwise direction past famous sites including the Nou Camp, Gaudi’s Pedrera and Sagrada Familia, and finishing along the Mediterranean coast past la Rambla and back to the Plaça Espanyol.
Barcelona is a marathon that I highly recommend. The city is cheap and easy to get to from Newcastle, and the crowd are very euphuistic with their drums and friendly hospitality. It is held in early March every year.
It was my 23rd marathon, and I passed the 1000km mark in marathon running on the way. My next marathon is Belfast on the 4th of May, followed by the Edinburgh Marathon at the end of May.
Time: 4 houes 21 minutes 28 seconds
