So on Thursday night of last week, I decided pretty much on a whim that I was going to jump in the Barcelona marathon. Now don’t get me wrong I did not do the whole entire thing (though for the non runners reading this I am capable of finishing a marathon, its just that running 26.2 miles kind of throws off my training in a bad way). I decided that I was going to run half of it, and make it into a glorified long distance run/ workout. This was also something I thought would be a good idea, just because when else would I get an opportunity to run 13.1 miles of the city without having to stop or worry about cars?
I am going to say that quite easily the most painful part of this day was waking up. I can count on one hand the amount of time I have woken up before 9 am abroad. Waking up at 7:30 am for an 8:30 am race, was HELL. But I still got up, got my running stuff on, had a few sips of water and grabbed an orange for the walk to the metro, and I was out of bed and in the subway in 10 minutes (as you can see a lot of preparation went into this…).
There are so many reasons why I wish I had my camera for this morning. I so wish I could of video taped the subway ride to Placa Espanya. The subway was 75% runners all in their short shorts and running tops, and 25% drunk people coming back from their night in on the town. The expressions on the drunk/hung over people’s faces, pretty much made the morning for me. I’m fairly sure the last thing these people thought they would be seeing before they ended their night out would a subway packed with runners anxious about running 26.2 miles.
Ok, so I show up on time, 15 minutes before the race. No real warm up necessary, I wasn’t exactly racing this, and plus I’m going to be running 13.1 miles, my legs will warm up after the first couple miles.
So because I was banditing the race (I didn’t pay. It was 70 euro!), I went back in the crowd and stood with the 3 hour and 30 minute marathon group, because I was trying to remain inconspicuous. This was the first race of my entire life, I didn’t start up right in front. Wow what a difference a couple hundred feet make! If you can run a 3 hour and 30 minute marathon, you are no slouch either (especially if you are a middle aged person). But wow, does the seriousness level go way, way down when you’re not up front. I exaggerate this, but it was like I was transported back to one of the Barcelona clubs while I waited the 15 minutes till the gun went off. Music was blaring, and it was all mostly American club music. The one song that really, really got people going (and I was not surprised by this at all), was of course Ai Se Eu Te Pego.
I am going to digress for a quick second. If you are anywhere in the world that speaks even a little bit of Spanish or Portuguese, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE THIS SONG. I honestly feel like I have heard this song almost every day since I have been in Spain. The song title translates to “If I catch you.” The song is catchy, but I find it to be a tad creepy. Essentially, the main line of the song translates to: “If I catch you, then you are mine for the night.” Sounds like a little too stalkerish for me personally…
But yeah, this song is a pretty big deal around the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. Basically Michel Telo (the clown that he is) rules a good portion of the world’s music scene right now. And so when this song went on (I kid you not, this was 5 minutes before the race!), basically the roughly 20,000 people packed together made the starting area into a dance floor (though I cannot confirm whether the Kenyans took part, my guess is that they did not, and were very confused by what was going on around them).
So the gun went off! AND… walk. That’s right, not starting up front sucks. It took 2 minutes of walking before the 1,000 people or so in front of me got across the starting line so that I could actually start running. My half marathon went well. It took me about 40 minutes (about 10k, or 6.2 miles in) till I felt like I had any room at all to run. I just used the run as a progression run, and clicked off negative 5k splits while I went along. This was the first time I had run a massive city race, and it was a blast! It was pretty cool to me that throughout the entire course, people were lined up all over cheering you on (remember this is 26.2 miles!). There was just a great energy to the race that I really enjoyed.
So after crossing the half marathon mark at 1 hour 26 minutes and 12 seconds, I did a quick stretch (felt good, definitely didn’t over do it) and then I ran to the nearest subway stop so that I could go see the finish. I had never really seen elite Kenyan and Ethiopian runners in a marathon in person, so I had to go see that finish!
I must say, while I found it really cool to see the Ethiopians and Kenyans kick butt, and trounce the field with the top spots, I found that there were other runners even more awe inspiring to watch finish. The runner I found to be most motivating and inspirational was the blind runner that finished in approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes. This man, had a guide with him, and they had a long band that wrapped both of their hands together, so that the guide could direct him while he ran. One of the most amazing things I think I have ever seen within the sport of running. He was definitely one of the crowd favorites. But I think the absolute crowd favorite had to be the second Spaniard to finish, and as he was about 100 yards away from the finish, he spotted his little boy in the crowd and picked him up over the fence, and they ran into the finish line together. I was a fan of that move.
Oh, and I almost forgot. They played this song twice! I think its just called “Barcelona.” Really bizarre song, but apparently they love it here (or at least the marathon organizers do). I could be completely wrong about this, but my guess is that they made this song for the 1992 Olympics? Anyways here it is.
So, in summary that was essentially my “marathon” experience. I proceeded to nap for the next 5 hours after I got back to my apartment (like I said by far the worst part of this experience, was getting out of bed). I wish every day was some kind of race day here though. Because, while people hear are exercise nuts and people are biking and running everywhere. For some reason they look at you very strangely if you are wearing running clothes on the subway (unless of course, its the day of the marathon). I did that once sometime in February, and will probably not be trying that again. Now that I think about it, I should do just a whole post on the subway. It is truly a bizarre world, the metro system, and I think somehow I have broken the most cultural rules while riding the subway.
But anyways, I have one more race that I will doing here. I even paid for this one! Its called the Cursa Bombers Run. Its a 10k, and its on April 22nd. I’m sure I’ll discuss that race as well on the blog. Though I can’t promise that the post will be as cheery. I will only have 5 more days of Barcelona remaining at that point! 😦
Will's World Adventures 