Race Report: Barcelona Marathon 16/03/2014

How long did it take to get Gordon to take me to Barcelona... 26 years and that was on condition that we ran the marathon! Things I have to do to go on holiday!

07:30 and we arrive at the start, Montjuic. The hoody was soon abandoned.

Was it worth the wait? You bet ya.

Marathon day dawned bright and sunny with not a cloud in sight. An early start was needed so you can imagine the effort that took to get Gordon on his feet. 05.15, body clock-time, is no mean feat I can tell you, but once up we then had a 3k warm up walk to the start, so we were definitely awake by the time we got to Montjuic, the start.

Although the morning was bright, there was a definite 7.30 am chill in the air but the atmosphere was warm and vibrant and we soon realised that we going to be part of something big, festive and memorable. Runners from all over the world gathered and chatted excitedly and soon the more robust of us got shot of our outer layers earlier than the Spanish, who obviously thought that it was a chilly March morning!
 

In the loo queue above the start line.

Wanting to start and run the race together, Gordon and I had to do some close up work to hide my grey number and get in on the green section. This achieved, we made our way through to the toilet queue, up by the fountains, where everyone was mingling anyway so we couldn't see the reason for the initial separation tactics. I counted 6 porta-loos for 17,000 runners!!! Thank goodness we arrived early! Gordon managed to go 3 times to the men's whilst I got one shot! (Apparently there were more loos but you had to go on the hunt for them).

Anyway, suitably relieved, we then did a little more furtive manouvering to get me into the back of the green pen. Officials were moving through the over-excited runners and turfing out grey and purple ones! Needless to say Gordon took advantage of how close we were and lots of snogging ensued! Fab way to start our run. .
 

Cheeky close up cuddling.

With Barcelona by Queen blaring out, crowds cheering, runners clapping and whooping, colour matching ticker-tape exploding above us, we were off! It was the most amazing feeling and sight. Now all we had to do was run!

Ticker-tape and smiles as we set off.

While waiting for the loo, rumours had abound that temperatures would rise to 25! How alarming was that for two people only just arrived from winter training in the northwest? The early morning chill had evaporated by the time the 08.30 start was sounded and the air warmed steadily. Thankfully the tall buildings of Barcelona afforded us much needed shade as the run developed, although in the latter stages even the shade was hot.

The crowds of on lookers were brilliant at the beginning and throughout and soon the general chatter of runners soon settled into a murmur. About 5k in I spotted two Delamere Spartan vests so we cruised up to them to say hi. They said that they felt a little lost as this was a new experience for them being on the road and to boot, when I asked them if they remembered Grant... they did!

Casa Batllo

It was soon after this that Gordon needed a quick pee stop. Thank goodness for the big wheelie bins as numerous where being used by the chaps. Poor bewildered old ladies walking their dogs first thing on Sunday had to be careful where they looked! Was this stop enough? No! Gordon then proceeded to go a further 3 times, all before we had done the first half. Apparently this is all part of his race strategy for hydration, not because he's an old man?! Didn't he realise that I couldn't afford to waste all this time and precious seconds ticked by that I was never going to regain. But we said that we would run it together, and run it together we did.

How could I have nearly missed this?! Sagrada Familia

The route took us out to the north, which meant a slow, long climb up into the residential area and although not the prettiest of areas, the shade was wonderful. Before long we were back down in the city, passing well known Gaudi architecture; the cathedral, Sagrada Familia, the famous Casa Bastllo to name but two of the wonderful sights we saw.  We ran through the old quarter and out towards the new Barcelona and the Torre Agbar tower. By now the sun was warming everything up beautifully and I was searching out the shade at every opportunity. The supplies of water, power aide and water to dunk our sponges in, (what a fab idea) where plentiful and the pre-race info letting us know about all these supplies meant for the first time ever, I didn't run with any sports drink in tow.

About 10 miles in (we had a 10, 15 and 20 mile marker) we heard a friendly "hi" from a man from Stoke who had caught us up just to say hello! He had spied our Striders logo on the back of our vests! Result. It was his first marathon ever and after a quick chat about how it was going, we parted. By now we had also passed the Sagrada Familia cathedral which I almost missed ‘cos I was looking down and wasn't expecting it to be where it was! Truly awesome.

Nearly home! This was at 36k.

Crowd support was still fantastic and we even noticed a little old man who had come out to cheer in his PJ's and dressing grown. How did I nearly miss a whopping huge cathedral and so easily see a little old man?
We were doing well and we hit the half at 2 hours but the heat was on the up and I wasn't sure what was going to happen over the next half. Of course Gordon was just cruising, but with the odd word of encouragement, he paced me through the heat of the day. The coastal section was both a relief and hot. Hot sun beat down but the breeze was lovely. We turned our backs on the coast and ran through the Arc de Triomphe, ( no need to do the Paris one now) where immediately the heat soared as the hot air radiated off the buildings, but yet again the crowd support did its work and boosted us on our way. Only 6k to go. One good thing about kilometer markers...they go by quickly!

Barcelona’s own Arc de Triomphe

Finally, we were on the last straight to the finish but the only issue was that it was up hill. What cruel organiser thought that that was a good idea? At the top of the rise we could see red inflatable arches and the welcoming sight and raucous sound of the supporters and the tanoy. Gordon thought that it was the finish but I knew that it was around the corner. So with one final push we ran over the line together in 4:11:29. Phew!

Almost  there!

I could smile again and we pressed on to collect our goodies, medals and chomped our way through some welcome nibbles. We even managed to stagger up to the fountains where we dipped our weary hot feet into the waters which looked so inviting but were in fact freezing. But all good for post run recovery I believe.

 

All smiles again!

 I also believe if you can give 5 yeses for a race, then it's a good 'un.

1. All information pre, during and post, excellent – yes
2. Great festive atmosphere - yes
3. Fab weather - yes
4. Interesting and well thought out route for monuments and shade - yes
5. Great medals, goodies and nibbles - yes
6. Great support - yes
7. Would we recommend it. - yes

There, it gets 7 yeses. It must be good.

Proud owners of our medals

I could go on but I think you get the gist. This race gets a resounding YES on all counts from Gordon and me. A few things to bear in mind are: take sun cream ( Gordon was known as Vestman by me for the rest of the break) take the sponge with you that is provided; sunglasses are a must and if you use a pace band, it's in kilometres. Oh and one more thing. Jason was right, the T-shirts come up smallish so order the next size up. We found out too late, but they’re ok.

After recovering and chatting in the warm spring sunshine, we made our weary way back to the hotel which I'm sure someone moved further away as it took an age to get back!
Would we recommend this to anyone? Oh yes. It's easy to reach from Liverpool airport on Easyjet, a quick ride on the Aerobus (thanks for that tip Jason) into the centre, a short walk around the corner to our hotel and there we have it.

The fountains of Montjuic were both painful and fabulous all at the same time.

The only thing left for us to do was, when we were no longer walking in the style of Monty Python, to enjoy the sights, sounds and food of Barcelona.
When are we going back?

For more information visit the website.

Cheryl and Gordon