On Sant Jordi (Saint George’s day), the international day of the book, I decided to hit the streets of Barcelona, giving away short stories in order to promote my book — the short story collection 999 Abroad. A priori, the plan sounded fun and easy. How hard could it be to walk around and give away stories? The execution did indeed turn out to be fun, but it was far from being as easy as I had imagined. In the…
Collserola Mountain Range is said to be the lung of Barcelona. The forest clad hills separate the city from the towns in the Vallès. It is an ideal recreation area for hiking, running and cycling. On a lazy Sunday it is nice to go for an easy hike from Barcelona to Sant Cugat, stopping at Masia Can Borrell for a traditional Catalan lunch. We started the hike from Mundet metro station and followed the marked trails through the Collserola Park….
Marxa Gràcia Montserrat is 63km long endurance hike from the Gràcia neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain, to the Montserrat Monastery. This annual hike is a real challenge with accumulated elevation difference of about 5000 meters.
Cursa Bombers is an annual 10k race in Barcelona, Spain. It was nice to run it again in 2012 after a three year long break from street races.
Marxa Gràcia — Montserrat is an annual endurance hike from the Gràcia neighborhood in Barcelona to the Montserrat monastery. When I signed up for the hike I had no idea if I could at all walk the 63km.
My first mountain half-marathon in the Collserola hills above Barcelona. After some problems finding the starting line, the race was very nice.
A 16k running race through the Collserola hills north of Barcelona, Spain. My first ever hilly race away from the city asphalt.
Cursa Bombers is one of the most popular 10k race in Barcelona with thousands of participants and a great atmosphere.
Today I participated in the 30th edition of Cursa de la Mercè — a 10k race through the streets of Barcelona. Well in advance of the race I had set myself the target of finishing the race in 48 minutes and hence beat my personal best by a minute and a bit. My fairly optimistic target was backed up by an unusually effective running schedule for the past month. On Thursday my plans changed. I was having lunch with some…
I was up early — for a Sunday — and was at Plaça Catalunya at nine. I was ready to run the 30th race of El Corte Inglés — together with about fifty thousand other people. La Cursa El Corte Inglés is an odd race. First, the lenght of the race is 11km. 11 is an odd number — in many ways. In particular since the race is intended to be a kind of fun run. Second, the track runs…