It was a perfect Barcelona evening. The air was clear and it was a happy temperature. I’d entered the Midnight Barcelona Trail run and a last minute email from the organisers suggested they’d be starting an hour earlier than planned. So at 5:30pm I began riding slowly towards Tibidabo on my gravel bike. My legs were tired from road cycling earlier in the week as I’d decided that the weather had been too good to stay inside and had gone out for a nice ride in Park del Garraf South of Barcelona. Anyway, I digress…
I followed the gravel road that runs along above Barcelona and then slowly headed up the hill to Tibidabo, the impressive Church building, high above Barcelona whose surroundings double as an entertainment park. I picked up my race number and decided against carrying my headlamp, figuring I’d be back before dark.
The race started in three waves and at 7:33pm I set off at an easy jog with a large group of runners. The route took us down towards Barcelona to the same gravel road I’d cycled up on, just further around the hills. I started slowly, taking photos along the way, but picked up the pace later on the descent and then kept a good pace (for me) along the flat road passing runners as I went. At 7.5 km I grabbed something to drink and some sugary jubes at the refreshment stop and then we took a sharp right heading steeply back up towards Tibidabo . The route took us directly up a set of stairs and I passed many people by pulling myself up using the handrail on the left.
At the top of the hill the course descended again through the forest. My speedy ascent had left me with legs that were on the verge of cramping so I had to slow down considerably. Some sound tactics there. I took more snaps as I ran and after a short while the route started to climb again, and for a while we all walked. We were now in the last 5 km and the sun was sinking towards the horizon. I had something more to drink at the refreshment stop and quickly continued on. We climbed back up to Tibidabo and to my surprise the route took us up the steps and then all the way up to the top of the building via a tiny winding spiral staircase. We could see crimson colour on the horizon from the sun that had now made an exit. We descended more stairs and then it was the last stretch to the finish line. I ran fast and then as we turned to loop back to the finish slow, as my legs threatened to cramp again. I hobbled over the finish line and it was over. A nice evening and a nice run.
