Running in Barcelona

For our first honeymoon stop in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona, I booked a private Old Town Tour with Running Tours Barcelona. This was the sunrise that greeted me on run tour day. Wow! What a great run this was going to be!!

Sunrise in Montjuic, Barcelona

And here's Robin, my run tour guide who's also a professional run coach.

Robin, Running Tours Barcelona

Here are a few places we visited on our run:

We went to see El Gato - I like this chubby cat! It think it's great. (Sorry for the blurry photo) This well-fed gatto is a sculpture by Columbian artist Federico Botero. I love his style - all his subjects are chubby and round. This chubby Gato has been moved around a lot - seems that nobody wants or likes this poor kitty. He currently stands at la Rambla del Raval. El Raval is supposed to be a dodgy neighbourhood. But I didn't find anything dodgy about it even on a later visit to the neighbourhood with my husband. I found the neighbourhood to be very multicultural and vibrant with a little bit of edge.

La Rambla, is a pedestrian mall that is usually packed with tourists. Since we were up early only some shopkeepers were out. We stopped at Mercat de la Boqueria which is typically packed shoulder-to-shoulder full of tourists. This morning I got to experience the market like this! Just a few locals and shopkeepers. Robin also showed me other markets that locals go to and are less touristy.

Mercat de la Boqueria

Whoa! Where else do you get to walk over or in my case, run over a piece of art by a famous artist? Here, we are standing at Joan Miro's signature on his mosaic. He is the most interesting artist! When I was a kid I had a notebook decorated with Miro's signature and symbols from his art. So when we came across his mosaic was really special.

Running over a mosaic by Catalan artist Joan Miro

We continued along La Rambla and then ducked down a side street and into Plaça Reial. Situated in the square are 4 lamposts designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. As theses lamp posts were some of Gaudi's first commisioned works, they do not display typical curvy and organic Gaudi traits such as Familia Sagrada, Casa Milá, or Parc Guell. The lamposts are adorned with the helmet of the god of mercury and two snakes symbolizing trade and commerce.

Lamp post designed by Antoni Gaudi

From Plaça Reial we ran on to Barri Gotic, El Born, Barceloneta Beach... you can check out the tour map here.

We ran through El Raval again to return to my hotel. We stopped in front of the building where the vampire of Barcelona used to live. Enriqueta Marti, who ran a brothel and kidnapped children! Read about her, you'll see why they called the vampire. Gruesome!

I had signed up for a nice 10k with Robin but I enjoyed the run so much we ended running 15km! Really though, I could have run with Robin all day, he made the running tour so, so enjoyable. If you travel to Barcelona, I highly recommend booking a sight running tour.

Honeymoon: Spain & Paris

On arrival at the Aeroport de Barcelona-el Prat

My husband and I finally went on our honeymoon!!! Yes, we got married just over a year ago. We went on our honeymoon and it was so much fun! Our plan was to stay in a gorgeous hut with a glass floor over the water in Bora Bora. Then one night my husband and I did a 180 degree turn. We needed a challenge.

Spain! Espana! Spain would be fun! Neither of us speak the language and such an adventure would be educational in culture and language as well as fun! So we ditched the Bora Bora plans and started to prepare.

We downloaded Spanish lesson podcasts, listened to and practiced saying the phrases everyday for a few weeks. If you happened to see a girl walking down the street mumbling Spanish phrases to herself like, "Donda esta el bano?" or "lo ciento, no hablos espanol" or more importantly, "una placa y una cervaz por pavor!" and "delicioso!" AND of course "Ah, mi amor! Mi vida! Te quiero!"

To make it even more challenging we chose the Catalonian capital of Barcelona, San Sebastian and Bilbao in the Basque Country with a final stop in Paris, France. We would try to speak Spanish, Catalan, Basque AND French. (Don't worry, I'm really good with picking up languages) Did someone say challenge? Challenge accepted! With the help of Lloyd's Travel, we booked our flights, hotels and apartment rentals.

Posts and photos of our trip to come. Including running reports!

Happy Weekend!

DYN-O-MITE!

I'll be running with a few friends from downtown up to Grouse Mountain and then doing the Grind after. Can't wait! Join us! 8am meet at Georgia and Denman. We'll do a nice slow pace up to Grouse Mountain. Take a break at Starbucks. Meet some more people at the base of the Grind at 10am and head up the Grind.

Shit my husband says: Grouse Grind

Sunset at Grouse Mountain

After finishing the Grouse Grind, husband says,
"Now my co-worker can't bug me about not going to the gym!"
 "Oh? You went to the gym? You did 3 reps of some weights?"
"Oh, that's quaint."
"I just walked up a mountain!"

I think he was pretty happy with his accomplishment. From Couch to Cliff.

Timber wolf at Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife

Things I see on my running journeys: My first trail run

Pacific Spirit Park entrance

Apres my first trail run

I gotta thank Linda for taking me on my first trail run at Pacific Spirit Park. I loved the smell of the sweet, earthy air and the soft and often muddy trails. What a great run! Thanks Linda!

Things I see on my running journeys: Canada Day

Canada run top, check! 

Canada run cap, check!

Red Nike Frees to go with my Canada gear, check!

A giant Canadian beaver, check!

Canadian sled dogs hanging out, check! Ha, just kidding, they're not sled dogs but they are Canadian! Eh!

A run and chocolate chip pancakes

[12:07 PM] W: I'm thinking of doing a 10k on Canada Day in the trails at UBC :)))
[12:08 PM] W: (happy)
[12:31 PM] A: i'm thinking of sleeping in till noon and then eating pancakes with chocolate chips in them

Anyone running Run Canada Day? www.runcanadaday.com