Barcelona marathon 6/3/11

RacoonQueen

I love how most are saying they want to do Barcelona again. Told yee it was a great race.


RacoonQueen. Always right. :cool:

christeb

4 stars (good)

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I love how most are saying they want to do Barcelona again. Told yee it was a great race.


RacoonQueen. Always right. :cool:

Amazing race but I don't think I'd do it again. These big city marathons should be different and only done once. Maybe if the race didn't go well for me I'd feel different. But Barca and I are done, at least from a running perspective :cool:

Oisin11178

4 stars (good)

christeb wrote: »

Amazing race but I don't think I'd do it again. These big city marathons should be different and only done once. Maybe if the race didn't go well for me I'd feel different. But Barca and I are done, at least from a running perspective :cool:

Yeah good post mate, thre are so many around spring time that need to be done. Paris, rome milan and rotterdam to name just 4. Great place and i will go back again but new horizons for me also next year:D

sarsfieldsrock

4 stars (good)

Its on 25th March next year and that is a bit too close to Connemara unless I decide to do the half in Conn.
I will probably go back again next year just to run a better race there.
Also its a great city to visit anyway.

Jimh

3 stars (average)

I've just finished:D well not really but I am just home after a few days in France - I faded badly after the 2/3rd distance but I got there in the end. No PB - 16 min behind Dublin time but training had not gone well and I had to take a 1 mile walk break at the 35k mark - But it was good craic in the George Payne particularly with liverpool winning:)
I think it will be a different venue for me next spring

RacoonQueen

Jimh wrote: »

I've just finished:D well not really but I am just home after a few days in France - I faded badly after the 2/3rd distance but I got there in the end. No PB - 16 min behind Dublin time but training had not gone well and I had to take a 1 mile walk break at the 35k mark - But it was good craic in the George Payne particularly with liverpool winning:)
I think it will be a different venue for me next spring

Nice to hear a fine Yorkshire accent in the George Payne, made me feel more at home.


*cough* 5-2 *cough* :pac:

menoscemo

4 stars (good)

Looking at the elevation profile, it has about 50% more rises than Dublin (about 230m as opposed to 160m in Dublin). No major hills in Barca, just a fair few long drags. While it's a fast course, I'd say there are faster...

Aid stations were the best I ever saw. And the crowds were excellent.

My only complaint would be there were a lot of people on the course, mostly people running across the road at various points- I saw a fair few near crashes. There were also a few bikes on the course. I saw one at 5 miles and the runners went mad telling him to get off the course. One of the runners threw an open bottle of water at him though and he got the message. I then saw another round the 20 mile mark, he was weaving in the middle of the road. I had a bottle of powerade in my time and was running alongside him so I squirted half the bottle at his face and chased him off the course :pac: I got a fair few shouts of encouragement from the runners so that was one of my highlights.

another world

This was my first marathon and a very enjoyable one at that. I hadn't planned on running at all (2 months of not running beforehand due to injury :eek:) but decided to do the first 12k with my wife (since I'd paid for it) to bring me back to Placa Espanya. I felt good when I got there, really good actually so I kept going convincing myself I'd stop in the next 5k marker until I eventually realised I was gone too far in to stop now.

As expected, I well and truly hit the wall around the 30k mark (it would have been later if the pacers hadn't done the 20 to 30k stretch faster than normal :mad:). I've missed that psychological battle of whether to just take a little breather or keep going. I ran the whole thing with my wife and she was feeling the same at that point but we ran the whole thing and even made a little sprint (well, that's what it felt like!) to get under the 4hrs but we missed it.

Excellent marathon I have to say and would recommend it to anyone. A few things did annoy me however:

- The bag they gave at the exhibition was full of advertisements and pretty much nothing else. The t-shirt is nice although.

- the first 12k had a lot of cones in the middle () of the road for some reason and I saw a few people fall because of them.

- In some parts the cars were way to close for comfort and if that's not sorted at some point there will be an accident.

- the pacers

Other than that, it was a great marathon in a great city and the feeling of going up the finishing stretch looking at the fountains in front of you is excellent and one to remember.

rainbow kirby

4 stars (good)

another world wrote: »

(it would have been later if the pacers hadn't done the 20 to 30k stretch faster than normal :mad:).

That would explain a lot - couldn't see the 4 hour pacers anywhere when I went through half in just outside 1:58, but saw that they were about ~25-30m behind me in one of my videos very close to the end.

MaroonTam

cunavalos wrote: »

00:23:30 5km
00:23:14 10km
00:23:22 15km
00:23:50 20km
00:22:51 25km
00:23:18 30km
00:23:46 35km
00:24:09 40km
00:10:59 42.2km

1st half 1.38.58
2nd half 1.39.58

That is phenomenal pacing cunavalos, especially considering your "unconventional" training and race day prep!

christeb

4 stars (good)

The pacers were useless, you couldn't see them start so weren't sure what your chip time in relation to theirs. And I'm sure the 3:15 guys never passed me. Maybe they did, I wasn't paying that much attention...

Dublin pacers ROCK in comparision!

Also, my race report

Oisin11178

4 stars (good)

christeb wrote: »

The pacers were useless, you couldn't see them start so weren't sure what your chip time in relation to theirs. And I'm sure the 3:15 guys never passed me. Maybe they did, I wasn't paying that much attention...

Dublin pacers ROCK in comparision!

Also, my race report

3.15 pacers did 4 or 5 sub 7 miles. We didnt pace them till about 10 miles. The came in spot on so huge positive split for them. Very very bad.

RayCun

Someone needs to get on to the Barcelona race directors, offer the Boardsie services

PaddyOisin

4 stars (good)

This was my first marathon and I did 3:59:05. I owe the time to the 4-hour pacers. There were five of them and I stuck to them like a leech! At one stage, after about 20 miles, I started to flag and got over it by chasing them down until I caught up again.

All in all, a great day and a great city

Macanri

christeb wrote: »

The pacers were useless, you couldn't see them start so weren't sure what your chip time in relation to theirs.
Dublin pacers ROCK in comparision!

+1 The Boardsie Pacers do a great job - It's only when you see it done wrong/badly that you appreciate what it is to see it done good and right.

Oisin11178

4 stars (good)

Macanri wrote: »

+1 The Boardsie Pacers do a great job - It's only when you see it done wrong/badly that you appreciate what it is to see it done good and right.

There are 2 aspects of a good pacing job, solid steady even pacing and a bit of banter to keep the troops moral high. I saw neither in the couple of km it took me to get past the 3.15 pacers. There were 6 of them as well. I thought 4 in Dublin was alot. THe only negitive aspect to a great marathon.

richy316

Hey anyone doing or has finished the barcelona marathon? This will be my first marathon and going to try get as close to 3hrs as possible

RayCun

here's last year's thread