Live to run or Run to live

Views of the city from Mont Juic

I am currently somewhere in between the two. I used to be a "Live to run".

I am a keen runner. I have run for the past 12 years and am addicted to running. I feel like something is missing if I have not had a daily dose of my addiction - a run. In the first few weeks here I did not enjoy running. Well, to be honest, I did not do much running. That is because living in the centre of the city there are just city blocks - and running in a city is not great. Heavy traffic, pedestrians, stopping at traffic lights every 50 meters do not make for a good run! So when I moved to the flat I currently stay at, I resumed my running.

Some off road running on the mountain

One of the reasons I decided upon this flat was because of my "back garden", which is perfect for running. I have really enjoyed my runs in this area. The mount provides some undulating terrain as well as some interesting attractions to run past. My running group back home would be a little disappointed with me as the distances I run here are so small compared to what I used to do. Here I may only run 5 to 8 kilometres on a single run. I have not run over 10 kilometres in over 5 months!! At home that is just too short to even talk about. There, we would run anything up to 50 kilometres in one single run. How the mighty have fallen...

Running past palaces

I run past palaces, museums, castles, fountains, stadiums, live concerts and other exciting things on my daily runs. All of this is found in the tranquil setting of fleshy green trees and excellent pathways which are found on Mont Juic. I usually run in the evening after dark. It is cooler. I find it ironic that I come back with sopping wet clothing even at night. The humidity is so high (even at night) that I work up such a sweat - without even running at full tempo.Thank goodness there are taps and drinking fountains all over the place for me to get a squirt of water. There is a variation of roads, paths and off road terrain to run on. I have run with a running group a few times but I find their group run time at 8pm is too early for me so I just brave the mountain on my own most days.  The views of the city, the harbour and surrounds are amazing from up there. Mont Juic is the ideal place for running. It is a runner's dream in a huge bustling city like Barcelona.

Some water at last!