You know those moments when you have it well but you still find a reason to complain? Well, that’s me living in a beautiful city like Barcelona, surrounded by mountains with some of the best trails in Catalunya, with the beach 5 minutes away from home, and still bitching about how technical the trails are.
The truth is that they are. It’s humid, hot, and full of rocks. Rocks that surely have played their part in the injuries I’ve been having. And you know how much I love running in the killer sun and sweating all day long without doing nothing. Not.
I’m really really not a hot weather runner. Give me some rain (as long as it’s not too cold) and some soft ground, some forests and some grassy trails, and I’ll be as happy as a kid.
However, Catalunya is so diverse that in the end you’ll find something for every taste. Yes, even those one hour long climbs I’ve been missing.
After more than a year of running Barcelona’s trails, last weekend brought me one of the most beautiful experiences so far. It wasn’t a race, it was just a training. But it had everything I’d missed: a long steep climb to test the quads, rain, a small ridge at about 2200m altitude, forest running, a valley where all the trees had been put down by an avalanche and even some snow to slide down on.
I enjoyed every step.
I don’t know if you’ll ever do this route or not. But my point is: be open to these moments of pure joy of living, whatever form they might come in. Pain, sweat, rain, burning muscles – things you might not imagine could make anyone happy to be right there and then. Unless they’re trail runners.
The moment when you’re running on your tip toes uphill, the wind and the rain are blowing in your face, inflating your jacket hood, and you’re feeling completely connected to that place and that moment. I loved it.
The route that we did was Rasos de Peguera – Gallina Pelada and back to Rasos de Peguera. You can also find it on my Strava.
Galina Pelada – es Gallina Pelada