It turned out that Andrés also ran today so we chatted a while before I started my warm up. Just before the start we held a minute of silence in memory of Teresa Farriol a trail runner who passed away recently in another race, Cavalls del Vent.
There was a little confusion about the start signal but when it seemed that we actually could start I immediately joined the front runners since after some 500 meters of concrete road we would enter a narrow trail and I wanted to avoid the crowd there. The first climb has parts of almost flat trail and rather steep climbs and after some 10 minutes I arrived at the top to start the long downhill that took us with some short climbs in between to the first Checkpoint where I passed in 34 minutes. Onto the second checkpoint we ran mostly on wide paths that go up and down a bit and we pass a famous pine tree, el Pi de Can Xandri, just outside St. Cugat.
I arrived at the second Checkpoint in 1h03 and continued running rather fast wherever I could. After a first climb the trail became narrow and winds along through the hills with great views untill we arrived at la Floresta.
We enter the village with a really steep climb where I walked for the first time and afterwards we ran along the edge of the village on a concrete road. I arrived at the third Checkpoint in 1h30. After crossing high above the highway that cuts through Collserola we enter the forest again and after a downhill start the long and from time to time steep climb along a path to Can Balasch and onto Can Pascual two well know farmhouses that are used as waypoints. After a last climb I arrived at the fourth Checkpoint in exactly two hours, still feeling very good, but knowing that the hardest part was still to come. I phoned home to tell my wife I was well on schedule and than started with one of the nicest parts, a narrow channel downhill, which is rather technical.
After that we entered the surroundings of the next village, Vallvidrera, where we continued the downhill before passing the fifth Checkpoint in 2h22. The next part is a going back and forth in the area just below the huge Antenna on top of the Tibidabo ridge and the trails are very steep both up and down here, so I had to walk more often, also because I was starting to become tired, though still feeling ok in general. After passing a surprise Checkpoint I arrived at Checkpoint six in 2h58 and after passing the Can Ribes Viaduct ...
... I started the long downhill slowing down more and more crossing to another part of Collserola passing by a well-known hermitage, Sant Medir, and then started the last long climb. More or less half-way I passed the second surprise checkpoint and continued onto the last Checkpoint where I passed around 3h50. I completed the climb all running at a slow but steady pace and only a steep climb just after Checkpoint seven I walked up. From then on we ran under the full sun and it started to become rather warm. The path is more or less flat and I ran slowly but steadily untill I started the last downhill, where some 4 hours before I climbed up. Just before the finish line I saw my family sitting in the shadow ready to shoot picture with 3 cameras this time. I finished in 4h25m50s, rather tired, but ok and happy with how the race went in general.
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