CorreBarri BCN 2012 - 10k

Life is full of surprises!!! Today I took home a trophy for being the fastest runner of the neighbourhood Gracia of Barcelona in a run called CorreBarri.

After the mountain marathon of last week I took two days of complete rest and then had good tempo run in the rain last thursday, which was maybe very short before the race, but I felt like doing so and enjoyed being out in the rain on the Carretera de les Aigües and go for it. Since last sunday my right achilles tendon needed frequent icing, eventhough I could run normally without pain, but still I was in doubt whether it could withstand a full 10k at racing speed. After a few rainy days today it was more or less sunny and the run started right next to the beach at Barceloneta, so the warm up was fantastic!

Just before 9h30 I went to the start area to find out that this time they separated the runners in startboxes and I could start in box 1 with very few runners, which was great, since there would be a lot less chaos in the first meters. The start was a funny one, counting down irregularly from 10 to GO! waiting for the music that played to reach a point of climax and a lot of beat afterwards.

 

The first meters where indeed quite ok, and soon we stretched out and had plenty of room to run. With the front runners still well in sight I passed the first kilometer in 3m40. A much better pace than the last race, not too quick not too slow.

 

 I maintained the same pace onto kilometer 2 passing in 7m15 and slowed down slightly in the 3rd kilometer passing in 11m02, partly because this part of the race has more turns. The fourth kilometer is more or less straight again and I passed that in 14m54. The fifth was also straight eventhough I expected the 5k timepoint a bit earlier. During this stretch I passed the only "Gracia" runner I had in front from the start and unless there was a runner without his CorreBarri T-shirt on I seemed to be the first. After a quick left turn and right turn I reached the half way point in 18m48 and was starting to feel a bit more tired, but much better than the last 10k a few weeks ago. The 6k marker is in the middle of Parc Ciutadella, a very irregular dirt path made running a bit uncomfortable and I passed in 22m44 here. Somewhere passing through the park one of the spectators shouts out "Look! The first runner from Gracia!", which was encouraging and surprising too. Going out of the park I braced myself and picked up pace again to stay below 4 minutes per kilometer. I passed kilometer 7 in 26m40 and right after there was a short climb up, but the tiredness of kilometers 6 and 7 was fading and the long straight leading to kilometer eight I felt comfortable and passed in 30m36. Running below 38 minutes was out of reach still, but recovering from the mountain marathon I was really happy about how I felt the last kilometers and pushed on to pass kilometer 9 in 34m30 and then we turned upon to the beach boulevard again and after a sharp turn right I saw the red arch of the finish line and pushed out a reasonable sprint. Just before the finish line, still much to my surprise, the speaker congratulates me for being the first runner of the Barcelona neighbourhood called Gracia. I finish in 38m17 which was beginning to be a good time. All in all a very regular run today with a surprise ending taking home a little cup and two more bags of goodies. Thanks to the organization of CorreBarri BCN! For many runners, including me,  it was great fun to be in the spotlights even with "slower" times than the winners. Congratulations to all and see you next year!

The best home-coming ever :)...