natjtan In the last year before I left Barcelona for France, I avoided shopping in the centre on Saturdays. It got too busy for me with all the fun got taken out of shopping. A girl’s gotta have fun shopping. Too many people pushing and shoving and long changing room queues doesn’t do much for the soul.
This Saturday we avoided the city centre and headed to the the shopping mall a 5 minute walk down the road, thinking it would be less busy than the centre. Err, it was busy, too busy! All the old feelings of feeling deflated, shoved around came back. For now I’m going with my shopping in the centre during the week and only if working or really have to go in Saturday policy. Then again, the centre might be quieter now the shopping malls are busier. I should just once, break my Saturday no shopping in Barcelona policy to see if this is still true. It can’t be anymore crowded than the mall was!
7km rainy run.
250m countdowns or ups depending on whether your running up stream or down stream. I’ll use them for future interval runs.
Street art along the way.
Shameless post run in the rain lift selfie. 
Rainy day Friday, but I have a thing for running in the rain. I was craving some greenery and bird song, so I hit the path along rio Besos. Only hard core runners and cyclists out. I find there’s something exhilarating running in the rain. Not exhilarating is getting getting caught out walking in a down pour. I thought the clouds had disappeared in the afternoon and forgot how impressive Barcelona’s rain episodes can be. We got drenched coming out the Metro with only one small umbrella and walking under the balconies for cover. As quickly as these storms come, they disappear with rainbows.
Sunday we ran along the beaches to corporate a few hills with the slopes down the to beaches. Rio Besos is a great route if you like running just on the flat. I get bored easily without a change in the terrain or elevation (You can cycle its path up to near the mountains and I’m looking forward to that ride, however 10km, 12km max, is my max and the route is still flat at the turn around point) and my legs were craving off the flat. It was the first warm day since we’ve been here and it was packed with other runners, cyclists, sun worshippers and people watchers. It ended up being a tactical 10km and I’m happy to say I haven’t lost my touch dodging people running or cycling.
Sunday afternoon we finally got to go to the beach. Thanks to the weather, I’ve been patiently waiting to fall sound asleep in that, I was out of it, wake up refreshed way you only do at the beach. Those beach sleeps can get addictive!
Do you have no go at the weekend areas? Are you an all weather runner?
