Study Abroad Stories: Running a Half Marathon in Spain
Hello, my name is Claire Sites. I studied abroad in Barcelona with ASA during the second semester of my junior year of college in 2018.
I had the goal of running a 21 kilometer race (half marathon) for my 21st birthday and I just happened to be in Spain for it. I scoured the internet for races in Spain and Europe in general. I found one for the exact day of my birthday in Granollers, Spain. It was about an hour train ride north from where I was staying in Barcelona near the Sagrada Familia.
The morning of the race it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit and drizzling rain. I am from Minnesota and to me, 45 meant it was warm and I did not need anything besides the lightest of light rain jackets. In hindsight, that was my first mistake.
My second mistake was not bringing any form of identification.
My third mistake, get this, I didn't even bring my wallet. You might be thinking wow you are just not a smart human, Claire, but if you have run races you know that the least amount of items you can bring is the most optimal. But yeah, It was not very intelligent. As they say, hindsight is 20/20… Oh well!
Carrying on, I ran the race, it was a beautiful course and I was feeling GREAT! I was thinking I might even PR! Until the last kilometer when my stomach absolutely started to turn, which was not pleasant or conducive of a personal best time… I did end up finishing the race, very painfully.
I dragged myself from porta potty to porta potty until I realized I was freezing AND quite possibly dying. I tried to get on the train, but I simply could not be on a train sans bathroom for over an hour. I found the one restaurant open (oh, forgot to mention, it was a Sunday and nothing is open on Sundays in most remote towns in Spain, lovely)!
The restaurant I located was a Chinese restaurant where they did not speak Spanish or English. My options were Catalan or Mandarin, both of which I could not even attempt to think I could speak. I snuck my way to the bathroom and laid my head on the ground (ew) and contacted the people in my life informing them that I would be spending the last night of my life on the floor of a bathroom in a Chinese restaurant.
One of my roommates in Barcelona reached out to our Program Manager, Marta, my saving angel. She coordinated an ambulance to pick me up, and got on the train to meet me at the hospital.
The ambulance got to the restaurant, found me curled up in the bathroom and took me to the hospital. I had no form of identification which made everything absolutely so much more difficult, but at least I was on the way to getting better. After being stripped naked in the middle of at least 20 people, the doctors figured out that I had contracted some type of stomach virus and had hypothermia. Not a fun combination; I do not recommend it!
Anyways, Marta arrived, helped me figure out my insurance even without identification, bought me dinner, and, most importantly, hugged me for a long time. Eventually we made it back to Barcelona and I remained sick for a few days, but safe and not dead on the floor of a random bathroom.
I learned many lessons on February 4th 2018 that I think back to almost every day. Dress smart, bring identification and money, and have amazing people in your life if you expect to survive a half marathon in a remote town in a foreign country by yourself.
I love Marta and am so grateful for her and my time in Barcelona. I get a good laugh out of this story and I hope you do too…especially knowing I am alive and have continued to run races and travel to this day! :)
https://www.halfmarathonbarcelona.com/
Thanks for sharing, Claire!