01/31/2023

A few days have already gone by since the year started, but many of us are probably still planning resolutions or big goals for the coming months. One prospect or milestone that many people resolve to do is practise more sport and to do it more regularly, in a planned and gradual way. In this sense, setting a date, a race or a competition can always help you to maintain or even increase your motivation to be consistent in achieving this resolution.

And running tends to be one of the easiest and most accessible forms of sport because it does not require a great deal of equipment or very sophisticated facilities. Barcelona is a city that enjoys and offers a wide and varied array of popular races, with La Mercè Race perhaps being one of the best known

In any case, keep careful track of the date because it is usually held a few days before the festival itself. And you’re in luck, because there is still plenty of time until mid-September (the 17th) to set up a good training schedule. To do so, by the way, the Barcelona Town Hall, through the Barcelona Esports Institute (info available on the website: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/esports/ca/esport-lespai-public/correr-circuits-esportius, provides information on a dozen free running tracks distributed throughout the city's different districts.

They can range from distances of 700 metres at the Parc del Clot track to the longest, 3,530 metres long, at the Diagonal-Cervantes track, which covers a very broad stretch of this road that serves as the backbone of mobility in Barcelona. In between, there is a remarkable range of suggested routes, from more urban tracks - like the two mentioned above and other more or less similar ones - to more unique and attractive ones, such as the one located on the Paseo Marítimo by the sea (1,500 metres) or the one around Montjuïc Castle (1,992 metres), which goes around this historic part of the city and continues through the park.

We encourage you to check out these tracks to see if they meet your needs. And we encourage you to practise sport, which is very healthy, beneficial and recommendable in all senses of the word. The next La Mercè Race may be a good reason to put on your running shoes and take to the streets to beat new records this year.