Barcelona Marathon 2026

It’s been nearly a month since I ran the Barcelona marathon, so the details might be a little hazy (good thing I recorded a full podcast about it a day later!).

Cheap plug: listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube

But one thing that is not hazy is the start line of the marathon. There’s something special about the moments just before a marathon starts.

I wasn’t at all nervous the night before. Partially because I knew I was nowhere near a sub-3:30 PB level the year before, and my body wasn’t feeling great. Expectations were low.

From doing Barcelona last year, I knew there wasn’t going to be a big panic in the morning. After breakfast (a few bowls of cereal and much needed coffee to wake up, while the entire AGR crew were buzzing for marathon day around me), a few of us left the hotel at 8:25.

Post breakfast, the third coffee has kicked in

My wave started at 8:50 and I was 1k from the start line.

32,000 people did the Barcelona marathon this year, but, with the size of the streets, it’s very easy to waltz straight up to the start line without the mad queues you experience in Dublin.

That’s not to say there isn’t a buzz at the start line. The opera singers singing “Barcelona!”, bands playing, MC building up the event, they certainly do the start line well.

When the race starts, nothing compares to Dublin for atmosphere for me. But that start line, Barcelona is fantastic… it helps that the sun is out, and the weather is better, too! 11-12 degrees starting.

And the start went exactly to plan… well, more accurately, the way I told people it would start.

I took off at a 5 min pace, the atmosphere getting to me.

It always happens.

The plan was closer to a 5:40 pace to stay under 4 hours. But I’ve crashed and burned before and, like I told others, I’d likely do it again.

Sure, I could start at a 6 min pace, avoid most of that pain and finish whenever… but where’s the fun in that!

I knew I should ease off, but I was conscious of Eric catching me. If he passed me, that would mentally sting. 

I dropped eventually to a 5:25-5:30 pace.

At 1 hour 54 mins, I hit the halfway point… on my watch. 2 hours 6 mins to do another half…

At 1:57, I actually hit the halfway point on the course… 2 hours 3 mins to do another half.

And the body was starting to ache. If there’s something I don’t do in a marathon, it’s a negative split (faster second half of the race than first).

Sub 4 was all but gone.

I knew this a few km earlier when I actually stopped for a chat with Niamh and then sipped on a Paprika energy drink for the next 2-3km, taking a break from the gels.

Chilling with Niamh around 19k in, I was thinking it was a 4:15-4:20 marathon day at this point so, I may as well just enjoy it!

I had drunk way too much water and already needed 3 pit stops because of it.

My race was over, in a sense of time. So I sipped away, ignored the watch and expected the inevitable drop in pace…

21k… maintaining…

22k passed… enjoying the scenery

23k passed… this is ok, but I’m going to drop anytime now

24k passed… maybe the 5 hours 13 mins doing a 50k in Donadea has given me enough in the legs to get through this at a steady enough pace and I won’t be as bad hitting 30 plus km

25km…

“Could you imagine if I did a negative split!” I said to myself as the sun was getting stronger, there was a Hoka corner blaring out music, and I was feeling it! I’ve never felt this good at 25k. A nice downhill is coming up

Fuck it, let’s go for the story and try a negative split. If I crash and burn, at least it would be good podcast material! 

Two thumbs up, we’re feeling good!

Now the race is on…

I picked it up to a 5-minute km pace. Similar to what I did at my marathon peak a year before. Gels every 5km mark. And absolutely buzzing at the thought of a negative split.

While the quiet pockets of crowds were a little bothersome to me earlier in the race (although a lot of people have disagreed with me that they were quiet), I was the one roaring and smiling at them in the second half.

There were patches where the hamstrings felt like they were going to tear or the calf would go again, but that’s all part of a marathon. You push through. I was in that zone where there was no other race.

It was all about hanging on. Maintaining that pace as the kms ticked off.

And at 3 hours 50 mins, I ticked off my first ever negative split crossing the line with as big a feel good feeling as I had when I got under 3:30 the year before.

Finish line feeling… of course, the t-rex hand makes an appearance in the photos!

I'm not sure how many marathons I’ve done. Some of gone really well. Some have crashed and burned. But they all feel good when you cross that finish line. It’s a special feeling after what you’ve put your body through.

And despite what you say to yourself during the race about “never again”, there’s always a feeling after to put yourself through that again!

Post finish line feelings!

Overall, it’s a flat course, with huge crowds and an easy start line, and I would absolutely recommend Barcelona. There’s just something, for me, different about Dublin that makes me love the atmosphere on the course a little more… though Barcelona, for the most part, does their sponsor cheer zones and have the music pumping a little better than Dublin. 

But, wherever you are, nothing beats post marathon pints:

Pints!

Marathon Day is always about the entire day, for me!