Christmas 2005

Fort Smith, AR
Had a great Chirstmas Day with the Haaser Familia. I got some nice vegemite from home and the whole day was just how Christmas should be. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE 

Christmas is here!

Christmas is here. We went and did our Christmas shopping a couple of days ago and the stalls and people were out in numbers. Good spirit around BCN this time of the year and people seem to be in thier normal Spanish style of taking things easy and I can't see the normal rush, rush , rush of other big cities. I leave for USA tomorrow for the Christmas period with Jen and her family. I wish I could be with the Power Famila, but we should be down there in April-May 2006. Lets hope anyway. Merry Christmas to All!

First XC in Spain

9.2km Granollers International XC - 7th - 28:16
A windy 4 lap course through a local neighbourhood park added to a very strange, but high quality XC race in Granollers. I was pretty much 7th the whole way and pushed through well. My training was not good this week due to being sick after the 1/2 marathon. I recovered by limiting the training and relaxing alot. Chema Martinez won the race and finished about 500 mts in front of me. So I still have some improvements to make if I want to run with those leaders. I am starting to train more now over the Chirstmas period, so I hope to see these improvements in January 2006.

Barcelona Fit back on schedule

Looking good in Red
The Barcelona Fit Team resumed normal Saturday morning training with a tidy 14-19km run in their various groups. The fila clothing game in a couple of weeks ago and now everyone loves wearing it in the brisk 3-4 degree temperatures in Sabadell. DiMitchell, on the left in the white hat, is recovering from his first marathon, 3:45 hours, a couple of weeks ago and is looking forward to the next big race in Barcelona on Dec 31st - the Sant Silvestre

1/2 marathon Mataro

Personal Best 1/2 marathon - 3rd 66:37 (14:57,30:28,49:52(10mile)
I didn't feel great coming into this race as I was little tired after Barcelona Fit activities the day before. I ran solid for the first 11km, but then the windy sections along the beach came and slowed me down. I was by myself the whole way, so didn't really enjoy the race. In the end a good time, but I am hoping for 65 early next year if my achilles and ankles hold out!

Our Favourite Mexican in BCN

This is the kitchen of our favourite Mexican restaurante in Barcelona. It is in the village, Gracia, and is nestled in the winding streets and speciality shops. On our last meal there for a long time, possibily ever, we feasted on all our favourite dishes...with a Coke of course! We will miss you Mexican place! 

First group race for Barcelona Fit

Jean Bouin 9.55km - 13th - 29:51
On a cold and wintery day last Sunday the Barcelona Fit crew competed in their first race of the Barcelona Fit training program. The 10km was around the Montjuic area of Barcelona and proved to be an excellent race for the 2000 people that ran it. Barcelona Fit had many runners under the 50 minute mark, with my friend and a coach of the program, Josep Maria Antentas, taking honors in 38:40. You can see more photos of the day here. I ran the professional race a few hours after watching everyone run and came in 13th with 29:51 for the 9.55km course. It was 3 laps of the undulating area of the Montjuic Castle/Museum. All in all we had a fun day and the Barcelona Fit crew is really starting to reap the benefits of group training. BTW, I am the Director of Barcelona Fit and this is the reason I am in Barcelona through until March 26th when the Barcelona Marathon is run. I am organising a 3day/4 night Marathon Tour here in Barcelona and Paris for each of the city marathons and if you want more information then you can email me.

Thanksgiving 2005

Thanksgiving in the U.S is a huge eating-fest and we did it proud as myself, Jen, and our Ludus Tours buddies had any hours of cooking, joking, and eating at the dinner table. Turkey was the main food of the night and as it was 13kg we had ALOT left over. more pics can be found on my Photo-blog link. 

Torino, Italy

Via Roma
This is the 'expensive' street in Torino. I did buy a scarf just after this photo was taken. So that puts me in the 'snobby-euro' bracket. haha.
Running there was less than normal, but we enjoyed our time and got to see some cool sites, museums, and our friends for the, All American, Thanksgiving meal. I ate alot of Turkey, drank alot of beer and overall had a laugh while I was there. More photos to come. 

Montjuic Museum Day

Montjuic Catalan Museum
Jen and I enjoyed a busy day out. A fun museum that we both enjoyed, but we couldn't take photos..Torino, Italy next week! 

BEHOBIA-SAN SEBASTIÁN

20km - 2nd - 63:11 (32:05/31:06)
Ok, so I went up to San Sebastian (on the northern coast and border with France) with my friend Andreu Ballbe from www.championchip.com sharing a 7-hour car ride. I expected top finish around 5th or 6th. I didn't really mind where I finished to be honest, Iwas just looking for a fast race. After a few easy kilometers between 5-10km, I knew I would be in the hunt for a podium finish. I felt good and the course suited my condition. I am still only running about 80km/week, but am looking to improve that to over 100km in the coming weeks. Still only running once a day. My last 10 was the fastest in the field and shows that I am improving. On the 27th Nov. I have a 10km in Barcelona which will be packed with faster runners, but you never know, I might just sneak a Top 10 position. :-) Stay tuned.... 

SUSIE POWER TRAINING

Susie Power has started her training site. It is a work in progress but shows great promise for the future. If you want more information you can email here. 

Barcelona Fit wobbly bridge

The Wobbly Bridge!
This bridge is one of the first things that each Barcelona Fit runner must get over on his/her way to completing the Barcelona Marathon :-)
Seriously though, this bridge really does bounce and sway when we all (about 20 of us) get on there together and run across it. This week the runners go about 9-10 miles in their training and they need a change of scenery. Next week we meet for training at the Montjuic Fountain just by where the actual marathon will actually start. We are hoping that a few more people will sign up during this week as we have our first race together as a team; the Jean Bouin 10km.

5 milles nocturnes de Cerdanyola

5 miles - 4th 25:05
I felt alot better about this run and felt that I am actually getting fit again! Can you believe that? Anyway, I am working steady by running everyday and just trying to keep fit, although when I race I race to win and so I guess this is my hard running for the week. I go to San Sebastian next week for a 20km race where if I can get top 6 then I would have run a blinder! I'll keep you posted.....whoever would be even reading this blog. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading this, because I never get any comments.......

Cursa de la Universidad

This is me with Carlos (centre) and Di (right) of Barcelona Fit. We ran a small University race today just for fun. Both Carlos and Di ran personal bests for the 6km course (22:35 & 21:37 respectively) and were very happy. I came in 2nd in the 3km race with 8:22 on the 2-lap road circuit. I feel the group is becoming a real 'team' now and I look forward to our first 'official' race on Nov.27 at the Jean Bouin 10km in Barcelona. I hope to have our t-shirts and some Fila gear by them also :-)

Manresa 10km - 5th 31:20

Ok, not a great time, but I have improved 1:30mins since I started racing about 6 weeks ago. I am still only doing 60kms a week, but if Jen and I find another apartment close to a forest (which we are looking for every day!) I will definately start t train a little more seriously. I would like to get the 65 barrier for 1/2 marathon as I love running on the roads. The track doesn't have the enthusiasm as the races on the road cicuit. Anyway, loving my running (again) and loving my time in Spain. Jen and I have to get out of the apartment more to see this beautiful city. We are planning a visit to the Picasso Museum tomorrow (monday), but it is a holiday on tuesday here in Barcelona so everything may be closed on monday aswell. Stay cool people.

Barcelona Fit cruises through its 5th week. We are going along smoothly with some exciting seminars coming up on Nutrition & The Psychology of the Marathon. People are used the meeting place, groups, and speed now. As the times changed today, we may have to start meeting earlier in the morning and meeting sometimes in Barcelona...maybe on the beach?

Diagonal Avenue in Barcelona is where i do most of my runs now. This area is about 15 minutes from mi casa and it was taken on a Sunday morning, hence the lack of people around. On any other day you can expect many cars, people, and cyclists. At around 6:30 every evening (except maybe Fridays) you will also come across many runners. 

Barcelona Fit is off and running

 Ok, so this is the Barcelona Fit training group. Not a bad turn out for a new marathon training program here in Barcelona. We have learnt alot since we arrived and if this thing continues we will do many things different next year. I would like to see it spark an interest back into marathon running, but changing the mindset of people is often difficult. We are working on it. We have 19 signups for Barcelona Fit. Madrid Fit is yet to start, but we are looking better this week for it starting in December 2005 for the April '06 Madrid Marathon. 

My first half Marathon

Ok, so I got third and the course may have been a tad short, but I still ran well considering I am only running about 60-70kms/week. I ran solid the first half, which I probably paid for in the final 4kms when the other two moved away. I am running a race most weekends, so I feel I am getting in shape quickly. The 10-21km per week get my strength up well and I can hold a solid 3:10-3:20/km pace.

La Pedrera

Jen and I invested in two 17euro 'Artickets' and so we decided to go to the La Pedrera on the Passeig De Gracia. We have walked by it so many times and wondered what people were so interested in, so we took a peek. Gaudi sure knew what he was on about. The designs in this building, now more of an office building I think, was just amazing. Go to my Photo Blog for the pics.
Barcelona Fit is still moving along and we have our 3rd week this Saturday. Should be good if a few new runners turn up to crack that 20 people barrier.
My running is clicking along, but I still only run about 80kms per week.

Now we get ready for Madrid Fit 2006

Ok, so now Barcelona Fit has started,
see pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikegregpower/ it is clearly time to change our minds and think of Madrid. It is a good flight away (45-60 mins I think)so getting down there when we have things to do and people to meet is the key. I really hope we get to do it as we had a great time doing Barcelona Fit.
Keep you posted amigos.

Oktoberfest is all over

Jen and I went to Oktoberfest and had a blast. We left on Wednesday(21/9) and came back Saturday(24/9). We had a blast with the LUDUS crew and drunk some very large 1 liter beers. We tooks some good pictures and it was amazing how many people convergered on Munich for this once a year festival. Jen and I had some travel worries on the way back (we flew out of Stuttgart), but with some swift running and a bit of luck with our plane being delayed by 45 minutes we made it on the flight. You see I thought we were catching the 10:35 plane, but infact it was the 10:05 plane! Anywho, we made it and relaxed on the 2 hours flight back to BCN.

Barcelona

Barcelona
Originally uploaded by mikegregpower.

Just a little view of some rare grass in BCN. It is getting close to the end of summer in Spain, so had to snap this before the rain set in.

Let the Games Begin!

Ok, so the time is nearly here for this thing to kick off. We have had some luck of late with getting FILA as a sponsor of apparel, so we should clear that up next week which will be a relief. Now only a few other things to tie up before October 1st. Madrid Fit is my next aim to get some things going.
Jen and I are off to Oktoberfest with the LUDUS (www.ludustours.com) group this week. We meet up with Adam, Jessica, Salma, and some others. Should be a blast for 3 days. This week we had a friend of Adam & Jessica in BCN, Anders. He's a great bloke from Denmark (now lives in Zurich) and we had fun in some nice bars that Jen & I hadn't found and the Barca Casino.

All quiet in Barcelona

Barcelona has gone quiet as everyone has gone off to a holiday place for a rest. The city is no where near as busy and most of the shops won't open until the end of the month. The World Athletic Champs are on and I either listen through the iaaf.com website, or through the local english pub at the end of the road. We are going down to the beach soon to play some beach volleyball.
Talk soon.

Having fun in BCN

Ok, so my mate Matty is in town and we got around abit the other day to Tarragona, a town about 60mins train ride south of Barca. Some great Roman ruins as it was a major city in the ripe old days of Roman dominance. To the right you can see Matty and I before we jumped on the train. We are outside Gaudi's house on Passeig de Gracia; a very popular place for the tourists and their cameras....us being one :-)
Below you will see why the Romans took Tarragona to be a stronghold. They could dominate the seas with the great views and perfect positioning on the Mediterranean. BarcelonaFit.com is nearly up and running, well the English version.
Cheers and whoever reads this...dont you have better things to do??? hahaha

Great Site

Back into training in BCN

Hi all, sorry i haven't writen in awhile just a little out of sorts being in the big city and trying to get things sorted before everyone heads out to their holiday destinations. You can see our street that we live on; it's sometimes noisy, sometimes quiet (sundays!) but we love the neighbourhood (Gracia). We are trying to learn as much Espanol as possible and move up to 4hrs/day tomorrow, so learning should come quicker....well hopefully.
I am back into training for the marathon (Barcelona Marathon) to coincide with BarcelonaFit. Hopefully I can crack 2:30.
We have got the start date for BarcelonaFit set for October 1st, 2005 for 25 weeks of training before the March 26 race. We hope it will all work out for us and we are trying our best.
I will write more soon and hopefully more consistantly from now on.

We are busy here at ESPANAFIT

ok, so the business has started and now we are getting the website up, flyers done, business cards finalised and trying to narrow down local sponser. Our Espanol is getting better, but nothing exceptional. We are flat chat with emails and everything...busy, busy, busy. Daniel and Jen Lincoln are here celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary, so this week has been great catching up with them, although today Dan is having a bad bout of food poisioning. Off to the Tour de France tomorrow for saturday's State 14. Should be fun camping on the side of the 2001 metre mountain!

Everything going well in Barca

Everything is going well here in beautiful Barca. We have had a relaxing weekend and ready to push through more meetings and positive ideas this week. Hoping to solidify some coaches this week and also a track that we can call 'home' for the program. Learning the city bit by bit. Jen was a little sick today, but rested up well and we had a little walk around el barrio de Gracia tonight. We lazed on the beach at Premia de Mar yesterday. Good to get out of the city for the day. Hoping to get to Montserrat this week.

Here in Barcelona.

Ok, so both Jen and I made it to Barca. After a week stay in our small apartment we managed to come across a good one (photos soon) in only the first day of looking. So we were please. At 700Euros/month we were happy to find one in our budget .......yeah I know, this is about 1400 aussie per month! So pretty pricey around BCN.
We have been walking alot and looking around the city. It is big, busy and hot. I regards to BarcelonaFit, we are making inroads. After a hiccup a couple of days ago when we thought the BCN marathon was put back to October 2006 and nothing before, we we looking down the barrel of moving our sorry butts to Madrid. Something we didn't want to do. After getting a train ticket (the trip would last all night), we got news that there are actually 2 marathons in 2006. On in March and another in October. So we are pleased and may even work both if we are doing alright. We are struggling in understanding the Espanol (and Catalyn around these parts), but we are getting into classes this week.
Write more soon.

As close as I can get to a cat.....this is Sabre 

Out at STIR with a few mates....Ryan Botha (L) and Marc Rodriques (R). 

Ok, off to the White River we go.

Jen and I are heading 3 hours East of Fayetteville today to get to the White River. It is a long trip for such a short amount of time we are going to be there and we hope it is worth it. I am just running about 10 miles/week for a couple of weeks, then will hopefully get the urge to get back into it while in Barcelona. Photos of camping are coming....

We are waiting to head off....

Ok, so the latest is that we are trying to get everything organized before we get on the plane to head to Barcelona. The date is just about set for travel on the 21st June. Both Jen and I are pretty excited about it all and after reading alot of the details about the USAFit program we are more confident about what we are doing. We are in Fort Smith, AR, staying with Jen's parent until we leave. We're trying to stay fit and do some exercise each day, but some days slip by!!! arh well, we are trying..... The sun is out most days, so we catch up on the sun-baking skills at least. All is well and we are working hard to get to Spain with everything we need.....

Boulder Boulder 2005. What a hard race! I felt I let the Aussie team (Andrew Letherby & Kim Gillard) down. I hope I can redeam myself next year....if I am invited back! Great experience at racing at the ass-kicking altitude of Boulder, Colorado.