Another soldier joins the rank and file...

[Lucía]

New recruit Lucía reporting for duty at Rebellion HQ. Armed and ready to fight the dark forces of obesity, muscle weakness, and shortness of breath. I am prepared to lay down my baguette in defense of truth, justice and stable blood sugar.

Main weaponry:

1 x pair running shoes

2 x running singlets and shorts

1 x iPod nano with Nike+ pedometer attachment

1 x pair football boots

1 x football jersey

Level: I am a level 2 Scout with a quite a few successful 5 and 10K missions completed. I am currently in training to complete a half-marathon mission in mid-December. I belong to a seven member Special Ops Team (Football Division) who complete missions on Wednesday nights during the winter season.

Strengths: Tenacity and passion for the cause.

Weaknesses: Lack of muscle strength/power and flexibility. This is why I turn to you for help, rebels.

Battle Philosophy: Above all, have fun. Main objective: Consistency. "We are what we repeatedly do." - Aristotle

Refueling Philosophy: Stolen from Michael Pollan - "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants". Slowly refining this to work within Slow-Carb confines.

Nerd credentials: Studied Pure Mathematics and IT at university (among other things). Hardcore Isaac Asimov fan. I love and understand almost all Gary Larson cartoons.

Shameful secret: I only watched the original Star Wars movies in 2002, and the Matrix trilogy last year. Don't lynch me.

Viva la resistencia!

[Antiope]

Welcome! I'm loving your enthusiasm, and I absolutely wish I had someone to play football with. It's been years and it's quite possibly my favorite cardio.

[CapN_Tommy_Sunshine]

Welcome to the Rebellion!

[bigm141414]

Welcome, Lucia. You've logged some impressive miles so far. How goes the training? How fast are you looking to complete the half marathon.

Off topic, since you live in Barcelona, I am travelling there in November for the first time. Any tips from a local on where to go what to do and what to see?

[Lucía]

Hey BigM! Funny, your name always makes me think of flavoured milk - Big M was (and still is I guess) the bee's knees in flavoured milk when I was growing up in Oz:

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67mRIakTEg

Are you Aussie? But I digress...

Thanks for the encouragement! It's my first half and I have no idea what is going to happen, but based on my last 10K time (1:07) I am thinking to run it in 2:15 ish. I have no idea if it works linearly like that, but since I have little else to go on, that is what I'm shooting for. Of course, when I ran that 10K I hadn't trained nearly as much as I will have for this half (or basically at all, *ahem*), so my stretch goal is two hours. I'll be happy as long as I cross the finish line and don't die. I run for fun, not for times.

The training is going spectacularly, to be honest. I have never trained so diligently before. Though sometimes I'm tired and don't feel like it or the stars aren't aligned or whatever, I haven't skipped a run yet (six weeks in, 17 weeks to go). Nothing like a freakin' scary race to make you prepare like hell.

Barcelona. Big topic. First of all, let me tell you, there is not much in the way of "tourist sights". This is not Paris and there is no Tour Eiffel or Louvre. The must-sees in BCN are the Sagrada Familia cathedral (Steve has it on his Epic Quest I see) and the other Gaudí buildings like La Pedrera and Casa Batlló. All of these are smack bang in the city centre and easy to get to by metro. May I add they are freakin' awesome. Gaudí was a genius.

Other than that the big tourist draw is the Ramblas. There are many ramblas in Barcelona, the name comes from the paths made by rainwater running out to sea, which have now been turned into wide pedestrian streets. The most famous ones are called "Canaletes" and start from Plaza Catalunya. If someone says "The Ramblas" and doesn't specify, they mean here.

Probably you have read all that in your guidebook already, as these are the main draws of the city. In November most of the summer hordes will be gone, but the weather should still be pleasant (light jacket weather). So, stuff I like in Barcelona:

Barcelona is an amazing place for food and drink. Tapas are de rigueur and the best place to eat them is La Esquinica: Passeig de Fabra i Puig, 296 (Barcelona). They don't reserve tables so get there early (7:00-07:30PM) if you don't like queues. There's a line outside six days a week (closed on Mondays). For cava, there is a small bar called La Xampanyeria: Carrer de la Reina Cristina 7, Barcelona. There is no sign outside but you can find it because it is always full of people (at least in the afternoons, not sure during the day). And when I say full, I mean imagine a can of sardines. They sell their own cava by the bottle (about €3 a bottle if I remember correctly) and charcuterie sandwiches, nothing else. Dirt cheap for the quality. Fight your way to the bar and shout to be heard. Both these places are popular with locals, and the Xampanyeria with tourists as well as it is right near the beach.

For nightlife, the best barris (suburbs) are Gràcia and El Gòtico. Just wander in and out of the many many many bars. There is a mini-rambla just next to the Santa María del Mar church (freakin' beautiful old Gothic church) which is called Passeig del Born. This is a very hip (and slightly more expensive) concentration of bars and restaurants.

Another fantastic place to eat and wander is the Mercat de Sant Josep (more commonly known as La Boquería). It's the biggest food market in Barcelona and famous because you can get practically any ethnic food here. Very useful for me as I love to cook cuisines from around the world and this is the only place I can find lemongrass, tamarind, and other weird things (the Spanish are very traditional eaters, probably one reason that they are not fat as a rule). It's fun just to look around as well and it's on the Ramblas so you will walk past it for sure.

Okay. So that covers my favourite topic (food) and now onto other stuff. Outdoors there is plenty plenty to do. Down by the beach there is a lovely boardwalk which is about 5K long where you can walk along the beach. It's a bit like Santa Monica (only like, totally not) but there's always runners, skaters, rollerbladers, and pedestrians here. This is where I run! They have exercise equipment set up right on the beach for you to work out, too. If it's too cold for the beach you can head to the mountains. There is a lovely walk in Collserola which is called La Carretera de les Aigües which is not too taxing and affords lovely views of Barcelona. If you want you can go a little further out to Montserrat which is a lovely mountain with a monastery on top. I haven't been there in years but I do remember enjoying it immensely.

My favourite favourite favourite thing in Catalunya is not actually in Barcelona, so you may not want to include it in your itinerary. But, if you have a couple of days lying around you don't know what to do with, my recommendation is hire a car and head out to Port Lligat (next to Roses) where Dalí's house is. Not the museum, which is in Figueres and is also worth a look (you can get there by train) but the actual house he lived in. It is by far and away the most surreal thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It's like walking through somebody's subconscious. Words cannot explain. You have to book the visit in advance though, so watch out.

Barcelona is a great city to just wander around in. From the high street stores on Passeig de Gràcia to the little windy narrow streets of the Gòtico, the best advice I can give you is go to the city centre, and start walking. Oh, and if people are speaking to you and it sounds like Spanish but you can't understand a damn word, it's because they are speaking in Catalan. It's also an official language in Catalunya and the native language of the locals.

I just realised I wrote a bleeding essay and still have not managed to convey the utter awesomeness that is Barcelona. If you have anything specific you like to do when you visit new places (for example, I like to visit cemetaries) let me know and I can fill you in on the details. Are you a museum person? Do you like the opera? Do you want to try traditional Catalan sports or go to the Camp Nou (been on my list of things to do forever)? If you want, PM me the week before you come, and let's see if we can meet up for a canya (small beer), some tapitas and we can hash out the rest of your plans!