A Spanish “Run” by Linsey Santos

There is a lot of new food to try here in Spain. I came to Spain to fully immerse myself in the culture so I have to try all of it, obviously. Also, we can’t leave out drinks. There are endless wines to try and each glass of sangria is a little different, so I also must try all of those. While I am doing more walking here in Sevilla than I was doing at home, I wanted to make sure I was working out here in Spain so I stay in the habit, and so all the bread my host mom serves doesn’t add up too much. As a solution my friends and I began to workout in Maria Luisa park a couple days a week. While in the park we would often see people running, biking, and even a few group exercise classes. After observing these individuals exercising I assumed that Spanish people engage in more physical activity than Americans, on average.

Well, this past weekend I participated in The Color Run with four of my friends. We were excited going into the 5k, as it seemed like a fun event that promoted healthy habits. When we arrived at the start around 8:30am the first thing I noticed was the age of the participants around us. Most seemed to be in high school, probably less than 15% of university age, and less than 5% above university age. In the U.S. the majority of organized run participants are over university age. Now, while I did not expect this to be a competitive event in any way it is called The Color “Run”, so I expected people to be running.

All the participants gathered in a crowd at the starting gate, the announcer counted down from five and everyone took off running. They took off running for about 50 meters. Then with exception of maybe 20 people, the entire crowd began walking. I was so confused. We had gone less than a half kilometer. This “run” was something we all paid to participate in so why were people walking? I had assumed, because of what I had observed in Maria Luisa park, that in general people here were rather active.

After returning home from the race I thought further about the run and my assumptions. When I originally made my assumption about Spanish cultural exercise habits I was in a park. This is probably a location that is very common for exercise. Therefore, basing my assumption of all Spanish people’s exercise habits on the people in Maria Luisa park was not an accurate sample. After reading some research online I found that studies show that approximately 44% of Spanish people do not engage in any form of exercise, while 36% of Americans do not engage in any form of exercise. So, in fact Americans are more likely to be active than Spanish people, contradicting what I originally thought. Although, this does not mean that Americans are healthier than Spaniards overall.


It was interesting to reflect on how quickly I made assumptions about Spanish exercise habits without realizing it. I wonder what other wrong assumptions I have made about the Spanish culture.

Nearly half of Spaniards never do any exercise

1 in 3 Americans Never Exercise: Study