In 2010 we opened a small company on the Costa Brava called Running Costa Brava. It became Run The World Adventures, and in 2026 it became NomaTrails. Sixteen years, three names, five places we run, one family. This is the history of how it happened — told by us, Pablo and Cristina, and checked against the photographs.
If you ran with us under one of the old names: we are the same two people, in the same house in Girona.
Before 2010: a desk job and a doctor’s warning
Pablo had been a professional triathlete. Then, like a lot of people, he sat down — years of long days in front of a computer, working in IT. In 2007 a herniated disc ended in surgery, and the surgeon told him he would never run again. He didn’t, for three years. In 2008 the economic crisis took the IT job too. We had two boys, and twins on the way.
Pablo has told that part himself, in more detail than we will here: what you do after being told you will never run again, and how trail running became his job. The short version is that he came home one day and said he needed to be outside. Cristina said yes. She tells it better than anyone:
2010: Running Costa Brava, and a line from Girona to the sea
He bought a pair of running shoes in Girona and tried a few minutes a day. No pain. Then a few more. Day by day he ran every path he could reach between Girona and the French border, until he had linked one continuous line on foot from Girona to Cadaqués — old paths between medieval villages, the Camí de Ronda along the cliffs, and the climb to the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes at the end.
In 2010, with a website that was still half built, we opened the doors as Running Costa Brava. That line is still, more or less, the week our runners do today: seven days, 12 to 20 km a day, from Girona to the sea.
The one rule that decided every destination
People ask us why we don’t add more places. The answer is a rule we set at the start and have never broken. In Pablo’s words:
“We only run places where we have a deep relationship — this is my grandma, this is the school where my kids went. Otherwise it will be fake.”
Running, for us, is transport, not training: “a way to discover, as an exploration, like our ancestors did in the past.” If you run from village to village, you arrive the way people used to arrive — as a guest, not a tourist. But you can only offer that where you actually belong. So every place we run was a relationship before it was a trip. (The longer version of that idea is in why we run.)
How the map grew, one relationship at a time
Costa Rica — where we met
Costa Rica is where the two of us met, before we moved to Catalonia. Pablo’s mother still coordinates for us on the ground. The jungle route from Cerro de la Muerte down to the Pacific was called impossible; it took years of talking to the people who live along it before it could be run at all. Today it is the Jungle Expedition, our hardest week, guided with local Costa Rican trail guides.
Morocco — a family holiday and a chance meeting
Around 2014 we took the family to Morocco on holiday, and Pablo met a guide named Abdu Oukioud. They met by chance, on a day when Abdu needed a hand, and Pablo gave it. Later the two of them scouted a line from the High Atlas to the Sahara together. The first group ran it in November 2017. In 2018 Abdu was named one of the ten best guides in the world at the Wanderlust World Guide Awards. He is not our “local guide”; he is the co-founder of Atlas to Sahara.
Sicily — because of a conversation about food
Pasquale Mangione, an International Mountain Leader, told Pablo that Sicily is where you eat best in Italy. He was right, and the west coast of Sicily became a week of cliffs, coves nobody drives to, and long tables — built with Pasquale.
The Pyrenees — the mountains we live under
Pyrenees to the Mediterranean is the line that joins the mountains on our horizon to the sea on our doorstep: over the Canigó, across a border on foot, down to a swim. It is guided with Jordi Gerones, a UIAGM mountain guide.
Some places came and went. We ran in Iceland for a while, and we no longer do — when a place stops being a relationship, it stops being a trip.
Three names, one family
When the map grew beyond Catalonia, the name grew with it: Running Costa Brava became Run The World Adventures, and many of our runners still call themselves the RTWA Tribe. In 2026 we became NomaTrails. The people, the routes and the rule did not change. Only the sign on the door did.
It is a family business in the literal sense. Cristina studied and worked in tourism, and she is the reason any of it works: she plans the hotels, the dinners and the transfers, and answers every email herself. One of our runners, Kristene Jordan, called her “the unsung hero who plans accommodations, arranges dinners, and appears as course support throughout the runs.” Our four boys grew up on these trails — one of them has written about growing up with the company — and one of them now guides the Costa Brava himself. The boy who used to run behind his father is now the one the group waits for at the top.
NomaTrails history at a glance
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Back surgery; Pablo is told he will never run again |
| 2008 | The economic crisis ends his IT job |
| 2010 | Running Costa Brava opens, on the line Pablo linked from Girona to Cadaqués |
| c. 2014 | A family holiday in Morocco; Pablo meets Abdu Oukioud |
| 2017 | First Atlas to Sahara crossing (November) |
| 2018 | Abdu named a Wanderlust World Guide Awards top-ten guide |
| 2026 | Run The World Adventures becomes NomaTrails |
| 2027 | Five destinations: Costa Brava, Morocco, Sicily, the Pyrenees and Costa Rica |
Questions people ask us about the company
Is NomaTrails the same company as Run The World Adventures and Running Costa Brava?
Yes. Running Costa Brava (2010) became Run The World Adventures, which became NomaTrails in 2026. Same founders, same guides, same routes.
Who founded NomaTrails?
Pablo Rodríguez, a former professional triathlete, and Cristina, who studied and worked in tourism. They live in Girona and still guide the Costa Brava week themselves.
When did NomaTrails start?
In 2010, on the Costa Brava, as Running Costa Brava — which makes 2026 our sixteenth year.
Sixteen years later
Hundreds of runners from all over the world have now run with us, and many of them came back for a second place, and a third. We are rated ★5.0 from 88 reviews across Google, Facebook and TripAdvisor. The morning briefing is still drawn by hand. And the surgeon was wrong.
If you would like to run the line that started all of this, the 2027 Costa Brava running holiday has four weeks: 3–10 April, 19–25 April (already fully booked), 22–28 May and 11–17 September. Every other departure is on the 2027 calendar, and all five trips are on our running tours page. Or just write to us and tell us where you are with your running — we will tell you honestly whether it’s for you.
Pablo and Cristina
