9th – Leaving Lisbon

Having a flight at noon it still gave me time for breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the airport. Everything went smooth; the metro was a direct connection to the airport, check-in and security was uneventful and had a moment kicking back in the lounge before boarding and flying home.

Lisbon is such a nice city; there is the obvious new and modern buildings, but reaching the city center you have these beautiful old buildings. While some of them look run down the large majority seem well maintained and you get some great views walking the streets. While the weather was nice, it might have been a bit too nice, especially on race day. I hope to not run in that kind of heat again. It was fun to try, but I won’t be sad if I don’t get to do that again. In any case, second of my 5 Superhalfs runs was hereby done.

Coming home, seeing the bridge/tunnel between Denmark and Sweden, with Denmark in the top part of the photo.

Full album can be found here.

8th – Lisbon half marathon

When the alarm went off I got out of bed, got dressed, and left for the metro & train to get to the starting area.

Hah. Who am I kidding?

When the alarm went off at 0730 I snoozed it a couple of times before I grumbling trotted to the bathroom before getting dressed and leaving for the metro. A couple of stops later all the runners got out, bumbled around confused in one big group until someone, with the rest of the group following like lemmings, went up and out where we saw the train station across the street. Success!

Because the run starts with crossing the 5th of April Bridge from the far side only trains are able to cross it before noon, so that is the only way to get there if you are located in the city. As the train naturally was crowded I ended up in a hallway between two carriages making it impossible for me to see anything outside during the ride across. 

On arrival there was another 15 minutes’ walk from the station to the starting area. The sun was out at full force at around 0930 and the few shades found along the way were already filled by people who managed to squeeze into the already crowded spots. The starting area itself was just a big empty space with surprisingly few portapotties, so when I arrived there was a steady flow of people going to and from the bushes along the sides, men and women alike. There were no corrals or waves, and getting ready for the start I realized the 5:00-pacer was far up ahead, and with the crowd already gathered I would have no chance of ever getting to him before the start.

When the start went off at 1020 it had gotten warmer (mid-20’s) and the 5:00-pacer left almost simultaneously with the 4:30 and 4:45-pacers. What’s the point of having them if they don’t spread out?

The first 5km, with the exception of a few 100m, it was all downhill – but due to being stuck in crowds of slow runners and selfie-obsessed people wanting to document the view of the city (granted; it wasn’t bad) and running on the bridge I had to do a lot of swerving and sudden changes in pace (because it’s absolutely fine to just stop in the middle of everything to take photos!) I lost more than a minute on the first kilometer. After that I managed to get a bit away and things loosened a bit up and the remainder of the downhill part went so much smoother. But it was such a frustrating start.

From then on the course was flat. We ran east until we hit the 7,6km mark, did a 180 degree turn, ran until reaching the 17,1km mark, did a 180 degree turn again and 50 meters before hitting the HM mark we turned and finished at Centro Cultural de Belén – where the expo was located – and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Reaching the flat part of the course there were water posts every app. 2km. As opposed to other runs you were given 1/3 liter water bottles instead of small paper cups. It felt like a bit of waste, but in the increasing heat you quickly realized that it was all needed. Perfect for a combination of drinking and pouring it over yourself (buffs were handed out near the starting area and I ended up using one on my head to try and protect it from the sun – it had the unexpected bonus of retaining the water I poured out over myself thus prolonging the cooling effect). I was happy to see that firefighters had set up a couple of places on the course and spraying the runners as they came along. Any cooldown was appreciated. According to the forecast when returning to the hotel the temps were around 28°-29°C and with no clouds or shade on the course the sun was most definitely felt along the way.

My face is a perfect representation of how it felt running in the heat.

Unfortunately, despite running parallel with the coast for most of the run we didn’t really see much for the water; main roads and train tracks were between us and the sea, and on the opposite side it was mostly infrastructure, a few parks or large buildings. So the course, while flat, wasn’t the most interesting. On the other hand; had we been running through the old parts of the city it would have been a horribly hilly experience, especially in this heat, so I guess I prefer the less charming, at times somewhat narrow, course we ran instead. 

The bag we received when crossing the finish line contained a bottle of water, a banana, a protein drink which tasted absolutely atrocious and the medal. It took me a while to realize the latter – I saw no one handing out medals and it wasn’t because I had missed it as almost no one else were wearing one, either, and it took a bit of digging before realizing that it had just been included with everything else. I was a bit disappointed, though, that you couldn’t get more water to drink and there were no snacks apart from the banana. 

My finish time ended up being 1:46:35, not quite reaching my goal of 1:45. Even without the terrible beginning I wouldn’t have made it, and considering the good conditions the weather definitely had something to do with the performance. Of course the official numbers weren’t accessible until later as the tracking site crashed during and after the run. Who would have thought they would see a lot of traffic at that time?

8378 people completed the half marathon; 5491 men and 2887 women. Overall I came in as no. 1550 (top 18,5%), among men I came in as no. 1407 (top 25,62%) and in my age group M35 I came in as 244 out of 755 (top 32,32%). So in spite of being slow compared to my goal my result relative to the other runners is probably among the best I’ve had so far – the Royal Parks run where I got my PR is the only one I can think of where I managed to get a better relative result.

Taking the train and metro back to the hotel went surprisingly smooth. Being among a bunch of hot and sweaty runners inside a confined space was wonderful, and I can’t imagine it was any better for all the ordinary non-running passengers. After a quick shower I went down to a café around the corner (called Hygge Kaffe) and got a smoked salmon bun and what turned out to be a huge slice – chunk, rather – of apple pie. Resting for the remainder of the afternoon before going out for what was a disappointing paella and a traditional cod ball with cheese which was a nice end to the dinner before retuning to the hotel and kicked back for the rest of the night.

Always nice with a small piece of pie.

5th – 7th of May – Lisbon, pre-run

As usual the flight was as uneventful as such a flight can be. The second leg did get delayed for an hour; the first half hour was due to technical difficulties, the second was due to missing our window and got put at the back of the queue in a crowded air. But as soon as we were off everything went smooth.

Arriving in Lisbon and taking the metro to the hotel was easy, and after checking in I spent a short moment resting and recovering from the flight before leaving and trying to get a feel of the area in the diminishing light. I found myself ending up waterside in the central part of the city – as intended – and the timing was unintended near perfect as I got to see the sun set behind the 5th of April Bridge. The entire construction is very dominant and basically looks like a smaller version of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had a walk down along the water and beach, but I soon retuned to the hotel – a return that ended up taking half an hour – to rest for the remainder of the night.

5th of April Bridge in the sunset.

The following two days, Friday and Saturday, I spent wandering the city and encountering constantly appearing hills. I started off going to the runners’ expo, which was also the location of the run’s finish line, to pick up my bib and t-shirt before exploring the surrounding area. Having the expo approximately 8 km from the hotel there was plenty of distance to zig-zag my way back to the city center.

Buildings covered in tiles.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos, statue built in 1940 to mark the 500 year anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death.

With the expo being west of the center, I went east on the Saturday. Without knowing for certain it did feel as if it was way more hilly here than in the western part. Having walked around a bit and getting lost multiple times I ended up at Castelo De S. Jorge, the castle of Sao Jorge, a large castle overlooking the central part of the city. Entering and walking around on the walls gave some stunning views of the center of Lisbon and surrounding areas. And with clear weather there was nothing obstructing the far away views – except for the occasional tree towering over the castle’s walls.

View of central Lisbon from Castelo De S. Jorge.

Lisbon is a nice and beautiful city; old buildings line the streets in the old part of the city and while some of them look like the safest thing to do is to tear them down, many of the better-maintained buildings are either painted in bright colours or are covered in tiles – making them almost look like huge inside-out bathrooms. Some of the streets are very narrow, and combining that with the hilly environment the city gets a very special (in a good way) feel. Leaving the old center it gets less erratically hilly, the streets widen and get a more modern size, and building turn more and more ordinary.

The weather is really nice, especially if you’re not planning to run a half marathon. Around noon the temps were up in the 25-27 degree area, and with practically no clouds and only very little breeze, it gets hot and priority ends up being walking on the side of the road with the most shade. Unless you are out at a time where your shadow is less than 20cm long, then you’re pretty much out of luck unless you find a tree. My timing could be better; wanting slow and relaxing mornings I don’t get too much time outside in the cool morning air before getting hit by the sun and heat. No wonder the locals seem to disappear until mid-afternoon. Also, after these two days parts of my skin is getting a bit itchy.