52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 26
Painting the suburbs
Saturday, July 13, 6:15 AM
Today’s run starts by the Beloura Office Park in Sintra. An easy parking location close by home. I needed some extra sleep today to recover from an unusual epic MTB ride on the day before. I have “discovered” the insane joy of e-bikes, a “free” ski lift up the mountain to devour as many black diamond descents as I can eat. I find it to be perfect to recover from my half marathons too. I barely touch Zone 2 during 40km rides with more than 1000 m total climb. It is beautiful.
One of the entrances to the Beloura Office Park
The goal was to paint a missing portion on the map. I kept delaying it because it’s a difficult area to photograph. It’s an easy area to run. The run starts flat, on the sidewalk, again with close to perfect temperature and very mildly windy. Later in the day, wind will pick up. During the summer, the wind in this area is more like an Atlantic storm.
We start on the sidewalk, flat for about 1 km. We are facing the sunrise coloring the sky with a nice and warm orange tint. Too bad we will soon turn south and have a hard time to watch the best part of my favorite morning movie.
The sidewalk is not that wide but it’s perfectly safe. The road is actually side-by-side with a golf course behind the fence on our left. During Covid I sneaked in the golf course and did a full 10km run just going around the different holes. You still can do it if you go very early in the morning before the golfers. As long as there are not dozens of people doing it, I don’t think they will give you hard time
Follow the sun
At the end of the first straight there is an easy climb that is relevant because looking to our back provides glorious views of the Sintra mountain range and its unique weather pattern.
Behind the mountains, it’s not more mountains, it’s clouds (not the Interstellar waves either)
The predominant northern winds constantly blow the ocean water against the mountain block and that is what keeps Sintra green and alive. We will be following a hidden road that always has very little traffic so it’s perfectly safe to run pretty much wherever we want. Just the way I like it.
Why use the sidewalks if they laid down the asphalt for me?
If there is one thing that Sintra has is water. It always amazes me to go up the mountain and find multiple sources of water coming down. One would think that as we go up it would be harder and harder to find. Not in Sintra.
There is always a creek
The road goes a long several large properties, shielded with annoying tall walls. I am a bit weary of stray dogs in the area. The route is mostly downhill, smooth and quite enjoyable.
The properties behind the walls must be really special
At a given point I start to hear to large dogs barking behind me. I keep on running, knowing that if you look straight at them, usually means trouble. They keep getting closer and louder. My heart rate is now racing for a different reason. They are now getting too close for me to ignore, I turn around and see too large dogs, barking like if they want to eat me alive, with their heads out of the window of a car that drove by me. That was a close call.
Simple is beautiful
This interesting road ends at the 4th km, arriving at a typical suburban area, more crowded with uncharacteristic house constructions. I have set course to a local airport that is very active during the week. I am hoping to catch some early flights taking off since we can get very close to the runway.
Back to civilization
We now have to step back to the sidewalk. The road gets wider and there will be cars driving by more often than I expected. The airport, previously named, Aeródromo de Tires, is on a small town that grew too fast like many other suburban towns in the area. It will take some time before it can be “repaired”, but eventually it will.
Another interesting private property
I am already doing all the flight preparations to land, the area becomes more open and flatter, I can feel some cross winds, my favorite kind of landing, and the sun is casting light perpendicular to the runway were we expect to arrive. The open landscape opens another gorgeous view to Sintra that has now spit two big pretty loafs of clouds.
Sintra cloud generator
As we get to the end of the runway I fall in love with the warning sign. The runway practically touches the road that goes around the airport. I am dying to catch some planes taking off. The jet blast sign is rooting for me to run faster.
My welcome sign
Expectation gives in to disappointment, once I quickly realize that it is way too early on a Saturday morning for flights to be operating in the area. This airport is right in the middle of a suburban town rightfully deserving a good rest during the weekend at 6:50 AM - sigh
Empty runway
We navigate around the airport runway, and as we start heading south at the 6km, we have a 1st class view of the sunrise.
Gorgeous sunrise
I quickly forget my lack-of-airplanes disappointment when I notice my shadow on the other side of the road perfectly following my run. Now I am racing myself and have a ball recording a brief video.
I am not alone
We are now on our final approach, about to touch down at the airport entrance. We are using a road parallel to the runway that gets prettier as we get close to our gate.
It’s again a narrow sidewalk, with nice views to several old style aircraft hangars (I love them) and parked private jets
Arriving at the airport entrance
We arrive at the now renamed - Airport of Cascais - a marketing strategy to attract more traffic from the over crowded Lisbon airport. The place has for a long time been used as an instruction airport packed with Cessnas. It still is and I have a booked spot for trying out a Cessna flight where I hope to be briefly given the controls. I can’t wait.
All the planes are still sleeping
During the week this airport sometimes seems as crowded as the Lisbon airport, but it’s not taking regular sized jets. Just the expensive private ones. Cascais is betting on the airport, and I can see a new control tower being built on the other side of the runway. Not sure if I agree to having even more jet traffic in such a dense urban area.
Control towers, current and new
With the real estate boom, Cascais city hall has been filling their pockets, but have also been spending well the taxes collected. One of our favorites has to be the personal running-bike lanes that are wide-spread in the Cascais county.
Some of the sidewalks that we have been using during our flight are one notch away from becoming bike lanes and around the 9th km we land on the first official one.
Bike lane in Tires city center
These bike lanes are heaven for running. I crossed exactly zero bikes during the whole run. We could not ask for a more perfect pavement for our run. Together with the bike lanes they normally thrown in some extra green areas which is even better. Like I said, the city grew too fast but it is slowly healing.
Start of the long climb
The first half of the run was an extended easy descent into the runway,. The second half of the run is going to be a long take off to cruising altitude back to where we started. The sun is still low, and even though we can’t easily find any buildings from the 1500, everything becomes very colorful with the contrast of the green, tartan and golden.
The first serious climb of the day
The very first serious climb takes us to the church Igreja de São Domingos de Rana, a very interesting building with simple lines. We are turning back on our loop run and start going north. Our next challenge is to navigate one of the most busy roads during the week.
Igreja de São. Domingos de Rana
The access to the tollway A5, mad-town during rush hour, a cash-cow to the tollway operator. It’s easy to understand that the focus in the area are the cars. To cross to the North of the A5 we have to run on the side of the road by a concrete rail/protection. There is no such thing as a sidewalk. I dislike it, but it is reasonably safe since there is no traffic. I am mad from just having left a bike-lane into this and knowing that there is another bike lane a little after crossing.
A5 toll booths make money like slot machines Monday through Friday
It’s not long after crossing the A5, as if we were crossing a crocodile pit, to have access to another under-utilized bike lane. From the 12th through the 15th km we will be flying business class. We lack green areas, because it’s mostly industrial and fast-food popping up like fungus.
Love the water tower paint pattern
The smell from a McDonald’s at 7:30 AM is not fun at all. Convenience is king, but the Burger King around the corner does not have a nicer perfume. We are touching in on the 14th km and I would not mind having something to eat now.
The track goes on
I am sore from the MTB black diamonds, really glad to have picked an easy route today. The track keeps shining under our feet. It’s another long flat straight until Trajouce city center. I have a very important meeting there.
A new park is slowly being born in Trajouce
Right outside of Trajouce is one of those places that we seldom want to know that they exist. Our garbage has to go somewhere and for many years that was the place where everything got dumped indiscriminately. Just like Tires the area has been slowly getting upgraded to the new world view. Instead of trash companies we see waste management companies and recycling companies. Semantics?
The photos never tell the complete story
A few blocks away from the unremarkable city center I land at my meeting point. The world headquarters of CEC. Where I have spent most weekdays of my life for the past 24 years. Where a number of very talented and hard working people earn their living. If you have visited Portugal in the last 30 years, you have probably been served by a system where CEC has worked or that has even fully supplied.
A lot goes on inside here
We work under the radar, but proudly can state that we have served and still serve millions of users. We have not, yet, achieved 37signals’ optionality, but share many of their thoughts and keep going at it.
I had my calendar wrong, my meeting is not until Monday, let’s keep moving. We are at the 17th km.
Power station to keep me going
The way back to basecamp is uphill and now against stronger winds. The aircraft structure is a little shaken from the offroad incursion from the day before but, since it has been going through some regular maintenance over the last 25 weeks, it will pass with flying colors.
Smells like Sintra
The road is still ours to abuse right through the middle to celebrate the half-point from my adventure. This is my way back home from picking up my younger daughter at school. It looks a lot easier when I am driving. It’s still a piece of cake when compared to the stair climbing that has been happening over the last weeks.
Back to the fog factory, now pretty in blue
I was looking forward to the view of Sintra on our return. It simply is not possible to take a photograph that shows the true magnificence of the scenery.
It should be an easy way back to the finish line and it is tempting to sprint back.
Finish line
Planning tomorrow’s adventure
I had great MTB plans for the day after, my mind and body had a talk, and agreed on keeping a peaceful injury-preventing pace to the end.
I have reached the mid-point of my adventure!
Enjoy your runs!
-APF
Route and profile as recorded by Strava - total elevation gain 190m
