52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 37
Monsanto Loop
Saturday, September 28, 6:56 AM
The Monsanto Forest, right on the border of Lisbon, is a small mountain range of about 10 km^2. It is densely populated with trees, which, I have now learned, only started being planted at the end of the 1930s. For many years, it was a place that I did not find very inviting, and where there were a lot of shady businesses going on. Things have changed. The place has been progressively becoming friendly for sports activities, and many other different kinds of events that gather people around. It is a particularly convenient spot for hiking, trail running and mountain biking. One that, surprisingly, I don’t know too well, and today was an exploration day.
I have a close to half-hour drive to get to my parking spot in Algés. As usual, I want to start by civil sunrise time, and that made for a glorious drive. I am driving east towards the incoming Saturday, and the slow unraveling of the day was a spectacular moment. I wonder how we can miss this spectacle most of the days.
I love this photo showing the night and the day in the sky
The serenity of the desert streets, the quiet sounds of nature, the breeze of the fresh air, the infinite gradients of colors in the sky, the solitude while not being alone, all my senses seem to have a boost, empowered by the show that the universe seems to put out just for me. The sunrise is an absolute wonder, and we are fools not to soak it in every single day.
I have written it before, it feels as if I am multiplying the length of my days every time I start this early.
I want to keep this going on forever and live 200 years in the timespan of 100, so I wish.
Another day/night photo that came out great
It’s quite common, if not the norm, to arrive on Sunday night with the feeling that my run was 2 days ago, not the day before - I love it.
I have now adopted a parking lot right at the border of Oeiras and Lisbon. I park on the Lisbon side, the reason being that my EV is entitled to free parking in Lisbon but not in Oeiras.
I have started a few of my runs from this spot. The drawback is that we are at sea level, or river level, which means there is no other option but to go up from here (I already did all the riverside runs).
Avenida Vasco da Gama, going from Algés to Restelo at the top
And so it is, the first 3.8km are a nice climb to the entry of Monsanto. We are going up two really nice avenues, Av. Vasco da Gama and Avenida das Descobertas.
These are known to host a good number of foreign embassies and expensive housing.
It’s the United Nations of single-family homes, indeed in a beautiful area
Transitioning from Av. Vasco da Gama to Av. Das Descobertas - always climbing
I later checked and I ran by the Embassy of Poland, the Consulate of the Russian Federation, and the Embassy of Ukraine… If only they could meet on the sidewalk and stop the nonsense. Go for a walk, it’s a beautiful sidewalk down to the river, have a coffee, eat a Pastel de Nata, by the river, look each other in the eyes and shake hands.
We are all riding on Carl Sagan’s pale blue dot, a wondrous miracle in the galaxy packed with enough food and shelter for everyone to enjoy the ride. Why?
The sidewalk where all could be solved - walk down or up a block, ring the door bell to grab a coffee
I am glad that the nonsense of what is going on in the world did not cross my mind during my run. Bad things rarely cross my mind while running or mountain biking. That’s what makes it special.
The sidewalk is very wide and a joy to run. It’s always hard to start climbing from the zero km but after the initial shock the rhythm comes naturally and it becomes quite enjoyable.
Transitioning to the Monsanto Forest
After 2.3km, we get to the hill crest and have a resting descent that lasts for about 300 meters. A gulp of fresh air before the final 1.2km breathtaking ascent. It’s cold today, around 12º C (53.6º F) and I can feel it in the air that I am taking in. We are now by our Monsanto entryway. As we climb we can see a few ad lib exit points for mountain bikers, music to my ears. I had staged my entry point at the very top of the hill, of course, but took note.
Climbing to my entry spot in Monsanto
It’s now time to tune into the forest symphony, and what a stark contrast it is. We enter a parallel trail to the road that we have just climbed. As if we have stepped into another universe. After eating the asphalt on the way up, we are now diving into the depths of a tree tunnel to the bottom of the forest. Since we are on the west side of the mountain, just like in the ocean, as we dive it gets very dark because the sun is still struggling to get over the horizon.
The trails are beautiful
As I descend to the west, it not only gets darker, it gets colder too, we sure are diving. My arms are going numb, spoiled by the long warm summer runs. I thought that since Monsanto is so close to Lisbon, there would already be people on the trails, running and biking. Not so, the trails are completely empty. Except for the usual suspect. The transition from the paved roads to the dense trees is so abrupt that it feels surreal, especially because of being alone. Like a dream or a movie about parallel universes.
The light is still having a hard time to get through the trees
I confess that I have not read about the safety in Monsanto lately, it used to be an issue during the night. It is very rare that I feel insecure, and I have not at all during this Monsanto run, but that is just the way I choose to live, not necessarily always the correct one. We are at km 4.2, after a chilly resting descent it’s time to get back in the oven. It’s a short 200 m climb with the temperature set to full scale. I am warm inside but my arms, not so, strange.
It was a cold 12ºC (53.6 ºF) just like the photo looks
There seems to be an infinite number of trails snaking through the trees. I chose to stick to a really nice one that follows the road most of the time. Later in the run I will explore an MTB trail that I want to come back to. We will circumnavigate the base of the mountain, which is an extremely pleasant run, hike and bike spot. Highly recommended.
A perfect track in the woods
The route is mostly flat and the landscape does not change much until km 7.7. I could take the same photos over and over, all of them would look the same. Every now and then it is possible to observe the vastness of the urban area outside of my little parallel universe, it is an impressive view, but impossible to capture with my phone on the run (and without my zoom lens).
Telecom tower
As I run by a park telecom tower I have my first encounter with two trail runners that quickly escape through one of the capillary trails. Happy to know that I am not alone. I sure am tempted to follow them into more varied terrain but I stayed the course. While it’s rare that I stop for a photo, just trying to frame them or checking my directions on the phone has a tremendous impact on my pace. I only realized that recently, I thought it would be negligible.
Plenty of bike lanes
I have not been running to push my times but sometimes I like to challenge myself, and having this close to perfect natural track by the road was a perfect setting, so I thought. It happened that the sun rising behind the trees was an excellent spectacle, alas, so much for a steady pace. Taking my time to smell the roses, I joined the sun playing hide and seek between the turns and the trees.
Now you see me, no you don’t
Follow me
Don’t get too distracted with your phone
At km 10.3 I ran past the visitor center and there were way too many cars parked in the area. I noticed also a lot of signs from different sponsors and started spotting flags along the trail. There was going to be a running event in the park. Later, I checked and it was the 3rd edition of Lisboa Backyard Ultra. This is a different kind of run. It’s a loop of 6.7km that has to be completed in less than 1 hour. Any time left can be used for the next lap. People keep running until there is only one that can complete his final lap. The winner ran 174.36 km!
How is it possible that this wonder is deserted
I was praying not to cross paths with the event runners because I would not contain myself from being passed by them (which would happen for sure) without pushing my hardest to follow them. Most running events in Portugal start quite late, which I completely disapprove because of the heat danger. This one supposedly started at 8:00 AM but I did not see a single runner for me to chase after, as if I was one of my feared stray dogs. The trails are surprisingly deserted - I am ok with that.
Leaving the roads
At the 12th km it’s time to find the exit of the “Wild Boar Trail”, a well-known downhill MTB trail in Monsanto. I did not know it and would use my run as a site survey of the area to come here in the afternoon with my MTB buddies. I missed my trail entrance, the GPX map was not quite accurate, which cost me an extra 500 meters of climbing.
Exploring the MTB Javali trail (Wild Boar trail)
I don’t know where it got the name but I was quite confident that there would be no wild boars in Monsanto, however, they have lately become a plague in many unexpected areas, even showing up on the beach. The trail is a pearl, not out of reach radical, with several interesting jumps that mostly have an escape route. It’s quite steep, I average about 9% grade for 1 km. I did not cross paths with a single MTB rider.
The trail has some interesting jumps and escape lines if you chicken out at the last second
Climbing the Wild Boar Trail is the challenge that I needed. The weather remained very cold during most of the run and my arms and hand felt freezing numb. Quite unusual. At some point, I ran with my hands stuck in my armpits to warm them up (don’t judge). We are at the 14th km, still on the north side of the park but now going through inner trails. They are wide and extremely beautiful. If you have an e-bike in Lisbon you must come and explore these routes. You can also do it on a regular bike as long as you have the legs and the lungs up to the effort - the profile is a roller coaster.
A paradise at the footsteps of Lisbon
It’s time to cross the A5 back to the south region of the park. From now on things will mostly go down. The A5 is among the busiest entrance/exit into Lisbon and the main access to the 25th of April, Golden Gate Bridge. Early morning and late night traffic during weekdays is a nightmare. It also becomes a nightmare during summer time with people trying to cross the bridge to go to the amazing beaches along the Caparica Coast. These beaches are really excellent if it were not for the chaotic traffic to get there and worse, to get out! As expected they also get too crowded. It’s a beachfront running north to south with an approximate length of 24km. I would like to make one of my HM there but either I do 10 km each way, or the logistics of coming back to where I started are hard. I shot some nice photos of the A5 today.
The A5 cutting through the middle of Monsanto
I am now going through some inner trails that apparently have been asphalted many years ago. Fortunately I think the forest is claiming them back. These trails have quite a few outdoor exercise equipment pieces that I am sure will get some use later in the day. There are signs and instructions, just as you would expect for a place that gets a lot of visitors (but not early birds). I am still baffled that the place remains empty.
Where is everyone?
There are plenty of exercising opportunities
The route is quite easy with wide trails and enjoyable views. This is a perfect spot for regular runs, you do have to drive or take a bus to come here and that is probably the reason why it remains empty so early in the morning. It’s mostly not a place where you exit the building and run into the park (in some area it is). There are a number of large child play areas and I came here frequently with my kids. Deserted now, but I am 100% sure it will get crowded in the afternoon.
Another deserted street to pick up my pace
Finally I see a number of people joining me on this parallel universe. They are part of the event organization and seem still to be setting up everything for the crazy event today. We are by an interesting picnic area. I wouldn’t mind coming back for a hike with the family and cooling down with a meal under the shade. I like these oases almost in the middle of the cities.
There is going to be a running event today
Neat picnic area
It’s now time to head down to our starting point and we start to be gifted with great views of the bridge, the river and the city. Again, these are hard to capture with a small zoom on the run, but trust me they are phenomenal. It’s as if we are landing in Lisbon on an airplane slowly descending, but in the middle of the trees. The trails remain wide and evenly safe. We start exiting the park as it slowly dissolves between the streets and buildings.
When San Francisco meets Rio de Janeiro, you are in Lisbon
We land right on the university campus as we exit the park. We have Vet School, the Faculty of Architecture and a Social Science Institute. These students can’t complain about not having a great exercising spot (and an amazing view). From here on, it will be mostly urban area and downhill. I was feeling very good and pushed it for the remainder of my run which would come close to 23km. I felt like a mad man coming down the roads.
Exiting right on campus
At some point I flew by a well known area of cafés and pastry spots. The scent in the air killed me! I almost stopped since I had already completed my HM distance. I am salivating as I am typing this from the memory of the run-poisoning aromas. It’s a very interesting block in this area. There are quite a few lucky people already enjoying their breakfast watching a lunatic sprinting in the middle of the road, the sidewalks were too close to the cafés for me to resist and there is still zero traffic. All is still mine, except breakfast.
Going down the “United Nations” avenues - everything is so peaceful, as it should be.
On the final straights, I cut through one of the “United Nations” avenues. All is quiet. Not sure if everyone is hiding from each other, or everyone is sleeping with a clean conscience of no wrongdoing. I know the answer, but it’s hard to swallow.
Although I have stopped my hide-and-seek game with the sun, it remains surprisingly cold. Luckily my car is parked under the sun and has been baking a nice temperature to comfort me.
This run through Monsanto’s main roads was excellent and definitely an area that needs more exploration, especially on my MTB.
Lisbon needs to wake up earlier, come and smell the roses, and bring along those embassies.
We are all one step away from paradise, it’s here and now, on Earth.
Enjoy your runs!
-APF