PORTO (PORTUGAL, 03.11.19)
Porto marathon was my last of 2019 and came just 3 weeks after Bucharest taking it up to 6 races for the year. Ahead of the race I'd managed to secure a feature on a top Portuguese sports website and interviewed 3 M.E sufferers to find out what life was like there. Cat and Lucy were back with me, a day after Lucy's 1st birthday party with family near to our flight from Gatwick. We landed at around 3.30pm and stumped up the cash for a swift taxi to our apartment before a slightly hairy walk through a rough part of town to the Expo. I grabbed my race number with an hour to spare and we trudged around downtown Porto through the driving rain to find dinner and then (with surprising difficulty) a shop that sold bananas and cereal bars.
Start
After a rough night of about 4 hours sleep due to an unsettled Lucy and an outrageously loud nightclub opposite, we took the long metro up to Matosinhos Sul, North West of the city centre. It was cloudy and cool as I crossed the start line to the sound of Bon Jovi's 'Living On A Prayer'. I really enjoyed tracking the Atlantic Ocean, the sea was pretty wild and the beach of Praia De Matosinhos was empty. With around 4000 marathon runners and many more with us running the 'family run' 15km it was tough getting into a good stride for the first couple of miles. I was definitely a bit ring-rusty, I had only run once in 3 weeks which didn't go particularly well as my long-standing hip-flexor niggle returned. Sure enough it flared up on mile 3 just as it had in Bucharest so I popped a couple of ibuprofen to keep it at bay. The course took us around Parque Da Cidade but it wasn't especially pretty to be honest, the highlight for me was when it started to drizzle. A big moment, the first time in 4 years (21 races) since Dublin. It was a false dawn though as it only lasted about 5 minutes, which was nearly the time it took for me to hastily waterproof my phone and ipod in their cases.
Keeping pace with a man dressed as a chicken, or maybe a rooster (not sure), I fell into a decent enough rhythm and started to make my way through the field. I saw Cat and a sleeping Lucy in the crowd, they were en-route to the Sea Life Centre, partly as it was likely to have baby changing facilities. Past the first set of refreshment stations and I was delighted that they were giving out bottles of water. Not environmentally friendly at all but perfect for my propensity to overheat and implode. We passed a really odd giant art structure called Anémona, it had a 20-ton steel ring and 3 nets over it as the course headed north through the rather drap port of Leixões. Another switch-back and the route dropped back down towards the start line again past a cool little fort by the beach called Castelo do Queijo. Up to around 9 miles and I was steadily doing 9.30 min miles, cap still on forwards, everything was under control.
Middle
Up until this point there hadn't been much in the way of entertainment but I still decided to leave the Ipod until later when I really needed it. A couple of dj stands blaring out the usual nonsense and a few kids to high-five but the views were making up for it. Some nice downhill bits came and went as the temperature started rising a bit. I'd run past some narrow beaches to my right and it looked like there was a big left hand turn coming up towards Porto. Sure enough the road headed towards the big bridges over the Rio Douro and under the first massive one, Ponte Da Arrabida, there was a 3 piece band playing in a bus shelter with a saxophonist belting out a monstrous solo. At 12 miles things got hectic as the road turned to cobbles and dropped down again towards some big crowds and lots of covered terraced bars and restaurants overlooking the river.
With almost 2 hours gone I was pleased that there hadn't been too much pain or drama so far. I tracked myself on the app and it told me that I was on track for 4 hours 30 mins which seemed like a decent target for the rest of the race. Spotting a portaloo I jumped in then I stocked up on more water and bananas. I recognised the next bit of the course from my googling of the course, it looked like we were running on a pier as the road was held up by intricate metal girders and timber, really cool. Not too long after, I ran over the famous Ponte Dom Luis towards the district of Gaia and enjoyed a blast of the cross-winds as the elite runners came back on the opposite side of the road, I gave them a quick clap as usual. It was getting pretty warm at this point, the sun was out and I tried to jump into shaded bits even though it meant leaving the main bit of the course. Afurada was a really nice part of town and I could see the cable car operating above my head and more alfresco drinking on the left hand-side of the road. It felt like a really long out-and-back before the 25km mark and I could feel my legs starting to fade a bit so I pulled out the Ipod and had an energy gel to pick it up a bit.
End
A runner in front of me went down with a quite dramatic cramp so I helped him stretch, gave him my water and an energy gel and left him to it. I was hopeful the good karma would help me later on and I wanted to fulfil a debt I owed from when I was in a similar situation in Sofia last year. Back over the cobbles and onto the bridge again, the course turned left this time and headed along the river again under two more impressive bridges (Ponte Do Infante and Ponte Do São João). I threw down a couple of salt tablets and clapped a group of drummers before feeling a bit of cramp coming on which reduced me to a brief walk. I was up to 20 miles and finding it pretty tough, still on track time-wise but by my arithmetic it was going to be pretty tight. Past the crowds again outside the municipal museum the route went up into the town a little and entered an uphill tunnel. One or two people around me were also cursing in their native tongues about it's masochistic inclusion before we spotted screens all the way up the left hand-side playing the iconic 'beach running' scene from 'Chariot's Of Fire'. It gave me a bit of a buzz and I got up and out of the tunnel much quicker than I thought I would, props to the organisers for that one.
As it was only 4 miles or so to go I knew the course had to follow the same way back along Rua Das Sobreiras to the coast and then up to Matosinhos. Even though I was kind of on a mission to hit 4.30, I had to stop for a quick chat with a runner with a Southville Running Club t-shirt on. Not every day you see a fellow Bristol runner in a European marathon. It was his first and he was down to a walk having gone off too quickly, he said he'd never run another one, I told him I said the same. Another energy gel down and I scrolled through to find some good 80's bangers on my Ipod and tried to keep going. My legs were almost done and I resolved to run to the next mile, then walk for 0.1 miles. Back at Matosinhos and my watch had beeped 26 miles but there was no sign of the finish line anywhere. There was no way I'd make 4.30 so I tried to at least beat Bucharest (4.38) and managed to track down my favourite race finish tune 'Stoned Love' by The Supremes. Up another short hill, there were crowds on each side and we turned right into what looked like a giant car park. I heard my name being read out as I jogged up to the line and it felt great to be done. 3 marathons in 6 weekends, essentially with one working leg, not something I thought would be possible so the over-riding feeling was more relief than joy.
Pics
5Euros per pick, available within 24 hrs via FotoApp, decent quality.
For trip pictures click here
Weather
16c, cool and windy to begin with, nearly 5 mins of drizzle! Then it warmed up, reaching 19c with clouds parting for the middle 2 hours away from the coast.
Ratings
Start
After a rough night of about 4 hours sleep due to an unsettled Lucy and an outrageously loud nightclub opposite, we took the long metro up to Matosinhos Sul, North West of the city centre. It was cloudy and cool as I crossed the start line to the sound of Bon Jovi's 'Living On A Prayer'. I really enjoyed tracking the Atlantic Ocean, the sea was pretty wild and the beach of Praia De Matosinhos was empty. With around 4000 marathon runners and many more with us running the 'family run' 15km it was tough getting into a good stride for the first couple of miles. I was definitely a bit ring-rusty, I had only run once in 3 weeks which didn't go particularly well as my long-standing hip-flexor niggle returned. Sure enough it flared up on mile 3 just as it had in Bucharest so I popped a couple of ibuprofen to keep it at bay. The course took us around Parque Da Cidade but it wasn't especially pretty to be honest, the highlight for me was when it started to drizzle. A big moment, the first time in 4 years (21 races) since Dublin. It was a false dawn though as it only lasted about 5 minutes, which was nearly the time it took for me to hastily waterproof my phone and ipod in their cases.
Keeping pace with a man dressed as a chicken, or maybe a rooster (not sure), I fell into a decent enough rhythm and started to make my way through the field. I saw Cat and a sleeping Lucy in the crowd, they were en-route to the Sea Life Centre, partly as it was likely to have baby changing facilities. Past the first set of refreshment stations and I was delighted that they were giving out bottles of water. Not environmentally friendly at all but perfect for my propensity to overheat and implode. We passed a really odd giant art structure called Anémona, it had a 20-ton steel ring and 3 nets over it as the course headed north through the rather drap port of Leixões. Another switch-back and the route dropped back down towards the start line again past a cool little fort by the beach called Castelo do Queijo. Up to around 9 miles and I was steadily doing 9.30 min miles, cap still on forwards, everything was under control.
Middle
Up until this point there hadn't been much in the way of entertainment but I still decided to leave the Ipod until later when I really needed it. A couple of dj stands blaring out the usual nonsense and a few kids to high-five but the views were making up for it. Some nice downhill bits came and went as the temperature started rising a bit. I'd run past some narrow beaches to my right and it looked like there was a big left hand turn coming up towards Porto. Sure enough the road headed towards the big bridges over the Rio Douro and under the first massive one, Ponte Da Arrabida, there was a 3 piece band playing in a bus shelter with a saxophonist belting out a monstrous solo. At 12 miles things got hectic as the road turned to cobbles and dropped down again towards some big crowds and lots of covered terraced bars and restaurants overlooking the river.
With almost 2 hours gone I was pleased that there hadn't been too much pain or drama so far. I tracked myself on the app and it told me that I was on track for 4 hours 30 mins which seemed like a decent target for the rest of the race. Spotting a portaloo I jumped in then I stocked up on more water and bananas. I recognised the next bit of the course from my googling of the course, it looked like we were running on a pier as the road was held up by intricate metal girders and timber, really cool. Not too long after, I ran over the famous Ponte Dom Luis towards the district of Gaia and enjoyed a blast of the cross-winds as the elite runners came back on the opposite side of the road, I gave them a quick clap as usual. It was getting pretty warm at this point, the sun was out and I tried to jump into shaded bits even though it meant leaving the main bit of the course. Afurada was a really nice part of town and I could see the cable car operating above my head and more alfresco drinking on the left hand-side of the road. It felt like a really long out-and-back before the 25km mark and I could feel my legs starting to fade a bit so I pulled out the Ipod and had an energy gel to pick it up a bit.
End
A runner in front of me went down with a quite dramatic cramp so I helped him stretch, gave him my water and an energy gel and left him to it. I was hopeful the good karma would help me later on and I wanted to fulfil a debt I owed from when I was in a similar situation in Sofia last year. Back over the cobbles and onto the bridge again, the course turned left this time and headed along the river again under two more impressive bridges (Ponte Do Infante and Ponte Do São João). I threw down a couple of salt tablets and clapped a group of drummers before feeling a bit of cramp coming on which reduced me to a brief walk. I was up to 20 miles and finding it pretty tough, still on track time-wise but by my arithmetic it was going to be pretty tight. Past the crowds again outside the municipal museum the route went up into the town a little and entered an uphill tunnel. One or two people around me were also cursing in their native tongues about it's masochistic inclusion before we spotted screens all the way up the left hand-side playing the iconic 'beach running' scene from 'Chariot's Of Fire'. It gave me a bit of a buzz and I got up and out of the tunnel much quicker than I thought I would, props to the organisers for that one.
As it was only 4 miles or so to go I knew the course had to follow the same way back along Rua Das Sobreiras to the coast and then up to Matosinhos. Even though I was kind of on a mission to hit 4.30, I had to stop for a quick chat with a runner with a Southville Running Club t-shirt on. Not every day you see a fellow Bristol runner in a European marathon. It was his first and he was down to a walk having gone off too quickly, he said he'd never run another one, I told him I said the same. Another energy gel down and I scrolled through to find some good 80's bangers on my Ipod and tried to keep going. My legs were almost done and I resolved to run to the next mile, then walk for 0.1 miles. Back at Matosinhos and my watch had beeped 26 miles but there was no sign of the finish line anywhere. There was no way I'd make 4.30 so I tried to at least beat Bucharest (4.38) and managed to track down my favourite race finish tune 'Stoned Love' by The Supremes. Up another short hill, there were crowds on each side and we turned right into what looked like a giant car park. I heard my name being read out as I jogged up to the line and it felt great to be done. 3 marathons in 6 weekends, essentially with one working leg, not something I thought would be possible so the over-riding feeling was more relief than joy.
Pics
5Euros per pick, available within 24 hrs via FotoApp, decent quality.
For trip pictures click here
Weather
16c, cool and windy to begin with, nearly 5 mins of drizzle! Then it warmed up, reaching 19c with clouds parting for the middle 2 hours away from the coast.
Ratings
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