I'm lucky enough to be at a conference in Lisbon for a few days and had been looking for a few recommended runs. Couldn't find anything near my hotel so am making it up as I go along. The flight out was horrible - it was the day that northern France was brought to a standstill with snow, I had to transfer flights at Paris CDG and, well, instead of getting here early afternoon it was well into the wee small hours. Nonetheless, Wednesday dawned and, having left my treadmill at home, headed out onto the bright & sunny streets (Incidentally, can you imagine trying to take a treadmill through airport security? It would certainly wipe the smile off their ever-so-friendly faces ...)
Run 1 was a simple one along to the zoo, up the road alongside what seemed to be the monkey enclosure and back. Nae bother.
This morning though, I decided to take the scenic route. On with the running gear, jogged along to the Metro station at the zoo and caught the tube to the city centre. There's a great view from the shore across to a figure of Christ (similar to the one in Rio) and a bridge modelled on the Golden Gate. From there, the map showed a basically straight road back to the hotel... just over the 5km mark, so it looked to be perfect. And so it started out ...
It was straight and I only really had to check my bearings maybe 3/4 times. Stopped a couple of times for photos - great stuff.
A bit chilly so glad I had put on a sweatshirt ... But the sting in this particular tale is that, like many cities, Lisbon claims to be built on seven hills. Now if you read my tales of the fat, boring old bloke running in Australia, you'll know I'm not keen on steep hills. And yes, you guessed. From the waterside to my hotel was one long, steep hill. Really tough going. But my main feeling (and the brilliant news) is that this time last year (Australia) my blogs were about how I simply COULDN'T do hills, and never would. But this morning, I did 5km continually uphill, with some REALLY steep bits. dropbox.com/s/exvz4607psi3t...
So I guess the message is that, even as a graduate of almost a year's standing, I am still surprised at just how much difference C25K has made to my life, health, fitness and general well-being. I confess to not being one that goes out running 3/4/5/6/7 times a week. If you are one such person, just think how well you could have done on my Lisbon run this morning. And if you're just starting out, I hope this give you a bit of extra encouragement.