run the historical way

Doing races is awesome, pushing yourself to the limit amongst like-minded people, challenging your body to last the distance, getting to that finish line as quickly as possible. 

But there are plenty of other ways to challenge yourself...

Myself and long time running buddy Ash are heading off to Portugal at the end of the month, on a self sufficient run along the Historical Way. The Historical Way runs through small traditional towns and villages with several centuries of history. Comprised mainly of rural trails, this is a classic Grand Route (GR), with stretches of cork tree forests, mountain ranges, valleys, rivers and creeks, it's a true journey through time, local culture and nature trails.

We'll be climbing onto that plane, in our running kit, with everything we (hope we) need on our backs. We'll have no support car, no feed stations, no emergency beacon strapped to us...we'll also have no real time constraints. We simply need to cover the distance over 3 days, otherwise we'll miss our flight home. If we want to run into the night, we will...if we want to stop for ice cream and coffee, we will...if we want to check out something interesting on the trail, we will. We'll be free to do what we want, when we want...so long as we keep moving forward.

We'll be taking bivvy bags and sleeping wherever we can on the trail. Unless of course we manage to find a comfy barn to stay in. Our final destination will be Cape St Vincent...somewhere I have visited many times before and is a special place to me, with so many good memories. Once we arrive at this awesome lighthouse, we will make our way to nearby Sagres for beer and food...still in our stinky running kit! 😊

After the stress of cut-offs on the Dragons Back Race, and the pressure to always run faster in other races, I cannot wait to start this adventure, on our terms, with our rules, experiencing everything rural Portugal has to offer along the way.