Lisbon ½ Marathon 2025 | Running Across the Vasco da Gama Bridge 🏃♂️🌉🇵🇹
The race begins on one of Europe’s longest bridges and takes thousands of runners straight into the heart of Lisbon along the Tagus River. Today’s EDP / Hyundai Half Marathon gave us perfect weather, incredible views, and a truly unforgettable start line suspended high above the water.
Join the race from my point of view: the excitement at the start, the endless stretch of the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the crowds along the riverside, and the push to the finish. If you are training for this race or planning to run in Lisbon one day, this will show you exactly what to expect.
Race highlights include:
• Crossing the full length of the Vasco da Gama Bridge
• Scenic riverside sections toward Parque das Nações
• Crowds, energy, and mid-race recovery moments
• Honest reactions from a runner doing his first Lisbon half here
• Tips for future participants
Whether you are watching for motivation, travel inspiration, or because you love running content: welcome to the journey.
🏁 Thanks for being part of the challenge. On to the next race.
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📍 Race: EDP / Hyundai Lisbon Half Marathon
📏 Distance: 21.1 km
⏱ Date: 2025
🏙 City: Lisbon, Portugal
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If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. It helps the channel grow and supports more running and cycling adventures around Portugal.
#LisbonHalfMarathon #MeiaMaratonaLisboa #LisbonRunning #PortugalRunning #VascoDaGamaBridge #HyundaiMarathon #RunningPOV #RunningPortugal #HalfMarathonTraining #EuropeRunning
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I’m in kilometer 2 I was telling my
friends earlier, that I wasn’t feeling good and I’m not feeling good. Something’s
wrong. I think I’m going to throw up. I’m throwing up, but I’m going to keep
going. Lisbon Hyundai Half Marathon. Let’s go. The race today begins on Vasco da
Gama Bridge and then goes through Oriente and Santa Apolónia where you follow the river all
the way to Praça do Comércio where it ends. [Music] Although we got to the bridge around 8:00
a.m. the race didn’t actually start until 9:20, which was quite a long time to wait
around. But eventually we were off. Um, well, at least most people were
off. I immediately was thinking, I don’t feel right. I really don’t feel right. I
decided to push that thought to the side and just call that nervous energy in the beginning. And,
you know, sometimes the first kilometer is just difficult and it passes. I thought it’s going
to pass. No worries, Andrew. Just keep going. Anyways, this is Vasco da Gama Bridge. It is
actually contested to be the longest bridge in all of Europe. There is one in Crimea that,
depending on the way you size the dimensions, could technically be considered longer.
I don’t know which one’s which, but yes, that’s this bridge. There’s estuaries on both
sides which are like kind of bird sanctuaries. Really beautiful if you can look off the side.
Tons and tons of flamingos which I just love how they walk like they just lost something very
important. Like, “Oh my God, I lost that ring.” [Music] [Applause] How does it feel to treat me like you do… [Music] mistaken. I thought I heard your
words. Tell me how do I feel? Just began. First kilometer is a lie. I
really wanted to believe that. I really did. But I knew that things were not going
good. As soon as I started to try and do a boost. I tend to run this way where I sprint
and then jog, sprint, jog. As soon as I tried to get into the sprint mode, I knew there
was going to be no sprinting today. [Music] So, I was telling my friends that
I wasn’t feeling good and I’m not feeling good. Something’s
wrong. I’m going to throw up. Throw it down. The thing was so early on in the
race that there were still no paramedics. So, my thought was that I should probably just,
you know, try and get off this bridge first and continue on after that. It was very
embarrassing. People were coming up to me, you know, “All good?” and I just… “Yeah. Please
just like go away. Bye. Go. Leave me be.” So, the most popular video on my
channel is me doing the Lisbon Marathon this time last year. And even
though I did that with no training, and I actually didn’t really struggle
too much, this one I made way more rookie mistakes. And one of them was that I
was eating a lot of random food yesterday. So, I woke up feeling a little bit off. So, I didn’t
know if I should eat breakfast or not. So, I just didn’t. Bad mistake. Bad mistake. You’re probably
thinking, “You didn’t eat before a half marathon?” No one said this was an advanced channel. Art. While I walk down to the beach,
tell me how does it feel. [Music] After one more puking session, we were almost
at the end of the bridge. And at this point, I actually was starting to feel decent. I think this
was about 6 to 7 km in. And I decided, you know what? Let’s just keep going for a bit. And I went
on cruise control mode, as in a very very slow jog for me that I knew I could try and keep up
for a long period of time without getting tired. And I think my first burst of energy that kind of
made me think, “Hey, maybe I could actually finish this race,” was the cheer squad. So, I really
wanted to thank the event reps for having sort of stands right after we got off this bridge. Just
having people cheering and having, you know, there was a fire truck throwing water at everyone, water
stations, people cheering. And there was just a very organized section right here that really
helped me kind of remember that, you know, we were still quite far from Lisbon. So, I was really
grateful for that. I thought it was pretty cool. [Music] So this area here is called Parque das Nações and
I also just call it Oriente because the station’s called Oriente. Many names, many many names,
but apparently it was built around ‘98. So, it’s this new section of Lisbon that has some
pretty interesting architecture actually, especially when you get closer to the
mall and the train station up front. So one interesting thing I read about this
area is that when they built it they built it around the idea of the ocean. So it
kind of looks like fish vertebrae and coral and just has this cool marine design to
it that I think really fits Portugal. [Music] This is probably off topic, but I
also did a Camino to Santiago video where I biked from Lisbon to Santiago,
not continuous, but in sections, and the start of the Lisbon route becomes really
popular around this area and you can start to see those yellow arrows everywhere. So, it’s a pretty
nice area that you can kind of get through before anything. But you’re probably just watching
a marathon now. You know, self-promotion. Wait, I need a minute.
Okay, here it comes. [Music] This guy was so amazed by my camera.
It was ridiculous. I don’t know what to do. Did you want me to follow
you with it? I don’t know. [Music] We are not doing well. [Music] Water. It’s splashed in my eye. After Parque das
Nações, you get to Marvila, which is a very cool kind of trendy area of Lisbon with a lot
of clubs and restaurants. Very very cool area. It is very shipyard-esque. It’s still a
shipyard, but there’s a lot of buildings that are kind of not used for that reason anymore that
they’ve transformed into really trendy places. Really awesome. Lots of clubs, food, all
that type of stuff. So, even though on the left at this point it does get a little
bit, you know… it’s not the nicest. It’s a shipyard. What do you want them to do? Paint
the ships different colors? It’s a lot of money. [Music] These energy packets everywhere. And if I miss
the energy packet stand, I want justice cuz I’m dying. I’m at kilometer 12. But then as soon as
I said this, it was like an oasis in the desert. The 226ERS energy packet stand came up and
they’re just kind of like energy gels. They have carbs and caffeine and sodium and stuff to
just keep you going, which I needed at this point. I think it helped. I think it definitely
helped for sure. I didn’t get tired until about 5 kilometers after here is when I died
again. Cliffhanger. I throw up again. [Music] So, if you look to the left, there’s this
guy. This guy, let me tell you about him. I was so frustrated. I know he was just
being silly. “Hey look at me. I’m not doing the race. I’m just on my scooter.
Isn’t that funny?” But at this point, I was thinking, “How dare you? How dare
you?” He did this for so long, too. Part of me was thinking, “This is your chance,
Andrew. Push him over. Take the scooter. Go.” [Music] Okay, we’re at kilometer
15. Feeling a little better. To our right, we’re starting to
pass the red building over there, which is Santa Apolónia Station, which is
the oldest major train station in Lisbon. Used to be much more important than it is
today, as the station that we had passed a little while ago became the main station for
national and international travel. [Music] The big one. So, I really have little to no complaints
of the actual race itself except for this last six kilometers. I said five back then,
but it was actually six. Because here on our right we have Terreiro do Paço (Praça
do Comércio), which is where our ending point is in the finish line. It’s the main
square of Lisbon. You’ve seen it many times. However, the problem is we don’t go directly
there. We have to go 3 kilometers up and then 3 km back. And that was the end of me.
That was when it was just over. I started to feel very nauseous again. I couldn’t.
I just couldn’t go on because I kind of knew that we were going to loop a bit, but I
didn’t realize how much of a loop we had to go still. And it was really death. So at
this point I genuinely was worried about myself. I knew something was up when a police
officer saw me and just randomly said like, “Are you okay?” when I was running. That was kind
of a sign like I must look horrible at the moment. So, we just went. I just tried. I just thumped
one foot in front of the other and I tried my best. But at this point, I had no choice but
to walk at some points because I was not there. So, I never really walk. It’s kind of
my policy. But this time I have to. All right, last kilome— [Music] So, as I said, this time next year, I will be
doing my first Half Ironman. Guys, if you like my video, please like and subscribe. But most of
my new videos will probably be about me trying to train in my own way. Like I said, this is not an
advanced training thing, but I like to do biking trips. I like to go to the beach and swim and, you
know, run with run clubs and stuff like this. So, I feel like I could have some helpful
information if you just believe in me. And at this point, I actually ended
up—my two friends, Julia and Chris, who started on wave 5, actually caught
up to me. And I need to say to Chris, I’m so sorry. He told me to just run with him
because he could see that I was struggling and I told him to go away. I told him, “Leave
me alone. Go by yourself. Run by yourself.” That was not the real me. Chris, I’m happy
you didn’t listen. He stayed by my side. Plan was to at least hold this up for the
full two minutes. I couldn’t. I couldn’t. Here I am. I’m sorry if this is gross.
I have a mouthful of vomit here. I was holding in vomit at the finish line and
immediately I pulled to the side. The guy had to open the fence for me because he was so
nervous of me getting it on everything and I projectiled everywhere. But I finished, guys. I
finished. Thank you so much for watching. Ciao. Finished. I threw up immediately after.
1 Comment
At least you made to the end, that's all that matters… congratulations