Half marathon #17 of the 52@52 challenge was a special one: it took place in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, my hometown. This time I wasn’t discovering a new place like in Paris; I was rediscovering a familiar setting full of memories, running around Pampulha Lake, in the northern part of the city, very close to the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where I did my Engineering undergrad.

Running Around Pampulha with Paula

One of the highlights of this run was having my wife, Paula, alongside me on a bike for the entire loop. She rented the bike right there around Pampulha Lake, where there are several rental spots, some of them combined with bars and restaurants by the water. Besides keeping me company, Paula recorded several segments of the run and later edited them into a super cool video of the day, which made the experience even more special.

Perfect Weather and Beautiful Scenery

Even though it was still summer, the weather was great for running, without the extreme heat that can ruin your pace. We got a truly beautiful day, with a few clouds in the sky but mostly deep blue above the lake, making the scenery even more pleasant. It was the kind of day when both the temperature and the view seem to work in your favor, keeping the motivation high from start to finish.

Reaching 21.1 km in the Ecological Park

The full loop around Pampulha Lake is about 18 km, so I needed a few extra kilometers to reach the official half-marathon distance. That was easy to solve by running inside the Pampulha Ecological Park, which has a very interesting story: it was built on reclaimed land inside the lake, using soil the government removed to prevent silting caused by sediments brought in during heavy rains. When I was a kid, I remember driving around the lake and seeing dredgers working in the water, taking out the mud to keep the lake from filling up. Over time, that process helped create the area that is now the park. It’s similar to how Parc Jean-Drapeau was created in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the end, I managed to complete the 21.1 km exactly at the same spot where I had started, right in front of the place where Paula rented the bike. And to close the event in style, we celebrated with a cold, fresh coconut water. Wow!

City Sounds and Audiobook

During the loop, I listened for a while to the audiobook “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, but not for very long. For most of the run I preferred to take the earbuds out and just listen to the sounds of the city around me: the traffic, the water, people walking, bikes passing, and life happening all around the lake. For a run in my hometown, that connection with the environment made just as much difference as any soundtrack.