" - Is that the Crystal Palace you've mentioned? "
" - Well.. not really... :) "

  You can't miss this building when you look at Porto's skyline. That is why it frequently becomes a conversation topic in the running tours I guide. A second reason is because I often bring up the fact that this venue is intimately connected to running, though not in an obvious way... !

While some local people still call that UFO shaped green dome in the background "o Palácio de Cristal", that is not its name. The historic Crystal Palace was indeed built in this location in the 1860's, inspired on the original exhibition building that stood in the south of London. The Portuguese 'replica' does no longer exist for it got dismantled in 1951.

​The currently existing building's real name is Rosa Mota pavilion, a sport venue. To explain you who Rosa Mota is and how is running involved we need to go back to the 80's.

Care to join me?

I know how tough this day can be for some of you. If you're not in a relationship, then you're probably trying to schedule a night out or a dinner at home with a group of other single friends, as far as possible from any of those 'romantic' restaurants...

​On the other hand, if you're already committed, then you're possibly still searching for the perfect gift... is this your case?

Well, if your soul mate is an avid runner, I believe I can help. If he or she is not - but you are! - then I suggest you surreptitiously leave your laptop open on the dinner table, with this post on display...!

(recent UPDATE ON KINEMATIX COMPANYs future: please see bottom of this post)

Brace yourself: this may just be the strangest, most unscientific test run ever performed in the history of running...! Here's my 'kind of' running study with the  help of TUNE, the new running wearable by Kinematix.

It is important for me to come clean about this up front, before you plunge deeper into this post and find out for yourself!  So, at this point you might be asking "why is this person even using a running wearable"?

Actually, there is a couple of reasons!  I'll explain them in the next few lines:

Around 60 million people are estimated to run or jog in the United States. In Europe we have around 50 million people running, 6 million in Germany alone, the Netherlands with 2,4 million regular runners and, according to a Marktest study last year, Portugal with around 1.5 million natives 'saying they've engaged in some form of running activity at least once in the last 12 months'… 

 The minute we got a message from pet groomer Barbearia do Vidal we thought we should shoot a short promo video. Being small and local ourselves, we really enjoy collaborations with other small and local businesses. The message was about a new intelligent (?! ) retractable leash for dogs, a product that is perfect for people who like running with their dogs.

 Scaleup is a term you may have bumped into somewhere. There’s one phase in many start-ups’ life when new challenges may push them to grow. This may happen early or later in these small companies' life and therefore time is not the best reference, when you're trying to explain the concept.
 A focus on Scaleups developed in Europe in the last years and the European Business Angels Network Annual Congress, held in Porto this week and themed "scale up for Europe", gathered people from all over the world to discuss and share their thoughts on this trending subject...!

  Porto Running Tours is merely a micro-lo-fi-low-tech-not-yet-sustainable local business but we accepted FNABA's challenge: our task was to share a bit of Porto's history and best sights with the running enthusiasts attending the congress. And we did so, starting at 6.00AM, just before sunrise!

...as good visual dictionary in a poster!

 IllustrART @ Porto has come up with one essential set of expressions for your 'survival' in Porto's ecosystem. Speaking of survival, there's an additional recommendation from our side: even though you enjoy running, you should avoid any mention to Lisbon's soccer clubs... 

> Hey, just kidding! :) People in Porto are quite friendly, even if the conversation topic is soccer...!

As activists for life's pleasures and passionate about Porto, the decision making process for our logo concept was quite an easy task: meet the 'running wine lover’!

Our mission at PORTO RUNNING TOURS is to share with you the pleasure of discovering some of the most beautiful sights of Porto,  a great running training session in the city and maybe a glass of wine in some balcony overlooking the Douro river…!

That is also why we absolutely had to launch our Facebook page today!! It is PORT WINE DAY!