{"id":2316,"date":"2025-11-28T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T08:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2025-11-28T12:32:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:32:22","slug":"2316-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/2316-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From Torre to Cascais: a dream in open waters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019ve always practiced swimming, but my real dream was to swim in open water! The sea and the contact with its life and strength have always fascinated me\u2014a mix of fear, but a fear that pushes me forward instead of making me back away.
I started after the pandemic, and I never want to stop!
I did my first 3.9 km race and then thought, if someone can do this, they can do 5 km\u2014so I went straight to 10 km, the feared open-water marathon!
I remembered that when I was little, I had a dream of swimming \u2018from here to there\u2019 and I even told my father about it. \u2018From here to there\u2019 was from Praia da Torre in Oeiras all the way to Cascais! And so it happened \u2014 with a lot of training, discipline, and consistency, I managed to make that dream come true.
I confess it isn\u2019t easy with a busy life \u2014 day-to-day routines, work and family obligations, stress, and everything I had to give up \u2014 but if it were easy, I wouldn\u2019t enjoy it as much! It was 4 hours and 5 minutes of swimming, with immense pleasure, along such a familiar route where I grew up, but this time seen from the perspective of the sea.
I didn\u2019t stop there, and the following year I trained again for the 10 km, but the sea didn\u2019t want the race to happen \u2014 there was huge fog that made it impossible to hold the event. In the meantime, I did pool races, other shorter sea races, swam in dreamlike places, rounded Cape Espichel, the tip of Sagres, swam at Arrifana at the needle\u2019s tip in Boca do Inferno, saw dolphins, a shark, swam in choppy tides and calm seas, in cold waters, in the cold, sun, rain, hail, waves, and currents! I challenged and faced fears and ghosts, and I repeated the 10 km again this year!
Now yes, the real challenge: choppy sea with waves, headwind, and an opposing current. Conditions couldn\u2019t have been worse! I swam and didn\u2019t move forward; time passed and I didn\u2019t feel like I was making any progress! With a respiratory infection and on antibiotics, it took 5 hours and 34 minutes to reach the finish line \u2014 quitting never even crossed my mind!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had a lot of physical pain, hunger, cold, I coughed a lot, and my breathing was very affected, but I stayed focused on the finish line and on my mantra: \u2018I am strong, I can do this.\u2019 Reaching the finish was emotional, and I felt immense pride in the strength of my mind and my dreams.
With the sea, I learned precious lessons that I use in my life every day<\/p>\n\n\n\n