Marathon?

Marathon? Everyday I ask to myself: "what about another marathon"? The incident 4 years ago was terrible and I don't know if my leg can stand a marathon and the training with all those long distance runs. The goal would be the Florence Marathon, in 3h 59'59", on nov. 27th. Last february I finished the Roma-Ostia half marathon in 1h 46'12" and for the first time I thought: "I can do it again". I have the whole month of July to take a decision. Who knows? This is the photo of the last meters of the Rome Marathon 20 years ago: 3h 34' 09".

Training. It's really hot and the workouts are not easy. This is the training of the last week: running sun 10.2 k; tue 12.2 k and thu 11.5 k - swimming mon and today 1500 meters.

Cat. My daughter Elisa has bought a Sphynx cat, his name is Umberto. He is the first on the right.

Plants. An insect, the red weevil, has destroyed all the palms of our city. I had to cut 2 wonderful high palms in my garden. On the left of the sunflower you can see an ill palm. This is a very sad situation.

Question: What is your favorite plant or flower?

Summer plan

Summer. This is a city on the sea and it’s time to go to the beach, often I go there running, because the distance it’s only 10,5 km. With the heat the weekly long distance runs become shorter (15 km. more or less) and there are more chances to swim (the sea besides the pool). Here are 3 summer pictures: 3 little cruise ships in the port, a sunflower on my balcony and my tired/lazy lady cat Gioconda (devon rex breed).

Training. I noticed that in the latest races I have lost some positions on the uphill so I decided to include more hilly workouts. No speedworks but a weekly tempo-run. This is the training of the last week: sat. 15.4 km, tue 10.6 km and today 15 km.; mon and wed swimming 1400 and 1350 meters.

Races. This is not a good period because the races are organized in little towns where there are terrible uphill/downhill and I don’t want to risk my legs. In Rome there are only crowded events with thousands runners and a very poor swag (a t-shirt in cotton for the first 400/500 and, if you are lucky, you receive a "s" or "xxl" size because it is impossible to get a normal “medium”). The ultimate decision is: the Black Knight Army, waiting for September, will only enter 1 race for month.

Question: Do you change your running/swimming/biking schedule in summer?

Run for the Acorp

Prologue. Last Saturday (June 4) the Black Knight (n° 7) and Sir Giorgio (n° 8) went to Rome to run, through the beautiful park of Villa Pamphili, the Corri per l’Acorp (6 km – 3,7 ml) an event to help the children in Brasil. There we met the blogger GIAN CARLO (n° 108) and we took a photo all together. We ran in a hot afternoon (30° C - 86°F) on a dirty patch full of dust.

The report. It was a total failure, I don’t know what happened but after 4 km I was already tired. The last 2 km were a real ordeal, a nightmare. Sir Giorgio ran all the race near me because he noticed that I didn’t feel good. Finishing time 30’02” at the pace of 5’00”/km. (8’03”/ml), 102° of 170 overall and 18° of 25 a.g. Here is the photo of the final “rush”:

Question: In case you don’t feel good: is it better to finish the race or to withdraw? Have you ever had a similar experience?

Rome again

Training. This was a good week because I could swim and make some good tempo-runs. I cannot run 2 days in a row but the cross training helps. Hard time to run under this hot summer sun.

Run for the Acorp. Tomorrow with Sir Giorgio I will go to Rome to run through the beautiful Villa Pamphili the Acorp race to help the children in Brasil. It is a cross 6 km. long inside the park. I hope to finish in 28'00"/28'30".

Rome again. Here are some pictures that I took 2 weeks ago in Rome after the Race for the Cure. The place is Pantheon Square.

Question: Will you go to the beach this summer?