Skipped races

    Unfortunately I have just skipped 2 scheduled races, the first (London Parkrun 5 km) because too weak after a long treatment with antibiotics and the second (Farnese 10 km) for a pain in my right knee.

    However I am not so wise to listen to my body and I do regular workouts without pushing and with no long distance runs.

    Now I feel better but I think that I will also skip the next scheduled race (Vivicittà 10 km) because I find ridiculous a route with 4 laps in a city where we have many possible one lap routes (or 2 x 5 km laps). I enjoy to race but 4 laps with a lot of runners is only chaos.

What do you think about the races with many laps?

Here are 2 pictures of the same race that I ran in 1996. At that time I was member of the official Navy Running team:

London

    I spent 3 days in London with my son Paolo to watch the rugby match England - Italy and to run the Parkrun. About the rugby match it is better not to say anything: it was another terrible defeat. Unfortunately we couldn't enter the Parkrun because I was too weak for a long treatment with antibiotics (and not only) to cure an annoying inflammation.

    However we had all the time to visit again that beautiful city.

    Next races: who knows? I must recover completely before racing again.

 Baker Street

Me and my son  in Carnaby Street

Chinatown

Waxy O'Connors Pub

Skyline

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Piccadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square

Temple Church

Camden Market

Happy Running

February 2019

February 2019. I keep on alternating runs and long walks; the routine is based on 5 days: run, walk, run, walk, run and one day of rest.

    The running workouts were 12 (included one race 10 km. long) for a total of 138 km (85,7 ml). In February I began to work on longer distances to run a half marathon in late April.

    February was also the month of the rugby 6 Nations Tournament and Italy, as usual, is ready to receive another "wooden spoon". The difference with the other 5 teams is evident and more evident is the lack of a good kicker. However every match is a fair, a celebration, the supporters become friends and enjoy the match all together. Very different situation with football where the supporters often "declare war" each others. Taken in good count this spirit, last Sunday I went to the Olympic Stadium in Rome with my oldest grandson, 10 y.o., to watch the match Italy - Ireland. What a surprise! We were the only italians among hundreds irish supporters. Well, they welcomed us, offered pop corn to my grandson and at the end of the match they gave him their irish flag as souvenir (see the second pic below)! What a wonderful afternoon despite the final score (Italy - Ireland: 16 - 26).

    On Friday I will fly to London with my son for the match England - Italy and we have also the opportunity to enter a Parkrun. I am afraid that our running performance at the Parkrun will be better than the Italian rugby team's: I hope to be wrong!!!!

Old Memories: February 2001. On February 25, 2001, I ran the Roma - Ostia half marathon in 1:49:00. At that time it was my personal worst. The race was a nightmare, I was tired because the night before the event I slept only 3 hours after a "dancing dinner" to celebrate the carnival.

What is your favorite sport (running apart)? When you travel, do you enter any running race?

Roma - Corsa del Ricordo (Race of Remembrance)

    Yesterday I have run in Rome the "Corsa del Ricordo" (Race of Remembrance), an event organized to not forget the Italians killed and thrown into "foibas". The "foibe massacres" refers to mass killings by which the corpses were thrown into foibas (deep natural skin holes), perpetrated mainly by Yugoslav partisans in Venezia Giulia, Istria and Dalmazia, against the Italian population, during and after the WW II.

     The race was a tough 10 km with many uphills through the district where the survived Dalmatian and Istrian exiles live. Reminding myself not to push hard to avoid other injures, I have run a race according to my current possibilities and, in spite of my pace, I am happy of my performance: the old wonderful times when I could run a 10 km in 40:00 (more or less) are far!

Official stats: Finishing time 55:13; 571° of 836 overall and 38° of 55 in my a.g.

Conclusions: This was a good experience, at last, after 1 year, I have run a challenging race on a difficult route with no pain and without being exhausted at the end. Now I can plan a series of workouts (3-4 per week) to improve my pace and to address the upcoming races better.

January 2019

January 2018: 2018 was not a good running year, only 4 short races and back pain due to the posture of my right shoulder. After the surgery to install the prosthesis (see the pic), for long time I didn't succeed in maintaining both the shoulders on the same level, so the right arm was always lower than the other.

At last now the things go better and I can run faster and longer. Unfortunately I cannot swim anymore because the movement of the injured arm is limited.

However in January I have alternated runs and long walks. The running workouts were 14 for a total of 147,5 km (91,6 ml). A short distance, I know, but not so bad if compared with the mileage of the latest months (oct 120,5 km - nov 117,5 km and dec 84,6 km).

January 1997: And now a jump in the past for beautiful memories: on jan. 12, 1997 I ran the "Corri per il Borgo" (Run through the Village) a 5,5 km race. My finishing time was 23:22 but for me the distance was longer because, for a mistake, I ran on a wrong way and I had to come back. Despite that I was 6th of 50 in my age group. 

In the second pic (from a local newspaper) you can see my running team at that time. Now 3 of those runners are running in heaven.

Next programs: On Sunday I hope to run a 13,5 km trial but I am not sure because these are days of stormy weather with heavy rains and ice on the streets.

HAPPY RUNNING

2018 in pictures

Happy New Year

After long time the Black Knight is back.  Many things happened and I needed long time to recover after the last terrible injury: pluriframmentary fracture of the right humerus. A lot of pain and now the movement of my right arm is limited because I have a prosthesis inside the shoulder. In the meantime, in April, I retired and now I can enjoy the spare time with my family.

Running: I didn't give up. I kept on running as I could. No more swimming, of course ,but long walks and short runs. Now I run 3 times a week for about 10 km at a little bit less than 6:00/km (9:39 ml) but I am improving. Until last summer my pace was 6:40/km. Only to enjoy the atmosphere of the competition in 2018 I entered 4 races and the last was on December 23rd (see the pics above) but it was a "tragedy" because I ran with a bad bronchitis and after the event I spent other 4 days in the bed. Now I feel good and I am ready for new "adventures".

HAPPY NEW YEAR