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.