2021 - Happy new year

Running Update - This week was characterized by heavy rains but, between one storm and another, I succeeded in running every other day following my scheduled plan. All the workouts have been challenging because I chose hilly routes including some speed works during the last 3 km.  I need to improve my pace in view of the upcoming races. I hope to start the long distance runs on the next week end.

Tuesday: 10,7 km;

Thursday: 10,6 km;

Saturday (Christmas Day): 11,1 km. This was a night run through the suburbs to enjoy the Christmas lights. It was a unreal situation because the city was desert!

2021 Random Pics:

January - Due to covid restrictions many cruises were canceled and the ships stayed at anchor:

January

February - A very cold month:

February

March - Nathan continues his career as barkrunner. Here he is with my son Paolo:

March

April - I received from South Africa the swag of the virtual Race the Legends Comrades Marathon that I ran the year before (the 5 km):

April

May - With my son Paolo before starting the weekly virtual College Park Parkrun. We are grateful to the College Park friends for keeping the running community together during the worst period of the pandemic, organizing the events and filling out beautiful reports:

May

June - My 4th grandson Alessandro was born. Here he is with his brother Gabriele:

June

July - My grandson Leonardo participated in a goalkepeers meeting:

July

August - We spent some days at the Bolsena lake (photo with my wife, our daughter Elisa and her 2 sons):

August

September - Autumn has come:

September

October - Celebrating my 65th birthday with my wife, our children and their families:

October

November - At last racing in person (with my son Paolo): coming back to life!!!!

November

December - My grandson Gabriele at his first rugby tournament. His team won al the matches:

December

              I wish you a happy New year!!!!

Return to normality

Running update. I'm finally returning to normality, recovering speed and increasing slowly the mileage. The routine is always the same: a workout every other day and 45 minutes of stretching on the rest day.

This week I have ran 4 times:

Monday : 10 km (flat);

Wednesday: 10.6 km (ondulate – very tough);

Friday: 10 km (ondulate);

Today: 11.2 km totally flat with 2 friends on a sunny day. It was an opportunity for a relaxing slow run (pace 6:30/km - 10:28/m) on the promenade and for a chat among old runners (they are 69 and 66 y.o., I am 65 y.o.) remembering our racing adventures in the past.

Christmas time. A few days before Christmas, even the farthest streets from the center are filling up with lights. Here are the photos of 2 alleys in the most ancient district of my city.

Many events have also been organized in neighboring towns. This is Tolfa:

S.Urbano Apiro. Here are some photos of the ancient Benedictine abbey of S.Urbano Apiro which is located in the center of a valley in the Marche region and that I visited with my son before the pandemic. The plays of light at dawn, inside the building, are incredibly beautiful.

 I wish you a merry Christmas

Running again

Running again. After 2 weeks of stop due to a strong flu, the doctor finally authorized me to training again. Unfortunately, this return to running coincided with a strong wave of bad weather: rainstorms (see the movie below) and, in the next days, a strong cold. The right time to feed the birds.

However, I have always found, in late morning, a moment of pause in the rain to be able to run. The recovery was gradual:

Tuesday: 6 km;

Thursday: 8 km;

Saturday 10 km.

It's cold!!!!!

Feeding the birds

Holidays: The Christmas atmosphere has now invaded the city. Lights everywhere, shepherds playing traditional instruments in the main streets and mothers busy in cooking traditional biscuits:

Ancient memories: In my city, during the Christmas period, until the mid-90s, “La Saracena”, a very tough classic race of 14.4 km, was held.

Here is a photo from 1986, we were only 86 at the start and, as you can see, we also ran in the traffic. Time flies and now, where on the right there was the wall with the railway underneath, there is a mega-parking.

                                When did you participate in your first race? On which distance?

December

Running update - I haven't been running for almost 2 weeks now due to the flu aggravated by catarrhal otitis and sinusitis. As written in my last post, fortunately, it is not Covid.

Tomorrow morning I will get the last laboratory tests and if everything goes well, as my running doctor thinks,  I will start my workouts again. At the end of the month, based on the progress made, I will decide which races to participate in.

December lights - This week the city is shining with holiday lights:

The cat, on the other hand, is not interested in Christmas lights and prefers to hide in the closet:

Memories: Here I am (second from left) 44 years ago at the Leghorn Naval Academy, it was December 1977, I'm the second from left:

 Are you ready for the Holidays?