Monday, October 06, 2008

Italy Update

ORN: 17.0 miles, R4/W1, 3:05:00

Greetings from Italy!!

Wow, has this been a great trip and we have another 5 days here. The art in Florence was astounding. Even me, a card-carrying, linear-thinking engineer was deeply moved by seeing Michalangelo's "David"...the most famous statue ever. The food is just beyond description. It is great to be with my three sisters and our spouses. We're all safe and enjoying it.

Running was cool this morning. I knew I had to get one long run in on this trip to bridge the USAFM and the Indy Marathon coming up. The schedule allowed it this morning...in fact, I'm typing this from an Internet cafe in Lucca which I came to after running...they didn't seem to mind me sitting here in my sweaty tech shirt!! I'll post photo of where I ran when I get home...but if you search for images of "the walls of Lucca" you'll see it. A 2.5 mile loop on protecitve city walls built in the 1200's. Now a verdant, beautiful walkway. What a cool spot to run. My hydration plan kicked in...I was a little low on fluids and calories, felt it sliding away around the 11 mile mark. I chugged the second Gu and dialed up the fluid rate and I staved off the early tendancy to dehydrating. Finished strong. 17 miles in Italy...cool.

So much more to write...will wait till I get home and don't have to pay per minute to connect!!

What on earth happened to my Chicago Cubs?? I leave the country and they drop three straight to the Dodgers and pack it in for another year??? Oh my...what a bummer for this baseball fan.

Hope Portland Marathon went well for those of you who ran it. Good luck to all of you running Chicago this Sunday!

7 comments:

Sarah said...

17 miles in Italy is very cool! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Wes said...

Dude! You are living the good life :-) Have a fine dark Italian beer for me!!

Backofpack said...

Wow Joe! Way cool - Italy, art, food, running, life couldn't be any better.

Darrell said...

This is the most exotic post I've read in a long time. Running in Italy had to be a great experience. Can't wait to hear all about it in TN.

IronWaddler said...

Too cool, Joe. I am so jealous.

About the Cubs-wait until next year!

Pat said...

hope you're enjoying Italy. Sounds pretty cool. Darrell mentioned your blog, since I was running in Purdue country. I ran on the cattail trail north of Purdue. I'll have to read more of your blog later. Enjoy your trip.

Anonymous said...

Joe,
Just found your blog. Looks great. I'll be keeping tabs. Take care.