Hilly race around Capalbio (South Tuscany)

Last Sunday I ran a hilly race in South Tuscany through the Capalbio’s valley. The race started at 06:00 p.m. from the hystorical centre of that small town and I ran the first three kilometers down hill along a slippery road. I was afraid I could slide! From the 4th to the 7th kilometer I ran past old farms and along vineyards and olive trees until I came back by 4 kilometers up hill. That scenery was really beautiful but while I was running the last three kilometers up hill I didn’t enjoy that landscape around me. I felt tired enough and I needed concetration. I crossed the finish line after 53 mins and 44 seconds (the  track was odd: 11.350 kilometers!!!) and my average pace was 4.44 min/km. I was happy with my pace considering the tough up hill and … the slippery down hill :)

There were two refreshment points along the track and after the race runners had tea, orange juice and red watermelon, which was really useful for rehydratation. You can see it in the photo below.

Before I ran the race I had walked across the old side of Capalbio where I took photos. There were a lot of English and Dutch tourists. 

 

Yesterday morning I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Molly, a blogger friend, who is coming to Italy from September, 25th to October, 5th, 2011 and she would love to run a race during her visit. She looked for a race through the link on my blog ("Next races in Italy") but it is written in Italian. So she asked me some information. I advised her three races (two in Rome and one in South Tuscany) which will be held on October, 2nd.

Next Friday, July, 29th, I am running a race in the dark through another old Tuscanian town. That race starts at 08:30 pm. (the link of its website is here below).

http://www.ipresidi.it/correndosottolestelle.html

Beautiful runs to all my blogger friends!

Short post

Last Saturday I ran a hilly and tough race in the afternoon as training. The track was 9.5 kilometers and my time taken was 45:35 minutes.

The photo shows the warm up before the race.

I've planned to run another race in the afternoon next Sunday. 

In the photo below you can see one of my favourite summer dishes.  If  I were able to eat that delicious meal without bread it would help me to lose weight :)



Ham and melon

 I hope all you will have nice runs!

5 km race on the night

This morning after I had read last Johann's  post about Africa's big five (Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leopard and Buffalo) I met two couples from South Africa. They were visiting Mediterranean countries and travelling by a cruise ship with other South African people. They were looking for the beach and asked me some information. Moreover, they were trying to change their currencies and I helped them. So I discovered that the big five, which Johann showed in his post on July, 8th, are on South Africa's currency.

Today is independence day for the Republic of Southern Sudan. They celebrates Independence from North Sudan. This is a country that should have golden prospects related to its agricultural resources, large oil reserves, gold, and other minerals. There is a relatively small population too. Best whishes to the 54th State of Africa!

Yesterday I ran a nice 5 km race on the night through the old part of Orbetello (Tuscany). The atmosphere was really nice and during the race I felt good. I was delighted with my average pace which was 4.15 min/km. But the track was easy enough and completely flat. Stefano ( Black Knight ) enjoyed that race although he decided to run it as training. I'll post some photos as soon as possible.

Next Saturday I'm running a 10 km race in the night  near my town.
Nice weekend to all my blogger friends!

Itri

Last weekend I went to Itri, 180 km South from Rome, where I met my mother and my two sisters with their families. My mother usually live in Naples but she has recently moved to Itri because there are a lot of  protests in Naples related to the urban waste emergency.
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/06/24/visualizza_new.html_813691788.html

Along the freeway I saw a landscape of sunflowers


My mother has a small house in Itri situated on a hill next to the see and she sometimes spends summer time there. The photo below shows the landscape which I saw from her house.

I really had a relaxing time there and walked along olive trees and  through Mediterranean shrub. While I was walking through the valley which you can see in the picture, I saw a lot of British and French families who spent their holiday there. They like that part of Italy and sometimes British and French people  buy houses with garden there.  The two photos below show a view of my mother's small house, her barbecue and ... hartichoke's flowers :)

View of my mother's house



Hartichoke's flowers



Barbecue

The last two days I didn't run although I've planned to run a race on July, 8th. So next Friday I'm running a race with Stefano in Orbetello (Tuscany) and that race starts at 09:00 p.m. I have never run a race in the night!

Nice running to all my blogger friends!