Used running shoes

On Monday, August, 29th, I wrote a post about throwing away old running shoes. Do runners argue that used running shoes are waste? Of course they don't! My small survey, which I made through my running blog, showed that environmental awareness is developed enough among runners.

Most runners use old running shoes for lots of stuff and don't  throw  away them as waste.  For example, Amy  from Leuven (Belgium)  uses old pair of running shoes for hiking and  Emmy Ann Horstkamp from Munich (Germany) usually donates her used running shoes to the recycle center.

Recycling old athletic shoes decreases the need for virgin rubber and other materials, decreasing the environmental impact of using new materials when building courts, tracks, fields and playgrounds.
Thanks to my blogger friends who gave their answers about this matter!

Summer is coming to an end

On Friday, 26th, I did a relaxing 18 km long run with Stefano who is following a marathon schedule. He is running the Florence marathon on November and have planned a long run every week. We are running the next long run on September, 2nd.
Last Saturday and Sunday  I went swimming and surfing although Summer is coming to an end. In the photo you can see my daughters and I on the beach. I swam one hour while my daughters were surfing and they enjoyed it although the waves weren't big enough. That beach is situated in the Southern side of  the town, five km from my house.

As you can see in the first photo above, that's a particular beach with small stones on the ground. We couldn't walk barefoot on that beach, so I wore old running shoes and my feet were pain free. Used  running shoes aren't waste! Some people  wear used running shoes while they are working in their garden or countryside. Otherwise,  we could find recycling and donation alternatives for  our used running shoes: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/
Do you consider your used running shoes as waste?
 

In the two photos above  you can see my daughters, Laura and Simona.
Nice week to all my blogger friends!

Blackberries

Yesterday after my daughters had picked some blackberries we made a delicious jam. Ultimately, we only made a jar of jam. Better than nothing :) But the most important thing is that they enjoyed walking through that wonderful countryside. They found the blackberries along a path which is a beautiful place to run too. I sometimes go running along that path because the environment is really great and ... it is flat :). You can see it in the photo below which I took while my daughters were picking the blackberries. If we had had enough time we would have  picked figs too. We will  do this next time!



The running path through the countryside where my daughters picked the blackberries

                    


The jar of blackberry jam which my daughters made yesterday

I've come back in my town and next week I'll come back at work. We were on vacation in South Italy on relaxing beaches, green hills with olive trees and old villages. So we visited a small town where most houses were built with white stones. That small town is called Ausonia and it is very old. It's a characteristic place and I would never thought there were so narrow streets. In the photo below you can see one of these houses above mentioned.




One of the houses of Ausonia (South Italy) which were built with white stones

Now I'm trying to improve my training and I'll help my friend Stefano who is following a marathon schedule.
Nice running to all my blogger friends! 

My mother's birthday

On August, 2nd we celebrated my mother's birthday. She's 74. The cake which you can see in the photo was made with almond and chocolate.

I will be in vacation with my family here in South Italy until the next weekend.

The photo below was taken last month while I was running the first kilometer of the Santa Marinella's race. I'm in the centre of the photo with the white and red outfit.

Since the 1st of August I'm in Formia, South Italy. After I had run a race in the dark around a small Tuscanian town called Porto Santo Stefano, I left my town on July, 31st. The photos below were taken before that race.

The photo below shows the port of that Tuscanian town where we ran.

I hope all you blogger friends will have nice runs!