Mayor election

Last Saturday my daughter Laura and her friend Demetra had an accident. They had planned with other friends to go to "Subway" to eat something and they decided to go by motorbike. At 12:50 pm, while they were going to the pub above mentioned, which is located next to the port, a car driven by a silly lawyer hit their motorbike and they both fell. My wife and I were afraid she had had an injury but the doctor of the Civitavecchia's hospital said that there wasn't any problem. Her right knee is in good conditions but this morning she still had shoulder pain. Now she feels better and her friend Demetra is in good conditions too.

A well organized 7.8 km race was held yesterday in Grosseto (Tuscany): beautiful environment, soft and flat running path, good loot (wine, rice, honey and biscuits), great post race refreshment point and about 150 runners.  The scenery was interesting and we ran along green fields where we could see a lot of brown horses. The time taken was  4.55 min/km and I did't run that short race with  my competitive spirit because I was not (and I'm not) adequately trained for it. Stefano ran that race as training too and I have just known that he have got knee pain. I hope that he will feel better soon.

Local Politics: Civitavecchia’s Mayor election will be held on Sunday, May, 6th. I can't predict who will win and with how many casualties but I have seen that most election candidates are lawyers and doctors. Consequently: lawyers + doctors = Italian local politicians  :)

That gives me the opportunity to share with you the following joke which is titled “The doctor and the lawyer”:

A doctor and a lawyer were talking at a party. Their conversation was constantly interrupted by people describing their ailments and asking the doctor for free medical advice.

After an hour of this, the exasperated doctor asked the lawyer: "What do you do to stop people from asking you for legal advice when you're out of the office?"

The lawyer replied: "I give it to them! And then I send them the bill."

The doctor was shoked, but agreed to give it a try. The next day, still feeling guilty, he prepared the bills. When he went to place them in his mailbox, he found a bill from the lawyer. 

I hope all my blogger friends will have a nice 1st May holiday!

Rome's Vivicittà 2012

I have never run a race along a river and, yesterday, the 2012 edition of the Rome's Vivicittà 12 km race was held along the  river Tevere (Tiber in latin language). Rome is located on that river and hundreds of runners enjoyed that race. The scenery was beautiful and I could see other people who enjoyed that river: rowing, canoeing, birdwatching, hiking, biking and walking. Spring weather was perfect. From the 1st to the 7th km the running path was in good conditions because we ran along the cycle track next to the river. After we had run seven  km we crossed the bridge and reached the left bank of the river where there was a refreshment point: water and ... chocolate cake! I would have never tought chocolate cake during a race. How can I eat a cake while I'm running? While I was drinking some water Stefano rushed ahead because he didn't drink. Anyway, I took a cake but didn't eat it. So, I left  the refreshment point and  I ran down hill from the bridge to the left bank of the river where there were a lot of potholes. I realized I was running down a dangerous path! I reached Stefano at the 8th km and gave him the cake which was packed. Maybe he needed energy! Unfortunately, while we were running along the left bank of the river, exactly from the 8th to the 9th, the running path was muddy and we had no choice but to run through the mud. From the 10th to the 12nd km there were cobblestones on the running path: terrible! After 1 hour and 4 minutes we crossed the finish line: that race was really challenging. I'm in the  photo below close to Stefano ... although you can see my red pants only :)

Happy running to all my blogger friends!

Eastern Monday

The photo posted shows the place where we spent Eastern Monday on April, 9th. That old farm has been transformed in a nice farm house resort and it is located 120 km North from Rome. In Italy, that style of vacationing is called "agriturismo" and this word is a  combination of the words for "agriculture" and "tourism" in Italian.

We stayed with friends and their children and we had a great time although the weather was windy.

Tomorrow I am running the Rome's Vivicittà 12 km race. It's a world–renowned Italian-founded race which takes place every year all over Europe and in other cities around the world. Its aim is to achieve integration between different cultures and peoples by using sport as an instrument of socialization.

Stefano and I are running that race as training. As I wrote on  Char's blog, where I've just left a comment, I still see a lot of chocolate in my house and I'm not losing weight :)

I hope you'll have a nice running, swimming and biking weekend!