Ladispoli's 10 km race

A thousand of runners enjoyed this morning the Ladispoli's 10 km race in support of Ucraina's children of Chernobyl. In a nice and sunny Sunday we ran this beautiful race through the natural reserve of Palo Laziale ( http://www.agri-net.org/parco_en.asp?idparco=84 ) where the track wasn't hard. Before we crossed the finish line we had run the last 2 km next to the see. Unfortunately Stefano didn't run because he was hill but I tryed to defend the Black Knight team: time taken 44 min. 52 sec., but there weren't up hills and down hills. :)

As request by Alexandra I posted some photos below. In the third photo you can see the soft path of the natural reserve above mentioned, which is an environment with the last surviving patches of tyrrhenian plains forest. There are numerous nesting and migratory birds too.
That is why I like running.

Next race

Before it rained again I had slowly run 10 km. on Monday. Time taken 57 min. 58 sec.
Now I'm deciding to help Stefano next Sunday during the Ladispoli's 10 km race. Although I don't run fast now I'll likely follow him. I know there aren't up hill and down hill and it is an easy track.
Running makes me feel good.

Rainy again

During this rainy winter we are always running on wet streets in this part of the world. I ran today 55 minutes in the rain from 1:40 to 2:35 p.m. around the suburbs which are situated in the Southern part of the town where I live. While I was running I saw different colours of the small new houses which were built there. In one of theese suburbs, people painted their front houses with pastel colours such as pink, orange, bottle green, etc.

Running makes me feel good. As soon as the weather will be nice I begin running drills which give strenght and help legs.

An old small town

As you know, I like sharing photos of where I run. In a cloudy morning I went to an old small town (42 kilometres North from the town where I live). But I wasn't there for my training. Unfortunately I was there because I had a particular task at work and I didn't run around this beautiful place which is surronded by medieval walls. Every year in May there is a 10 km around this town and the two black knights will likely run there. Although I'm running three times a week and the speed is slowly coming back I will not run the race with Stefano the 21th of February 2009.
In the photo above posted you can see a particular old fountain where I drank fresh water. The two images below show a side of this small town and a view of the houses which were made with tuff stones.

Running and biking off-road

I began to run three weeks after I had had a bronchial flu. I slowly ran 50 minutes yesterday around the town while the weather wasn't rainy or cloudy and this morning I rode my bicycle across the hills. So I'll try to run next week and sometimes I'll likely go swimming or ride a bicycle.

Running and riding a bicycle off-road, often over rough terrain, through mediterranean woods, country roads or natural parks offer us enormous environmental opportunity. We can discover a lot of sites which are "significant" from a landscape point of view. If we run or rode a bicycle around historic centres we can see monuments and sites which are considered "non-traditional tourist attractions" of the old town.

Although I've lost my running speed it's important I've begun to run. I didn't run quickly yesterday but I understood that I hadn't lost the strenght.

The crèche and the magi

While I was in Naples last week I went running once only. Unfortunately, after this training around the Royal Park of Naples I had a Bronchitis (I had a shower and I quickly got out while the weather was cold) and consequently I didn’t run the Neapolitan 10 km. race which started the 26th of December. But I saw that race while my friends were running it (photo above posted). Now, if I feel good next week I will begin likely training again.

Here, in my house in Civitavecchia near Rome, the crèche or creb was constructed three weeks ago. The crèche is a depiction of the birth of Jesus and its main part is the nativity scene. But it consists of other characters from the biblical story such as shepherds and the Magi, who will reach the nativity scene the 6th of January. In the Gospel of Matthew, the only one to describe the visit of the magi, it states that they came "from the east" to worship the Christ, "born King of the Jews”.
Although Matthew does not mention their number, because three gifts are recorded as having been given to the Christ Child, traditionally there are thought to have been three Magi. The two photos above posted show the nativity scene and the Magi. You can see crèche’s sheperds in the other images below posted.

Christmas 2009 in Naples

Christmas time is near. We'll go to Naples tomorrow where we stay until the 28th of December 2009. I hope to continue the training in Naples where I'll try to run through the old royal park. Moreover, a 10 km. race will start in a small town near Naples next Saturday. If I'll feel good I run that race.

The typical Neapolitan Christmas cake, which you can see in the photo above posted, has been cooked today. The other photo shows my mother's Christmas tree, which has been made in her house in Naples.
Wishing you a Christmas full of affection and warmed with love.

About Civitavecchia's half marathon again

After the 2009 Civitavecchia’s half marathon I’ve tryed to maintain the long distance training. The goal is the next Rome's half marathon which starts in February. Moreover, running long distance makes me feel relaxed because it gives me an opportunity to see landscape, environment, countryside and old town centre. Meanwhile Stefano has decided to run the 10 km. Fiumicino’s race next month and I'll probably follow him. In the photo above posted I was crossing the finish line of the last Civitavecchia’s half marathon which I ran the 8th of November 2009. While I was running the race I was the number 549.

The other photos below show the happiness of runners who were crossing the finish line . . . in the rain.

2009 Civitavecchia's half-marathon

There were about 1500 runners who took part in the race while the weather was rainy. I had breakfast at 07:10 a.m., about three hours before the race which started at 10:00 a.m.
When the race started the runners ran next to the cathedral and through the port. Outside the port we ran among farmers fields and countryside surronding the northern side of the town and was really nice.

I didn't find the race difficult to do because there were two short up hills only (total up hill distance was about 1.2 km). We run the last 2 km through the town, next to the theatre and the archaeological museum. The distance of the race was 21 km. Time taken: 1 hour, 42 minutes, 44 seconds. Two year ago I ran the same half marathon and I took the same time. While I was running the race it didn't rain. Fortunately it rained 5 minutes after I crossed the finish line, so I quickly came beck home.
This time the loot wasn't interesting. It was a bathrobe. What's more is that they gave me a very small size. But it's important I enjoyed the race.

19 km. training

We began the Sunday's training at 08:00 a.m. while the weather was mainly sunny. At the beginning we ran up hill and down hill outside the town. while we were running next to a green hill we saw a lot of black sheeps. It was the first time I saw black sheeps here in Italy.
During the last two km. we passed through the old side of the town. I was pleased with my training, so I'll try to run the Civitavecchia half-marathon next month. I decided to try the race which starts the 8th of November 2009.

Montalto's running race 10.700 km.

Last Sunday, the 11th of October 2009, Stefano, Umberto and I, ran a 10.700 race in Montalto in support of "Italian Association blood's donors". I was the fifth on the list which includes runners who were born from 1960 to 1964. The loot, which you can see in the photo above posted, consists of two bottles of wine, one bottle of oil, coffee and pasta. Stefano's loot is the same because he was the fourth on the other list which includes runners who were born from 1955 to 1959. Congratulations to Stefano for his ordeal. We are planning to run another 10.00 km. race in support of another social cause the 1st of November 2009.

Cluster-pine trees

During the hot summer we run in this beautiful place where the path crosses a cluster-pine trees forest and wild pigs live inside a big enclosure. You can see it in the pictures posted.

Next week I will likely began to follow a half-marathon training schedule for intermediate runners. It.s a 12-week half-marathon training program which provides 6 tempo run trainings. Tempo runs help you develop your anaerobic threshold, which is critical for faster racing.

For a 40-minute tempo run, for example, start your run with 5 to 10 minutes of easy running, then continue with 15 to 20 minutes of running at about a 10K pace. Finish with 5 to 10 minutes of cooling down. If you're not sure what your 10K pace is, run at a pace that feels "comfortably hard".

http://running.about.com/od/halfmarathonprograms/a/interhalf.htm

Gaeta and the island of Ventotene

After the summer time I will likely begin to follow a running programme. The goal is the next Civitavecchia's half marathon. Now I'm on Holiday and I'm mainly swimming.

Here the world economic crisis caused a decrease of the tourist traffic flow. As consequence the prices of hotels fell by 8,3 per cent during this summer. The tourist traffic flow decreased in Greece and Spain too.

Tourist sector sharply shrank

An Italian financial daily has reported today that people cut expenses for beach holiday this summer. But on Sunday people are crowding beaches which become deserted during weekdays. Although the price of hotels decreased by 40 percent, same Italian towns as Venice, Florence and Rome lost a lot of tourists from 2007 to 2009. Of course unemployment rate rose in tourist sector too. The weakness of U.S. and European labour market, which limits wages and threatens to erode consumer spending, will prolong the recession.

Black Knight Navy members, who Stefano has shown on his blog, are going swimming across the see twice a week.

The situation remains uncertain

As matter stand, most investors want to see signs of recovery. Althought there is more money going in to the market than coming out, there aren't signs of stabilization and unemployment would may rose again. While some companies last week were forecasting a earning decrease in 2009, the German group Arcador, where there are 43,000 employees, decided to go bankrupt. G-8 finance ministers said yesterday after a meeting in Lecce, Italy, there are “signs of stabilization,” though “the situation remains uncertain.”

Meanwhile North Korea said any U.S. effort to enforce international sanctions over the communist nation’s nuclear program would be considered an act of war and be met with military force. The sanctions also call for new restrictions on loans and money transfers to North Korea. We have to think what theese global news mean for the market.

This morning while I was running I saw an old Italian war ship and I took a photo. You can see the old ship in the picture above posted. On the other side of the sea harbour there was an Italian aircraft carrier. Its photo is down here.

“We’re not out of the woods”

It isn't a matter of pessimism or optimism. The 5th of May 2009 I posted something about the rise of the Nasdaq index which generally indicates the major trend in the global stock market. Actually, during the last two months the world's stock market grew more than forecast. For example, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose by 40 per cent since the March 9th lows and a Goldman Sachs report shows that it, which reached last week the level of 940, won't increase within next six months. Although, China and other emerging nations didn't increase their demand of raw materials, we saw the growth of price commodities as crude oil $ 69 and copper $ 230. We need to understand the behaviour of investors considering the decrease of world's consumer goods and the growth of unemployment rate. U.S. payrolls fell by 345,000 in May, less than forecast, while the unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, here in Europe, Irish unemployment reached 11,8 percent.

In this perspective, actual rise of prices is probably related to an irrational behaviour of investors, who think that stock market has reached the bottom. Next month we will likely see the beginning of the summer drop (traders sometimes say "sell in may and go away"). As soon as the slight decrease of stock markets is remarkable investors will see good shares to buy of course. In my opinion the overall trend since March 9th lows should be up to sideways. We will see a horizontal trend with a result of the prices traveling between strong levels of support and resistance. Most experts said that the latest rally may be a “trader’s rally” instead of a bull market. They added “We still have more problems to be worked out.”

 

The photo above posted shows the delivery of new cars in Civitavechia's harbour.