Ran the last three days in Berlin. Today a longer one from Zoo to Grünewald. There was a very good looking gravel track in Grünewald but the fence was something I was not able to pass. Nobody used the empty field. Why the fence, why?
Category: Travels
Long one all around SF
Did a pretty long morning run all around San Francisco. Almost 2 hrs total, though there were a few stops for photographs. Started at 6:30 when the sun was still down. Some half an hour later at Kezar Stadium’s mondo a 1000m in 3.01. Quite ok considering how stiff my leg muscles are at the moment. Then down Golden Gate park until I started to feel a bit exhausted. So no Ocean Beach this time. Ran back along roads through Pacific Heights. Must have been 20K+ total. I wonder how long it takes to get my legs back to normal after all the up & downhill running during the five days here.
East Bay Sunday: two races in a row, Doors back in SF
I’m in San Francisco for a few days. Will participate in SDforum and Open Source Business Conference. Anyway, yesterday I took BART to East Bay to participate in two races.
First 10K in Oakland, “4th Sunday race”, organized by a local club. The route was two laps around Lake Merritt. My time was 34.35 with 17.12/17.23 splits. The first mile was 10 secs quicker than the rest. There was some headwind and one construction zone gave the course perhaps 10 secs extra for each lap. A strong run overall.
Just forty minutes and another BART ride later I started a “12K” street orienteering from Fleet Feet in North Berkeley. An excellent route up and down Berkeley Hills. Took me a little over an hour to complete. Might be that I ran a bit more than 12K.
Together with runs in & out I think this was pretty close to a 30K Sunday!
The night ended in a Doors concert at the Fillmore:
This morning legs were rather good compared to what I did the day before. Ran just a mile in the morning around Nob Hill where I’m staying. Will probably return for more later… the weather looks good, and SF’s hilly streets are simply attractive for running.
Nice island runs in Kiev
Spent the last four days or so in Kiev, Ukraine. It turned out to be a surprisingly good location for running. In what major cities, in addition to NYC, you can get directly from your hotel for a 10K run in a park — or woods in Kiev — without facing any major traffic?
I did that 10K two times during my stay. Just took the 1950s walking bridge over to the nearby island. There is actually a couple of these mostly inhabited natural park style islands over Dniepr. Based on map, it looks like you could do a 20K run in the woods basically without any traffic.
For some reason, though, I was definitely the only runner around. Just the odd dog coming out from nowhere in the bushes kept me from running too quick or too far…
Perspectives on China in 5 posts – 1/5
Returned from a quick but eye-opening five-day journey into Beijing. On the way back I thought the trip would be worth a couple of posts. At least. Let’s say 5.
These will be my own perspectives based on what I saw, heard, and read. My posts may have great misconceptions but what the hell. Wild guesses and random ramblings are the idea of blogging anyway.
First some background for this trip. A taiwanese professor Fan Chien Te visited Finland some years back. Now, a month ago or so he invites Niklas Bruun to give a talk in a symposiums held in Beijing. The trip didn’t fit Bruun’s schedule with such a short notice. Instead, he kindly threw the invitation to me.
At first, I had a great deal of mental hurdles to pass. I had my grazy Hong Kong experience from the past. We had a joint software venture there with Antti Halonen between 2001-2003, which the HK guys eventually stole away. I had since followed news from China with alarm. Pollution, SARS, poisoned food, immoral people, general dirt, “made in china” quality, free speech issues, pirate-midset with no creativty etc. Why would I want to visit such a rotten place on earth? I actually wrote a polite email back where I explained I would probably have nothing to contribute hoping that this would be it. Besides, I was having a tight shcedule in Finland. Teaching ongoing, completing an already-late book revision, one major consultation task etc.
Pofessor Fan then sent me a four-page letter to explain why I needed to come. Well, after engaging in the conversation I couldn’t say firmly no anymore (this happens to me all the time). I had the liberty to buy a business-class ticket and was given a loose schedule that included visits to major tourist attractions. Just five days or so total, I though. They must have fixed a lot for the Olympics, so maybe I can take it. To increase the thrill I chose Aeroflot – a day before that crash. Ok, I’m ready, this may be the last trip I ever do so let’s enjoy every moment like it would be the last!