Category: Travels

After start, my running felt strong. Unfortunately it did not last.

It was a disaster end for a disappointing season. I simply failed the half marathon. First 5K in 17.30, 10K in 35.30 or something, and after that it was like 3.50+ Ks. After the run I took a fast taxi to the airport and left Finland behind.

I am writing this from a house on the hills of Montabone, near Acqui Terme, in Piedmont, Italy. Now it feels like I am at crossroads with the running hobby. I have basically slept one season over, and I’m already 33 years. It will be hard to get back to the condition where I was a year ago. Can I ever run half marathon in 1.12 again? I have to face the fact that such a day may never come.

Well. I still have Boston and 2.40 in sight. A lot of miles are needed in order to even think of starting with that 1.20 pace…

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?

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.

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…