Most unpopular kid on the block

I don't recall ever being invited to a party or having a party when I was a kid (well, not until in my teens) yet, now, all the kids from what seems one up seem to invite friends for a party.

I know in the UK this has got out of hand (McDonalds seem to do well out of it). It is still very amateurish here in France for the moment, so fun.

Sunny Day

After spending time in Italy in the "none" weather, it has been glorious day here today. As I have not been out for a week or more, I finnaly combined my upper and lower urban trails. Almost exactly 15km.

Didn't  bother with music on my way round and I am glad. Was able just to enjoy the warmth and sounds arround me.

Why oh why though has somebody dumped a tonne of bricks on my path. I suspect some kind of erosion thing, or to stop cyclists, but it looks ugly and it is impossible to run on. Will take a photograph of I remember a camera next time round.

The run lost

Been tough balancing work, family and an occasional run. The run lost.

Does carrying the little ones on shoulders count as a work out?  And the ice cream, does that count as sugar loading?

Garmin .... Stats are a bit screwed

Umm, checking the stats again on the Garmin. Looks like they have tried to fix the exaggeration in Z, but have gone the other way.

I thought my run had a higher Z change, so looked more closely at the stats:


From the web interface

Elevation Gain:	133 m
Elevation Loss:	136 m
Min Elevation:	283 m
Max Elevation:	413 m

This height gain is based on the maximum minus minimum height..... In reality the form of the slope was like:

From the desktop application, the height is exaggerated, but more what I would expect:

Will look closer later

Multi Usage Kit

The day after we got here, wifey tells me that she forgot to bring underpants for me. Oh dear, lumbered with one pair for the duration... The ones I was wearing.

Never mind, I have 2 pairs of running shorts. And as I have lost some weight, no problem using them as underwear. Just need to wash one pair, run in one pair and ware one pare. Done deal, no problem.

Santa Maria Macerata

We had a nice lunch in a cafe, the beer I ordered was 12% so instead of going to sleep in the afternoon, went for a run.

I don't know what Garmin has done, but my watch is now recording allot lower readings (for height gain) than it has done in the past. Good, as I think it was exaggerating. But now I feel cheated. I thought I had done some hard work but Garmin says no, only 130m (about 10 times smaller than what I need for the X


Still, after 4 days off, it feels good to do a few k's (4.5).

Couple of images from my run

Santa Maria Macerata

This is where we are staying: Yesterday we visited Florence, the day before San Gimigano. The sun has begun to warm up the area and we are starting to relax. O is not sleeping too well in the afternoon so is a bit naughty.... Also means I have no time for a run

But I think that is what I need. The rest is probably doing my heals good.


View Larger Map

Greve in Chianti

Wet Wet Wet. No not a song I was listening to today while running, just the stuff falling from the sky! It had cleared up by 16:00! It was not too hot either, a lovely 3 or 4 degrees most of the day.

So we all hopped it over to Greve in Chianti to do some grockling which we managed to do very well. Buying sausisant, jamban, cheese and wine from the lovely Macelleria Falorni. Although I would not recommend that you describe the cheese as "Smelling of socks" as I heard one American man say.

The afternoon we C, and O had a nap, I had a quick run (See below) superb, but I found it difficult to get moving after the food at lunch (see above purchases). But I did manage to get to the Monastery nearby to see if we could visit - No. But was a very impressive building all the same.

Hard to run

Sometimes it is just not possible to kit up. Today was one such day. You would think after 8 hours drive that would be the first thing to do. It is not, does not even cross the mind. - ha ha, although I thought "hey this is not crossing my mind".

There is the new (holiday) place to explore with the kids. First meals to have. Bottles of wine to gorge. And the gorgeous view of Chianti to drink down.

The trip down was not much to talk about, except for Frejus tunnel causing an 1.5 hour delay. The effect of that was that the hammer was down on the peddle some what. (Note on that. Seems that the Italians are something like the French where 10 years ago when there where no speed cameras - that was a breath of fresh air in itself)

J decided that she did not like the place. Said it was too small! Of cause in comparison to last year in Florida at the same time it is smaller, but very different.

Not a fluke

Seems my last (Ball Run) run was not a fluke. I repeated it today and got a similar time.

Maybe it is the lack of sugar in my tea, or the fact I have knocked off the beer.

I forgot to mention the other day, I overtook a bunch of ramblers going up the same hill. Suddenly I had somebody tailing me, matching me step for step. This lasted for a few minutes (he was just a bit too far back to talk to - I would have needed to shout and that was not possible with the lack of oxygen)

He stopped after a while and I continued the 200 meters to the top. I turned around and cruised (crawled) back down the hill to him. It turned out the old boy was 65! WOW, now I want to be in that kind of shape when I am his age too.

Ball Run

It is not so often that there is a sudden and dramatic change in time on a favorite run. The other day it occurred though. My run, a simple 5k up hill and then 5k down.

I took of 8 minutes. Managed in 48 minutes.