Running to Think

I woke up in a very energetic mood this morning.  I think that's the magics of sleeping one hour longer than usual, until I got a phone call at 8am from a friend who, unfortunately forced me to wake up.
Everything is ready for tomorrow. I am in a very positive attitude, my body is responding adequately to any type of input. But my psychological state is what really matters.
I don't feel scared anymore (yes, there was a time I was kind of freaking out thinking about the distance). That moment has just gone and been replaced by the will to accomplish a goal that has been in the waiting queue for such a long time.
Only four months ago I was struggling with a stress fracture, living in a state of depression due to the fact that there was no running after breakfast and no running during my lunch break.
Not today.
I hope that bad injury is not waking up tomorrow. That would be really a big disappointment. After all, that's what runners always have to deal with.

I just came back from a 9km run in the forest of Sart-Tilman in Liege, Belgium.
Legs were not responding as I expected in the first part. After a few hills everything was working just fine. On the road that usually takes me back to the department where I work, I turned left this time, in order to have a more relaxed run on the track and field.
It is really hard to find a straight road that is longer than 500 mt and completely flat here in Liege.
Today it would have been stupid to put my body under useless stress with some trail running or, even worse, climbing into one of the steep roads we usually take.
What can I say? It's quite freezing out there, temperature is going down every day. Legs don't care, hands do. It would be nice if we have a dry winter day next saturday, at least during the four hours I need to cover the challenging distance of 51.5 km.

Apart the cold, the rest is fine.
Looking forward.

Pasta time.

Year 2013 was not the one I wanted to be. I would have liked to run more and take part to many more races across Europe. But a stress fracture of the left pinkie forced me to ride a bike, swim a bit and rest a lot. 

There is exactly one week before the biggest challenge of this year: running 32 miles the day of my birthday, when I will be 32 years old. Now the distance that I chose to run shouldn't be a mystery anymore.
I have to put some more pasta in my diet and add at least 1 hour to my sleeping schedule. Not very easy, though. First, I am not a serious pasta eater (despite my italian origin), and also due to another aspect which is characterising my life in this very last period, which resembles the one of a real gipsy. No stable place, no stable relations and travelling from one city to another for several reasons that include working, pleasure and, sometimes, even for getting a shower. Add to the equation the fact that I am doing all that by bike and you suddenly get a flavour of how tough the situation really is.
I am not complaining. After all I am a gipsy.

View of Marolles, Brussels city

The plan today was a slow run of 13 km. But I enjoyed it so much that I made 18 km, running from somewhere in the city of Brussels to the forest La Cambre and back.
I should stop doing that. Shouldn't I?