Novi Sad Marathon, 2009

Uspesno smo tata i ja zavrsili i Novosadski polu-maraton, 29. Marta 2009.

Moja passion za trcanjem je i pocela trcanjem ovog maratona pre 15 godina! Bio je to prelep uspeh i lepo iskustvo koje nas je opet na neki nacin priblizilo (tatu i cerku).
Moram samo da dodam da sam bila sva najezena od srece dok sam trcala kroz Dunavsku i Zmaj Jovinu Ulicu!! Kakvo predivno iskustvo... utrcavati na cilj pored Miletica :))

Inace, sta reci o fantasticnoj poseti kuci i porodici do da su mi se baterije napunile, da je srce vece i da zdravije kuca, i da je dusa mirna!!

Ljubim vas i volim, dragi roditelji, sekice, i svi ostali koji ste se potrudili da me razmazite za vreme moje posete kuci! Hvala vam!!!

Marcus Aurelius Medal!! Rome Marathon, 2009

Crossing the finish line means triumph to every marathon runner.

All the runners who finish the Maratona di Roma XV edition received a medal carved by Master Alfiero Nena, Chairman of the Italian Sculptor's Association: the medal portrays Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who was also a stoic philosopher.

Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and detachment from material things, as well as keeping passionate emotions and pain under control. In a similar way, runners have to overcome difficulties and endure pain using their perfect knowledge of their body and its own limits if they want to cross the finishing line.

Stoic philosophers maintained teat succeeding is an individual task, but helping out people in trouble is highly recommended. This should be every runner's motto!

The slogan of the social anti-racism campaign, which has been associated to the Maratona di Roma for years is carved on the medalČ
'Vinciamo ogni disciminazione' ('Let's beat every discrimination')

My relative Dimitrije, a lawyer in Belgrade, knows how much I enjoyed reading about Marcus Aurelius and the philosophy of Stoics during my studies in Law School. :))

DIMITRIJE: See you in a few days in Belgrade!

Veni, Vidi, Vici!!!

Maratona di Roma was a success, with close to 15,000 participants!!  

It was my 2nd International Marathon and I accomplished my Personal Best running time! :)))

I wasn't the fastest but I had the best tan! ;))) 

Paul (Italy) was my pacer from mid-way on, and then I finished with Massimo (Italy).  

The route of the marathon was truly spectacular!! Magnifique!!!

We started at the Colosseum and ended at the Colosseum.  Everything was well organized - sponge stops, water, gatorade and food stops on every 5 km or so. But the most spectacular side of the marathon was definitely the scenery of the eternal city of Rome!

...more to come... 

Abebe Bikila: my hero (after my dad, of course!!) :))

Abebe Bikila: Barefoot in Rome, 1960

A few of the other runners sniggered when they saw Abebe Bikila turn up at the start of the Olympic marathon with no shoes.  As a television camera scanned the  scrum of athletes readying themselves for the starter's gun, a commentator asked: "And what's this Ethiopian called?" 

It was 1960, Rome.  Africa was just shrugging off the weight of colonial rule and some sporting officials still doubted Africans were ready for the big time.  A little over 2 hr. 15 min. later that myth lay shattered by the slight man wearing number 11, a member of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's Imperial Guard and a proud African whose gliding, barefoot run through Rome's cobblestone streets announced his continent's emergence as a running powerhouse. 

Bikila's triumph was all the more stunning because it happened in the capital of Ethiopia's former military occupier.  Legend has it that he made his decisive move in the race just as he passed the Axum Obelisk, a towering stela that Mussolini had brought back from Ethiopia as war loot. 

Four years later in Tokyo, Bikila won gold again, the first man to defend Olympic marathon title. This time he wore shoes. (times mag online)

Mia aka Abebe Mikila is no Abebe Bikila, but she is ready to run the Rome Marathon tomorrow!!! and yes, she will be wearing shoes! :))

 

Benvenutinella Roma dei record! Welcome to Record-Rome!

A shortened message from the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, for the Marathon:

"...Maratona di Roma is the sports' event with the largest number of participants in Italy (15,000 runners registered), moreover, it ranks third on the list of international marathons with the largest number of disabled participants.  Thanks for its route, which runs across the most beautiful places of Rome, the foreign press unanimously chose Maratona di Roma as the most scenic marathon in the world. 

...This year, we hope to see 85,000 runners at the Roma Fun Run (64,000 in 2008), in order to set the all-time record of 100,000 people running Maratona di Roma! This is an ambitious yet achievable goal, which will make Rome the capital of sports! 

I hope that the streets of our city will be full of people of every age and background, willing to run and to spend a day doing sports in the streets of Rome.  Enjoy your run! " 

Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno

Abebe Mikila: bib+chip = check! Maratona di Roma!

Maratona di Roma, XV, is in 2 days - Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 8am! 

The motto of the marathon is: Start Your Dreams! 

I have my bib number: 3292 and a shoe-chip, and Abebe Mikila is ready to start running ;))

SPRING / FALL is in the air! :))

Happy 1st day of SPRING to the northern hemisphere and 1st day of FALL to the southerners!! :))

Sto bi moja mamica rekla: Danas je prolece, zao mi je onih kojima to nije vazno! 

ROMA, Italia

Mia arrived in Rome circa 17:45pm!

Larisa & Albert: Thank you again for your hospitality in Naples!! I had a wonderful time and I hope to see you again soon! Have a great time running the Lisbon marathon - I will be cheering for you from Rome!!

Life - Vita - Vie - Zivot

A quote from A. Einstein instead of a 'good morning note' :

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." 

"La vie, c'est comme un velo, il faut avancer pour ne pas perdre l'equilibre." 

"Zivot je kao voznja bicikla. Kako bi odrzali razvnotezu moramo uvek da verglamo."

Ciao for now!

mama i tata (familia)

Cao mamice i tatice! 

Samo da vam se javim da krecem za Rim i ostajem do ponedeljka ujutru. Od Rima idem do Ancone, nadam se da cu uspeti da nadjem voz, i onda od Ancone imam ferry za Split u 9 uvece. 

TATA - bon chance sa treniranjem!! bice nam super zajedno u nedelju, nemas brige. Vidim da ti je vreme bilo ocajno za trcanje, ali znam da smo mentalno spremni (10% sport i 90% um). Ljubim te i jedva cekam da te vidim! Cucemo se iz Splita!

MAMA - sjajno sam. Spakovana sam i krecem. Hvala ti oko rasporeda buseva i naravno oko organizacije sa Nikolom i Dragicom. Jedva cekam da ih upoznam (naravno i Draganicu i ostale!).  Ti si moja glavna evropa-point person! I naravno merci za svakodnevno pisanje! Volim te i ljubim.

Exploring Napoli

Pozdrav svima!  Danas sam provela ceo dan u Napoliju - I decided to stroll around without a map but with a goal to see a few places.  The first one being, Galleria Umberto I, then Duome (church), University square, and finally the Fortress by the sea.  Sve sam naravno fino pronasla. Dosta cesto volim da explore gradove bez mape (naravno ako se negde nezurim, sto cini mi se nece biti slucaj na ovim putovanjima :)

Dan je bio predivan suncan, kao stvoren za setanje i opustanje.  A Marinele nigde... :( 

Provela sam najvise vremena na Tvrdjavi gde sam i rucala pizzu i popila capuchino.  Luka je bila puna brodova i momaka koji su se zanimali jedrilicama i motali po pjerovima.  Batac, sta da ti kazem, izgleda da mi je sudjeno da nadjem nekog sa jedrilicom ;)) hahaha mada, pravo da ti kazem, nisu bas nesto po mom ukusu (hvala bogu) inace bih ja vec odavno zavrsila negde u po Mediterana ako ne i Madagaskara ;))

Bilo je i topova na tvrdjavi i nekih umetnickih figura, jos ste mi samo ti i Gorance falili na popodnevnim, borbeno-umetnickim obukama mladjanih Italijana! 

Nista, evo polako se pakujemo svi i krecemo sutra ko u Lisabon ko u Rim.  

Ciao za sada... vreme je da se malo protegnu noge i spakuju rancevi! 

Harley D. Adventure!?!

A Harley adventure one day?!!  Wouldn't that be fun!!! :))) 

History... Romans... Pompei

"The Romans divided the day into twelve hours.  The first, hora prima, began at sunrise. The last, hora duodecima, ended at sunset. 

The night was divided into eight watches:

- Vespera, Prima fax, Concubia, and Intepesta before midnight; 

- Inclinatio, Gallicinium, Conticinium, and Diluculum after it. 

The days of the week were: Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Sun. 

Sunrise on the Bay of Naples in the fourth week of August A.D. 79 was at approximately 06:20 hours.

(a note from "Pompeii" by Robert Harris) 

POMPEI & VESUVIO

Together, the live volcano and the extensive remains of the Roman city, form one of the greatest sights of southern Italy!

VESUVIO: 

The unmistakable bulk of mt. Vesuvio, looms inland to the east of Naples. It has erupted several times over the years, overwhelming the settlements on its lower slopes - most recently in 1944. You can see the remains of the lava trail on one of the pics in my album on fb.

You can walk up the steep, broad track to the crater's rim and look in, but the best views are behind you: on a clear day you see for miles! I was lucky to be there on a sunny and clear day :)

The city constantly works on updating the evacuation plan in case Vesuvio erupts, although, the illegal residential construction on the very bottom of the hill is messing up the plan.  In order to save everybody in case of emergency, the citizens would have to all walk and not drive out of the city. 

POMPEI: 

Pompei is remarkable for the story of its destruction and preservation, and also for the details of everyday life which it has revealed over the course of 250 yrs of excavation. 

You can walk along the streets and look into the houses and shops, exploring the details of murals, bath houses, and interesting art on the walls.  

Life ended in Pompei in AD 79, when Vesuvio erupted in a cloud of poisonous volcanic gas, followed by a blanket of ash.  Many citizens died where they stood. One can see decomposed bodies left in the layers of ash (most with raising their arms against onslaught).  A very sad yet remarkable site. 

The site of Pompei is huge, and if you'd like to see everything with an audio tour, you should plan to be here all day.  Porta Marina is the place where you enter the city and via dell'Abbondanza is the main street.... and here are the highlights:  Foro is the main square, Terme - public baths, Porta di Sarno, Anfiteatro (amphitheater), Villa dei Misteri (famous paintings!). 

Enjoy the pics on flickr and facebook! 

POMPEJA

C'aos!

Samo sto sam se vratila iz Pompei and Mt. Vesuvio - what a magical experience!  Let me re-fresh, malo da prezalogajim, pokacim koju slicicu, nalijem chasu crnog vina:) i onda cu da se raspisem... :)

VERA: ciao bella, alaj sam ti nasla natpis u Napoliju - ki saliven za tebe!! inace, i danas sam upoznala nekog Roberta... treci Roberto za 3 dana, a ni sva tri da spojim ne bi bio jedan po meri! ha ha ha Videcemo sta Rim ima da pruzi ;)) 

PETRE: ciao bello, da ne kazem c'ao batac, pozdravlja te Sula osvajac pompeje i juzne Iatalije! :)) Uff Pompeja je po tvojoj meri! Tip top fino sacuvano lepo uredjeno, sa sve umetnosti po zidovima kuca, koloseum ocuvan i onako mocno zivahan, stubovi su rimski sa stilom od grka, i sve je nekako minijaturno.  Marinela bi se osecao ki "Mario u zemlji chuda" :)) 

MARIO: moracu da nadjem neki pompeznije-vislji grad za moga gladijatora iz Arizone! Pompeja je mnogo niska i minijaturna za basketanere! :))

Ciao for now 

Carpe Diem!

Larisa, Albert and I just finished a delicious dinner prepared by Larisa (I was helping out by drinking red wine and eating chocolate biscotti!). The "women of leisure" did quite well today: we went on an early walk by the water, had capuchino and chatted about relationships and love.  We then enjoyed some sunshine on the balcony - Larisa to a book and Mia to her computer and a book about Rome, which led us into getting our logistics straight for the upcoming marathons! 

Noon time - we had a small lunch... Larisa did some sawing (she's making a quilt for one of her cousins) and Mia went for a nice jog!  

Albert came back from work around 5pm and we all started preparing dinner to some music, lots of laughter and good wine + food :)) 

All in all, a very relaxing yet 'productive' day :))  I even wrote a few postcards (surprise surprise - who's next on the mailing list?!! :))

QUEBEC, comment vas-tu mon cher, you were the first one on the mailing list! Ah, and, enjoy the hockey game demain!! tu me manques, kisses for bebe Jacques!

VERA,  grazie na pisanju, bas si me obradovala danas!  Mamica mi je pisala o Maroku, i naravno spomenula da treba da obidjem Radakovice na Malti! Ke koza - pa naravno! :))

GORANCE,  osetila sam neke trusove popodne u Napoliju - ne znam da li je to Vezuv poceo da mrda ili se nesto desava dans Paris!??!!  Generale, nadam se da napadi na strankinje uspevaju i da Parizanke padaju u ex-yu zasede! ;)))) Uzivaj! Komandirka ceka izvestaj!  Sutra idem do Pompeje - miiiiirno!! 

DEJANE, saljem suncane, morske i riviera-ekskluziva pozdrave za severo-istok Amerike! :)))

I decided to end this blog with a quote by Marcus Aurelius (those of you who know me - know that Mia loves quotes and sayings :)) so here we go: 

"WHEN YOU ARISE IN THE MORNING, THINK OF WHAT A PRIVILEGE IT IS TO BE ALIVE:

TO BREATH, TO THINK, TO ENJOY, TO LOVE... 

Marcus Aurelius

      Buona Notte, my friends and family, where-ever you are... 

Why I LOVE Europe! :))

I just got back from my afternoon jog around Bagnoli, small suburb near Naples (where my friends Larisa and Al live). 

On my way down to the waterfront and a nearby pier, I stopped by a cafe to see if I could drop of a sweatshirt that I realized didn't need while running.  Si, si belissima said the owner and he took my jacket. I smiled back at him and continued running... 

On my way back, I stopped by Roberto's cafe to pick up my sweatshirt, and I said: Prego my sweatshirt, and he looked at me and said: Si belissima - and instead of giving me back my jacket, he poured a glass of fresh water and said:  Belissima atleta needs aqua!  and then handed me back my sweatshirt!  

I smiled back, drank the glass of water, and said: Grazie Roberto!! He said: Prego :)

... it probably helped that I was 'belissima' ;))) but, i must say that most europeans are warm, open-minded and generous as Roberto was. 

Women of Leisure: Larisa & Mia :)

Larisa and I decided to hang out at home today! It is sunny and beautiful outside, and our balcony makes for a pretty-perfect sanctuary spot.  The views over the sea are breathtaking and the entire setting around the coast is serene. 

We took Macchia for a nice walk early this morning and are now working on logistics for the Sunday marathon (Larisa in Lisbon and Mia in Rome). Maps, hotels, transportation, picking up bib-numbers, etc.  Fun stuff. 

Jeleni Malesev:  zelim BUON COMPLEANNO!!  Ciao Bella! 

Lilly Capelli:  popicu jedan Limonchello za tebe, bella, danas popodne!! Salut! :)

Albert: we hope you are not working too hard! ;)

Petar & Zare: spremna sam za Pompeju, sutra krecem u pohode! Ljubim vas! 

Vera: Larisa mi kaze da su Italiani u Romi mnogo lepsi nego u Napoliju. Evo odmaram, lickam se i spremam se za Rim ;))

And, to you all, my wonderful friends & family:  Have a wonderful start this week!! 

Carpe Diem! :)

SORRENTO - little gem on the coast of Southern Italy!

There are so many things I learned about this beautiful area of Italy and so much I would like to share... but, there's only so much I can actually share via this blog without boring everybody with too many details :)

Albert, my friend who is now stationed in Naples (he's a navy commender), has shared many interesting stories about Sorrento and its history.  The town is well known for the lemons and the famous Limonchello, sweet liquor! Tasty (and dangerous:)!!  And also for its wooden crafts - inlay wood. I had an opportunity to tour a private shop where they make inlay-wood furniture. Jasmine, the owner, who knows Larisa and Al very well, took us around their little factory and shed some light on the whole production process. It seems like a tedious, long process, that requires patience and lots of skill. The end product looks remarkable and I almost ended up with a wooden hutch! (thank god I'm back-packing and cannot shop... i would have gone bankrupt by now in Italy :)

Anyway, the city itself was very different years and years ago. There's a picture in my album of the 'original' site of the town (#10 on facebook) that was 3 or more layers lower than the current town.  The current town of Sorrento was built on landfill and was raised much higher above the sea level (as you can see on my photographs).

The town has many churches and the patron saint of Sorrento is St. Antonino.  

As many other Mediterranean towns, Sorrento streets are narrow, cobble-stone, and slippery. Architecture is impressive - tall, stone based buildings, with charming balconies, colorful flowers and many windows. 

One can take a ferry to the island of Capri, another gem on the coast of Italy! More about Capri later :))

To read more about Sorrento, go to wikipedia :))

My dear twin Vera!

Sekice moja bella!!!! Ciao belissima!! 

Provela sam predivan dan u Kapriju i Sorrentiju!! ke bella koza (i crno jare)! ;)) Tako si mi nedostajala!! 

Stavila sam par slicica na sajt a ti i ja cemo se detaljno ispricati kada se vidimo u Srbiji! 

Evo vecerala sam pizzu, pijem crno vino, i malo skrabam na ovom blogu.  

Mislim na tebe i ljubim te, tvoj sekac

Shab & Sam - Capri experience :))

My Bella amiga Shab! 

Just wanted to let you know I said 'ciao' to Capri for you!! 

I had a nice lunch and a capuchino at a top of the hill!!  It was a gorgeous sunny day, which made it ideal for hiking and exploring. Wish you were there with me! 

xoxo, Mirjana

Grazie Larisa & Al for Bella Giornata!!

There's no better way to end a beautiful day in Italy but to relax to a couple of glasses of red wine and a good conversation with my wonderful friends Larisa and Albert (and their little puppy!)! :))

Larisa and I will take it easy tomorrow and Albert goes to work...

Cao Mama & Tata! (family)

Dragi moji mamice i tatice, 

Sorrento, malo mesto pored Napolija, je predivno!! Podseca me na Mediteransko-Jadranski gradic sa uskim ulicama koje vode ka vrhu, sa puno malih crkvica, predivnim kucicama, cvecem, palmama, i naravno pogledom na more!  

Moji drugari, Larisa i Albert (i njihovo malo kuce) su zaista divni. Doruckovali smo par kroasana sa kaficom (kapucinom) i posle toga smo se prosetali strmim ulicama. Usla sam i u par crkvica i odslusala deo jutarnje sluzbe.  

Ceo gradic i naravno sam osecaj da sam u Evropi je mnogo opustajuci i zaista lep za mene. Evropa zaista ima neki drugaciji, mnogo opusteniji tempo, i mislim da sam ovde zaista konacno pocela da se relaksiram.  

Inace, Sorrento je poznato po Limoncelliju, liker od limuna!  Mama, tebi bi se svideo! Takodje je grad poznat po nekoj specijalnoj drvenariji.  

Posle Sorrenta sam otisla na ostrvo Kapri. Mnogo ekskluzivno i lepo. Pesacila sam do vrha gde sam se prosvrljala, pojela predivan sendvic sa mocarelom i paradajzom (sveze i divno), islikala malo ostrvo, i vratila se nazad da uhvatim brodic do Napolija. Od Napolija sam uzela metro do Bagnolija gde sam se ponovo srela sa mojim drugarima koji su me odveli kuci. 

Dan mi je bio predivan. Kao iz bajke! 

Evo uzivam u njihovoj mirnoj kuci sa casom vina i malo pizze.  

Ljubim vas i volim, vasa Micka

Lululemon travel clothing

Thanks to my dear friend Hiam, I now wear a super comfortable and practical clothing by Lululemon! 

HIAM, wish you were with me in Italy!! Hopefully we can come back together next time!  Luv ya, lady! 

CAPRI - Mondensko Letovaliste u Italiji!

Capri is a beautiful island off the coast of Italy, near Sorrento and Naples. Extra-luxurious place (meaning, highly expensive).  It is very nice to visit but also very touristy and super pricey.  

I ventured out here by myself. It is easy to get here by ferry, some 20min from Sorrento or 45min from Naples.  Ferry tix are 9 euroes or 16 euros, depending on where you come from. 

Once you arrive to the island, you can easily climb up the hill to get to the center of Capri.  I recommend staying / being in shape while traveling (you can save $$ on buses or taxes if you enjoy hiking or walking everywhere!). Plus, you get to see a lot more on foot then while stuck inside public transportation :)  

Charming, narrow streets took me to the center of Capri.  It was interesting to see the home address numbers and plates the locals have on their home-doors.  Most of the gates had interesting sayings written on ceramic plates... something along the lines of:  Our home is your home, welcome and we hope you find peace and happiness with us! which I thought was very nice. 

I reached the center of Capri in 10min or so.... there was the main square Piazza Umberto and a clock tower with plenty of little pizzeria places.  More importantly, the views from the Piazza is breathtaking!! It's overlooking local homes, gardens, surrounding hills, and of course Mt. Vesuvio and the sea.  There are plenty of small white-top churches that remind me a little bit of Greece and Santorini :) 

It was a beautiful sunny day and I enjoyed a cup of capuchino and a mozzarella sandwich in the nearby place that was overlooking the sea... 

I spent a relaxing couple of hours on the island and then headed back to Naples to meet up with Larisa and Al again for dinner. 

On the way back to Naples, I met a couple from San Fran (small world!) and chatted about a few interesting things we experienced while in Naples - i.e., crazy car drivers!!!, hectic traffic rules, poverty issues, delicious food, and beautiful scenery. 

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Larisa says that beautiful Italian people are in Rome! Naples only offers good food! :))  I agree.

 

Sorrento!

Limoncello!!! yum yum yummy lemon liqueur is the staple of Sorrento! :)) 

Squeeze the lemons and make 'limoncello' (much better than lemonade :)

Sorrento is a small town in the Naples county. Bella town!! Absolutely beautiful!  

Larisa, Al, Machia (their cute puppy) and I spent all morning walking around town, checking out little churches, stores, narrow alleyways, and observing people.  

Capuchino and  some cornati was our first stop, bien sur :)) Delicious pastries everywhere. We are carbo-loading before our marathons (it's the only excuse I can think of to try many many many wonderful pastries they sell everywhere:)

Sorrento Time!

Larisa is having breakfast, Mia is upating her blog and Albert is getting ready.  We are on our way to Sorrento, beautiful little place on the coast!! The island of Capri is a ferry ride away from Sorrento! 

Naples and the southern coast of Italy is famous for their delicious food and lemon-liquor called Limonchello! 

It will take us some 45min down the coast to get from Bagnoli (near Naples) to Sorrento. I can't wait!

Ciao for now 

NAPOLI, ITALIA

Ciao from Italy, my dear family and friends!  It is wonderful to be back in Europe and to be so close to my home-land!

I arrived to Roma yesterday and took the  Ita-train down to Napoli. It was a sunny Friday afternoon and the train ride was scenic, quick and enjoyable. I met Joseph and Tim, who talked to me a bit about Napoli and the things I should visit. They said the food is probably Napoli's greatest asset. And they were right!  But more about that later :-) 

First I wanted to let my brother Petar know that the shower pressure in Naples is extra-super strong!! The way we Serbians like it!! :))) haha 

I stayed in a budget hotel by the harbor, 30 Euro per night, Hotel Milton (ki Hilton ali za Mikilu je Milton ;)))  prava stvar , or so I thought! haha  I think I was their only guest. The room-key was soooo heavy, I think I could have used it as a weapon while walking at night. Naples is actually pretty scary and dangerous looking at night time. (well, it might be just the crappy area I stayed around).  But, that didn't prevent me from venturing outside and exploring.  After all, I was stuck on a plane for more than a day and a half (+/- the time difference) and I was ready to stretch my legs.  I noticed a guy carrying a gym bag and I followed him around town and soon enough we were in front of a nice gym! Bingo!  I went in and trained for a couple of hours. It was perfect!!  

The gym was full of macho Italian men (ladies, picture that!) and a group of chicks doing some sort of taebo / aerobics to American disco music! And of course, I loved it! It certainly made for a fun (and costly, 8 euro) workout!   The funniest part was that they have 'sauna' working only certain days of the week. Not every day... and unfortunately, not the night that I was there :(

Before I went to my room that evening, I had an episode with a room-service guy at the counter of the hotel, Marco. His sister, Pamela, works the day shift and Marco works the night shift. It is a family operated small hotel.  Marco was persistent on giving me a massage before sleep because I trained for 2 hours! Being an athlete himself (rugby) he said, there's nothing better but a massage after a long workout! Italians! Most of them don't speak much english but they definitely know the right things to say ... ;)))  I told him I had a "boyfriend" and that a massage was not OKay. He said, oh so you are fidel to your boyfriend, nice.  And, that was the end of that. :)) Thank god.  Although I did put up a chair against my hotel door before going to sleep, just in case ;))

It was a peaceful night. I got up at 7:20am and went on a 2 hour jog by the water.  It was sunny and gorgeous outside! 

I then took a metro train to meet with Larisa and Albert!!  It was great to see them again after 1.5 years.  We met in Greece while running the Athens Classic Marathon together in Nov. of 2007. 

Larisa and I stopped by a local store to get some fresh mozzarella,  prosciutto, and bread so we could enjoy a delicious lunch outside to some white wine and a great conversation!! They live in a lovely home on top of the hill overlooking the sea.... the view is breathtaking! 

And, here I am - relaxing in Italy now... thinking about my family and friends around the world and wishing everybody is happy, healthy and well! :)) 

Ciao for now