Europe in Pictures (part 1)

I expect to be posing in greater detail about the trip I'm currently taking.  For now, I think I'll let my pictures do the talking.  Below is one picture for each day of the trip.  More details when I return.

Climbing Pike's Peek (and no, that's not a typo).

I had expected to post more over the last few weeks. Then again, I also expected to run more in the last few weeks as well. I've been on the shelf for the last few weeks. My hips started bothering me in the weeks leading up to the Shamrock. This recurred about halfway through the race. A few weeks after I got back, I decided to get looked at by a doctor. He took X-rays and determined that there was just gluteal tendinitis. I'm discovering through this that my running mechanics are a bit off. When I'm running, unless I'm intentional about it, I have a tendency to run a bit duck footed. This is throwing my alignment off completely. Additionally, my hip flexors, calves, and left hamstring are particularly tight. I've been in PT for the last two weeks trying to resolve these issues. Hopefully they will be worked out before the Baltimore Ten Miler in mid June.

I did manage to run a 10k over the weekend; the Pike's Peek 10k in Rockville. It starts at the Shady Grove Metro station and runs down MD 355 to White Flint Mall. The course was quite familiar as it was the base course for nearly all of the longs I did in preparation for my previous two marathons. Because of my injury issues, I probably wouldn't have run it but for the fact that enough other people in my Sunday School class were running it that the decision was made to make the race a class outing.

For the first mile I ran with the other guys from class; they're in much better shape than I am. I managed to keep up with them through a roughly ten minute mile for the first mile. This was easily the fastest mile I've run in a long time. I fell back at that point and tried to recover. It took about five minutes after that to get my breath back to the point that I could start jogging again. From this point I reverted to my original plan of a five minute run/one minute walk interval.

At this point I ran into another guy from the upcountry whose name, regrettably, I'm blanking on. Anyway, he had tweaked his hamstring early in the race and was planning to just walk the rest of the way. We ended up running/walking the rest of the way together. By the end of the race several of my leg muscles, including My hamstring, had also started to tighten. There is no doubt that we both finished in a better time than we would have had we both run solo. That's one of the great things about running races, the chance to make friends.

I wasn't able to better last years time. However, considering the injuries I'm dealing with, I'm pleased with missing last year's time by only five minutes.

Well, for the next couple of weeks, the blog will go from primarily about running to primarily about travel as I'm leaving tomorrow for Europe. I'll spend four days in London followed by nine days primarily in Rome. I'll try to post some during the trip, but there will be a fairly extensive post post-trip. I'm hoping to run some to try to rebuild my fitness level. The Warrior Dash is coming up almost immediately post trip.

Since I'm planning to run the Rome Marathon next year, I'm interested, though not looking forward, to experience running the cobblestone streets of Rome. I want to know what I'm dealing with. I guess its fair to say the trip to Rome is a part sightseeing/part scouting trip.

Assuming that I don't get my iPhone stolen in London/Rome, I hope to post again soon.