How (NOT) To Run a Marathon

I expected to write about my training and running my first marathon this week.  However this is not that story.  This is exactly the opposite:  How Not to Run a Marathon.

Danielle, Kyle, Me

1)  First and foremost, get injured!  I did this in week 12.  I had a sore IT band after a long run.  I heard a pop during a run but didn't feel too much pain so ran home since I was a good 6 or 7 miles away.  I figured I would still have time to heal in any case.  WRONG!  I couldn't run for over a month.  The longest runs I could do without pain were 3-4 miles.  Some weeks I would get 3 miles in every day, but most weeks that wasn't possible.  Finally, the week before the marathon I did get up to 12.7 without pain, but that isn't enough realistically, having only gone 17 miles as my farthest run over 2 months ago.  Mentally and physically I just wasn't there.  Worrying about injuries, worrying about suffcient distances...  None of that mattered in the end.  There were bigger plans in store.

2) Close your eyes and picture the worst possible running weather.  Heavy rains?  Yep.  40 mph wind gusts?  Got it.  Sleet?  Right in the face!  Freezing cold?  Check.  Those kinds of conditions certainly help you not run.  You might spend the day before psyching yourself up mentally for a "Run at your own risk" warning and then passing an entire afternoon stocking up on gloves, hats, scarves, and rain jackets.  You might be thinking this is a sign from God to not run the full and you'd be right.  In the end, the marathon was cancelled.  Everyone ended up running the half.  

New purchases for "run at your own risk" warning...

Buying a rain jacket, scarf, and gloves were the best things I did!  I didn't take a single thing off the entire time.  I was completely soaked through to the bone and muddy up to my knees.  The puddles, gigantic mud pits, and strong winds that made you run in place for several seconds, as well as the sharp pin pricks hitting me in the ears and face made me feel like I was running a Warrior Dash:  Extreme Version  .  I've never run one before, but I really don't feel the need to after my Shakespeare Warrior Half.  

Freezing cold after the race!

muddy shoes!

3)  Don't go to the race on your own.  I wasn't technically on my own, but I was with 2 other couples.  The two other women, Kyle and Danielle, ran too.  We trained together and that was great experience!  I certainly ran my PB distancewise.  I also got to see new areas of surrounding Milan that I would never have seen otherwise.  And, I got to know these two awesome women I wouldn't have really known as well otherwise.  I could never have even thought about doing this without them.  However, even with very inclusive couples, you can't help but feel more on your own than you probably really are.  I think if you are planning to run a marathon (especially your first) it is important to have someone there for you and only you. 

You may be wondering if the experience was a total bust...  Definitely not!!!  I learned a ton of stuff about running and myself.  I also realized that living in Milan is great when traveling because whenever you go north, you always fly over the Alps and the view is amazingly stunning anytime of the year.  It makes traveling feel magical and enjoyable.  I also very much appreciated Milan and it's warmth.  Even rainy Milan is at least warm at the end of April.  

I could not warm up in Stratford.  We stayed in a cottage.  It was great but very drafty and had hot water issues that are difficult for Americans used to one faucet.  I tried to take a bath at one point but that was a huge failure!  And I think every time I brushed my teeth I spit on my hand trying to reach the cold water faucet, then proceeded to burn my hand in the hot water rinsing it off.  Ahh the joys of country life.  

Cottage, the morning after the race

How do you use this thing?!!

But back to the good parts.  We saw Shakespeare's birthplace.  It was awesome and made me wish I had my high school English teachers along with me.  The museum is really well done.  A relatively short experience, but very engaging.  There was cider on tap everywhere.  Hooray!  (It suddenly clicked for me why the English drink so much beer and tea.  Nasty weather!)  We also went to a grocery store where I bought bagels, cheddar cheese, and hummus and even got them home with me where I will enjoy all of them this week.   

View outside the Shakespeare House

The best part was that I officially took 8 minutes off my time from the one I ran 2 years ago.  I also ran the entire thing, never stopped or walked once (well, I did stop to tie my shoe, but I don't think anyone wanted to stop or walk in that weather).  I think I did much better pacing this one.  I'm still planning on running a marathon eventually.  When I do, I'll let you know how it goes. 

Warming Up

Ok, so Italy is growing on me I am happy to say.  Here are some reasons why:

1.  The days are lighter longer and the oppressive winter fog is gone.  I have been able to ride my bike to school almost every day for 2 months now!  The days I can't I can still see the bus coming down the street.  Fog can really dampen your mood.  It's been rainy here this month too, and I learned an important lesson about biking in the rain:  sand is muddy too, so don't ride through puddles too quickly!  

2.  The grocery store is open on Sundays.  It seems so silly, but this gives me more free time than I had before.  Sundays can be lazy, productive days and Saturdays are free to be more fun.  

3.  April is full of travel and holidays here.  I just went to Rome over spring break.  If you remember from before, I am in amor with Roma.   

JL arrived over Easter weekend.  His luggage came the day after he did, but it did make it so we were able to head to Bergamo for a day.  This was the first time I was disappointed in my sister city.  We went the day after Easter and it was unusually crowded.  Part of the charm before was that it was not super touristy, but this time it felt much more so.  The view was still spectacular.  I actually climbed the clock tower and got a great new panorama.  There are hills all around and it just looks so stereotypical Italian.  

View of Bergamo from the tower

 

Bells in the bell tower. 

We also found a cozy, delicious little place for lunch in the upper city.  It was part enoteca so the wine was really yummy.  I had what is the Italian equivalent to a tortilla.  I'm glad I tried it, but am not sure I'll be trying it again...  

On to Rome.  JL and I took the train down.  We took the speedy train so it was a pleasant trip.  We made it in 3 hours, but still went through Tuscany, a beautiful ride.  In Rome, we met up with my old roommates from DC, Allison and Patricia.  Allison came with her sister Lauren.  Patricia came with her boyfriend Robert.  3 of us were Rome virgins and 3 were not, but were willing to see the important sights again.      

First sight to be seen was new to me-- the Pantheon.  It is so enormous.  I have a hard time imagining the materials being shipped all the way from Egypt, but there you have it.  There is an open hole in the dome to let sunlight in, but also has the effect of letting rain in too so the floors are slightly sloped.  You only notice this when going to the edge to look at a tomb (both Michelangelo and Vittorio Emanuele, the 1st King of a united, modern Italy in the 1800s, are buried here).  

hole in the dome

Inside the Pantheon

Second sight was probably the highlight of the whole thing, a private tour of the Vatican.  I would love to say that we all pooled our money and paid for this "Donor's Tour", but as a poor teacher, this will probably never be the case.  Robert has a friend, Anne, who gives private tours of the Vatican to donors.  Anne was extremely knowledgeable, lively, and very enthusiastic.  She is very clever too and she asked us to come first thing in the morning.  We went through the whole museum backwards and ended up being the first people in the Sistine Chapel.  Just us, the security guards, and God.  It was simply amazing.  However, despite the quiet and sense of awe, upon reflection later that day, I was surprised to find that I didn't find it particularly holy-feeling.  I wasn't moved to pray; it felt much more like a palace than a church.  In any case, it was an incredible experience and one that will stay with me for a long time.  

One of my favorite rooms at the Vatican both last time and this time was the room of maps.  The colors are so appealing and exciting.  I was amused to discover the Milan map myself, only later to have it pointed out by Anne who claims that it has not changed much since it was made (in the 1500s?).  I couldn't help but agree with her in more than one respect.  

Virgin Mary Room

Me in front of the Milan map

One of my favorite works at the Pinocoteca

After lunch, we headed back to The Vatican.  This time to St. Peter's.  I went to parts I couldn't go to last time which was cool, but the coolest part was going up the dome.  I thought it would just be a spectacular view of the city, but it turned out that on the way to the outside view, you have to walk around part of the dome inside.  You get a whole new perspective looking down at it.  The view from the Dome was very pretty, but there were so many people that it was a little frustrating to try to enjoy it properly.  Going down those 500 stairs was a whole lot easier than going up them.  

Interior of the Dome

View from the Dome

That night we headed back to the restaurant I went to last time that I enjoyed so much, Trattoria da Lucia. Everyone enjoyed their meal.  Anne joined us so we got more history on the way over.  We also had lemoncello at the end since I insisted that they must try it before leaving Italy.  Yum!

The following day was ruin central.  The Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, and Circus Maximus.  I was planning on getting a run in while the rest of the group was at the Colosseum, but we didn't know of a good meeting place so I joined them on a group tour.  I couldn't hear well so I wandered around a bit and then left to go see the Circus Maximus.  It was the highlight of the day.  It was the place where races used to be held, but is now a park.  It is not very crowded and at one end there are excavations going on and it was really interesting to watch.  I enjoyed walking around and imagining watching chariots racing around the path 7 times. You can see the Forum from the Circus and history just seems to be everywhere.  

excavations at the Circus Maximus

Now a park today

View from Palatine Hill

Part of the Forum ruins

After a late lunch at a pub, we finally found the Bocca della Verita at the church of St. Maria in Cosmedin.  My hand was not bitten off thank goodness.  This ancient lie detector was made famous in Roman Holiday.  Now there is a line to see it and a guard who will let you take 1 photo per person for the cost of 1 euro per person.  The inside of the church is very simple and in contrast to the Sistine Chapel had a holy feeling for me.  

Bocca della Verita

Later that night was another heavy but yummy pasta dinner at a little trattoria close to our hotel.  It was recommended by my mom's friends and they really knew what they were talking about!   

Friday was our last full day there and Patricia's birthday too.  In the morning, while Allison and Patricia went to scout out Allison's Rome office for work and see another church and Lauren and Robert went in search of good Italian coffee, JL and I went shopping.  Unfortunately it started raining and then we got lost on our way back to the hotel to meet everyone.  We did stumble upon a sushi restaurant where after more getting lost we eventually relocated with the group.  It was quite chic, but a nice change from the heavy Italian food we had been eating.  


After lunch we went to the Capuchin Crypt.  This is a crypt for a Capuchin order of monks.  Very serious about death were they.  So serious that they made all sorts of decorations for and reminders of death out of dead monks' bones.  Pretty creepy.  While the whole thing was very interesting in a slightly uncomfortable way, the best part was the ticket lady and guard who we overheard chatting with a kid around 10 years old.  Upon his exit she told him to, "Sleep well tonight."  

The Skull Room.  Nice, huh?

We wandered around the streets a bit more before ending up at a gelato shop.  Well, really restaurant.  It was huge and fancy and had absolutely delicious gelato.  Robert had strawberry gelato and champange gelato which I believe was dubbed the most exciting combination.  

For Patricia's birthday dinner we went to a restaurant close to our hotel.  The most notable thing about this place (other than the pictures of celebrities hanging on the walls) was the delicious wine.  It was the best red I've had in a while.  

Alas, Saturday morning it was time to leave.  We had breakfast together, and then took off for the train ride home.  It was an exhausting trip but so worth it.  Bottom line:  Go to Rome!!!  Take friends!!!


4.  Of course I have to include this because it was my life for so long, but running.  With the nice weather comes nicer runs, or at least in theory.  Unfortunately, on a long run at the end of February, I hurt my IT band and had to significantly shorten my runs.  For 2 entire months my knee was in sharp pain after 4 miles.  In an last act of desperation, praying for healing, I quit running anything over 3 miles for 3 entire weeks!  Yesterday I got 12.8 in without any pain so I am hoping that next week I can at least do the half marathon.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  Sunday is the big day.  26.2 slated, but who knows what I'll feel like on the day of... 




 

Amsterdam and Paris and Running

One of the things I love about living in Europe is ski break/white week.  This is a week in February where countries take time off to go skiing.  (I almost did not have enough hours when I did my student teaching because of this ample vacation time.)  For us non-skiers we have to find other ways to amuse ourselves during the cold winter sport season.  Luckily, this is not hard to do.  

Amsterdam
Carrie and I headed off to Amsterdam and Paris for the week.  Amsterdam was our first stop.  We arrived on Saturday morning before our hotel room was ready.  We wandered around for a few hours and enjoyed the quiet of the city.  It turns out Amsterdam is slow to start in the mornings.  A city after my own heart.  We stumbled upon a burger bar on our way back to the hotel.  You build your own burger.  My suggestion is the fries!  Wow!  I could have eaten just those.  Plus, they have a sink in the bar area so you can wash your hands before eating.  (Just a warning, no public sinks/bathrooms have hot water in Amsterdam.  Burrr!!!!!)  In the afternoon we went to the Rijksmuseum .  It was a neat place and tells about a lot of history of the country, but by the end both Carrie and I were so tired that we had a hard time keeping our eyes open and standing up straight.  The audioguide played all sorts of soothing music with long pauses, perfect for relaxing to the point of sleep when you've been up since 4 in the morning.  Don't go there when you are tired.  Cool paintings there included The Night Watch, The Milkmaid, and Winter Landscape. The exterior is beautiful!

Rijksmuseum

The other two museums we saw together were the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandt House.  The Van Gogh Museum was too overwhelming for me.  It was jam-packed!  The audioguide does not do a good job of spacing out the selected pieces so everyone ends up crowded in certain areas.  The audioguide is also stingy on the details of Van Gogh's personal life.  They make tons of comments in passing, but never elaborate on his mental illness or the huge fight he had with Paul Gauguin that ended their friendship.  But here is one cool thing I learned:  Van Gogh tried to start off his life as an Evangelist.  I never knew that and would never have expected it.  I also never realized how much he was influenced by Japanese art.  We saw more Sunflowers there.  There was also a neat special exhibition on Van Gogh reusing his canvases. 

The Rembrandt House was more my speed.  Entrance came with an audioguide.  The whole thing could be done in an hour and was a mix of history and art.  It was a visit to a historical house and gave you a glimpse into what life was like when Rembrandt was painting and living.  There was a live demonstration on etching.  A very enjoyable experience overall.  

We spent a long time walking and wandering the streets and canals of Amsterdam.  It is a lovely city for walking.  The red light district was shocking, even knowing what you are going to see.  Seeing people on sale is a strange thing.  This was the one thing I could bare to photograph.  Beautiful swans and birds foraging in the dirty canal.  (By far the dirtiest part of the canals.)

I never ended up going to the Anne Frank house, but did go to the Ten Boom House in Haarlam.  I had never heard of Corrie Ten Boom or her book, "The Hiding Place."  Again, this was interesting to me because it was a slice of history.  The house has been preserved.  It focused less on the terrible things happening during the war and more on the joy of life in the house and Corrie's relationship with God.  (It was a bit over the top for my taste.  Corrie's God and mine work differently.  Mine answers prayers much less directly!)          

False wall in Corrie's bedroom.  Jewish people hid behind it and were never caught. 

We also saw an old-fashioned windmill.  It makes sense to me now that there are so many in The Netherlands.  It is WINDY!  Haarlam was a very beautiful city and I hope to go back some day.    

Paris
Wednesday came at last and with it Paris.  I was super excited to go back since I haven't returned since doing my student teaching in 2008.  I was reminded of French rules that drove me crazy.  What is different about bureaucracy in France than bureaucracy in Italy is that in France if you follow the rules, silly as they may be, in the end you know the system will work.  I was reminded of this when we arrived at Gare du Nord and had to walk through a very long metal barrier/corridor to get a taxi.  Instead of just walking straight to the front since there were only 2 people ahead of us we had to walk through the entire corridor.  At least there was order, unlike some Italian lines.  


We checked into our hotel, a small, unpleasant place on a perfectly delightful street, Rue Cler.  We rested and then headed out to meet one of my old friends, David, for dinner.  We went to a restaurant called Pramil.  It was a fun place.  Felt a little formal, but was not too expensive or pretentious.  I had a new food, Ficoid glacial.  It is a spinach-like lettuce that looks like it is covered in ice.  Interesting, but crunchier than I like my lettuce.  

Thursday while Carrie, a Paris virgin, went museum hopping, I spent the day shopping and went to see "The Artist."  It was an interesting idea and I liked it on the big screen, but I'm not sure it was better than "The Descendants" or even "Midnight in Paris."  I went to Bert's, my favorite old haunt for lunch dismayed to find out the food has gone way down.  It's not just a sesame baguette with ham and cheese anymore.  Everything has been Americanized with too many sauces and ingredients.  Not the pure flavor of the fresh foods they used to have.  

In any case, la goute made up for it.  I met my old French teacher, Julie, at Laduree for a trio of macaroons.  Yum!  We spent a good hour talking French and I was as surprised as anyone that my French held up that long.  In fact, my whole time in Paris, no one spoke English to me.  I can tell that my understanding has decreased, but was relieved to be able to communicate the whole time-- a nice change from daily life in Italy.  Carrie and I had dinner in St. Germain des Pres and then went to my favorite crepe stand for dessert.  Nothing beats a nutella (mais pas trop!) crepe.  Yumm!        

Friday I spent the day with Sherri, a friend from college, and her fiance Mike.  They are living in Paris for the year as she does research on her Ph.D.  We spent the whole morning at the Hotel de Ville seeing free exhibits on photos of Les Halles in the 1950-70s by Robert Doisneau and the artwork of Sempe, an artist for the New Yorker, but also the illustrator for my favorite French books, Le Petit Nicolas.  We had a picnic outside the Center Pompidou for lunch and then strolled over to my old quartier.  A nice stroll down memory lane.  

I got Carrie in the evening and we went to Mike and Sherri's place in Belleville for an aperitif.  I brought a bottle of my favorite Savinguon Blanc.  We all went to dinner at a local joint near Mike and Sherri's.  It was fun and nice to be out of the touristy area.  I remember going to tasty places near Republic and Bastille when I lived there and I think these are still the best areas to find good restaurants.  Both Wednesday and Friday night dinners were there.  

Running
Alas, Saturday we departed and headed back to Milan which welcomed us with beautiful weather.  Sunday I met up with my running buddies, Kyle and Jeff.  Kyle and I ran 16 miles.  This was so hard.  Dehydrated from the week before and new foods in my stomach, my body rebelled.  I had my first blisters from training yet.  This marathon training is no joke!  Running seems to be my entire life these days.  Traveling and training are not the best combination.  You may have noticed that I did not go to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. This is in part because I spent my time running.  I went for two runs over White week.  Two 8-milers in Amsterdam.  The first one was a complete disaster.  I went out and found Vondel Park which has a long loop that I ran two times, very overdressed.  On my last lap, the skies and wind opened up and dumped hail, large, painful hail on the park.  I was no longer overdressed, but had a ton of wet clothes on and then proceeded to get lost on the way home.  Freezing, wet, and in pain, it was far from a fun run.

Training in Opera on a snow day

Frozen shoes from too long a run in the cold and snow.

I did however have a nice run another day.  It was not raining and I ran only one loop in the park and then up and down the canals.  A fun run to remember Amsterdam.  I didn't run in Paris because it was yucky weather the day I planned to run and have plenty of good memories of running there anyway.  Next up Stramilano half marathon.  ("An agonistic race" according to the director.  Doesn't sound too good huh?)  Wish me luck!