Fall arrives in Bucharest

At some point during our cruise last week, the weather in Bucharest moved from summer to fall. Upon coming back this week, we found that daytime highs were down to about 75 and overnight lows have hovered in the low 50's. It feels really good after the 90's and 100's we saw in the last half of August. Leaves are changing quickly and many are actually falling, perhaps due to the fairly dry conditions we had this summer.

Mon, Wed, Fri - Low energy running

Unfortunately, I was unable to take full advantage of the perfect running conditions this week. I did get 15 miles in, but I had little energy all week and have been constantly hacking up phlegm during running. The phlegm problem is a double whammy which has affected my sleep too. I don't know if I caught a little bug during our travels or if this is a variation of the seasonal allergy issues I have in the states. Perhaps they have ragweed or its European equivalent here.

Monday's run was the worst, with 2 slow laps of Titan Lake. The only good thing is the cooler weather taking care of the speedo problem. I changed venues for Wednesday and ran at the track at National Park. Running at the track is not as boring as in the states. There is usually a soccer match going on in the main field or on the other adjoining areas and it gives you something to look at. It's also nice to see other runners and avoid being the object of laughing teenagers. After finally getting a decent nights sleep on Thursday, I finished the work week with a short "preparation" run in the smooth section of Titan Park on Friday. My plan was to go long on Saturday morning, so I wanted to be ready and loose.

Long Run Saturday

With only 1 month to go before my first half-marathon, the long run is the most important part of my training. It's even more important for me since I've never ran a race longer than 5 miles and, until 3 weeks ago, I had never run longer than 8 miles. Today, my goal was to break the 10 mile barrier and my previous best of 9.9 miles. My plan was to run to Parcul National and do a few laps on the track to try to get a good rythym going. From there, I would run to the smooth section of Titan park. I mapped out a "figure 8" course on the new pavement which is about 1 mile (.95 to be exact and anal). I knew fatigue would be a factor, especially due to my sluggishness this week, but I was determined to finish as long as there was no pain.

I woke up a little later than normal this morning and was a little slow getting ready. This was a good thing, since I actually slept ok and I needed it. I finished planning my route from park to park on Google over coffee and 3 bananna nut muffins that were baked on Friday by the coolest helpmeet ever. At 7:30, I headed out and took it slow to get loose and also to make sure those muffins settled down. The temperature was in the mid 50's and rising slowly during the run - perfect. I completed the 1.2 miles to the track and settled in to a comfortable pace there for 8 laps (2 mi). I felt pretty good and even started thinking about going for 12 miles as I left the track to Parcul Titan. There were plently of dogs in Parcul Titan today, but most of them were pets. Some barked and a couple gave short chases, but they listened to their owners pretty good and I didn't have to make any distracting safety moves.

I felt good until I completed mile 7, and that's where self-doubt started to creep in. I was thinking "Holy cow, I've been running for 67 minutes and I still have 30 minutes left!" I could easily remember the days last year when 30 minutes would be a long run for me. I was also hacking up a little phlegm at what seemed like every half mile or so. For the next two miles I was talking to myself in Romanian, saying "Hai!" (Come on!), which I thought was kind of odd. It was weird, but it worked and I ran several of those later miles with negative splits (means I was getting faster each time - for my non-running audience). I was pretty stoked when I finished mile 9, but I was getting tired. I was also rubbing at least one blister on my left foot. I had met my goal, so I turned for home, passing the 10 mile mark on the way back and finishing with 10.6. I'm pretty satifisfied with the run and just finished celebrating with some mici at our favorite family hangout in Parcul Titan.