February Winds down: "Este frig afară!"

"It's cold outside!" in Romanian. A cold front blew in (and I really mean blew) on Friday and temperatures plunged into the teens overnight. It's 16 F right now early Sunday morning.

Week in Review...

Monday - Started the week with a nice easy run with Maria. If you remember, Maria will race one of the kid's runs after my half-marathon. We covered 2 miles in Titan Park in just over 20 min. The kids race is actually less than 2 miles, so Maria will have no problems.

Speed session interrupted

Tuesday was more interesting than normal. I was blasting out 6 x800 meter repeats on the decrepit all-weather track next to National Stadium. During my rest lap after the 3rd repeat I was stopped by the coach of a bunch of young "footballists" (soccer players - I just like that word). The ever helpful Romanian coach thought I was doing sprints and wanted me to get on my toes. Thankfully, I actually know enough Romanian now to explain to him that I was preparing for a half-marathon (semi-maraton in Romanian). He said "Ahhh" and left me alone.

On Wednesday, more perfect weather (it was in the 50's most of the week) for another run at Herastreau Park minus John who had father duties. I didn't run on Thursday, but we did do another "cross-training" session at the Ice skating rink in the National Park complex. You can check it out on the family blog. On Friday, the previously mentioned cold front showed up with 25 mile-per-hour winds, so I skipped my easy run that was scheduled that day.

LLLLLONG RRRRuuun SSSSaturday

I would have to go back and check my records, but this was the coldest day I think I've run in Romania since I've been here. After a trip to Selgros and the fornetti stand located inside for some fuel, the temperature on the Internet read 19 F with a wind chill of about 6 F. The sun was out though, so I don't think it was that bad - it had to be at least 20 F when I started. I had to bundle up with most of my cold weather gear (sorry ladies, no pictures of me in the running tights) but I was actually pretty comfy. I wandered all over my home base of National Park and Titan Park. A few hardy old folks and dog-walkers were out strolling, but that's about it. The teenagers were nowhere to be found on a day like this.

Once again, I did get interrupted on the track near National Stadium. There was one other hardy soul out there jogging, and he asked me how many laps I was going to do. I told him I didn't know and I was training for a semi-maraton. I think I got those particular words down pat now.

Here's some Romanian trivia for ya. Valentines day is starting to be observed here, but the traditional Romanian "lovers day" is actually today, Feb 24. It's called "Dragobete".

Anyway, I ran the first 10 miles or so easy and felt really great. At mile 10, I looked down at my fancy schmancy GPS watch and it basically told me to hurry up and see if I can finish a half-marathon distance in under 2 hrs. I did just that, finishing 13.1 in 1:59 and then cooling down for a 14 mile total. With a month to go before the Vienna race, I feel good!

Steve's 12 for 12

First a quick recap of the week. This week was "Aşa să aşa" or so-so in Romanian. It wasn't a really great running week here in Bucharest, but it wasn't really bad either.

Monday's excuse: The weather turned seasonable cool to start the week. When that was combined with a late departure from work and a longer-than-average commute - this became an easy day to blow off.

Tuesday's excuse: I had a better reason to not run Tuesday. Somehow, I duplicated Dana's earlier "sleeping" injury and woke up with an awful catch in my neck. I could not turn my head to the right at all. I was in pain, cranky all day, yelling a my coworkers, etc etc. So there goes another lost day.

I got it together on Wed (8 mile) and Thursday (4 mile) with two pretty good runs as the weather (and my neck) improved.

Friday and Saturday: It got cold and windy again these days as a front came through. What is this, winter or something? Yes, I know - very lame, but I took a powder on both of these days too.

12 years of bliss, 12 miles of torture

To salvage the week, I decided I had to get the long run done on Sunday. If you've been keeping up with the family blog, then you know that Sunday was our 12th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything special due to the amount of travel plans we have already made this year. However, we did get some big fat shoarma's at the City Mall for lunch.

I then had one of my great ideas. I'd run for 12 miles, 1 mile for every year of our awesome marriage. I'd use the time to mediate and thank God for the perfect Helpmeet that Dana is. So I headed out around 1 hour after lunch (keep this time in mind).

"Hello Steve, It's me, the shoarma"

Due to the cold weather and my lousy adventurous run last week, I decided to stay in Titan Park for this one. Everything went as planned for about 4 miles. At this time, the aforementioned shoarma began to talk to me from my belly - specifically it wanted out. The rest of this run was so torturous, I barely remember it. An old lady said something to me at one point with the Romanian word for 'run' in it, but I was too sick to translate the rest. About the only other thing I remember was keeping an eye on where I was in relation to the various port-a-potties scattered throughout the park. Somehow, I didn't puke even though I had to slow down to close to 10 min/mile in spots. Of course, stopping wasn't an option for an intelligent guy like me, and I did gut-it-out (nice pun, eh?) and finish the 12 miles.

Who would have thunk that devouring a 3/4 lb shoarma 1 hour before your long run is not a good fueling idea?

Steve's 10 mile "Run fit for Filth"

For Saturday's long run, I was feeling adventurous. I decided I would head south - outside the city for a nice run in the countryside along the canal. You see, we are located in the southeastern portion of the city, so I figured it would only be about 2-3 miles running to leave the city.

What scenery!

I set out going south and made my way out of the city. After the 1st mile, the apartment blocs got smaller and smaller. By the time I was in mile 2, they were gone. The blocs gave way to small, mostly decrepit houses - some with gardens. The smell of fresh horse dung was in the air, and I could see a massive petro-chemical plant on my right.

I ran under a massive formation of high-tension power lines before I reached the canal. I could hear the buzzing from the power lines as I passed and figured since I was probably glowing at this point, it would make me easier to see on the road (Note: you can ask Dana, who was quite un-nerved by the buzzing when we drove back for these pics). Ah yes, the sounds and sights of the "country".

My first disappointment occurred when I reached the canal. The walkway on the north side of the canal has really been neglected in this area. Remember, we are in Bucharest, so when I say "neglected", I REALLY mean neglected. On this north side of the canal there were 2 lanes of traffic going east, so I headed west towards the traffic and tried to make the best of it. Broken pavement, trash and weeds were everywhere and I had to keep jumping off the walkway and into the road and then jump back up again. Traffic was flying past me as this little road basically becomes the Romanian autobahn once outside the city. My run in the country was anything but relaxing at this point. After a nerve-wracking mile of this, I began to look for a bridge so I could cross the canal and head against traffic on the way back.

The only good thing on this run was the lack of dogs. There were a few, but not as many as I expected. A group of 5 startled me at one point from across the road. I turned towards them and stopped, ready to do battle when they crossed the road (assuming all of them made it across). Just before they crossed however, I heard a whistle and they turned back. These strays were apparently semi-trained by a homeless person/dog herder, so that was a relief. I did see a few homeless people walking along the road with their belongings and several people fishing in the canal - and I have to assume they were fishing for food, not recreation (YUCK!).

I was quite relieved at mile 4 when I saw a lock ahead with a footbridge across the canal. The trash really builds up near the lock and the water smelled pretty ripe. I think it's quite safe to say that the canal which cuts through the center of Bucharest is one of the most polluted waterways in Europe and maybe the planet as well. I was happy to make my way across and start heading back - of course, things would get worse.

My happiness was short-lived as I headed back east on the southern side of the canal. The walkway on this side was even worse, forcing me into the road for long stretches. The other side of the road was unbelievably disgusting as well. Trash was piled up over 5 ft high along the road. It looked like the road was carved through a dump when they had made it. I picked up the pace, anxious to get off this highway and back into the city. It was at this point that I realized my biggest mistake. At mile 7, I reached my starting point on the canal which was great, right? WRONG! I was on the opposite side of the canal and there was no bridge where I started from, duh! I decided to press on, running against traffic and hoping that another bridge wasn't too far ahead. Thankfully, about 1 mile away was another bridge and I crossed back over.

I never thought I would be so happy to see the apartment blocs come into view. I'm glad I didn't try this run when I first got here, or I would have went straight to the mall and bought a treadmill. I give this area an 8/10 on the Steve J's FILTH-O-METER. Remember, it's not easy to impress me with filth. I've been to Panama City and Cairo which are a couple of the most filthy cities on Earth. So I know filth when I see it.

Week Wrap-Up

Well the "Carolina" winter has continued here in Bucharest and my running is going great overall. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 50's all week. After 2 miles today in what I now consider the spotlessly clean and perfect confines of Titan Park (ha ha ha) with Maria, I once again topped the 33 mile mark for the week. I started speedwork at Parcul National on Tuesday and cranked out 4 x 800 meter repeats at a speedy pace. I know I impressed the footballists (that's "soccer players" in Romanian) who were also doing some conditioning on the track. Wednesday was another nice run with John Lewis back at Herestreau park. John was coming off a 2-week layoff and had to work hard on this one. This was no problem as I able to handle most of the conversation griping about work the whole way. Thanks for listening John!

January ends...

Just checking in with my monstrous blog audience. January ended up being a pretty successful Bucharest running month. I tallied a "Steve J record" 108 miles for the month, thanks to recent 4-day "blitz" of running after all the "suits" returned to the states.

Most of my runs lately have not been really interesting. The super-warm temperatures that were here most of the month have dropped back down to a normal winter-like state. The wind has picked up too, so I've been doing my running in either Titan or Herestreau Park to take advantage of the wind break down at Lake-level. Running amongst the apartment blocs is less fun during these windy days - sometimes you get shelter, but you also experience some serious "wind tunnel" effects in between the blocs that will nearly knock you over.

Steve J - Chick magnet?

Yes it's true. There must be something about seeing Steve J go running by in wintertime (clad only in his cool running shorts, windshirt, gloves and baseball cap while chomping down on sports beans) that drives the Romanian ladies wild. Ooooh Baby! On Wednesdays run at Herestreau, two young ladies (not clad in running attire) joined me for about 50 meters to admire my rugged good looks and my inspirational outlook on life:
Ok, I have to stop now before I get carried away. I'm pretty sure, like most of these Romanian youngsters, their initial goal was to "mock me" in front of about 10-12 other friends looking on nearby. However, when they started talking (read: taunting) to me they realized I was American - so in that instant I became much less of a dork. American's are the rock stars of tourists in Romania. Romanians are really curious about Americans and the American culture.

Anyway, before they tuckered out (tight-fitting European jeans and high heel boots are NOT good for running on cobblestones in case your wondering) they asked me where in the US I was from and whether it was nice there. I think I made them feel better when I told them that South Carolina was colder than Bucharest yesterday. I was relieved when they left - running, talking Romanian and eating sports beans is not that easy, you know?