The party's over, for now...

So I'm back in Bucharest after a fun weekend in the really cool city of Brussels. Sometimes it is a letdown returning to Bucharest after running in the cleaner, more modernized Euro-cities, but you have to press on. Besides, those other really nice cities are also REALLY expensive which would put a serious dent in my travel budget if I worked there. Besides, with Spring in full swing, things are looking up in Bucharest. The trees are really filling out now and this does wonders for this city's appearance. Here's a quick recap of my runs on Wed and Saturday.

Wednesday: Kiss of the Gypsy Woman

By a wide margin, this is the most blog-worthy run this week, despite its short length (only 3 miles). The weather was excellent (near 70 F) and I walked outside of the bloc to stretch and give my training partner (yes, my fancy schmancy GPS watch) 1 minute to find all his favorite satellites. Anyway, there is this old gypsy woman that lives under our building in the utility area. (See the pic on the left which shows her abode, complete with a stray. She enters/exits from behind the green garbage can) She's really friendly, but difficult to understand - and mostly likely missing a few items upstairs if you know what I mean. I say hello to her often since I see her almost everyday going in and out of the building. So I was just doing a quick light stretch when I saw her come out of her little space. She usually just stays at the entrance and talks, but for some reason today, she came right up to me smiling and showing those not-so-pearly whites - about 1/2 dozen gold (or some other metal?) teeth. She was uncomfortably close to me (the Europeans don't understand the concept of personal space) going on and on about a bunch of stuff and I understood only a few words per sentence. She did ask me how far I was going to run and I replied "5 Km". She smiled and said a bunch of stuff - apparently impressed. Then, just when I was ready to take off, she planted a kiss right on my cheek!, said something and went back into her little space.

They're Back!

Ok, so I got my little "bit-o-sugar" from the gypsy lady and I was ready to run. It was a really nice day and after about 2 miles I was feeling normal again as I headed around Titan Lake. Unfortunately, as I reached the sunny bank of the lower lake, I looked up the hill and my run was ruined. Yes, the out-of-shape middle-aged Romanian speedo-wearing men are back. For some reason, when the weather warms up, these dudes start dropping clothes. I can still see Wednesday's fine specimen with his baby blue speedo like it was yesterday - nice.

Saturday's Long Run

I've been taking it easy since the race, but today it was time to get back into my training mindset. I've already picked out my late Summer/early Fall goal race which is another Half-Marathon. So, first priority is to restart my weekly long run (90 minutes or more), a critical training component for most distance racing. (Don't worry the guessing contest will happen - I have to get some research done and hope to have it ready for May)

Plant a tree, Drink a beer?

It was a spectacular day at the park today for my 10 mile run. The Sun was out, the wind was light and the temperature at 11:00 am was a perfect 64 or so. I noticed right away that Titan Park was packed. There was a huge group of volunteers planting trees in one of the bare sections of the park near the north side of the lake. This I thought was really cool. As you know from reading my blog (especially if you read my 10 mile trash run post), then you know that environmentalism, civic pride and cleanliness has a LONG way to go in Romania, especially Bucharest. Apparently the event was sponsored by Ursus, the most popular beer in Romania (think Budweiser with a bear instead of a Clydesdale) since all the volunteers had matching Ursus T-shirts on. Hey, if it takes a beer company to encourage some civic pride and clean up this town, I'm all for it.

The other major event going on was for children. Near the south side of the lake a stage was set up for Itsy and Bitsy and the kids were going wild. Itsy and Bitsy are alien bug-like things that DJ the kids radio station 99.3 FM. So how do I know this? I have to admit I listen to 99.3 a lot and not just for Maria. The station has been a big help for me to learn basic Romanian since all the conversation is at a level elementary kids can understand.

Well, that about wraps up the running in Bucharest this week. I will probably get another 4-6 miler in tomorrow (Sunday) to finish this week in the the mid 20's for total miles. It's a nice start towards building my base so I can smash my Vienna time in the next race.