tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12626589164292643272024-03-19T20:11:52.071+01:00Mihh's point of viewWelcome to my Running World!
@runwithmihhMihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-32251609940120652712019-11-04T18:10:00.002+01:002019-11-24T14:24:54.488+01:00A Tale of Tallinn - Part Three<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Sunday, 08th of September. </i>It's Marathon Day!!!!! 😃💥</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As usual, I did not have a quiet night of sleep, I felt a bit nervous and not enough motivated to get up and run. Luckily, the Sokos Hotel Viru is located just 100 m away from the start line, so I had more time than usual to clear my mind and focus on the next goal. Ok it's 8am already, time to get up and get equipped!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the way to the start line there is still time for some pictures to take.. what's the hurry anyway? 😁</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The atmosphere at the start line was energic, people were warming up or chatting with each other. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3..2..1.. goooo!!! Let's conquer the streets of Tallinn!! 😊</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first kilometers went by quickly, since we were all fresh, energic and cheered up by thousands of supporters along the streets. Running with the selfie-stick and actioncam in one hand did not make it a 'walk in the park', but taking pictures and filming was worth all the effort! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After 4 km, we had the first encounter with the sea and greeted the ships of the <i>Seaplane Harbour</i> Maritime museum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The route took us through the city streets and parks, on long roads with happy running people. A</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t the 16th kilometer mark we reached the highlight of the whole marathon: the Zoo!!! I was really looking forward to this moment, as it never happened to me in my running career to visit a Zoo during a race!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was greeted at the entrance of the Zoo by some cheerful volunteers. One of them even looked at the Romanian flag on my BIB and cheered for me: "Go Belgium!!" - No Belgium! Romania! I had to reply to him 😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Zoo was awesome!! I took the chance to stop, make pictures and film the animals + some runners dressed like them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More footage from the Zoo crossing is waiting for you in the video at the end of this story 😉</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Afterwards, we went through a forest, where the air was fresh and welcoming and I could take the time to reflect about our journey in life and how running a marathon compares to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My philosophical thread of thoughts stopped when reaching a city park at km 28 surrounded by music and happy supporters. Not to mention the batteries of my actioncam were going empty. The device had to be reconfigured and so now I was that tech-addicted guy running in the park 'playing' on his device instead of enjoying the atmosphere. 📷🙈</span></div>
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...<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'cause there is no hurry 😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once again.. the sea!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Small cramps on my thighs were starting to appear but luckily, at the 32nd km there was a kid with Icepower spray. He saved my muscles! My feet cooled down and I did not feel any cramps for the rest of the marathon! I was overall slow but without hitting any 'Wall', the last kilometers were a delight! There is no enjoyment for me without dancing, cheering with the supporters or encouraging other runners!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Experiencing the marathon like this is more meaningful than shaving off a few seconds or minutes from some targeted time after suffering for 42km and then not being able to walk normally over the next days. The Marathon has to become a race to bring joy and happiness. Being competitive is nice but at my current level I don't feel that it will bring me a better experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having that in mind, there was time to exchange a few words with the 4h30min pace-makers at the 40th kilometer. One of them was pleasantly surprised when he say my BIB: "Oh Belgium, very well!" No, it's Romania!! 😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I understand their confusion because the flags of Romania and Belgium are similar in colors and seeing a Romanian flag on a BIB was a very very rare opportunity during the whole weekend. As a matter of fact, there was only one runner representing Romania at all events:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last 2 kilometers took us back to the city centre with the finish at the Viru Gates, where we started. The whole area was a big party with dancers dressed in traditional costumes, people walking around with medals around their neck and many supporters waiting for their favorites to cross the finish line.🏁🏆🎈</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hurray!!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3XPfORS1RjkIve94oiYVdLBqrULu7Ac3LiKov-w1JF_TxJrLd1fGo0PPPxE7afwUnleRFqrL1n9PGAySg6dRPRctzjES_hONPKRZyNgvOdJ9agpsjCRj6ZBOjyz0f88_bQjH48yArxWDL/s1600/IMG-20190908-WA0032+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3XPfORS1RjkIve94oiYVdLBqrULu7Ac3LiKov-w1JF_TxJrLd1fGo0PPPxE7afwUnleRFqrL1n9PGAySg6dRPRctzjES_hONPKRZyNgvOdJ9agpsjCRj6ZBOjyz0f88_bQjH48yArxWDL/s320/IMG-20190908-WA0032+-+Copy.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It cannot end without a traditional non-alcoholic beer 🍺</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Running a marathon should not be about pain and suffering. I did all my best to prove that and it worked out very well :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thank you, Tallinn! 🙌</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Watch the whole marathon experience from a video reporter's perspective 🎬</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZDj2kSp-Sz8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZDj2kSp-Sz8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Running with camels</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A Big Thank You to the organizers of Tallinn Marathon for inviting me to take part in this whole experience and for showing me their beautiful city!</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Congratulations for receiving the World Athletics Bronze Label, you deserved it!! 👏</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More info on </span><a href="http://www.jooks.ee/en/tallinn-marathon/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.jooks.ee/en/tallinn-marathon/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's #relive it in fast-forward mode!</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9wQpY5Lq?r=embed-site">Relive 'Fun @ Tallinn Marathon'</a></h4>
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<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script><br />Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0Tallinn, Estonia59.436960799999987 24.75357469999994559.178853799999985 24.108127699999944 59.69506779999999 25.399021699999945tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-22217771086654211762019-10-06T18:05:00.000+02:002019-11-04T18:18:44.682+01:00A Tale of Tallinn - Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Saturday, 7th of September</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. It's the second day in Tallinn and the best way to start it is with a biiiig breakfast at the Sokos Hotel Viru! It includes food and drinks for all possible preferences and tastes so one could not really get out of there and still be hungry 😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The day before the marathon is usually one where I have to think carefully about what to eat and do. The meals have to be rich in carbs and veggies and a higher amount of liquids (to be understood as water, tea or similar) is required. All the 'extra weight' in my body has to be eliminated before the race, so that I will be able to finish it without stomach problems and not encounter moments where my energy goes down to 0. Activities that cause tiredness should also be reduced to the minimum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With that in mind, the big healthy breakfast was the best choice to give me energy for the first half of the day and then to let me make better nutrition choices for the other half of it. As for the activities to undertake, well this part is also tricky. On one hand, being the first time ever in Tallinn and having most of the day free is an excellent opportunity to explore the city as much as I can. But Tallinn has many beatiful areas outside the historical city centre and walking around the city to cover them would leave me super tired at the end of the day! 😏</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Solution: the Hop On Hop Off Bus! One 24h ticket was valid for 3 different sightseeing lines through the cities, each line having the color red, blue or green. The buses were equipped with audio guides in 9 languages, where each point of interest was narrated as the bus drove close to it on its route. The visitors could "hop on" and "hop off" as many times as they wanted, during the validity of their ticket. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">([1])</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, that turned out to be really helpful: I could see all the important parts of the city without spending a physical effort to get there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A self-driving car</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Green Line</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZ-mKWxoclqo5ahauMg7IJfawSC8RUAww4xgZ3I3QujVWgwI88-y72z1UTscRBgcKTxwF9VnpSt4Hw8qxO8qpYAcJXJQjWhnCGYPXMct6EFijXNqpM0gDU0Q7NJclow4m4N8KztNcagIq/s1600/IMG-20190907-WA0053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZ-mKWxoclqo5ahauMg7IJfawSC8RUAww4xgZ3I3QujVWgwI88-y72z1UTscRBgcKTxwF9VnpSt4Hw8qxO8qpYAcJXJQjWhnCGYPXMct6EFijXNqpM0gDU0Q7NJclow4m4N8KztNcagIq/s320/IMG-20190907-WA0053.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Strike a pose!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DiyhUhWF-bb_tBW6s08fLRHwFbSKaCXZYER3m6UNUBn3_NfTVMm_ApWnx3eh31Xu-EmKSawJl7o5PNp8C0riNjI5bSo1PlMr7DFEXkGK0u0UDwV3_kChzWCwrmaFn86PMPqyeatBxoS9/s1600/IMG-20190907-WA0059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DiyhUhWF-bb_tBW6s08fLRHwFbSKaCXZYER3m6UNUBn3_NfTVMm_ApWnx3eh31Xu-EmKSawJl7o5PNp8C0riNjI5bSo1PlMr7DFEXkGK0u0UDwV3_kChzWCwrmaFn86PMPqyeatBxoS9/s320/IMG-20190907-WA0059.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chill before the marathon 😎</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After so much sightseeing on different lines, it was time to watch the next event of the Tallinn Marathon weekend: the 10K race! With more than 7000 participants, it was actually the most attended event of all. ([2])</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Waiting for the runners at the Drama Theatre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10K race - start</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the race, the time came to find a good restaurant with vegan menu, in order to provide my body with a healthy carbo-loading before the big race. The Basiilik restaurant was close to the hotel and offered a menu with many options, so why not giving it a try? 😉 ([3])</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Carrot-pumpkin purree soup</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spinach ravioli with vegan cheese </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and Marathon map</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also had a pizza among these meals, because something told me that for a proper carbo-loading I should not stop after the super yummy carrot-pumpkin soup and the spinach ravioli... yeah, just looking at the marathon map was enough 🍕😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The day ended with my usual pre-race routine, before going to sleep: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T-shirt, shorts, shoes, cap, rain jacket, running watch, race bib etc. ✅</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">action-cam, selfie-stick and accessories ✅</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">check the course map and profile one more time ✅</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">arrange the logistics ✅</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">set the alarm to not oversleep ⏰ - it happens rarely, because usually I do not sleep a lot before the big race, but anyway ✅</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everything seems to be prepared for the marathon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, <i>am I really prepared for this</i>?? 😅</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://themihh.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-tale-of-tallinn-part-three.html">A Tale of Tallinn - Part Three</a>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">External references:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[1] https://citytour.ee/en/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[2] http://www.jooks.ee/en/tallinn-marathon/results</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[3] </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://basiilik.ee/</span></div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-32094815096428559722019-09-22T21:04:00.000+02:002019-10-10T19:53:17.688+02:00A Tale of Tallinn - Part One<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Friday, 6th of September 2019</b>.</i> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's almost 1PM and the LOT Airlines plane lands in a small airport in Northern Europe...</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We're in Tallinn, Estonia!! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wait, where?? Take a look at the map 😉</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d11755356.981798723!2d6.5434623338125615!3d57.3924377616692!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x46929499df5616bf%3A0x400b36d18fc6270!2sTallinn%2C%20Estonia!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sat!4v1569094023282!5m2!1sen!2sat" style="border: 0;" width="600"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's actually the northermost point I have ever been to in my whole life! This definitely calls for a Marathon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've heard many great things about Tallinn and Estonia before my trip: best preserved Old Town in Northern Europe, one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, the only country in Europe where you can vote online, friendly people, a lot of nature and the list goes on. What else could </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">this beautiful city </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">possibly offer in order to make me book flight tickets and land there on the 6th of September? 😄</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Marathon, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was no time for a first walk around the city, because the organizers were kind to invite me to attend the press conference which was starting in an hour. Luckily, the trip with the tram from the airport to the city centre takes only 15 minutes and the hotel was close to the press conference location. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That would be efficiency summed up in a few words: fast commuting, quick check-in, so perfectly on time for the press conference.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Press Conference</i> time!! The selected location was the Tallinn City Council, a pretty old building with a vintage style. The top athletes who arrived for the race weekend were sitting at a table. Opposed to them, some Estonian press and television was preparing to record the discussion. Ok the moderator has just started to talk, let's go live on the Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TrekandRun/" rel="" target="_blank">Trek and Run</a> page! He is saying something in Estonian, now some of the Estonian guests take the microphone and continue speaking in Estonian.. sadly no English translation for us 😒</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Luckily we received the lists of race favourites for the 10k, 21k and Marathon so I could make a better idea about the importance of the event. There were no super big names on the scene, but I could recognize the names of Lily and Leila Luik - two of the famous Estonian triplets who competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics ([1]). (<i>The two sisters ran the 10k race in Tallinn finishing in 3rd and 4th place</i>)</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The running triplets were not present at the press conference. Instead, another Estonian local hero, Liina Tsernov, was there and said a few words about her expectations before the 10k race.. well, at least that is what I think she said, since there was no English translation 😄</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Afterwards we had a few words from Roman Fosti, the runner whom I could recognize from the Marathon promo picture, and Nina Lauwaert from Belgium, competing for the 21k race. Luckily for me, Nina Lauwaert did not speak Estonian, but English. I was relieved. She told that her 21k is actually a preparation for the Berlin Marathon, where she needs to achieve a qualifying time for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The microphone was passed to the Kenyan marathoners, Moses Too and Bernard Sang, who were hoping for good weather conditions so they could do their best at the marathon. (<i>Bernard Sang did not break his Personal Best but still finished in 2nd place with the time of 2:13.47</i>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nina Lauwaert (BEL)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roman Fosti (EST)</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After another round of talks in Estonian, the press conference finished and each athlete was approached by journalists for separate interviews. I used the moment to have a few words with Belgian marathoner Nina Lauwaert. She told me that she was running the Halfmarathon in Tallinn as a preparation for the Berlin Marathon at the end of the month. Having missed the qualification for the upcoming Doha IAAF World Championships, her goal is now to run under the 2h30' mark which will allow her to book the tickets for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The qualification criteria for Tokyo are actually more complex and finishing under the time limit is only one of the options ([2]). (<i>Nina Lauwaert finished the 21k in 3rd position with 1:12.23</i>) 🎉</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then it was the time to talk to the Estonian local hero Roman Fosti, also running the 21k in Tallinn as a preparation for the Doha World Championships, where he is targeting to finish under 2h20' in the Marathon. The heat in Doha will play an important role so it will be interesting to see how will he adapt to it. He intends to participate in the Valencia Marathon later this year. We also discussed about the upcoming Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, where Eliud Kipchoge will try to run the Marathon under 2 hours ([3]). (<i>Roman Fosti finished the 21k in 4th place with 1:04:53</i>) 🏃</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So much athletics information in just one hour.. wow!! The press conference really brought me directly into race mood. It was great for me to transition from the avid athletics races couch watcher / amateur runner to interviewing top athletes and get their feelings before the next challenge. I liked their positive attitude, determination and focus towards their big goals. Winning every race or breaking a personal record every time is not feasible. Making small and smart steps to achieve the big goal will be more rewarding than pushing the limits when it is not necessary. 💡</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ok time to get some Tallinn flair, we're in the famous Old Town so let's walk around a bit..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soprus Cinema</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Town Hall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first event of the weekend, the <b>We Run TLN 5K</b> race, took place later in the afternoon so it was about time to put on those running shoes, watch the runners and do a first run through the city centre! Let's watch some first impressions:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Running in Tallinn is great!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Time is flying and the sun was setting over Tallinn. In other words, no more sports, but two other lovely activities: dinner and sleep. Good night, Tallinn!! 🌛</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://themihh.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-tale-of-tallinn-part-two.html" target="_blank">A Tale of Tallinn - Part Two</a></span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">External References:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/olympics-estonias-luik-triplets-make-history-in-rio-marathon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Qualification</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[3] https://www.ineos159challenge.com/</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tallinn Marathon Results: https://new2019.championchip.ee/results/1225</span></div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0Tallinn, Estonia59.436960799999987 24.75357469999994559.178853799999985 24.108127699999944 59.69506779999999 25.399021699999945tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-18345312818284467502019-04-16T00:05:00.001+02:002019-04-16T00:07:50.176+02:00Ambassador at the Vienna City Marathon 2019<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a great pleasure for me to reprise my role as a Vienna City Marathon Ambassador for my country Romania!! The main duty of us Ambassadors was to bring the Vienna City Marathon closer to its participants, each of us focusing of course on their own country people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-4Glo_FbxINvV-JhM0gvvfTBvyt2_1FMuKZUavxqvKt91V9BT5WryOUyj2qlQRaYspJRSLVCR_JeKQiWaCKq4djpRxWZP3mdFdWbPs7a4JSGMrb1i8cIMx3uUVY0rReMXFezRlM_HPFE/s1600/IMG-20190406-WA0019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-4Glo_FbxINvV-JhM0gvvfTBvyt2_1FMuKZUavxqvKt91V9BT5WryOUyj2qlQRaYspJRSLVCR_JeKQiWaCKq4djpRxWZP3mdFdWbPs7a4JSGMrb1i8cIMx3uUVY0rReMXFezRlM_HPFE/s400/IMG-20190406-WA0019.jpg" width="400" /></a><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Actually, I was selected as the Romanian Ambassador for the 4th time in a row and could not be more honoured and happy about it! All the runners who wanted to get in contact with me for information regarding the VCM could find me on the official <a href="https://www.vienna-marathon.com/?surl=cd162e16e318d263fd56d6261673fe72#goto-friendship" target="_blank">VCM Ambassadors page</a>. There were 2 contact possibilities: via e-mail or Facebook Messenger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As every year happened, the messages from different participants came in the last couple of weeks before the race day. People were usually asking questions about refreshment points, meeting point before/after the race, Pasta Party, but also tips about training, nutrition or health. There were also critics of the marathon, who provided a good opportunity to start constructive debates. The different topics of debate can be viewed anytime in the Instagram Stories Highlights of my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/runwithmihh/" target="_blank">@runwithmihh</a> profile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The biggest moment for us - VCM Ambassadors - was to be presented on the scene at the official VCM Pasta Party in Vienna's mighty Town Hall (<i>Rathaus</i>). We also registered some short welcoming videos to wish all the best on race day to our fellow participants in our own language!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As for the Marathon day, just one word to say: exhilarating! 😁 </span></div>
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These images will tell you more: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18020327491159966/">https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18020327491159966/</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xwBp9EYpIBsil-JlyOUPfwPJj9jDafNXbZwTP_xQGHqh6_NOcvy1qD3DDi_4mW0Oc69qfyovnsR2jQkhd7ytFyY1-shzR0rmQKaT3tCFBt1tR7vPBDnMZSCbIQ5a_ixwVK_rl-IuOovD/s1600/2852_283819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="349" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xwBp9EYpIBsil-JlyOUPfwPJj9jDafNXbZwTP_xQGHqh6_NOcvy1qD3DDi_4mW0Oc69qfyovnsR2jQkhd7ytFyY1-shzR0rmQKaT3tCFBt1tR7vPBDnMZSCbIQ5a_ixwVK_rl-IuOovD/s400/2852_283819.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
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No matter how hard it was this time, you can see from the happiness on my face that it was totally worth it. This was my 15th completed official race on the Marathon or Ultramarathon distance. More info about the previous races can be found on the <a href="https://themihh.blogspot.com/p/marathon-map.html" target="_blank">Marathons Map page</a>.</div>
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A really huge Thank You to the organizers and volunteers for their effort spent to make this great international Marathon event and of course to the 300+ Romanian runners who joined me on the streets of Vienna!!</div>
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Mulțumesc!</div>
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</span>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-58320081453912852382015-03-26T00:29:00.000+01:002019-04-14T00:27:14.527+02:00Paris, j'arrive!!!<div style="text-align: justify;">
...that was my thought last week, when preparing my baggage for visiting the City of Light for the first time in my life! And for all the things that one visitor of Paris could do (you certainly have in mind a few now), what could I possibly choose? Yes, <b>Running</b>!!!! A marathon would be more than enough, right? There should also be some time for sightseeing.. Not for me!! I have to do an UltraMarathon! The marathon is just not enough for me.. I remembered that a famous Romanian ultramarathoner once said in an interview something like the marathon is difficult for him in sense that it's a too short race and sometimes hard to handle, so he prefers longer distances. At that time I was just at my beginning in the marathon world and it felt weird and incomprehensible to me. Now I tend to agree with him.</div>
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Ok let's get to the event: <a href="http://traildeparis.com/" target="_blank">EcoTrail de Paris 2015</a>!!</div>
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Of course I chose to run the longest one of 80 km on Saturday 21st, even if my longest race was just 56 km last summer in Salzburg (I've mentioned it <a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2014/08/run-kick-swim-fun.html" target="_blank">here</a>). Got on the flight from Prague to Paris on Friday, made the online check-in late so I found only the line 13 of the Czech Airlines aircraft with all seats free. Hmm.. people are afraid of sitting on line 13? Haha I don't care, let's take seat 13A at the window! It was even funnier at the return flight with Air France, but I'll get to that later ;)</div>
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Arrived to Paris, took train RER and then tram to get to the Sport Expo.. first problem: my name was not on the 80 km list! People there were speaking a lot of French and very few English.. anyway they found my race kit after 10 minutes so I could leave relieved. Next problem: some pieces of the required equipment were missing! I couldn't find them in the days before the race but was hoping to buy at the Sport Expo. I found the reflective armband but all the stores were <i>out of survival blankets</i>! And I searched through all of them at the Expo! (What is a survival blanket? See on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reflective-Emergency-Blanket-Survival-blanket/dp/B000FNQ7A4" target="_blank">Amazon</a>) One guy sent me the address of their store somewhere in Paris where there might be some survival blankets left. Luckily, my friends Lisa and Juan were coming later from Vienna and Lisa had a spare survival blanket for me! So I met them later and my equipment was finally complete. Thanks again Lisa!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4w1mbEeZrirzdQZ-LcfxIoYnIl0yvV2AoTGUettFYqQEp9EX_kSezs77DdPfz8T4O5k4j2t_BC0ILe2WE0kS-tJp4TUfoj2iwXqcViB6GjccpnqVAcFVvlEyf_BtCn8PQPsBBR-Ep2gP/s1600/IMG_20150320_173130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4w1mbEeZrirzdQZ-LcfxIoYnIl0yvV2AoTGUettFYqQEp9EX_kSezs77DdPfz8T4O5k4j2t_BC0ILe2WE0kS-tJp4TUfoj2iwXqcViB6GjccpnqVAcFVvlEyf_BtCn8PQPsBBR-Ep2gP/s1600/IMG_20150320_173130.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Saturday morning found me using public transport again - this time it was free (because of the high city pollution and not of the event)!. Took it with other ultrarunners to St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, somewhere in the Centre of France where the starting point was. I was wearing the T-Shirt with "Romania" from my former running club as I usually do at the big races. I was also curious to see the reaction of the people and also to show that there are also Romanians who come to run and compete in Paris (I was the only one at the 80km race). I hope it helped somehow for a better image of my country, since I saw in the trains and metros some compatriots of mine singing at the accordion and begging for money..</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHqT7POvuVYQ8hj63_orIg_YVqbKh1dVttJmGcQG4uBlJYwmvoT1Y6NumuBDGRK5ofFXPWWyadWelHSQRN0oYWBZ8_r1_QN-GRf0JbPVKkVKzUFETcmjAZBhWSIhE-cJT-QQaWL3unbJB/s1600/IMG_20150321_111742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHqT7POvuVYQ8hj63_orIg_YVqbKh1dVttJmGcQG4uBlJYwmvoT1Y6NumuBDGRK5ofFXPWWyadWelHSQRN0oYWBZ8_r1_QN-GRf0JbPVKkVKzUFETcmjAZBhWSIhE-cJT-QQaWL3unbJB/s1600/IMG_20150321_111742.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's almost 12pm. Race time! </div>
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After a speech in French which I barely understood and a minute of silence we took for I have no idea which reason (if someone knows please tell me!)</div>
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... I've exchanged the last messages with my coach Alex from Berlin: </div>
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<i>Mihh: yooooo 80km!!!! Goooo!!!</i></div>
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<i>Alex: GO MIHH GOOOOOO!</i></div>
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... we counted backwards from 10 to 1.. (yes, me too! I've remembered the numbers in French!!)...</div>
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... and Start!!! More than 1700 runners took off for this challenge with the hope to make it to the Eiffel Tower in Paris safe and sound and also in less than 13 hours - the total time limit!</div>
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A lot of thoughts were going through my mind.. I am good, my batteries are fully charged, there is no need to push hard now even if I feel fit and ready to conquer the world!! There are a lot of runners in front of me and behind me, just go with the flow and the 80km will just fly in no time! :) my family and friends are at their homes watching me on the live tracking website, I cannot let them down! My coach Alex is surely analyzing everything and thinking about the chances I have to finish this long race. Run run, a nice lake, wild vegetation, some people having a nice Saturday in the land area cheering for us, weather cloudy about 10 degrees C, no rain.. it's a good time for an ultra! I am well equipped, with self prepared honey-lemonade, water, food supplies, change T-shirt, headlamp, survival blanket (!), reflective armband, <a href="http://www.compressport.com/e-shop/calf/r2-race-recovery.html" target="_blank">compression calf sleeves</a>, kinesiologic band for my thighs, buffs and even a Swiss knife and a lighter (you never know how the forest turns into a jungle!). Heavy baggage to run 80km with but still necessary.</div>
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After 10 km or so, first problems: biological needs on the way! Hey there is just forest here, let's pick a tree! "Pick me, pick me!" seem a lot of them to say. Ok you look the same to me.. first need done, let's go! No, a bigger need comes up.. runners keep passing on the track, time goes by, but <i>the bare necessities of life</i> can't wait, right? Yes, the organizers said that we should only do our businesses at the checkpoints in the proper toilets. Really?! How can you believe that I can run more than 10 kilometers in this state to wait then 10 minutes at the toilet queue?! I saw that mostly all the runners were agreeing with me.. and what I left into the nature is ecological, trust me! I was drinking only water in the last days, no alcohol. My diet was composed of pasta, salads and other healthy meals. (My coach will also be reading this at some point so that's all I can confess :)) ) So I left the tree, came back on the track much lighter and happier, so what should I think about now? Let's sing something! How was that song again? ... "look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities of life!"..<br />
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There are a lot of songs one can think of during this kind of run, I could do an UltraRunPlaylist with them! :)</div>
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Running and singing and running and singing.. and I am at the first checkpoint at 23km!! Yo cool, a quarter of the race is done! Let's eat and drink well at the refreshment point! Got SMS from coach Alex again, I was on track, 1 hour before the time limit for this checkpoint (CP). Next time limit was at 9pm and CP Chaville 55km. The race went on in pretty much the same way (but no more bare necessities!). My strategy: I've decided to walk on the climbs and also for a while after the surface was flat again, to avoid unnecessary muscular cramps and fatigue. I ran with a constant pace on the downhills and on the rest of the flat surfaces.</div>
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40 km done, almost a marathon, new problem!! The 1L of water is almost out and the next CP with water supplies is at km 45. I was not thirsty until km 44, when I felt dehydrated and was seeing each corner we had to take as the place where a lot of water was expecting me.. like a mirage in the desert. We had to climb some steps because CP 45 was up on the hill at the Meudon Observatory! After drinking almost 1L of water and eating some cranberries from my food supplies, I could continue the race. Still at that point I was asking myself: why am I doing this!?! This is crazyyy!!! Lisa just texted me that she finished her 50k in 5h13', amazing time wow!! I still have 35 km to go. Anyway, when restarting the race and seeing the beautiful panorama and Paris I stopped for some pictures. What was the hurry anyway?</div>
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Good mood restored :)</div>
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Coach Alex also sent me an encouraging message, next checkpoints were closer and with good drinks and food supplies, so let's just keep running. No particular aches, no cramps, just some fatigue but at this constant pace I can handle it. Still from that point on I wasn't thinking anymore about songs, meanings of life, reasons for me running 80km and other philosophical questions whatsoever. I was focused only on the race, time limits, food and water supplies and to keep the same strategy, not to try anything stupid!</div>
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I found also people on the road who where reading the competitors' names on their race numbers to cheer for them: <i>Allez Jean-Pierre! Allez Louise!! </i>Then I passed by.. <i>Allez.. ehm.. Allez la Roumanie!!</i> Even better, one man said it in my language: <i>Allez.. hmm.. Traiasca Romania!!</i></div>
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Thank you, my French supporters! <i>Allez les Bleus!</i> ;)</div>
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I was at CP Chaville km 55 at 7pm, 2 hours before the time limit. Everything ok, but the evening came so I had to turn on my headlamp because the night was coming. The real Ultramarathon was finally starting! No worries, I did a lot of trainings running in the dark forest with my headlamp so I could be used to such situation. It was actually cool!</div>
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CP 67km about 9pm, everything fine! Tomato soup, 2 portions for me please!! SMS sent to coach and friends who were expecting me in Paris, another picture to remember this moment and GO to the finish point! Look at it there illuminated and beautiful, seems so close now!! Go Go Go!!!</div>
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I was hoping to make it under 10 hours, so I increased the pace when I was running the last kilometers along the Seine in Paris. Race referees were asking me to turn on my headlamp even if the streets were well illuminated. The finish was so close.. but wait! How close? On the website I remembered that the actual track was measuring 78km, but my Garmin watch already showed me 1 km more at each checkpoint. I didn't know Paris so I couldn't estimate how many kilometers were left. 3, 4.. 6? Should I accelerate? What if there is a loop at the end and I run more even if I am at the Eiffel Tower? So I kept my constant pace, walked a bit to recover and then started accelerating. We were super close and turned back to go on a bridge and then on an isle of the Seine!! Hey that's mean, but whatever! I can do it, I am really close.. now a few steps, a lot of people.. yess I am at the Tour Eiffel!</div>
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Oh my God! So many people and a lot of volunteers trying to not let them pass on the track so we can go to the entrance of the stairs. Cheers and applause on each side, that's nice! I cannot see my friends though. Anyway I run fast, get a ticket for the tower, then get stopped for a fast package control! Luckily, the knife and lighter went unnoticed so I didn't lose time :) Ok let's run on the steps until the first floor, I can do it. 2 steps at a time, fast fast! I am surpassing a lot of tired runners who go slow on the steps! But I can! Ok let's slow down, 1 step at a time, still going fast. It's soo sooo close!! There is the finish line and a woman in front of me, she is much slower than me. Should I surpass her or not? Noo, let's be a gentleman and let her come in front of me.. who cares after 10 hours anyway?</div>
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Medal, finisher T-Shirt, photos, happiness, messages to coach and friends!!! Woohooooo I did it!!!! 80km can't believe it!! I am tired but I could keep on running! No cramps, no injuries, good strategy!</div>
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Some random pictures taken by professional photographers:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4Yq4ToJrVBkOdFBpaJvuk819V2ZrtFEVnR2ndttIjOul3mZ-8GkxLfE63Ogpwirts2Zvb8bslmkSnh4a_IfwoontZ7PYEciy7Nm2YgYY4Dy27pTvlvy6z0hKGjOJ69TjSE6-zQckDIDO/s1600/ld_25511544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4Yq4ToJrVBkOdFBpaJvuk819V2ZrtFEVnR2ndttIjOul3mZ-8GkxLfE63Ogpwirts2Zvb8bslmkSnh4a_IfwoontZ7PYEciy7Nm2YgYY4Dy27pTvlvy6z0hKGjOJ69TjSE6-zQckDIDO/s1600/ld_25511544.jpg" /></a><br />
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I am really happy and proud of myself right now. There are of course a lot of things to be improved, but more on that later.</div>
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Thanks to my coach Alex for all the advice and support before and during the race, thanks to my family who watched me on live tracking from home. Thanks to Alicia and Joe who hosted me and helped me go around Paris and come back home and to my friends Lisa and Juan who were also supporting me and waiting for me at the finish. Congrats to all the runners, congrats to the winner who finished more than 4 hours before me! Congrats to all the 150+ women who were so brave and well trained to run this race! Thanks to the organizers and volunteers, it was awesome!! <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>Chapeau!</i></span></div>
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Of course, I won't let you now with the complete story untold. At the return to Prague with Air France, I found a seat on line 14 in the aircraft. No more seat on line 13 for me, because there was no line 13 at all! After line 12 there came directly line 14. We had a friendly flight attendant so I asked her why line 13 was missing. She told me that this is a superstition and line 13 is actually missing from every Air France aircraft! Funny French people :))</div>
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Last but not least, thanks to my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch which kept with me for more than 10 hours! Unfortunately, the first 50km are not drawn on the map because of the limited internal storage:</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/728376858" width="465"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://ecotrail.livetrail.net/classement.php" target="_blank">Results</a><br />
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Cheers,<br />
UltraMihh</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-70579585612237049372014-08-03T22:32:00.002+02:002015-03-25T20:51:35.763+01:00Back on the bike!Breaking News!!!<br />
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After more than 5 years, last Friday I rented a bike and went on a night city tour through Vienna!!<br />
Many thanks to the organizers of <a href="https://wien.gruene.at/skater" target="_blank">Friday Nightskating</a> and to <a href="http://www.citybikewien.at/" target="_blank">CityBike</a>, they made it possible for me. Thanks to me for going out, being able to rent some bikes with CityBike (this was a challenge, too!) and for taking some photos:<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The ride would have been perfect if I hadn't left some skin on the Ringstrasse boulevard, after a strong brake on the front wheel which practically catapulted me in a spectacular way over the bike! I'm ok (if you are worrying), I am feeling just some knee and elbow pains. And no, I had no protection, no helmet, as the decision to go out and ride the bike with the group was spontaneous.</span><br />
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Anyway, lesson learned (once again!): <i>Better safe than sorry!</i></div>
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At the end of the night, a good beer with a friend and Vienna's very good night public transport system completed the day! Oh, and the <a href="http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprainsstrains/a/sprain_4.htm" target="_blank">RICE treatment</a> for my knee!</div>
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Today I felt better and I could perform a slow run with some intervals for about an hour. Unplanned, unexpected, but nice run! :)</div>
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Cheers!</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-53882702461695855792014-08-03T18:44:00.000+02:002014-08-03T18:48:26.498+02:00Run, kick, swim & fun!Hi there, my dear readers!<br />
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Long time no blog, I know.. I can see that my previous post here is from the Vienna City Marathon, I am sorry for those who were waiting for updates from my side and thought I got myself lost somewhere outside of the Blogosphere :)<br />
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It's not that I have ceased running, swimming or going to competitions, I was busy with work and different activities and didn't find time and inspiration to talk about them. My desire to write again came back after reading one particular <i>Expat Eye</i> blog, but more on this later :)<br />
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So here's an update of my sports activities over the past months:<br />
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<li>May: 10 km of dirty fun at XCross Run at Vienna Donauinsel.. what does it mean? Take a look:</li>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PQEezaY49XI" width="560"></iframe> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPultcDZb9PIihxUeg_zwDa6PpqEYCkus8ZPusCKIY0zv9CvDGfrO1DpcrmalLQkZKqFAPpXEEzwpK-25BRmmVkLF2ZMN7AyPnWKvwICA2nqjMW2x3MpKQM6K6s3sSC5VxgN4ziDAhlnu/s1600/x-cross-run-2014-dsc_9128_20140524_1807690424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPultcDZb9PIihxUeg_zwDa6PpqEYCkus8ZPusCKIY0zv9CvDGfrO1DpcrmalLQkZKqFAPpXEEzwpK-25BRmmVkLF2ZMN7AyPnWKvwICA2nqjMW2x3MpKQM6K6s3sSC5VxgN4ziDAhlnu/s1600/x-cross-run-2014-dsc_9128_20140524_1807690424.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muddy Mihh</td></tr>
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<li>June: 2 soccer competitions with Team Accenture Austria:</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhX5dtwa12PU1MJfdtsrz1U_jw2Tf-algzQ2rSnZhL9a9aXCtA-Q4nc6TrBolF5YmcWzYH0fbm3grOPEgr57GQ4UiCboU3T8XRnVTiaHr9YNFHZ2Q2myIniIUs_LIvF8EGNV0qDKQ_7F1/s1600/image001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhX5dtwa12PU1MJfdtsrz1U_jw2Tf-algzQ2rSnZhL9a9aXCtA-Q4nc6TrBolF5YmcWzYH0fbm3grOPEgr57GQ4UiCboU3T8XRnVTiaHr9YNFHZ2Q2myIniIUs_LIvF8EGNV0qDKQ_7F1/s1600/image001.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Austria</td></tr>
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<li>Ute Bock Cup - local charity competition in Vienna, which our team won! :)</li>
<li>EuroSoccer Amsterdam: each year, our company organizes an European soccer competition. This year we were 18 teams of 16 players (11 + 5) and played on the training fields of Ajax Amsterdam. At the end of the tournament our team ranked #5, which is the best ever for Team Austria! Congrats to us!</li>
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<li>I also ran 14 km in June with my Brother-in-law Alex through the wildness of Berlin in a hot Sunday (35 C)</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGd0MO2CFPGOKpGUXitsFnyrTIu6f-V_jlE19M7X-11gaFlyAqi3-avpuve_lbdKqeDHbFnVTTIRA0aObEAiK4QrR86_NnUccrAVB0sZeNTE3lOdGFBqxb0gDfC7aQbi4FE9qNjnepGnKE/s1600/Brothers-in-run.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGd0MO2CFPGOKpGUXitsFnyrTIu6f-V_jlE19M7X-11gaFlyAqi3-avpuve_lbdKqeDHbFnVTTIRA0aObEAiK4QrR86_NnUccrAVB0sZeNTE3lOdGFBqxb0gDfC7aQbi4FE9qNjnepGnKE/s1600/Brothers-in-run.jpg" height="240" title="Brothers-In-Run :))" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brothers-In-Run :)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGd0MO2CFPGOKpGUXitsFnyrTIu6f-V_jlE19M7X-11gaFlyAqi3-avpuve_lbdKqeDHbFnVTTIRA0aObEAiK4QrR86_NnUccrAVB0sZeNTE3lOdGFBqxb0gDfC7aQbi4FE9qNjnepGnKE/s1600/Brothers-in-run.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<li>And now the <b>Big News</b>: I ran my first <i>Ultramarathon</i>!! 56 km on the trails of Salzburgland with 1300 m elevation gain. Wonderful race, wonderful weather, wonderful landscape: it's <a href="http://www.mozart100.com/" target="_blank">Mozart100</a>!! Many thanks to my relay team mate Oana who ran the first 45 km so that I could start my 55-56! :)</li>
Details: <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/526595764" target="_blank">http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/526595764</a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GIquGvSKVBVSBS2yLQ7YMXM5Q_Yq53HcQPj-duAwL53I0iYphyphenhyphen18IBT-PT1-mMHsC4-vT-dPcrpE0fPZwPb7sdElh1qjGiaxR-pn8wRyqEoHlK1gqOLu8ICVorTGGHAhtbj48WGxyCFT/s1600/_799_5_02edeb6f69cfa0f0b1510399dd6d8f09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GIquGvSKVBVSBS2yLQ7YMXM5Q_Yq53HcQPj-duAwL53I0iYphyphenhyphen18IBT-PT1-mMHsC4-vT-dPcrpE0fPZwPb7sdElh1qjGiaxR-pn8wRyqEoHlK1gqOLu8ICVorTGGHAhtbj48WGxyCFT/s1600/_799_5_02edeb6f69cfa0f0b1510399dd6d8f09.png" height="212" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Running or flying? It's an Ultra, you never know ;)</span></td></tr>
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<li>Of course I went swimming at a local pool now and then and enjoyed watching the beautiful Vienna from above (the swimming pool is on one of the hills with a nice view) and discovered new trail routes!</li>
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Yours,</div>
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UltraMihh</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-49311805194567838652014-04-26T18:13:00.000+02:002014-04-26T23:47:52.843+02:00Vienna City Marathon 2014<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running a marathon is always a challenge. No matter if it's your first or if you are already experienced with it. It is a challenge for a lot of ultramarathoners, too. I haven't run an ultra yet, to tell you my real point of view, but the difficulty comes always from the way you treat and prepare each type of race.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me start with this simple example: people who know that I already run marathons think that participating in a 10 km race it's piece of cake for me. Well, it's not! The 10 km are a real pain in the ass (and not only!), because I always try to push the limits and to challenge my personal best. Do you think running 100m at top speed is easy? Try it and tell me how fast it was! World class athletes can do that under 10 seconds and they are surely not as fresh as ice when they reach the finish line ;) </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Marathon is for me the big challenge as an amateur runner. I am aware that without a proper training plan things may go wrong. Being able to run 5km at a pace around 4 min/km is fine, but continuing this way for 10, 20, 40 km is not possible, if the body and mind are not in shape to do it. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Usually I start my races with good energy and the desired pace, which I try to keep as long as possible. At some point I lose my pace and energy for 500 m or more, but after that I regain it and recuperate the lost time. Later on, I can feel the fatigue coming up. Depending on how motivated I am to go on, I force myself to keep the pace or I slow down in order to conserve my energy for the remaining distance until I cross the finish line. Of course, for the last 500 m or more I always try to increase the pace and finish with a sprint. Well, this time it was different.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I ran the Vienna City Marathon on the 13th of April with high hopes. My last plain marathon was 2 years ago at Barcelona, when I finished under 3h30'. I knew that there was a lot of space for improvement. I won't bother you with all the details. Let me just say that during the race I had stomach problems after 11 km, which made me take a stop at a toilette. After that, the leg aches started and later on groin pains and calf muscle cramps joint the pain. I stopped several times and decreased my pace considerably, at some point being able to run with just one foot. Of course, the cause was improper training and maybe some bad nutrition choices the days before. The interesting thing in this common marathon story is that I didn't feel tired in breathing and keeping a certain pace. It was just that my body and especially my legs didn't keep up with me. In other words, The Wall hit me in some way every 10 km!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I finished the race in 3h50'. At some point after the 30 km I felt that I was going for a Personal Worst (instead of a Personal Best)!! It did not happen. My PW still stands still at 3h58'. Now I am starting to wonder how it feels to run a marathon in more than 5 hours. I think it's harder, because you may feel that the marathon never comes to an end. You know it ends at 42.2 km, but when will you cross that finish line? Can your body resist or you may at any time stop and abandon the race? If one leg does not want to run anymore, can you still finish the race?</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now some words about the Vienna City Marathon: the Austrian National Anthem and The Donau Walzer at the start of the race, 41000+ participants at marathon, half marathon and relay, a little rainy, temperature about 13 C (perfect for a marathon), cool medal in star shape, enough refreshment points, beautiful castles and buildings, a lot of people and supporters on the route... music too! Not to forget: Erdinger alcohol-free beer at the end of the race! It is really a wonderful race, very well organised in an unique city (the #1 in world according to some studies)!! </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I definitely recommend you to come and run here in 2015! I may be participating again in one of the races, so let me know! ;)</span><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/130667469/embed/8a0199121ad18395c15898155b63d88dcd8133ee" width="590"></iframe>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-5405372545170917842013-12-05T17:17:00.000+01:002013-12-05T17:17:48.404+01:00Amintiri de la Maratonul Piatra Craiului 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sunt multe lucruri pe care ni le dorim în viaţă - pe unele le obţinem imediat, pentru altele aşteptăm o vreme mai îndelungată, iar pentru restul rămânem cu speranţa că va veni şi ziua lor. Pentru mine, Maratonul Piatra Craiului a trecut din a treia categorie în cea din mijloc.</div>
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Din 2010 de când am devenit maratonist cu acte în regulă am avut în plan să alerg la MPC, dar am amânat de fiecare dată momentul, deoarece era stabilit mereu în aceeaşi perioadă cu Maratonul Bucureşti. Cum eu m-am considerat mereu un alergător de asfalt şi fiind mereu dornic să îmi îmbunătăţesc timpii la semimaraton şi maraton, MPC a fost ignorat. În toamna aceasta nu am mai simţit că îmi doresc o îmbunătăţire pe asfalt şi pentru că tot a fost anul alergărilor montane pentru mine, am hotărât să mă înscriu.</div>
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Totuşi, după cum am povestit la momentul respectiv, tot am participat la <a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/10/bucharest-international-marathon-again.html" target="_blank">MIB 2013</a>. Ba chiar când am primit în seara de joi dinaintea plecării spre Zărneşti vestea că MPC s-a amânat din cauza zăpezii, credeam că voi mai avea de aşteptat să-mi îndeplinesc această dorinţă. Nu m-aş fi aşteptat ca după o lună vremea să se îmbunătăţească şi maratonul să aibă loc fără probleme. Zis şi făcut. Veselie mare, vineri pe 1 noiembrie am plecat din Bucureşti spre Zărneşti cu George şi Bianca şi am ajuns cu bine la cazare la Nea Nelu.</div>
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Oraşul era pustiu şi aşa a fost până duminică. Noroc că au venit peste 700 de maratonişti cu însoţitorii lor ca să animeze atmosfera şi să aducă energie pozitivă oamenilor, înainte de iarnă. Iarna venise cu o lună înainte, deşi nu prea a lăsat urme, deoarece am prins în timpul zilei soare şi 15 grade celsius.</div>
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O vreme perfectă pentru un maraton montan. Mulţumesc organizatorilor, în special lui Lucian Clinciu, sufletul acestui concurs - primul de acest gen în România (din 2006)! Era ora 8 dimineaţa şi mă aflam în centrul oraşului Zărneşti, un pic supărat pentru că îmi uitasem jambierele de compresie. Partea bună e că singura aşteptare de la acest maraton era să-l termin cu bine. Un pic răcoare, dar eram bine echipat! Am pornit cu un ritm moderat, neştiind prea bine la ce să mă aştept. Primii kilometri au fost prin oraşul Zărneşti, apoi traseul a continuat pe un drum forestier şi apoi prin satul Măgura. Din ce am înţeles, traseul s-a îngreunat puţin faţă de anii trecuţi în zona Refugiului Grind - La Table, unde am întâlnit primul punct de alimentare. Acolo era veselie mare, multă lume mânca, bea şi vorbea ca la o petrecere. :) Mi-a plăcut dar nu am zăbovit prea mult, deoarece mai aveam cale lungă de bătut. La km 15 am ajuns în cel mai înalt punct al traseului - Şaua Funduri, unde am trecut pe partea cealaltă a muntelui. A urmat o coborâre tehnică unde ne-am ajutat de cordelină şi de stânci şi ne-am mişcat încet, în şir indian. Aici a fost un punct în care erau avantajaţi cei care au ajuns mai devreme, pentru că au putut continua în ritmul lor. Eu am avut parte şi de pauze de aşteptare, pentru că nu era loc sau mai veneau pietre de sus. Nu-i nimic, oricum eram în grafic cu timpul, nu aveam motive să mă grăbesc. Eram totuşi frapat de câţiva concurenţi care probabil aveau peste 60 ani şi urcau şi coborau pe stâncile acelea cu un efort similar cu al meu! Respect, domnilor!</div>
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Am traversat şi Marele Grohotiş, din fericire am alergat pe potecă, nu ne-am confruntat cu miile de pietre deloc prietenoase. Apoi am intrat din nou în pădure şi am început să coborâm mult şi bine până la următorul punct de alimentare - Plaiul Foii (km 25). Mă simţeam deshidratat după acea coborâre lungă şi sănătoasă. Probabil am mai spus de multe ori: mie îmi plac coborârile! Dau drumul la picioare în voie şi sunt atent doar la unde şi cum calc. Ajuns la punctul de alimentare, dau de altă petrecere şi veselie! Aici am fost întâmpinat de o surpriză foarte plăcută: supă cu tăiţei la pahar! Fantastic! A mers perfect! Am luat vreo 3-4 pahare de supă, plus energizant, apă, suc de mere şi alte bunătăţi de pe masă. Mi-am umplut şi rezervorul de la hidrorucsac, am eliminat pietricelele din alergofi, toate bune! Cu totul cred că am stat vreo 15 minute acolo, ceea ce e totuşi prea mult. Mai rău, setea şi lăcomia au fost aşa rele cu mine căci nu am putut să alerg pe următorul kilometru. Aveam stomacul plin şi mai mult m-am chinuit. Aici e de tras învăţătură de minte pentru altădată! Dar tot nu mă grăbeam pentru că eram în timp util, eram cu peste o oră mai devreme decât timpul limită intermediar de la Plaiul Foii - 6h30'. A urmat urcarea până la Refugiul Diana, de care se temeau mulţi pe traseu. Eu aparent m-am alimentat bine, căci nu am resimţit crampe musculare sau alte dureri care să mă ţină în loc. La un moment dar mă temeam doar că traseul s-a modificat şi nu o mai văd pe Diana. Nu a fost aşa, dar nici încântat de înfăţişarea ei nu m-am simţit, aşa că am continuat alergarea prin pădure. De acolo a urmat o coborâre lungă de 13 kilometri, la care m-am descurcat bine până la ultimul punct de alimentare - Colţul Chiliilor, la km 33. Acolo am făcut greşeala să mă opresc iar să mă alimentez şi să-mi umplu rezervorul, deşi eram suficient de hidratat încât să pot alerga aşa până la sosire. Din păcate iar m-am umplut la stomac şi am mers în loc să alerg, m-am oprit şi la boxe, am mai golit rezervorul umplut inutil şi de abia apoi am reluat alergarea. Cu alte cuvinte, alte minute bune pierdute aiurea. Şi tot eram în timp util, ba chiar aveam şansa să termin în mai puţin de 7 ore.</div>
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Când mi-am revenit din nou, am luat-o la fugă în ritm mai alert dar confortabil şi am mai prins din urmă câţiva concurenţi până la intrarea în oraş. Dupa încă 800 m pe străzi am fost întâmpinat cu aplauze şi am dat palma cu diferiţi copii simpatici care stăteau pe margine. Timp final: 06:45:13. Super! Probabil dacă nu făceam greşelile acelea pe traseu reuşeam chiar sub 6 ore. La final m-am întins pe iarbă pentru că era o zi caldă şi însorită, chiar dacă vorbim de 2 noiembrie. Apoi încet încet m-am întors la cazare, am făcut duş şi am dormit. George şi Bianca erau la ora sosirii mele undeva în vârf, aşa că ne-am revăzut mai pe seară, la premiere.</div>
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Premierea a fost lungă dar memorabilă, cu invitaţi speciali care au povestit despre aventurile lor montane. Apoi au fost chemaţi pe rând toţi participanţii care au pornit la maraton şi au fost premiaţi cu diplome şi medalii comemorative.</div>
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Urcarea spre Şaua Funduri (Mihai Zlăvog)</div>
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Fericire la sosire (Flavy Teo)</div>
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Rezultate: <a href="http://www.carpathianman.ro/event_page.aspx?crt=4&mnu=55" target="_blank">http://www.carpathianman.ro/event_page.aspx?crt=4&mnu=55</a></div>
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Mai jos, traseul înjumătăţit pe Strava. Staţi liniştiţi, am făcut şi jumătatea care nu se vede, dar probabil ceasul meu cu GPS mi-a făcut o farsă.</div>
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/93005266/embed/90dc13fb825507fe2389cdd99adaee1520d330c2" width="590"></iframe>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-58112704048488625522013-10-28T13:47:00.000+01:002013-10-28T13:48:14.034+01:00Azuga Trail RaceAcesta a fost un concurs destul de bine organizat la care am participat pe 19 octombrie. Aşa cum se poate deduce din titlu, a avut loc la Azuga! :) Ceea ce poate nu ştiţi dacă nu aruncaţi un ochi pe <a href="http://azuga.trailrace.ro/" target="_blank">http://azuga.trailrace.ro/</a> este că proba la care am participat a fost de 27 km pe munte, constând din 2 bucle cu punctul de întâlnire la baza pârtiei Sorica.<br />
Deoarece Maratonul Piatra Craiului - obiectivul meu montan din această toamnă - a fost amânat pentru 2 noiembrie, aveam nevoie de o cursă pregătitoare pe o distanţă rezonabilă şi cu o diferenţă de nivel satisfăcătoare. În cazul acesta, ATR ne-a oferit 1600m diferenţă pozitivă pentru cei 27 km ai traseului. Cireaşa de pe tort a fost urcarea abruptă de la km 20 pe pârtia Sorica, de la altitudinea 970 m la 1560 m, cu premiu special pentru cel mai rapid pe această porţiune.<br />
Evident, nu am fost eu, ba chiar cred că am fost printre cei mai lenţi, pentru că în primii 20 km am folosit destulă energie pentru urcările şi coborârile de până atunci. Chiar pe coborâri nu am mai avut viteza obişnuită, deoarece era destul noroi pe traseu şi fiecare pas implica o mică alunecare şi dezechilibrare. Chiar dacă am reuşit să mă murdăresc doar până la genunchi, articulaţiile tot s-au resimţit, aşa că am alergat cu grjă şi dureri. Câteva puncte de reper de pe traseu: Cabana Susai, Clăbucet - Plecare, Sorica.<br />
Am terminat cu bine în 4 ore şi 3 minute, dar slab faţă de primii care încheiaseră înainte ca eu să pornesc pe urcarea de la Sorica! :)<br />
Clasamentul general: <a href="http://azuga.trailrace.ro/clasament/ATR%20SALOMON_OPEN.pdf" target="_blank">http://azuga.trailrace.ro/clasament/ATR%20SALOMON_OPEN.pdf</a><br />
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Urcarea pe pârtia Sorica (Flavy Teo) </div>
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(Flavy Teo)</div>
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/90494616/embed/642c1939a9da1bc0ea18a3b9648c9257c3c1f625" width="590"></iframe>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-87849688911483301262013-10-11T19:00:00.000+02:002013-10-11T19:00:44.772+02:00Bucharest International Marathon.. again!!I didn't plan to, I didn't want to, I didn't even train for it.. but I participated once again at the Bucharest International Marathon event! I've never missed any edition since 2008! :)<br />
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The event took place in the centre of Bucharest on Sunday, the 6th of October. I decided to participate only on Thursday evening, when I received an SMS notifying me that the Piatra Craiului Marathon (mountain marathon) where I was supposed to run on Saturday was cancelled due to unrealiable conditions. :( Disappointing news for me! Earlier on Thursday, my colleague George told me that he was participating in the Relay at Bucharest, but his team missed one member. So I called him and told him that I was available.<br />
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Here we go. On Sunday morning, I was again in Piata Constitutiei of Bucharest, I missed as usual the Ro Club Maraton group photo and I waited for my turn to run. It was my first participation in a Relay at this event, so at least it wasn't boring for me. Each of the 4 members of our team had to run 10.5 km. I was the second one to run, so I waited for Andreea, our first team mate. She finished her lap in around 55' and gave me her timing chip. Then I started running and had a good pace at start, but after 7 km I slowed down a bit. The weather was fine for me: sunny with around 10 C. I finished in 45', then gave the chip to Adrian and went to rest and talk to people about the race. After almost 50' it was George's turn to run and he finished our relay with a total time of 3h22'. It was a good result and we placed on the 27th position of 361 teams, so we were very happy about it and went after that to celebrate our run in the town centre.<br />
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What about Maratonul Piatra Craiului? The organizers proposed to set it on the 2nd of November! Will the snow be gone by then? Wait and See!<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/87833907/embed/dfb70ec4d1030f26b6dceff9f9f8394bbed47821" width="590"></iframe>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-88437350642111071412013-09-10T21:34:00.000+02:002019-04-14T00:22:31.491+02:00Transmaraton 2013<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://transmaraton.org/" target="_blank">Transmaraton</a> </b>- <i>The best in you - The best road in the world</i> (some used to say).. what a good place to see, to enjoy, to drive, to ride!.. so what a perfect place to <i>RUN!</i></div><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I can tell it was one of the most beautiful races I've ever participated in. Even though I competed only in the smallest race of the 3 - the Halfmarathon (21 km), I can assure you it was harder than other previous longer races! But the most important thing for me was to achieve my fundraising target and to finish the race.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The fundraising target went very close to achievement thanks to an event organized by me at the office, on Thursday the 29th of August: Transmaraton Drinks Day. With the help of some of my colleagues, I prepared with my Juicer and my Blender natural smoothies, shakes and freshes. I gave names to 3 of them:</div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><i>Transmaraton Smoothie</i>: pear + banana + lemon</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><i>Energy 21 km Shake</i>: melon + watermelon</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><i>Marathoner's isotonic</i>: lemonade + grapefruit</li>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It was a hard working day in the kitchen because we had a lot of fruit to prepare, but my colleagues enjoyed most of the drinks and the fundraising event was a real success! My target is very close to 100% now :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">After this event I went on a long road trip through Greece. It was beautiful but very tiring and energy consuming, with not enough time to relax and very little time to run. In fact, in the past 3 weeks I've run no more than 5 km overall. Very bad, too few for a halfmarathon in the mountains! Anyway I had no other option, I am not the kind of runner who gives up before starting the race so everything had to proceed according to the initial plan.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I came back in Bucharest on Friday the 6th and the next day I took my colleagues George, Andrei and Mihaela to Transfagarasan. Some of the ultramarathoners were still running when we arrived in the area so we could cheer them up for the last kilometers. You are all great, 4-times greater than us halfmarathoners :D I've spent the night in a tent, where it was soo cooold! Thanks to the sleeping bag which kept me warm! :) The next day I woke up early and watched the start of another race - Ultra Trail Fagaras - at 7:40 AM.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Then there was a bus which took us halfmarathoners to our start at Balea Cascada (waterfall). It was getting warmer so I could run in a T-shirt. I chose to thank to all my supporters by putting labels with their names on the back of my T-shirt:</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRG9EWDQb1d0ippZnzUmg4nz4OuHgRz4giC5NbZ42Oll0Q_77DsFF2f3cwEu-GtYG7_exc-jtQBjAoTJ3Hwwx0n2opPHkq-epbppgy8hisa-WSJNqfglcv9guJo3QJq7wJQ7woLwUEoIm8/s1600/IMG_20130908_093454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRG9EWDQb1d0ippZnzUmg4nz4OuHgRz4giC5NbZ42Oll0Q_77DsFF2f3cwEu-GtYG7_exc-jtQBjAoTJ3Hwwx0n2opPHkq-epbppgy8hisa-WSJNqfglcv9guJo3QJq7wJQ7woLwUEoIm8/s320/IMG_20130908_093454.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">At 10 AM we started and we ran higher and higher for almost 14 km! The total elevation gain was of 1000 m and for me it was way more difficult than I was prepared for. I started with a good pace of less than 6 min/km, but I was slowly decreasing it and after 12 km of uphill running my knee was hurting and I had to stop and start walking. A lot of runners were better prepared than me, but I didn't give up! The landscape was breathtaking anyway, there were cars, people and photographers which increased my optimism, so I finished this hard climb and took a break at the refreshment point. After this I started running faster through the tunnel and then I continued with the downhill until the finish. I confirmed myself that I am better on flat distances or downhill and bad trained for uphills. Of course, more training would have been very useful, but it's good for me that I finished the race in a happy mood and then got a well deserved massage for my legs.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I finished in 2h11' on the 19th place out of 70 male finishers. My colleague Andrei who came with me made a great race and ended up on the 2nd place, after only a few months since he started running and coming to competitions! <a href="http://results.42km.ro/results/?id_race=596" target="_blank">Results</a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The fundraising period is not over yet, my target is very close to 100% now. My page will still be available for donations until the end of September: </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5">http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5</a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Many thanks to all and I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Maybe it will convince some of you to come to Transfagarasan and run here too. ;)</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">More photos on my album: </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107437519713273543188/albums/5921563307524622097">https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107437519713273543188/albums/5921563307524622097</a></div></div>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-86511385689657058192013-08-08T15:58:00.000+02:002013-08-08T16:08:09.116+02:00My latest summer runs<div style="text-align: justify;">
After a short but deserved holiday in Berlin, where I took a break from work and from running, I returned to Bucharest with a lot of mood for running and swimming. Facebook was a real help as usual, because I found a lot of interesting running events (4 in 8 days) in Bucharest in a short period of time and decided to take part of them:</div>
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<b>Time Trial Running 9</b> (Wednesday, 31.07, 6:30 AM): It was the 9th stage of a friendly event held usually in Tineretului Park. The point is to run 2 park laps (5.7 km) as fast as possible. Since the summer is hot in Bucharest, the organizers decided to put the start at 6:30 AM. After a few hours of sleep that night, at 5 AM I woke up and one hour later I was already in the park, being a little curious who else managed to wake up that early and come to TTR. Surprinsigly we were at least 20 people, so the race was interesting. Each one of us started at every 15 seconds. I may have started too fast at a pace of 3:00 - 3:30 / km, because at the second lap I was slowing down to 4:30 / km. Anyway it was nice but I finished really exhausted. Final time: 23:46.</div>
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<b>Nike NightRun </b>(Thursday, 01.08, 10:00 PM): Nike decided to organize a night run in Carol Park. We ran 3 park laps (5.2 km). It was not a competitive race, but most of us still were pushing above our comfort level. I think we were more than 50 runners. The people in the park were really surprised and kept asking us if there were more of us. I finished in 23:10.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.midnightrun.prosport.ro/" target="_blank">ProSport Bucharest MidNight Run</a> </b>(Saturday, 03.08, 10:00 PM): The first ever running competition on the Basarab Bridge in Bucharest. In the night, too. It was really nice for me to run again on this bridge were passengers are not allowed. Hmm.. so why <i>again</i>? Did I just admit that I broke the law? :) Don't worry, just read this post: </div>
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<a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/02/a-day-to-remember-olympic-torch-in.html" target="_blank">http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/02/a-day-to-remember-olympic-torch-in.html</a>.</div>
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The race started at the parking place of Carrefour Orhideea and was divided in 2 sub-races: 5 km and 10 km. I participated at the 10 km course, which implied running 2 laps on the Basarab Bridge between Nicolae Titulescu Str. and Grozavesti Str. The temperature at race time was of about 25 degrees C. I managed to deal with it but it was good that there were refreshment points with water on the route. I finished the race in 43:36 on 27th place of 199 for my category of age - M15-35. I think I could have run faster than that, even if I was fast enough to be blurred out in this picture:</div>
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<b>Romniceanu Stairs Run </b>(Wednesday, 07.08, 8:00 PM): This event is a friendly competitional race held once in 2 weeks in Romniceanu Park of Bucharest. This little park has the property to be built on a hill, so there is some elevation gain. There are a lot of stairs and slopes so that the route of this race takes 1.6 km. There are 4 laps and the time limit is 50 minutes. I ran for the first time in my life there and it was a new experience for me. Those stairs which I climbed and descended were uneven and not friendly and we all needed a lot of water to hydrate ourselves during and after the event. I think I finished in a good time for my first participation: 31:35. It is the 15th all-time record of 63, 6 minutes slower than the best. You can see all the results on the race page: <a href="http://www.triatlon.info.ro/romniceanu-stairs-run-nr-11-07-08-2013/" target="_blank">http://www.triatlon.info.ro/romniceanu-stairs-run-nr-11-07-08-2013/</a>.</div>
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I hope to find and participate to other running events which are very good for my training for the Half Marathon race of Transmaraton on the 8th of September. Please support me with a donation on my page </div>
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<a href="http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5" target="_blank">http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5</a>!</div>
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Thanks and I will try to keep you updated as usual!</div>
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Running Mihh</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-30881520408638795482013-07-20T22:27:00.001+02:002013-07-20T22:33:26.257+02:00Transmaraton, mai mult decat o simpla competitie<div style="text-align: justify;">
Anul acesta am reuşit să obţin prin tragere la sorţi un loc de participare la proba de Semimaraton din cadrul competiţiei <a href="http://transmaraton.org/" target="_blank">Transmaraton</a>. Este un concurs de excepţie, având loc duminică 8 septembrie pe una din cele mai frumoase şosele din lume: Transfăgărăşanul! Tipul de concurs este hibrid, deoarece voi alerga pe asfalt şi voi avea parte de o diferenţă de nivel pozitivă de 1050 m <span style="font-family: inherit;">de la Cabana Bâlea Cascadă la Cabana Capra!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Peisajele vor fi de vis, traseul nebun şi dificil chiar şi pentru cei 21 km, totuşi cursa mea a început deja: mi-am asumat şi eu rolul de <i>fundraiser </i>(strângător de fonduri) pentru una din cauzele promovate prin acest eveniment. Este vorba de sprijinirea fundaţiei <a href="http://hospice.ro/" target="_blank">Hospice Casa Speranţei</a>, care va oferi astfel îngrijire paliativă gratuită la domiciliu pentru peste 2000 pacienţi care suferă de boli incurabile. Hospice construieşte în acest moment un nou centru de îngrijire paliativă în Sectorul 2 din Bucureşti. M-am gândit să sprijin şi eu această asociaţie prin strângerea a minim 1000 Ron până la data desfăşurării Transmaratonului.</span></div>
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În acest moment am nevoie de sprijinul tău, cititorule al blogului meu. Dacă până acum ţi-am stârnit interesul în vreun fel prin relatările mele despre concursurile şi pasiunile mele şi te-am delectat cu poveştile mele, de data asta te rog eu să mă ajuţi să duc la bun sfârşit această campanie.</div>
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Cum poţi dona pentru cauza pe care o suţin:</div>
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<li>Intri pe pagina mea de fundraiser: </li>
<a href="http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5" target="_blank">http://transmaraton.org/ro/competitors/view?hash=307f3d6aac976c8b85e1ed85ec810048e7c1f5e5</a>
<li>Selectezi suma pe care vrei să o donezi pentru mine: 10, 50, 100, 200 sau cât vrei tu (cu cât mai mult, cu atât mai bine!) </li>
<li>Îţi introduci datele şi îmi laşi şi mie un mesaj de încurajare - contează mult pentru mine la moral!</li>
<li>Vei ajunge pe pagina PayU de plăţi securizate, unde vei mai completa câteva date pentru procesarea plăţii</li>
<li>Gata! Plata va fi înregistrată şi mesajul tău de încurajare va fi afişat pe pagina mea!</li>
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Promit că vă voi mulţumi într-un mod personalizat tuturor la momentul concursului şi voi povesti pe acest blog cu lux de amănunte! :)</div>
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Şi aici se poate vedea atmosfera de anul trecut, în care după cum bine zice <a href="http://www.andreirosu.me/" target="_blank">Andrei Roşu</a>, reuşita concursului este pe jumătate datorată peisajelor de pe traseu:</div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-70109571453889674832013-07-08T15:49:00.000+02:002013-07-09T01:05:16.139+02:00Cozia Mountain Run 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
"<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">După start, o mică porţiune a fost pe drum obişnuit, plat, apoi imediat am intrat pe urcare, către Mânăstirea Stânişoara. Şi dă-i şi urcă. Oricum, </span><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">urcarea asta a fost o glumă</b></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">". Atât am reţinut din relatarea lui Şerban Damian despre traseul Cozia de anul trecut. Noroc ca m-a atenţionat Daniel Anghel de continuare: "</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i>faţă de ceea ce urma</i></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>, totuşi m-am trezit în vârful primului deal, în zona mânăstirii, destul de “solicitat”</i>". Total de acord cu Şerban, doar că pentru mine urcarea aia a fost o glumă proastă, dar tot o glumă faţă de ceea ce avea să urmeze. :D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Astfel, cu gândul la o glumă de urcare, am luat startul la </span><a href="http://coziamountainrun.ro/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;" target="_blank">Cozia Mountain Run</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, o alergare montană cu un traseu de 21 km (Stânişoara) şi unul lung de 30 km (Cozia). Eu am ales traseul lung, deoarece mi s-a promis de către organizatori că voi primi suferinţă. Am primit, mulţumesc frumos! :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Traseul a fost foarte frumos, mai puţin porţiunea de drum forestier de la Păuşa către Mânăstirea Stânişoara, pe care eu nu o cunoşteam şi care mi-a displăcut total. Mai mult am mers pe ea decât să alerg, crezând că se va termina repede şi vom reveni în pădure pe poteci. N-a fost aşa. La mănâstire s-au despărţit traseul scurt de cel lung, noi care am fost la cel lung am continuat spre vârful Cozia. Urcarea a fost abruptă şi solicitantă, dar mie mi-a plăcut foarte mult faţă de drumul forestier de dinainte. Am luat un gel şi vreo 2 jeleuri de la Sponser înainte, pe lângă banane, mere, izotonic şi altele la punctul de alimentare. Cu atâta energie în picioare, am putut să depăşesc destui concurenţi pe urcare. Din păcate, după ce am ajuns la cabana Cozia din vârf şi am început coborârea, efortul s-a simţit în muşchi, aşa că au început crampele. Picioarele s-au blocat, nu mai colaborau, trebuia să mă opresc să mă masez. Când îmi mai reveneam, puteam să mai alerg o bucată bună. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">La un moment dat inevitabilul s-a întâmplat: am greşit traseul şi m-am rătăcit împreună cu alţi doi alergători! Ştiam că am acest dar de a mă rătăci indiferent cât de bine marcat e traseul şi iată că am reuşit din nou! Noi 3 am urmărit traseul cu marcaj albastru din vârf şi nu am fost atenţi când s-a bifurcat cu cel roşu, pe care trebuia să continuăm până jos. Ajunşi într-o poiană unde nu mai era niciun marcaj pe nicăieri, am stat să căutam marcaje şi indicii. Eu am coborât în pădure să mă uit la copaci că poate am norocul să găsesc o scurtătură, ceilalţi 2 s-au întors de unde au venit... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Aşa că foarte frumos am rămas singur rătăcit prin pădure! Când mi-am dat seama că singura soluţie era să urc înapoi şi să găsesc ultimul punct bun din traseu, s-au întors crampele musculare! Deja situaţia nu mai era plăcută că nu puteam să fac un pas fără să mă doară muşchii femurali. Din fericire am fost suficient de calm încât să mă masez un pic şi să o iau încet şi cu încredere înapoi în sus. Pierdusem 15 minute deja. Grea urcare a mai fost, mai ales că mi-a costat multe resurse fizice şi timp! Zâmbetul mi-a revenit pe faţa extenuată când am văzut un alergător că zburda pe traseul corect!! Yupiii!! Nici crampele nu le mai simţeam aşa că am reluat alergarea în coborâre pe traseul bun! I-am prins din urmă şi întrecut şi pe băieţii cu care mă rătăcisem iniţial şi după câţiva km buni de coborâre l-am întrecut şi pe Daniel, care ştia de la începutul cursei că aşa se va întâmpla! Incredibil a fost totuşi că el mi-a luat-o înainte cu puţin timp după start, iar eu l-am prins din urmă pe ultimii kilometri. Surpriza a fost mare pentru amândoi! Eu la momentul întâlnirii mă simţeam în stare să alerg aşa că nu m-am oprit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">După ce am ajuns din nou la Mânăstirea Turnu, a urmat şi cireaşa promisă: încă o urcare de 150 m diferenţă de nivel şi o coborâre până la sosire! Desigur că pe această ultimă urcare crampele au revenit în câteva serii, aşa că m-am mai oprit şi motivat cu gândul că eram la 1 km de final. Şi după ce am coborât la baraj, spiritul meu de alergător de plat a învins crampele şi oboseala cumulată, aşa că am putut alerga lejer la un ritm de 4:30 / km mai întrecând câţiva concurenţi până să primesc aplauzele şi medalia de sfârşit de concurs!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Timpul final: 5 ore şi 5 minute, poziţie la jumătatea clasamentului (73/148). </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rezultatele aici: <a href="http://results.42km.ro/results/?id_race=503">http://results.42km.ro/results/?id_race=503</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">După ce m-am trântit pe iarbă şi mi-am revenit, am putut savura din pepenele roşu cu care am fost aşteptaţi, o adevărată bucurie după atâta efort! Pentru mine aceşti 30 km de suferinţă au fost cei mai grei de la un concurs montan alergat până acum, poate şi pentru că e prima dată când am avut atâtea serii de crampe musculare care m-au ţinut în loc. Cred că ar trebui să adaug la lista lungă a echipamentului şi un spray pentru muşchi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Şi că tot am menţionat echipamentul, uite o listă cu ce am avut la mine în timpul concursului:</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">pantofi de trail running Salomon SpeedCross 3: cea mai importantă piesă</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">şosete de compresie: foarte utile, căci nu am avut nici băşici nici unghii avariate la final</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">pantaloni de alergare lungi Nike Dri-Fit: utili pentru alergare şi pentru a evita zgârieturi şi pişcături de tot felul, dar mă bate gândul să îmi cumpăr pantaloni de compresie pentru a evita sau reduce şi crampele musculare</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">tricou tehnic de alergare de la Ro Club Maraton: nelipsit :)</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">hidrorucsac de 2L Deuter: piesă importantă, umplut pe jumătate cu izotonicul pregătit de mine cu o zi înainte: limonadă cu grepfruit - un deliciu total (doar apă nu e suficient, mai e nevoie şi de minerale)! am pus şi o pelerină de ploaie în el, dar nu a fost nevoie de ea</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">beţe de trekking: prima dată când le-am folosit la un concurs, foarte utile pe urcări, mă încurcau un pic când alergam la coborâre dar le ţineam în ambele mâini pentru a menţine echilibrul</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">şapcă de alergare de la EcoMarathon 2012: utilă pentru a evita soarele</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">centură elastică de protecţie pentru spate: m-a cam incomodat şi nu îmi dau seama dacă fără ea m-ar fi durut sau nu spatele</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A fost un concurs foarte frumos per total, bine organizat, cu pepene la 2 puncte de alimentare şi un traseu marcat foarte bine. Ar fi fost mai bine dacă aveam parte de mai mulţi voluntari pe traseu, inclusiv în locul unde m-am rătăcit şi eu şi alţii. Voluntarii sunt în general oameni inimoşi şi simpatici, iar întâlnirea lor pe traseu aduce o energie pozitivă suplimentară. Mulţumesc tuturor pentru organizare şi pentru medalia frumoasă din ceramică de Horezu!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Şi mai mare supriza a fost că după premierea la concurs s-a organizat o tombolă cu multe premii: farfurii cu cocoş de Horezu, produse Sponser, voucher-e, înscrieri gratuite la concursurile partenere, un weekend de 2 persoane la o pensiune din zonă şi un tablou cu portretul posesorului. Dat fiind faptul că mulţi plecaseră acasă deja la ora premierii, s-au tot extras numere de concurs câştigătoare aşa că mulţi dintre cei prezenţi au plecat acasă cu câte un premiu. Incredibil, chiar şi eu am câştigat! Şi nimic altceva decât weekendul în 2 la pensiune!! :D</span></span></div>
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(Şofron Laurenţiu)</div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-80330774933069926852013-06-08T00:20:00.000+02:002013-06-08T00:20:55.205+02:0010 momente de la Triatlonul Fără Asfalt 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
De data aceasta voi schimba puţin stilul de a povesti cum am trăit Triatlonul Fără Asfalt. Voi enumera aleator 10 momente mai mult sau mai puţin relevante şi vă las pe voi să le puneţi cap la cap, să deduceţi ce s-a mai întamplat, să mai căutaţi informaţii şi să construiţi singuri în mintea voastră tot firul poveştii.</div>
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Aştept păreri la final!</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">O fată pe nume Maia a venit să participe şi ea la triatlon, dar nu avea bicicletă, aşa că a cutreierat prin tot 2 Mai căutând să împrumute una de la localnici. A găsit şi a disputat proba cu una de model mai vechi, anume tipul Fără Frâne. Când a fost chemată pe scenă părea să fi terminat întreagă proba!</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Călătoria a fost marcată de o ploaie torenţială la intrarea în Mangalia la dus şi de o ploaie torenţială cu grindină pe Autostrada Soarelui şi a Celorlaltor Fenomene Meteorologice la întoarcere.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">La un moment dat am fost auzit de cei din jur spunând tare: <i>Băi dar n-am văzut nicio femeie să se plângă că e rece apa asta, numai noi Bărbaţii..!</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Motorul maşinii s-a oprit exact în faţa casei unde am reuşit din prima încercare să găsim cazare pentru 3 persoane la faţa locului!</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Predau chipul lui George după ce termin înotul şi mă apuc să-i povestesc lui Toshz cum a fost la înot. Povestit e mult spus, deoarece a sunat cam aşa: <i>Apă, brrr.. rece.. bleah! bras.. coate, greu.. pfoaii.. frate!! am încercat.. dar apoi.. rece, pufff.. mă duc.. nisip... nu mai pot!</i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Am fost urmăriţi de un beţiv în drumul de la 2 Mai spre Vama Veche. El avea chef de alergat, aşa că am tras câteva sprinturi repetate care i-au eliminat toată energia ca să se mai ţină după noi. Totuşi, când ne-a ajuns din urmă în Vamă doar o ameninţare din partea lui Toshz l-a oprit.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Termină un biciclist proba lui şi ajunge la rastelul echipei sale, unde avea de predat ştafeta coechipierului alergător. Dar coechipierul ioc, nu era pe nicăieri! Replica lui Toshz: <i>O fi la budă şi se cacă!</i> Mai târziu, la premiere, avem să aflăm că aşa a fost.</li>
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Chef maxim de concurs sâmbătă dimineaţa, după cum se vede mai jos:</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">(Toshz)</span></div>
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Termin înotul după o luptă în care am avut ca arme stilurile bras, craul şi spate şi ca scut costumul de neopren, iar ca inamici apa de 14 grade şi mulţi concurenţi cu care m-am tot ciocnit în mare. Mă ridic victorios la mal, în aplauzele frenetice ale spectatorilor de pe nisip, mă apuc să fac un pas să alerg, calc pe pietrele din apă şi pleoşc!! Înapoi cu capul în apă! Dar spiritul lui AquaMan din mine mă ridică din nou pe picioare!</div>
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(Aventuria.ro)</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Mergem şi noi duminică pe la amiază la terasa La Dinamo să mâncăm ceva înainte de plecare. Aflăm că micul dejun nu se mai serveşte după ora 11, aşa că nici omletă nu mai fac. Coechipierii mei vor omletă, aşa că ne ridicăm şi mergem la terasa de la Micul Golf. Acolo chelneriţa aşa amabilă cum pare ne spune că nici la ei nu se mai face omletă după ora X. Peste ceva timp vedem cum un băiat venit după noi mănâncă liniştit la o masă vecină o omletă. Poate prea liniştit. Continuarea o las la imaginaţia fiecăruia.
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Închei cu poza cu clasamentul echipei, făcută şi iluminată special de Toshz:</div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-3752339073405333942013-06-04T22:57:00.000+02:002013-06-04T22:57:05.460+02:00Petrom Bucharest International Half Marathon 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello, my adorable readers! I told you in my blog post about my <a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/04/cluj-international-marathon-2013.html" target="_blank">half marathon in Cluj</a> that I was following a training program <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">for finishing the 21 km in 1h33' on May 19th using the </span>MyAsics<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"> coach. I think you all are curious what happened, after I finished in 1h31' at Cluj and then at <a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/05/maratonul-regal-2013.html" target="_blank">Maratonul Regal</a> I set a new Personal Record of 1h29'! Well, this time I failed!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">It was too hot on the 19th of May Half Marathon! We had a sunny day with more than 25 C, too hot for a performance on long distances indeed.. Of course, I have some friends which improved their Personal Bests and I congratulate them! I started with the idea to chase the 1h30' pacemakers. At 9:30 AM the weather was pleasant and I was able to run at a 4:10 / km pace. Unfortunately, after 10 km my fuel was down and I started slowing down. After 15 km it was even worse, because I had no motivation to push my limits. My head was burning, I was sweating continuously and hydrating at the refreshment points was not enough for me. I even lost 2 kg during that race! The only joy I had from that run was seeing my friends who came to run, to support me or to take pictures and of course to see them happy finishing their race! Oh.. and some Italian ice cream at the end made my day! ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">Results: </span></span><a href="http://www.mysdam.it/events/event/results_25392.do" style="text-align: center;">http://www.mysdam.it/events/event/results_25392.do</a><span style="text-align: center;">. I finished 69th of 1290 finishers of 1341 participants in 1h36'52" real time. My Garmin watch showed a total length of 21.5 km and other running watches agreed with it. Looks like I was not the only one having problems with the heat :)</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">There is only one lesson to learn from this experience: I have to shave my beard before the race!</span></div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-64055177693204719112013-05-25T13:24:00.000+02:002013-05-25T13:24:04.604+02:00Ecomarathon Moieciu de Sus 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://themihh.blogspot.ro/2013/05/maratonul-regal-2013.html" target="_blank">Continuare de la Maratonul Regal</a>: ... la Moieciu de Sus cu Flavia şi George (pe care l-am pescuit de la serviciu)!! 3 într-o maşină, loc suficient pentru bagaje, muzică la radio, oprire la Mega Image din comuna Pipera pentru plasturi, lămâi şi altele, autostrada Bucureşti - Ploieşti, Valea Prahovei, Bran, Moieciu de Jos, Moieciu de Sus! Super tare, am ajuns în zonă aproape de ora 20, pentru că voiam să ajung şi eu la şedinţa tehnică de la <a href="http://www.ecomarathon.ro/" target="_blank">Ecomarathon</a>! Ok a mai durat ceva până am reuşit să găsim pensiunea unde ne-am cazat, la familia Enaru, dar per total a fost o călătorie bună! Apropos, cazarea a fost foarte bună şi dna Enaru foarte amabilă, deci o recomand cu căldură, i-am scris şi o revizie pozitivă pe turist-info.ro, deci mergeţi şi dormiţi acolo!</div>
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Mai mult, eu am avut şi norocul şi onoarea să-mi fac o limonadă la bucătărie ca izotonic pentru maratonul de a doua zi şi în timp ce meşteream eu la ea a intrat în bucătărie Marius Ionescu, cel mai bun maratonist român al momentului, participant la Maratonul Olimpic de la Londra 2012 şi am început să discutăm şi să schimbăm impresii! Limonadă nu i-am dat, dacă vă întrebaţi, avea şi el destule de băut şi cred că era suficient hidratat în seara aia. Marius, dacă citeşti asta şi ai chef de limonadă de la mine, stai liniştit, să-mi aminteşti data viitoare şi îţi las şi ţie! A fost foarte bună limonada mea, o prefer la un maraton pe munte în faţa oricărui Isostar, Sponser sau ce băuturi izotonice mai ştiţi voi!</div>
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Da, am prins şi o fărâmă de şedinţă tehnică, apoi am mâncat la restaurant. Din păcate am stricat tradiţia personală a pastelor înainte de concurs, pentru că nu serveau la acel restaurant şi era prea târziu să hoinăresc prin Moieciu după paste. "De ce nu ai venit cu paste de acasa?" Sigur măcar unul dintre voi m-ar întreba asta acum. Ba am venit cu o pungă de paste şi un borcan de sos bun, dar nu prea era timp să le pregătesc şi în plus am fost şi noi mai mulţi la masă, deci nu aveam paste suficiente să hrănesc atâtea suflete.</div>
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După o noapte cu somn parţial şi o vacă deşteptătoare la ora 5:45 "Muuuu muuuuu! Muuu!!!", pe care în visul meu am interpretat-o ca o maşină de raliuri "Vrumm vrummm! Mihnea!!!", m-am trezit speriat şi am încercat să-mi reiau somnul. Slabe şanse şi acolo, dar oricum eu înainte de concursurile speciale nu dorm extraordinar, dar adrenalina şi emoţiile pozitive mă hrănesc cu energia necesară pentru a da tot ce-i mai bun! După câteva zile aveam să citesc pe pagina de Facebook a lui Marius că şi el a fost deşteptat de vaca aceea. La el una din consecinţe a fost că s-a rătăcit la concurs, dar asta e altă poveste :)</div>
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Una peste alta, m-am regăsit pe la 8:30 la start împreună cu cei peste 1000 de prieteni Ecomaratonişti care s-au gândit să nu mă lase singur pe munte. La 9 am pornit la aventură! Primii 3 km de şosea şi drum forestier i-am alergat alături de George, după care am ajuns la podeţ şi George mi-a zis că nu mai ţinea pasul, deci pe urcarea în şir indian am luat-o înainte. M-am tot întâlnit cu lume cunoscută pe traseu, printre care şi câţiva foşti colegi de facultate! Sunt foarte bucuros ca virusul ăsta al alergării a pătruns şi la ei, deoarece de mai mulţi ani eu am tot participat la concursuri. La început colegii mă priveau cu îndoială când le povesteam la ce maratoane am mai alergat, cu o poziţie finală undeva pe la jumătatea clasamentului (ei se aşteptau să câştig, altfel ce mai căutam acolo?!), cheltuind destui bani şi mai eram şi mândru de medalia de participare - pe care o primeau oricum toţi cei care terminau... Acum nu ştiu cum mă mai privesc pentru că ne vedem prea rar. </div>
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Voi continua povestirea maratonului celor 3 bucle pe scurt: am terminat în ritm lejer prima buclă undeva pe la 1h47'. Pe a doua buclă au început să mă doară picioarele de mă uitam la nişte căsuţe de lemn cu aşa poftă să dorm pe fân vreo oră ca să îmi revin... Începusem să fiu întrecut de mulţi, a fost crunt crunt! Mi-a trebuit mie Semimaraton Regal, locul 3 şi record personal cu o zi înainte! Acum plăteam osânda pentru toate păcatele! M-am tot întâlnit pe traseu cu Ştefan Duhovnicu şi Alex Stratulat, ei mă întreceau fără probleme pe urcări unde eu gâfâiam şi de abia mă mişcam, eu îi ajungeam din urmă pe porţiunile de plat şi pe coborâri unde eram zmeu! Pe la jumătatea cursei am luat un jeleu cu cafeină de la Sponser, care se pare că a avut efect bun căci mi-a mai dat energie în picioare pentru urcările următoare. Izotonicul meu, adică limonada, şi-a îndeplinit rolul de a mă hidrata. În rest, m-am alimentat cu de toate la punctele de alimentare, dădeam un regal nutriţional la fiecare din ele: bucăţi de batoane cu cereale, portocale, mere, caşcaval, sponser, apă, ceai cald şi dulce, sărăţele, o bucurie totală! După punctul de alimentare de la Complexul Cheile Grădiştei - Moieciu, am prins energie şi am luat-o înainte. Ştefan s-a apucat să povestească cu un alt concurent despre familie şi copil, iar eu cum nu am ajuns la acest stadiu avansat al vieţii am profitat de neatenţia lor la concurs şi am luat-o înainte pe urcare. Am făcut o "evadare surpriză" sau un atac, cum mai aud la televizor la transmisiunile de ciclism! Şi pe Alex l-am întrecut tot pe acolo. Băieţii nu m-au urmărit şi nu m-au mai prins mai târziu.</div>
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După punctul de alimentare de la Cheile Grădiştei - Fundata, undeva sus, am început să cobor repede pe lângă pârtia de schi fond şi poligonul de trageri de la biatlon, unde au avut loc întrecerile de la FOTE 2013. Foarte frumos acolo, felicitări şi mulţumiri proprietarilor care au construit complexul turistic şi sportiv de la Cheile Grădiştei. În acest fel mulţi copii din zonă sunt încurajaţi să practice aceste sporturi de iarnă, iar rezultatele nu vor întârzia să apară! Copii, mergeţi la Biatlon! Este un sport fenomenal, folosiţi calculatoarele şi Facebook-ul doar ca să puteţi aduna poze, filmuleţe şi alte amintiri cu voi la antrenamente şi concursuri! Şi când nu mai e zăpadă, Ecomaratonul şi celelalte concursuri montane din zonă vă aşteaptă! :)</div>
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Şi tot coborând eu, am mai pierdut un marcaj la un gard, noroc că eram mai mulţi şi ne-am ajutat să găsim traseul. Apoi eu am luat-o înainte că mă simţeam în largul meu, am dat de o coborâre pe drum de ţară cu pietriş. Şi cum sunt alergător de asfalt şi plat, am prins viteză mare şi m-am dus tot înainte, doar o fată se ţinea la distanţă după mine! Super, păcat că nu mai e nimeni în faţă ca să am o ţintă de prins din urmă. Stai aşa, nici marcaje nu mai sunt! Nu tu bandă de la Salomon agăţată de un gard, nici bulină roz pictată pe gard.. Ops, m-am rătăcit! (Dacă nu ne trezea vaca aia, Marius... :D) Am aşteptat pe fata care s-a ţinut după mine şi ea mi-a confirmat că eram rătăciţi. Noroc că erau case, aşa că a ieşit o doamnă şi ne-a zis pe unde să coborâm ca să reluăm traseul pierdut. A fost puţin de recuperat din fericire, dar mare cred că a fost mirarea domnului Stan Turcu când m-a văzut întrecându-l a doua oară, fără să fi trecut de mine între timp :D Putem să-i zicem Paradoxul Ecomarathonului - odată ce am întrecut pe cineva, nu putem fi siguri că suntem în faţa lui până nu îl întrecem şi a doua oară, fiind tot înaintea lui!</div>
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Apoi totul a mers şnur - m-am reapropiat de centrul din Moieciu, iar o auzeam pe Silvia David la microfon cum încuraja lumea pe acolo, energia publicului mă îmbăta din nou, totul era de la foarte frumos în sus! Poze multe, iar punct de alimentare, trecuseră 4 ore de la start şi deja terminaseră primii concurenţi. Eu eram foarte mirat de asta, pentru că de abia făcusem 2 bucle din 3! Dar m-am ambiţionat şi mai tare, doar urma bucla 3, cea mai frumoasă dintre toate! Din partea mea, cei care au alergat la cros, deci doar Bucla 1, ar fi fost util să urce şi pe Bucla 3, căci priveliştea a fost minunată! Cele 2 urcări au fost solicitante, aşa este, dar după prima urcare la Vârful Bisericuţa am fost aşteptaţi de o doamnă în vârstă cu apă şi bomboane! Dumneaei e acolo în fiecare an, pentru că acolo locuieşte! Deci urcarea de 320 m diferenţă de nivel din centru până acasă este pentru dânsa ca mersul de acasă la autobuz pentru mine! :)</div>
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Traseul a continuat cu o coborâre lină, apoi am dat de un drum forestier de 700 m în urcare uşoară, pe care eu l-am parcurs în alergare uşoară. Mă simţeam în formă, concurenţii de acolo mergeau, eu măcar alergam uşor, haha! Uitându-mă la ceas, timpul de 6 ore pentru tot maratonul părea realizabil, deşi nu aş fi crezut asta când simţeam că îmi dau duhul pe urcările Buclei 2. Anul trecut terminasem în peste 7 ore, dar atunci alergasem bolnav, a fost cu totul altă poveste pe care nu am spus-o şi nici nu am de gând..</div>
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Încă un punct de alimentare unde m-am înfruptat bine, încă un jeleu cu cafeină de la Sponser şi hopa sus pe ultima urcare a maratonului! Grea, solicitantă, dar hai că se poate! Am ajuns în mai puţin de 30 minute cât era preconizat pentru cel mai înalt punct al traseului - 1460 m, km 36, Poiana Guţanu. De acolo a urmat o coborâre lungă, la care eu i-ar m-am simţit în largul meu şi am întrecut mulţi concurenţi, dar şi cai, măgari sau vaci. Mă rog, vacile mai degrabă s-au speriat de cum veneam ca furtuna şi mi-au făcut loc. Muuuu.. lţumesc! Asta ca să nu credeţi că am ceva cu vacile în general, doar cele deşteptătoare care fac ca nişte maşini de raliuri în visul meu mă deranjează :D</div>
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Pe ultimul kilometru, veselie şi energie din nou! Se vedea centrul Moieciu de Sus, se auzea Silvia, se simţeau spectatorii, am coborât la fel de voios, am trecut podul peste râu cu atenţie să nu cad, apoi încă 300 m de asfalt mult iubit, pe care am mai întrecut un concurent şi la final o medalie, un Buff şi o îmbrăţişare bine meritate! :)</div>
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Timp final sub 6 ore!!! Fericire!! <a href="http://server.ecomarathon.ro/2013/clasament/?race=marathon" target="_blank">Rezultate</a>: <b>5h56'19"</b>, loc 159 din 465 care au luat startul (432 au terminat). La categoria Masculin 23-39 ani, locul 113 din 268 care au luat startul (250 au terminat). Şi clasarea este foarte bună pentru mine, mai ales că nu am mai făcut alergări pe munte de anul trecut. De consemnat şi că acesta a fost primul maraton al anului şi că precedentul a fost tot la Ecomarathon. :) În total am ajuns la 6 maratoane alergate pe munte sau plat.</div>
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Ce a urmat? Pasta Party la Centrul de Ecologie Montană, poveşti multe, foame destulă, somn mai profund (vaca a lipsit duminică dimineaţa) şi o întoarcere acasă prin judeţul Argeş şi pe autostrada Piteşti - Bucureşti, drum mai prost decât cel de la plecare.</div>
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Mulţumesc organizatorilor şi voluntarilor care au făcut o treabă excelentă! Este unul din concursurile cel mai bine organizate, unde mă simt mereu bine şi de abia aştept să mă întorc la anul! Mulţumesc pentru poze Flavy, dar şi celorlalţi fotografi de pe traseu!</div>
Felicitări participanţilor, în special celor care au alergat ca mine la Maratonul Regal cu o zi înainte: Florin Simion (locul 1 maraton) şi Răzvan Farkas (locul 2 semimaraton) care au scos timpi foarte buni la EcoCross 14 km şi mai ales dna Floricica Neacşu, care a alergat 2 maratoane consecutiv şi a urcat pe podium la ambele (locul 2 Maratonul Regal, locul 3 la categoria Feminin 40-49 ani Ecomarathon)!<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="600" src="http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/312862553" width="480"></iframe>Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-49062528257494184782013-05-14T19:33:00.000+02:002013-05-14T19:33:53.240+02:00Maratonul Regal 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
Continuând programul meu de pregătire pentru Semimaratonul Bucureşti de pe 19 mai, am hotărât să condimentez din nou antrenamentele săptămânale cu întreceri oficiale. Ecomarathonul de pe 11 mai era planificat încă din februarie şi tocmai proba de maraton. Aveam de luat o revanşă personală, dar nu voi vorbi despre asta acum.</div>
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<a href="http://www.corporeanima.ro/maratonul-regal/" target="_blank">Maratonul Regal</a> a fost tentant datorită medaliei şi tricoului pe care le ofereau organizatorii, precum şi a startului din faţa Palatului Elisabeta şi a traseului prin parcul Herăstrău. Desigur şi pentru că s-a desfăşurat şi proba de semimaraton, pentru că la maraton pe plat nu mă înscriu fără un antrenament specific. Singurul mare inconvenient era ziua dinainte de Ecomarathon. Nu eram sigur că voi putea face faţă unui maraton montan după un semimaraton pe asfalt. Până la urmă m-am hotărât să mă înscriu la semimaratonul acesta pentru că oricum programul meu de antrenament îmi sugera o alergare de 10 km la ritmul de concurs.</div>
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Planul pentru această cursă a devenit simplu: traseul a avut o lungime de 10.58 km, deci pentru semimaraton trebuia parcurs de 2 ori. Pe primul tur am hotărât să alerg în ritmul programului de antrenament, după care să alerg în ritm comfortabil pe al doilea tur, pentru a încheia semimaratonul.</div>
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Toate bune şi frumoase. Ajung vineri înainte de 8 la în zonă, fac 3 ture de încălzire pe Stadionul Iolanda Balaş, apoi merg la start la Palatul Elisabeta. Acolo mă întâlnesc cu cei aproape 200 de alergători la maraton şi semi, dar şi cu organizatorii reprezentaţi de Dan Lixandru, având ca oaspeţi de onoare pe campioana noastră Gabriela Szabo şi pe Principele Nicolae, care au dat startul. Desigur, aşa cum obişnuim la maratoanele cu încărcare istorică şi patriotică, am cântat imnul României, urmat de strigătul de luptă al maratoniştilor, marca Ilie Roşu: <i>Hip-hip-uraa!! </i>(etc. ştiţi voi, că doar l-am tot menţionat în articolele precedente)</div>
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<b>Start! </b>Cei aproape 200 alergători, majoritatea tricolori datorită tricourilor primite, o iau frumos pe trotuarul ce înconjoară parcul Herăstrău pe lângă Arcul de Triumf până la Piaţa Charles de Gaulle, apoi intră pe traseul din parc. Îmi potrivesc ceasul Garmin şi urmăresc ritmul de 4:07 min / km, încercând să-l menţin pe prima tură. Zis şi făcut. Plecat fiind cam de la mijloc, întrec încet încet destui concurenţi, inclusiv pe câţiva pe care îi ştiu mai buni ca mine. Îmi dau seama că pe tura următoare eu voi încetini şi voi admira copacii şi floricelele din parc şi probabil voi termina mai la coada clasamentului :D. "Dar nu-i nimic, important e să-mi iasă antrenamentul acesta în regim de concurs. Nu are sens să forţez, mai ales că mă aşteaptă după amiază drumul până la Moieciu şi mâine maratonul pe munte", mă gândeam eu aşa, continuând să întrec concurenţi. La un moment dat văd un grup de 4 alergători de care mă apropii mai greu, ei alergând cam în acelaşi ritm cu mine. Păstrez ritmul propus, cu mici ruperi de ritm urmate de recuperări. La un moment dat, am întrebat pe Daniel Muşat, arbitru în zona Pavilionului H, câţi erau în faţă şi mi-a zis că erau 4. Da, bine, îi văzusem şi eu că mă tot apropiam de ei, dar pe mine mă interesa câţi mai erau în faţa lor... Încă căteva sute de metri şi termin primul tur de 10.58 km şi primesc încurajări şi câteva poze de pe margine.</div>
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(Vio Massage)</div>
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Nu eram sigur că terminasem cei 10 km de antrenament deoarece mă mai jucasem un pic cu ceasul Garmin la început şi poate nu calculase corect, aşa că am continuat la fel şi am prins din urmă grupul din faţa mea. Am ales să alerg cu ei în grup, dar fiind totuşi nedumerit în privinţa alergătorilor din faţa grupului şi simţind că pot continua în acelaşi ritm, am luat-o un pic înainte. Un băiat m-a urmat imediat, iar ceilalţi s-au rupt un pic de grup. Cu alte cuvinte, eu am venit din spate după primul tur şi le-am stricat plutonul :))) Încă nedumerit, întreb pe un arbitru de traseu din zona statuilor-capete câţi mai sunt înainte.</div>
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<i>Voi sunteţi primii!...</i> Stai aşa, mă gândesc.. nu mai e nimeni în faţă?! Wow, la asta chiar nu mă aşteptam! Băiatul care s-a luat după mine când m-am desprins de grup şi l-am dizolvat m-a întrebat din semne câte ture fac, i-am arătat că 2, dar nu am înţeles câte făcea el. În orice caz, avea ritm bun şi am încercat să ţin pasul cu el. Din păcate, ajunsesem la 13 km şi după o pantă urcată am simţit că nu mai am energie, aşa că l-am pierdut încet încet. Ritmul mai scăzuse, dar realizasem un avans considerabil faţă de restul plutonului şi menţineam un ritm bun în continuare. Totul până la km 18, pe trotuarul de pe Şoseaua Bucureşti - Ploieşti, unde simţeam că se cam terminase combustibilul şi începusem să încetinesc. Chiar mă întrebam dacă nu mă ajung alergătorii din urmă, când.. wooshh!!.. mă întrece un alt băiat şi o ia înainte! Alarmat puţin că voi putea pierde podiumul după ce alergasem aşa bine până atunci, m-am forţat să rămân aproape de el. Se întrevedea totuşi primul podium din cariera mea de alergător şi acesta era un motiv suficient de solid să trag de toate forţele în continuare :)</div>
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Am trecut din nou pe la Daniel Muşat, care ne-a anunţat că eram pe locurile 2 şi 3. Am mai tras cu ochiul în urmă: nu se vedea nimeni apropiindu-se de noi. Super! Mai aveam cîteva sute de metri, dar parcă nu mai aveam atâta forţă să sprintez şi să mă întrec cu cel de pe locul 2. Am trecut astfel linia de sosire cu mare veselie şi întâmpinaţi de aplauze şi jurnaliste de la 2 televiziuni româneşti pentru interviuri. Incredibil, super tare!!! Primul meu podium, locul 3! Wow.. şi de unde plecasem eu în cursa aceasta! :D</div>
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La final, mesaje de felicitări şi bucurie, impresii la cald, vreme bună şi întoarcere veselă acasă! Aveam de făcut bagajul pentru Ecomarathon, deci nu am mai avut timp să stau să încurajez şi maratoniştii. Îi felicit pe toţi în aceeaşi măsură şi le mulţumesc organizatorilor, voluntarilor şi spectatorilor pentru sprijin! :) Bagajele pentru plecare au fost întârziate pentru că mă tot uitam pe cele 2 posturi tv la care am dat interviu curios dacă mă dau la ştiri sau nu. Din păcate nu am găsit nimic elocvent şi am cam întârziat cu bagajele, iar traficul de vineri din Bucureşti m-a ţinut în emoţii şi mai mari pentru că premierea începea la 15, iar eu am ajuns la Palatul Elisabeta la 15:15! Am reuşit să conving oamenii de pază că trebuie să mă lase să intru în curte să prind premierea şi am ajuns tocmai la fix ca să urc pe podium, să-mi primesc premiul şi să apar şi în poze:</div>
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(Răzvan Farkas)</div>
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Felicitări din nou ocupanţilor primelor 2 locuri, Marian Mociorniţă şi Răzvan Farkas, cu care m-am întrecut în acest concurs! Felicitări şi premianţilor de la feminin şi de la maraton la toate categoriile! Rezultatele complete aici: <a href="http://www.corporeanima.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Clasament-Maratonul-Regal-2013_total.pdf">http://www.corporeanima.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Clasament-Maratonul-Regal-2013_total.pdf</a>. Din păcate, nu am mai rămas la Garden Party organizat de Casa Regală, pentru că voiam să ajung în timp util la Moieciu. Nu-i nimic, acesta e un motiv suficient să revin să altădată la acest concurs, mai ales că a devenit memorabil pentru mine.</div>
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Interesant este că nu am fost singurul care a plecat la Ecomarathon după Maratonul Regal. M-am revăzut cu câţiva dintre alergători şi premianţi, unii dintre ei chiar cu rezultate remarcabile obţinute şi a doua zi. Dar asta e altă poveste. Până una alta, am plecat repede de la premiere la maşină şi mai departe...</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><b>...Va urma...</b></span></div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-12346965073880587172013-04-29T00:02:00.000+02:002013-04-29T00:02:53.085+02:00Cluj International Marathon 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hi all! I'm back on my blog! I hope you've done well, because I did! :)</div>
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On the 21st of April I ran the Halfmarathon in Cluj. I've never been to Cluj-Napoca before so this was my chance to discover the mysteries of this Romanian city and to take part of this big competition. It's called sport tourism, a type of tourism which starts to get more and more popular in Romania. I discovered a very nice city and spent a great sunny weekend walking around it. Some interesting points I visited are: the Botanic Garden, the Roman-Catholic Cathedral with a cool view from the tower, the Orthodox Cathedral, the panoramic view from the Cetăţuia hill.</div>
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All the information you want to know about this competition can be found at <a href="http://www.maraton-cluj.ro/index.php/en.html">http://www.maraton-cluj.ro/index.php/en.html</a>.</div>
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I decided to run the Halfmarathon because I am currently following a training program for finishing the 21 km in 1h33' on May 19th using the <a href="http://my.asics.co.uk/" target="_blank">MyAsics</a> coach. Running a full marathon would have been too difficult for me at this time and I would have needed some days to recover from it. I usually run road marathons only if I think I am prepared for them. If not, I choose shorter races, just to make sure I can run them at a comfortable race pace.</div>
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The start of the race was at 9:15 AM on the marvelous Cluj Arena. One stadium lap and off on the streets of Cluj, in a good marathon weather - sunny 14C! The halfmarathon route consisted of 2 laps of 10.55 km each. There were ascent parts but they were counterbalanced by the descents, were I relaxed my arm muscles as much as possible to save energy. This was a good energy saving technique since the speed was increased thanks to gravity. Time flew fast, because there were a lot of people on the streets encouraging us and a lot of friends and club colleagues to greet. </div>
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I knew that I can keep a good pace of under 4:20 min / km on the first 15 km because I had proper training for that. My purpose was to set a new Personal Best, going under 1h35'. The first 15 km worked as planned, I was already on the second lap and really not far from the Top 20 athletes! I felt good so I kept my pace until the 18th km. At that point I sensed the lack of longer trainings in the past 2 months and the race was getting harder. I ran slower, but after the 18.5 km refreshing point I regained my motivation to finish and I pushed myself not to go slower than 4:30 min / km. The last kilometre was better - I had all the motivation I needed to accelerate and for the last 100 m before the finish line in the big stadium I made a sprint for a memorable finish. After receiving the medal and returning the timing chip, I did the 10 Pushups just like Paul Dicu after finishing a tough <a href="http://www.inpascupaul.ro/?p=2026" target="_blank">stage</a> of Marathon des Sables. Ok I admit, there are some differences between my half maraton in Cluj and Paul's 75 km stage in Sahara :D</div>
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Many thanks to Flavy Teo for making a lot of wonderful pictures! You can see her album on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.648430398507110.1073741832.100000204682990&type=1&l=327567eeab" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</div>
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What about my finish time? Take a look at my new Personal Record below!</div>
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<a href="http://www.maraton-cluj.ro/images/stories/content/rezultate/vodafone_international_marathon_halfmarathon_cluj_2013_results.pdf" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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I was hoping for 1h35' now and 1h33' next month. I ran faster than expected, so... now what? </div>
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Yes, I keep on running! :)</div>
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-21818403318331905862013-03-01T11:36:00.000+01:002013-03-01T11:37:35.179+01:00Bucharest Hash House Harriers<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last Sunday I was invited by a friend to a running meeting of the Hash House Harriers in Bucharest. I've never heard of this club before. That was strange to me to hear because I've been in a lot of group runs and I often talk to runners, but no one ever spoke about this group. Neither on Internet websites nor on social media did I see something about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Wikipedia: <span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">The </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers" target="_blank">Hash House Harriers</a></b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;"> (abbreviated to </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">HHH</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">H3</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">, or referred to simply as </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">hashing</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">) is an international group of non-competitive running, social clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">hash</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;"> or </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">hash run</b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">, with participants calling themselves </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">hashers </b><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">or </span><b style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 19.1875px;">hares and hounds</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>. </i>The objectives of this meetings are running, having fun and drinking beer with other hashers. But I better explain more by telling how was my first hashing experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">I met with this friend of mine Iulian and with 2 other friends, Oana and Andrei, and we went to his place, where his guest Fred (from USA) organized this event. At around 2:15 PM we were around 10 people from different countries of the world at the starting point of the trail. The one who sets the trail before the event is called </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">hare </i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">and the remainder of the group who must follow it is called </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">hounds</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">. The track is isually marked by placing flour on the street or on the trees. Sometimes there are false trails or dead ends, but Fred told us that he didn't put any. After introducing ourselves to the group of hashers, we started! Following the trail meant finding the flour points marked by Fred. When someone finds one, he should scream "</span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">On-On!</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">", so that the other hound will follow him on the route. In the intersections, there is a circle, which means "</span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">Check!</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">". In this case, some runners check each possible route until one finds the right one, screaming On-On! Most of the time I ran in front but found the false routes, so the pack took the right street on the Check points and I was left behind. This is great for the group run, because the slower runners can always catch up with the group. After a lot of good and bad paths, I found in the park a new sign: </span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">BN</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">. Hey, there is a new sign. What does it mean? The older hashers told me. It's </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">Bear Near</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">! What followed then? Well, </span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">BS = Beer Stop</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">! Fred bought to all of us a beer in a restaurant. Thanks Fred! After the Beer Stop, we restarted the hash run, following the trail set by Fred on the streets, until we went into the wild part of the city. I'm talking of the Văcăreşti Lake, which is an artificial lake which looks more like a Delta, having some water and a lot of terrain with birds, mammals and reed. There were no checkpoints or false trails on the lake, so the path was only forward. This was good to me because I could run a little faster and stay in front of the group. Unfortunately, when I was approaching the other side of the lake, 5 or more dogs saw me and started surrounding me. I knew it was too risky to run through them, so I backed up waiting for the other runners. I took a stone to use it in case of necessity. When Iulian and another hasher reached me, we decided to scary them by running faster to them. Some </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">gypsies</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> came out from their improvised huts and chased them away. Then we arrived safe to Iulian's house and waited for the other members of the group to join us. Some of them took another route at the end, avoiding the big lake. They all came back to Iulian's a bit later. This was the second and much longer <b>Beer Stop</b>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">After the run, the H3 tradition implies that the hashers should stay at the <i>On-On-On</i> or <i>Hash-Hash</i> Party. There are a lot of songs of "punishment" for the hares or the hounds, which are all finished by the one being punished by drinking beer. Of course, me, Iulian, Oana and Andrei couldn't avoid the "punishments" and also we had to tell a joke or do something else at our choice to enter the Hashers Group as we were the Virgin Hashers. We had pizza, we started singing with the hashers and the party continued until everyone left.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">This social group is made mostly for expats who live in Bucharest, but local citizen are also welcome. If you want to join the group, you need to be invited from one of the members. You can find them on <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Hash-House-Harriers-Bucharest-running-making-new-friends/" target="_blank">Meetup</a>!</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Below is our route from Last Sunday with all the wrong paths I found. <b>On-On!</b></span><br />
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Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-41150804015336514992013-02-27T22:45:00.000+01:002013-02-27T22:45:17.511+01:00Winter TriChallenge 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Despre: </b></span>În această iarnă m-am hotărât să debutez şi eu la întrecerile de triatlon. Neavând o bicicletă MTB decentă pentru astfel de competiții, am căutat să-mi construiesc o echipă pentru ştafetă. Pentru cine nu cunoaşte, triatlonul este un sport aflat în calendarul întrecerilor Jocurilor Olimpice de Vară ce constă în 3 probe: înot, ciclism şi alergare. Triatlonul <a href="http://smartatletic.ro/wintertri/" target="_blank">Winter TriChallenge</a> a inversat ordinea celor 3 probe, presupunând întai o alergare în zona Pădurii Snagov de aproape 7 km, apoi 12 km cu bicicleta şi la final 500 m de înot în bazinul Complexului Olimpic Român de la Izvorani.</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pregătirea: </b></span>Fiind un mare pasionat al înotului încă de mic copil (înainte să descopăr bucuria alergării), mi-am propus încă din noiembrie să merg de 2-3 ori pe săptămână la piscină şi să mă pregătesc pentru cei 500 m de înot. Pot să spun sincer că la început mi s-a părut o distanță mare, iar la antrenamente reuşeam să ajung la distanţa asta în stil bras alternat cu craul (stil liber) doar cu pauze la fiecare 50 m (bazinul în care m-am antrenat are 25 m lungime). Nu mai înotasem serios din vara lui 2011, când am făcut un curs de perfecţionare... şi asta s-a văzut. M-am hotărât să adopt "Metoda de 10%": în fiecare săptămână am crescut distanţa înotată cu 10% faţă de săptămâna precedentă. În general am alternat stilurile bras şi craul în mod egal. Ştiam că tehnica de bras o stăpânesc bine (instructorul meu din 2011 m-a lăudat şi m-ar fi trimis la concursuri de seniori, dar pe vremea aceea eram prea mic pentru categoria de vârstă acceptată). La craul am avut de tras mai tare, pentru a deprinde tehnica mai bine. Rezultatele s-au văzut, deşi am fost concentrat mai mult să acumulez volum decât să măresc viteza, astfel încât am trecut şi de pragul de 1500 m înotați la un antrenament. Cu o zi înainte de concurs, am hotărât să mă uit la ceas mai atent şi să înot întâi 500 m bras, apoi 500 m craul la capacitate medie. Am constatat că la bras am fost cam la 13 minute, iar la craul pe la 15 minute. Nu sunt sigur dacă măsurarea mea a fost corectă şi nu cumva am calculat eu ceva greşit, dar concluzia a fost că sunt mai rapid la bras. Aşa că în ziua concursului am hotărât să înot doar bras. Aveam emoţii, dar pozitive, deoarece urma primul meu concurs de înot şi eram nerăbdător!</div>
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<b style="color: blue;">Concursul: </b>Ziua concursului a fost 23 februarie, o zi rece dar fără zăpadă şi precipitaţii. Echipa pentru ştafetă am alcătuit-o în zilele ce au urmat după Semimaratonul Gerar: pentru bicicletă am găsit pe George, iar pentru alergare am invitat-o pe Oana. Amândoi au fost încântaţi să ne facem echipă pentru triatlon şi numele ales a fost pe măsură: OMG! :) Sâmbătă dimineaţa am luat cu maşina pe cei 2 coechipieri, pe sora mea şi pe Miruna şi am pornit către Izvorani. După recunoaştere şi şedinţa tehnică, la 11:30 s-a dat startul la alergare. A pornit şi Oana cu bine şi a terminat a 4a dintre fete. Mă şi aşteptam la un rezultat bun de la ea, mai ales că în urmă cu o săptămână terminase pe locul 2 la semimaraton la Râșnov. După Oana imediat George a preluat chipul, l-a prins de picior şi a plecat cu bicicleta pe traseu. Eu între timp am mers repede la vestiare să mă schimb în costumul de baie şi să mă pregatesc de sosirea lui. A durat ceva timp, dar din fericire pe coridorul vestiarelor era suficient de cald încât să nu îngheţ având doar slipul, casca şi ochelarii de înot pe mine. Desigur, nu am stat pe loc şi am făcut o încălzire. Am asistat cum au trecut primii concurenţi la individual şi ştafetă şi i-am încurajat, apoi am văzut şi cum Răzvan Staicu de la ştafeta Ro Club Maraton se întorcea în holul de tranziţie cu medalia de gât, fericit că terminase primul! Bravo Ro Club, a doua victorie la Winter Tri! Eu încă îl aşteptam pe George... Mai încolo îl văd pe geam venind repede şi îl aştept la intrare. George lasă bicicleta, ajunge la tranziţie şi eu îi iau chipul şi îl prind de piciorul meu. Fuga apoi prin vestiare, duş rapid şi hop înăuntru în sala bazinului. Aoleu, podeaua alunecă! Din fericire rămân pe picioare şi ajung la ultimul culoar, cel la care eram repartizat împreună cu alţi înotători de la ştafetă. Erau vreo 5 pe culoar deja înotând, 3 dintre ei venind spre bloc-start, aşa că nu am mai stat pe gânduri şi m-am aruncat în apă. Pleoşc! Puff, mi-a intrat apă în ochi! Aoleu, în toată graba aia am uitat să-mi pun ochelarii pe ochi! Îi aşez repede şi nu prea bine, tot am ceva apă în ei, dar mă apuc să dau la braţe că vin înotătorii din spate. Majoritatea înotau craul, dar eu cu brasul le făceam faţă. M-au întrecut 2 pe parcurs, dar măcar pe alţi 2 i-am întrecut şi eu. Bazinul era de 50 m deci altă senzaţie era când îl parcurgeam faţă de antrenamentele mele obişnuite pe bazinul pe jumătate de lung. Fiind vreo 6 pe culoar şi înotând unii pe lângă alţii, chiar dacă încercam să ţinem partea dreaptă mereu, tot ne mai dădeam coate şi picioare, mai ales la depăşiri. Inevitabil, când scoteam capul din apă îmi mai venea şi un val peste faţă! În general mă trăgeam pe dreapta până la limita culoarului când simţeam că ma depăşeşte cineva, dar nici eu nu încetineam. Din fericire, am tras tare şi nu am făcut pauze, aşa că au trecut repede cei 500 m, am ieşit din bazin şi am fugit către poarta de sosire. Mă puteţi vedea în acest videoclip pe ultimul culoar. Calitatea imaginii nu e prea bună, dar dacă sunteţi atenţi şi daţi clipul pe tot ecranul mă veţi recunoaşte după stilul de înot, care implică să bag capul în apă la fiecare deschidere a braţelor:</div>
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Timpul final al echipei a fost de 1h16'02". La festivitatea de premiere ne-am uitat pe rezultate şi cu bucurie am constatat că am terminat pe locul <a href="http://smartatletic.ro/wintertri/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Clasament_Stafeta.pdf" target="_blank">10 din 30</a> de echipe! Mi se pare un rezultat bun, mai ales că am fost toţi 3 debutanţi la acest gen de concurs şi nu ştiam la ce să ne aşteptăm. Felicitări echipei OMG! Sper să fim şi mai buni cu următoarea ocazie! Timpul meu efectiv de înot cronometrat cu telefonul meu a fost de aproximativ 11:30, ceea ce personal mă mulţumeşte, deoarece am fost competitiv faţă de cei care au înotat craul (care este considerat cel mai rapid stil), ba chiar făcând şi depăşiri, după cum s-a văzut.<br />
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Felicitări şi mulţumiri organizatorilor şi voluntarilor pentru acest eveniment! Eu am fost mulţumit de organizare. Desigur, au fost ceva probleme, gen zona de tranziţie bicicletă-înot în care se făcea curent de afară şi unde era neplăcut de aşteptat, lipsa unei cronometrări la fiecare probă în parte, punct final de alimentare la care concurenţii din probele de alergare şi bicicletă nu au mai avut acces şi altele. În final, mulţumesc Andreei şi Mirunei pentru susţinere şi poze!</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com1Centrul Olimpic Roman, Izvorani, România44.69944 26.13330599999994844.676865500000005 26.092965499999949 44.7220145 26.173646499999947tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-70159235383895599882013-02-13T00:56:00.001+01:002013-02-13T01:13:07.777+01:00A day to remember: The Olympic Torch in BucharestLast Saturday was one of the days I've never imagined it could happen. But it did. I was a participant of the first Olympic Torch Relay for the Olympic Games held in Romania! It seems weird and improbable, but it's right: Romania is the host nation of this years European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. It means that all the young winter athletes aged under 18 are expected to come here to compete in their winter disciplines. The Festival is held between 17 and 22 of February in Braşov and surrounding Winter Resorts (Predeal, Poiana Braşov, Râşnov, Cheile Grădiştei). More information about this event can be found on the official <a href="http://eyowf2013.ro/" target="_blank">EYOWF site</a>.<br />
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But let's get back to the Olympic Flame. Its journey started on the 2nd of February in Athens, Greece, when it was lit by the sun rays of the Panathenaic marble stadium. It was brought to Bucharest the next day and lit in front of the Romanian Olympic Committee. On the 9th of February, at 12 o'clock, it started it journey through Bucharest, held by almost 70 people, most of them former Romanian Olympic athletes.<br />
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I decided I couldn't miss the chance of being there among a lot of Romanian Olympians, who made history for our nation. I knew I wasn't on the list of the torch bearers, but I thought it would not be a problem if I ran besides them. My idea was shared by a few marathoners, so we met at the Romanian Olympic Committee on Saturday. The route passed through the centre of Bucharest, visiting the most important political buildings: the Government - Victoria Palace, the Parliament, the City Hall and the Presidential Palace - Cotroceni, as you can see on the <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Strada+Constantinescu+Alexandru&daddr=Pia%C8%9Ba+Victoriei+to:44.4457313,26.0908458+to:Bulevardul+Libert%C4%83%C8%9Bii+to:Strada+Bogdan+Petriceicu+Ha%C8%99deu,+Bucharest,+Romania+to:44.4349194,26.0779569+to:44.4342419,26.070536+to:%C8%98oseaua+Groz%C4%83ve%C8%99ti+to:Prim%C4%83ria+Bucure%C5%9Fti,+Splaiul+Independen%C8%9Bei,+Bucharest,+Romania+to:44.4500037,26.0689902+to:Strada+Ion+Mincu,+Bucharest,+Romania+to:Bulevardul+Aviatorilor,+Bucharest,+Romania+to:Pia%C5%A3a+Charles+de+Gaulle,+Bucharest,+Romania+to:44.4655501,26.0871917+to:Strada+Constantinescu+Alexandru&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=44.438775,26.070771&spn=0.020285,0.056906&sll=44.434577,26.070707&sspn=0.010143,0.028453&geocode=FZyFpgIdNeWNAQ%3BFWxKpgId1QiOAQ%3BFSMwpgIdXR2OASkReL5IUf-xQDEp1SUTOCLqMg%3BFdnypQIdjR6OAQ%3BFSUApgIdlwOOASk5XjbfZ_-xQDEvt2KdI4_DDg%3BFecFpgIdBOuNASlR2f2uYP-xQDEcfRZhMRdjBg%3BFUEDpgIdCM6NASlvQFfRYf-xQDHZFeiMmumAUQ%3BFYIcpgIdSKaNAQ%3BFbEnpgIduJSNASEp41_ImFx_WylFBf_kQv-xQDEp41_ImFx_Ww%3BFdNApgId_seNASmncUc_8AGyQDHgVdP3voxwBw%3BFc1jpgIdLvqNASndoCBjAwKyQDFajyzAJIncmw%3BFQdxpgId1wyOASm11HaHDwKyQDG1CwH4I6hYtg%3BFex8pgIdrg2OASkpK90mDgKyQDG6vrpFpjScLQ%3BFY59pgIdFw-OASmrXKc2DgKyQDF2eDEvAVkj0w%3BFXGFpgId4OWNAQ&mra=dpe&mrsp=6&sz=16&via=2,5,6,9,13&t=m&z=15" target="_blank">map</a>. Thanks to Ilie Roşu and Florin Simion who carried with them the flags of Romania and the Olympic rings, because the Torch Relay organizers didn't think about that.<br />
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The first torch bearer was Ivan Patzaichin, winner of 4 Olympic Golds and 3 Silvers at Canoeing in 4 Summer Olympic Games Editions (1968, 1972, 1980, 1984). He ran for 200 metres, then he handed the Torch to Laura Badea, former Fencing Olympic Champion (Atlanta, 1996). Other torch bearers on the route were: Carmen Bunaciu (one of the greatest Romanian swimmers), Gabriela Szabo (multiple running world champion and 5000 m Olympic Champion at Sidney 2000), Marian Drăgulescu, Marius Urzică, Sandra Izbaşa, Larisa Iordache, Monica Roşu (current and former gymnasts), Violeta Beclea (former runner with Silver at 1500 m at Sidney 2000), Valeria Răcilă van Groningen, Viorica Susanu, Georgeta Andrunache (former rowing Olympic champions), Camelia Potec (Gold at 200 m freestyle swimming in Athens 2004), Alina Dumitru (Judo Olympic champion at Beijing 2008), Alin Moldoveanu (Gold at Shooting at London 2012) and many others.<br />
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A lot of photo and video cameras accompanied us during the route, most of them staying in a van in front of us. The bravest photographer of all was Flavia Turcu, who run with her camera and a backpack all the way. I forgot to mention the route was of about 18 km! I found some videos of us on the Internet (I hope you recognize me):<br />
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Here is another <a href="http://media.tvrnews.ro/video_local/201302/tortaa-20-tvrinfo-ro-tvrinfo-h264-640x480-53717100_53717100.mp4" target="_blank">video</a> from TVR, the Romanian national television.<br />
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The following video was made with my phone, when the Torch was leaving the Romanian Government:<br />
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It was nice to see the traffic partially restricted for us and running on the streets of Bucharest is always a special feeling. Of course, I prefer to do that when the traffic is totally restricted, because the cars pollute a lot. It was a rare thing that we could run on the Basarab Passage, which is prohibited for pedestrians. In my opinion, we, the amateur marathoners who accompanied the Torch Relay, made it more memorable and fun. At each torch change we acclaimed <i>Hai România!! Bravo!! </i>(Go Romania!! Bravo!!) and clapped our hands or we screamed the Marathoner's Fight Lines, invented by Ilie Roşu: <i>Hip-hip-huraa!! </i><i>Hip-hip-huraa!! Hip-ura! </i><i>Hip-ura!</i><i> Hip-ura-ura-ura! </i><i>România! Trăiască </i><i>România!! </i>More details on Ilie's video:
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At the end, some of the many pictures of this remarkable event:
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(Mihh) <br />
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(Flavia Turcu) <br />
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(Florin Simion) <br />
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Our real route was tracked by my Garmin, too (the total time was 3 hours with all the pauses):<br />
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It was simply the best day of this year so far! Let the Games begin! :)</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-91237038225069104722013-02-10T20:17:00.001+01:002013-02-12T22:31:01.364+01:00Voluntar la Gerar 2013Da, Semimaratonul Gerar a ajuns deja la a 3a ediţie şi a devenit practic un eveniment de tradiţie la început de an. Pentru cei care nu ştiu despre ce e vorba, <a href="http://www.gerar.ro/" target="_blank">Semimaratonul Gerar</a> este o competiţie pe echipe formate din 3 persoane, care trebuie să parcurgă distanţa de 21 km (6 tururi de 3.5 km) în Campusul Universităţii Politehnica Bucureşti alergând împreună, la o distanţă de cel mult 5 metri între ei, dar fără să se tragă sau să se împingă între ei. Poate unii cititori se întreabă acum de ce ar vrea oameni din aceeaşi echipă să se împingă între ei :)) Unii concurenţi au adoptat în trecut această tehnică cu coechipierii care erau obosiţi şi pierdeau ritmul, practic ajutându-i să continue la un ritm de care nu mai erau capabili. Comitetul de organizare al Ro Club Maraton a decis că aceste metode sunt neregulamentare. Nu vreau să comentez, deoarece nu am alergat până acum la o astfel de competiţie şi consider că nu deţin datele necesare pentru a da o părere constructivă. Cealaltă probă a evenimentului a fost Crosul ELTH, individual, ce presupunea un tur de 3.5 km.<br />
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La fel ca la precedentele ediţii, m-am înscris ca voluntar la organizarea evenimentului. Îmi place ideea de a fi voluntar la organizarea unui concurs, deoarece am ocazia de a practica sau chiar învăţa ceva nou, mai aflu secrete de culise (hehehe, dar pe astea nu le spun pe blog) şi mai ales interacţionez mai mult cu oamenii implicaţi. E o ocazie foarte bună de a discuta şi a face ceva util în acelaşi timp. Şi de această dată ne-am întânit sâmbătă, cu o zi înaintea concursului, pentru a ne stabili rolurile, a face pachete de concurs, a discuta etc. Ca de obicei m-am înscris ca arbitru pe traseu. Mi-am ales o altă locaţie de data aceasta, tot strategică, deoarece pe la mine se putea lua pe o scurtătură pentru a ajunge mai repede în zona de start/finiş. Diferenţa a fost că nu prea am avut lume la punctul meu de control, căci era într-o zonă mai puţin circulată. Dar ca să fiu mai explicit, punctul meu de control a fost CP7 de pe harta traseului:<br />
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Se poate observa şi cum se putea scurta traseul frumos pe acolo. :) Umblând noi arbitrii în frunte cu arbitrul-şef Oana Badea aşa pe traseu să ne alegem punctele de control, ne-a venit ideea să dăm nume punctelor noastre de control, ca să fie personalizate şi mai uşor de memorat. Au ieşit idei gen <i>La gheaţă, La răscruce, La barieră, La bibliotecă, Underground, The Dark Side </i>etc. Mai pe seară, ajuns acasă, deja aveam o dilemă: ce nume să pun la punctul meu de control? Idei aveam câteva: <i>La răscruce, La ocazii, La Mihh..</i></div>
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Noaptea a fost un sfetnic bun, aşa că a doua zi semimaratoniştii la trecerile pe la CP7 erau întâmpinaţi de încurajările mele şi pentru a le da mai mult suflet şi pentru a anunţa apropierea finalului de tur/cursă, le uram:</div>
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<i>Bun venit la <b>Speranţa</b>! Aici este Check-Point Speranţa! Speranţa e aici, Sfârşitul e aproape! Speranţa moare ultima! După Speranţă, o luaţi la dreapta! Hai că mai e puţin!</i></div>
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Desigur, mulţi alergători şi-au primit încurajările personalizate, ceea ce îi ajuta şi mai mult la moral, deoarece îşi auzeau numele lor. </div>
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În rest, voi trece rapid prin momentele cheie ale evenimentului: sculat duminică devreme de dimineaţă, ajuns pe la 7:40 în Poli la reuniune cu arbitrii şi organizatorii, ieşit pe traseu cu saci de sare pentru a scăpa de gheaţă (nu mai era cine ştie ce oricum căci sâmbătă s-a avut grijă de asta, dar tot am dat cu sare), ajutat la diferite alte lucruri, surprindere mare că la ora 9:50 mare parte din alergători stătea încă înauntru în corpul Rectoratului la căldurică şi taclale când toţi ştiau că startul se dădea la 10 fix (!!!), rugat în mod elegant alergătorii să meargă la start (calmul e ingredient din reţeta succesului), privit start cu un pic de jind, apoi mers repede la CP7 ca să nu mă prindă cumva arbitrul-şef necruţător că nu mă aflu la post şi să mă sancţioneze pe viaţă, stat degeaba destul timp până să apară primii alergători (ştiam eu că nu e nevoie de grabă!), început încurajările, dansat, cântat, discutat cu şoferi care doreau să treacă pe traseu şi găsită o înţelegere amiabilă cu ei (mai puţin cu un profesor de la Poli care nici nu s-a sinchisit să oprească, a trecut cu maşina prin băltoacă, m-a stropit puţin şi a luat-o pe traseu fără jenă), discutat cu colegul de club Gabriel Manea de la CP8, schimbat <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraca" target="_blank">maraca</a> </i>cu el pentru animaţie suplimentară, start Cros la 12:30, terminat de stat la CP7 <i>Speranţa </i>pe la 13 şi ceva, strâns benzi şi gunoaie de pe traseu, strâns şi împachetat bannere şi alte bunuri ale clubului şi sponsorilor, asistat la premiere, primit pizza şi rucsac cu câteva mici cadouri din partea organizatorilor pentru munca depusă (Mulţumesc!!), strâns ce mai era de strâns, schimbat impresii cu colegii, plecat mulţumit acasă.</div>
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În concluzie: a fost un alt concurs reuşit al clubului nostru, lumea a fost mulţumită, vremea a fost mai prietenoasă decât în anii trecuţi (un pic sub 0 grade), competiţia a fost înverşunată, unii alergători chiar şi-au realizat recorduri personale, deci toate bune! Să ne revedem veseli şi frumoşi şi în 2014!</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1262658916429264327.post-39157620005231198622012-12-23T00:50:00.000+01:002012-12-23T00:50:34.779+01:00Moş Alergăcilă 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">
Dimineaţa de 22 decembrie 2012 m-a găsit în Parcul Lumea Copiilor din Bucureşti pentru a alerga la <i>Crosul Moş Alergăcilă</i>. Deşi nu a fost un cros oficial, ci mai degrabă o alergare de grup tematică, a fost primit cu entuziasm de mulţi alergători.</div>
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Ideea a fost să ne reunim costumaţi tematic de Crăciun şi să alergăm 5 ture prin parc, însumând aproximativ 5,3 km. Majoritatea alergătorilor au venit costumaţi în Moşi Crăciuni, Crăciuniţe sau reni, deci spectacolul a fost garantat! Eu am avut probleme tehnice cu costumul, făcut pentru un Moş Crăciun ca în basme (a se citi supraponderal :) ), deci a fost nevoie să-l strâng bine cu centura. M-am auto-intitulat <i>Moşul-Cu-Ochelari-Disco</i>, după cum se vede mai jos.</div>
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La 9 ne-am reunit la locul stabilit, am făcut o tură de recunoaştere cu ajutorul colegului nostru Adrian Gabor, apoi ne-am pregătit de start.</div>
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Foto: Bogdan Belu</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLa1cXXHjNdy5Jx-50eMhKiaVpDOo2K5TEe5rDsUgq9wUSYqVoSfguZWnJOAk0rR_s9M-HQC6UrHmW5BzaJRA9JMWYNAT_GSGdxLXtAAxaT74fx3V4fz3lY6Ji9zFGHlKnEOsHB1mdZ4Nk/s1600/DSC_2330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLa1cXXHjNdy5Jx-50eMhKiaVpDOo2K5TEe5rDsUgq9wUSYqVoSfguZWnJOAk0rR_s9M-HQC6UrHmW5BzaJRA9JMWYNAT_GSGdxLXtAAxaT74fx3V4fz3lY6Ji9zFGHlKnEOsHB1mdZ4Nk/s320/DSC_2330.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Foto: Bogdan Belu</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAhCOqd-Xr3cDMwpfoB2XiOO_SWySOJxRcuYvUJtkk7MR1JuaDmMLSUD58q17K073w5BsrZm67ZFjuX2uODPtq7AnIEPEUOc1pTw-VCBVfgU0Eja4vt3ZfWPYj4U-NCUXH2hDSd2Ha6Qh/s1600/DSC_0547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAhCOqd-Xr3cDMwpfoB2XiOO_SWySOJxRcuYvUJtkk7MR1JuaDmMLSUD58q17K073w5BsrZm67ZFjuX2uODPtq7AnIEPEUOc1pTw-VCBVfgU0Eja4vt3ZfWPYj4U-NCUXH2hDSd2Ha6Qh/s320/DSC_0547.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Foto: Florin Simion</div>
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Alergarea a fost foarte frumoasă pe zăpadă. La tura de recunoaştere se simţeau cele -7 grade din aer, dar după ce a început crosul şi am început să alerg şi eu mai repede, m-am încălzit bine! Zăpada a fost bătătorită bine, gheaţa a lipsit, deci cu o pereche potrivită de <i>alergofi </i>cu aderenţă am putut alerga într-un ritm pe placul meu. Chiar dacă nu a fost un cros oficial, ci mai mult o alergare de grup cu temă şi premii gustoase pentru toată lumea, s-a întocmit şi un <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CrosulMosAlergacila/posts/383365148419120?notif_t=wall" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">clasament</a>, s-au numărat turele şi s-a cronometrat alergarea. Astfel, m-am clasat pe locul 5 la băieţi şi 6 la general. În total am fost 42 de alergători.</div>
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Cel mai plăcut moment a fost desigur la final, când am fost întâmpinaţi cu vin fiert, ceai fierbinte, turtă dulce, cozonac şi alte dulciuri. A fost o organizare de excepţie, mai ales că totul a fost pe cheltuiala celor câtorva organizatori, în frunte cu colega noastră Florentina Florea. Le mulţumesc şi pe această cale pentru alergarea şi premiile gustoase oferite, au fost cadoul cel mai bun pentru noi Moşii participanţi la acest cros.</div>
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Şerban Damian a realizat un montaj video haios şi vă recomand să-l vizionaţi în continuare:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2-g7oULkmdA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Crăciun fericit tuturor cititorilor blogului meu! Bucuraţi-vă de sărbătoare, de vacanţă, de zăpadă şi distraţi-vă cât puteţi!</div>
Mihhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17187544450969543977noreply@blogger.com2