new pull-up bars--Albania

        When I started this afternoon, after a 40 minute jet-lagged nap, I felt sluggish.  My legs felt like they were filled with lead.  I came across many friends—this is the reason the first set of pull-ups was only 7.  It’s hard to keep exercising when people call to you.  I know that they, unlike me, have work to do.  (Well, the security guards are not working very hard, but the cleaning staff is always busy)
I ran up the short inclines to the park and found my first pull-up stand intact.  It is a door frame in the middle of a parking lot.  Until today, the next pull-up area was a tree branch rubbed smooth by thousands of pull-ups over the years.  Now, someone has installed two vertical pipes and a crossbar nearby.  I used my stuttering Albanian and fluent hand motions to ask some young, fit men and women if I could partake in the exercise.  The nearest man did the Albanian head wiggle to indicate agreement and I did 7 with the palms facing away from the body, and 6 with palms facing toward my body.  I jogged along happily in weather of delightful temperature.   The next pull-up spot is a bar nailed into the crook of a tree.  I did 11 with the palms facing away, then down to the metal tower overlooking an amphitheater, where I did 9 pull-ups, then back to the new crossbar for 7 more before going back to the door frame for 7, and finishing at the school for 5 more.
(For a closer look and some pictures of the various pull-up locations, go here:  http://oskarmaxim.blogspot.com/2012/01/running.html  )

I did the final sprint up the hill in just over 50 seconds.  My journals where I have all the times written are in the States, so I am going to guess that my fastest is around 46 seconds.  I am exhilarated by this because there have been times in Albania when I have run this in more than a minute—sometimes, I haven’t even been able to run at all.
It was a great run because I ran into many people that know me and everyone of them reacted positively.  I’m thinking this may be because the Albanian people are quite friendly, but I may have been able to coax them into thinking that I’m a nice guy, too.