toilet story and a bloody nose

Words  329

            Back in the USA!  I bought shoes for Maxim today because he is excited about training for a cross country event in Albania this fall.  Oskar was with us so we got him a pair also.  One good thing about boycotting Nike is that we get our shoes on sale.  $80 became $29.

Election!

Words  361; 2 videos; a heap of pics

            Maxim’s birthday today! 

            Albania has a presidential election today.  Since I’ve been in Albania, I’ve been taking pictures of the election signs—today I continued as I ran around town on a new route.  The interesting thing is that there are so many parties that they refer to them by number.  I took pictures of the posters, banners, buttons, placards, and t-shirts proclaiming allegiance to a number.  I began to take these pictures during the 5-hour trip to Porto Palermo last Sunday .

unexciting reverse arm presses

Words  194

            I went to bed last night after telling someone that I would try to call them between 6 and 7 in the morning.  I decided that in order to be ready to take the stuff out of the house when workers came, I would have to get up at 5:15. 

No need to impress anyone

Words  419

            As I ran up to a pull-up bar in the middle of the park, one young dude there asked, “Are you a for-EEN-er?”  He needed to repeat his question a couple times before I understood he was saying “FOR-eign-er.” 

            “Yes,” I answered.

            I did some pull-ups and after 10, he said, “You are eating that thing up!”  When I finished, his friend said I could do it differently.

Albania! Sore

Words  80

            I played Ultimate last night for the first time since last September here in Albania.  The was the day before I left here to go to Moscow.  For that reason, I was feeling tired and a bit sore.  My hands were slipping on the pull-up bars, so I didn’t do that very well, either. 

The countdown alarm

Words  325

            For the sprint today, I set the countdown alarm at 1 minute.  Then I ran as fast as I could, as usual.  If I had made it in under a minute, the alarm would not have gone off.  It did go moments before the end.  When I looked at the watch, it said, “:57”.  I thought that meant that it was .43 seconds over one minute.  The next time I looked, though, it said “:33”. 

Russian museum

Words    ;   pics

            A fantastically beautiful day for a run!  Great temperature, few insects, lovely area, no rush.  At one point, my legs were getting sore, but I ran through this time and all was well.  Another lovely part of the run was Wait, Wait—it was a terrific episode with Tom B. in full funny force. I love his dry humor.

St. Petersburg, Peter's Palace, White Nights

Words  399; 6 pics

            I ran around the place where I am staying here.  Curiously, the gravity seems to be fairly consistent to the gravity in Moscow. :)

            After the run, my host and I went to Petrodvorets —Peter’s Palace.  It’s also translated at Petergof and Peterhof (I’ve read that these are from German—Peter’s Court). 

jumping cat

Words  185; 2-minute cat video

            Yesterday, I couldn’t have decided that I needed to run 45 one-hundredths of a second slower in order to extend the streak.  Today, I couldn’t have consciously ran 3 one-hundredths of a second faster. It’s the randomness of the result that amazes me how I can achieve such a consistent result.

streak is broken...this guy was born a subject of the czar

Words  186

            The streak of 7 sprints between 60 and 61 seconds is over.  As I ran, I had the feeling that I was running quickly.  This gives me another opportunity to express the utter unfathomability of these finishes.  Try to imagine me running and thinking, “Hmmm…I think I am going to be .45 seconds too fast.  I slow down a bit.”  Impossible!

ghostbusters, war museum, a service station

Words 181; 10 pics

            I ran today with a travel book in my pocket.  I tried to find some nice natural places.  I ended up finding a museum that was pretty interesting.  The theme was Russian/Soviet political  history since the revolution in 1905.  This revolution was a precursor to the Bolshevik Revolution that brought the Communists to power.