The concert

(The Deep Purple in concert)

The affront: Bad days for the Black Knight. A friend wizard found an antidote for the spell that got the kind Sir into the troubles. Now he can ride and fight even if has some problems again because of the flu.

For this reason the coward enemies try to provokate the italian legion during the trainings with stupid sentences taking advantage of the smaller mass of fire that the heroes can shoot. Very soon Sir giorgio will post this epic tale. I can only tell in advance the end of the story : the scoundrel suffered a lot of pain and disappeared forever.

By the way, after 4 days of stop, on Sunday, the Black italian legion ran 13.3 km (8.26 m) through the country and today a "round-trip" sea - highest hill of the city to enjoy the wonderful landscape during the sunset -13 km. (8 m.) -.

The concert: Tomorrow in the afternoon 15 km (9.3 m) are scheduled and at 08.00 p.m. the concert of the Deep Purple in Albano, a little town near Rome.

New entries: Another lady joined the Black Night Army: Dr. susie is our chief medic. And we are waiting for news from Lady T-Metz who will introduce a pirate to strenghten the Army!!

The spell and the pictures

Pictures: This is the photo of the final rush in the half marathon of Fiumicino: the men are the defeated coward enemies and the women are the Black Knight's fans who pursue the invincible hero to hug and kiss him. During this battle the black armour shines under the sun and frightens the adversaries with the glorious motto: don't piss off the Black Knight (Cavaliere Nero means Black Knight):

http://www.fotosports.it/images/20060212/06-km20.8/pages/image422.htm

Always the BK in the background:

http://www.fotosports.it/images/20060212/06-km20.8/pages/image420.htm

Here the B.K. is in the background at the 8° km (while watching the clock):

http://www.fotosports.it/images/20060212/04-km8/pages/image135.htm

Bad News: A team of wicked sorcerers and witches made a spell against the invicible italian legion and now the Black Knight is ill with a bad flu. Now, because of the forced stop in the topic moment, the final battle of Rome is at risk.

New entry: A new invincible hero joined the Black Knight Army. Sir RunDave is our cook and taste-tester to intercept poisoned food.

The Black Knight is back

(Gioconda, the lovely Queen's lady cat)

After a long week without posting, the Black Knight is back. He was very busy to defend the borders of the Black County and to check the work in progress of the new shining armours to wear in the next future (very nice black t-shirts and singlets).

Now the final battle of Rome is very close and the training is serious and hard even if the proud Knight has to face some wounds. During the last week on tuesday he ran 11.6 km (7.2 m) tempo run, thursday 12 km. (7.4 m) of speed-work on the treadmill because of the bad weather, friday 12.2 km. (7.6 m) recovery run and sunday afternoon 30.4 km. (18.9 m).

The Sunday long distance run was source of a Black Government crisis: the Black Knight was escorted until the 20° km (12.4 m) by Sir giorgio and after ran alone in the black night wearing his black armour. The lovely Queen didn't know that her Knight had such long committment and when he came back home full of glory she, terribly worried, was handling the Black Knight's cellular phone to find a way to understand what happened, trying to call the usual running mates of the hero.

The slaughter of Fiumicino

The wounded Black Knight arrived to the Enemy land without his faithful Sir giorgio to fight the Half Marathon battle of Fiumicino. Just arrived he discovered a battlefield full of tricks and magic spells: 2 different kind of battles (Half marathon and 10 k), the restrooms far from the parking, the refreshment and the packages far from the restrooms and the parking. But nothing could stop the proud Knight. The battle was long and difficult, the cruel enemy Army was pursued through the country, near the sea and in the downtown and this time, remembering the complaints of many bloggers, the Black Knight weared the black shining armour (no more the red or the grey one!) to frighten the stupid legions that risked to challenge him!

The loot of war:

The report. Final official time 1.40.55 (4'47"/km - 7'42"/m) - 808°/1523 runners - 90°/191 age group (M50) despite all the problems and the light training of the last week. The distance was flat except the 18° km where we found short uphills and downhills. The split (indeed very regular) km. by km.: 4.45 (crowded start), 4.37, 4.39, 4.38, 4.42, 4.45, 4.47, 4.44, 4.44, 4.42, 4.50, 4.49, 5.06 (short stop to drink a little of tea), 4.59, 4.44, 4.48, 4.48, 4.48, 4.55, 4.55, 4.45 and the last 97 metres in 25". Many women partecipated the event.

The quiet before the storm

The quiet week. This week the Black Knight spent his time to rest and recover the lost strenght because of the wounds, but during this rest he also had a sore throat. The Black Kingdom was defended by the other members of the glorious Army.

However the final battle of Rome must be fought so, although wounded, he made 2 workouts: tuesday 13.4 (8.3 m) km and friday 11.6 km (7.2 m) both at 5.30/km. (8.51/m). On Sunday despite all the problems the Black Knight will destroy the coward enemies in the Fiumicino Half Marathon; the health situation and the scheduled program recommend not to push so I think to finish around 1h45'.

The confirmation. The Black Knight is officially registered for the final battle and the number of war is 8514.

The Garmin tricks. On the February issue of Runner's World there is an interesting article on the GPS lies. The wicked instrument seems to measure less than the real distance as I have tested everytime.

The shining armours. The italian legion of the Black Knight Army, after many discussions, decided to order black t-shirts and singlets to train and race. After a long siege and many assaults the dealer accepted an unexpensive price. He was scared after the famous yell: don't piss off the Black Knight!

The wounded knight

During the 3 Comuni Battle, while conquering Castel S. Elia, the Black Knight felt in an ambush. He thought it was a not important wound but after the first training (10 km/6.2 m) he felt a strong pain in "a delicate part" of his body. The doctor said that it is a little problem of an (again) invisible hernia that gave the inflammation to "that part". It usually happens while pushing on hard uphills like that. The solution is 2 anti-inflammation pills every day, no uphills and downhills for some days and a special slip. But the second and third workout (11.6 km/7.2 m and 11 km/6.8 m) with those special elastic slip were a torture, so yesterday I could only run 22.2 km (13.8 m) instead of the scheduled 30 km/18.6 m.

In these conditions the way to the marathon is more difficult and the Fiumicino Half Marathon on the next sunday will not be so easy.

Women in arms

CJ and Hilda asked if in the 3 Comuni battle (22.6 km./14 m) there were women. The answer is: 1261 men and 156 women. These are the statistic data about the women:

The winner from Morocco in 1.25.31; 9 women between 1.31.00 and 1.40.00; 23 between 1.40.00 and 1.50.00; 22 between 1.50.00 and 1.55.00; 17 between 1.55.00 and 2.00.00; 17 between 2.00.00 and 2.05.00 and the others between 2.05.00 and 2.43.00.

Usually in this region partecipate more women but this is a special race with many uncomfortable situations and they prefer to enter the shorter distance of 7 km. (4.3 m) where the runners are less (about 200) and the prizes are better.

I have the honour to announce that Lady CJ joined the Black Knight Army, now we have another brave Amazon.

The sack of Nepi

The garrison of Nepi surrended and the Black Knight (1307 in grey) is going to conquer the rebel city of Civitacastellana. Very soon the black flag will wave on the castles of the 3 "pacified" cities.
http://www.fotosports.it/images/20060129B/01-km3/pages/image107.htm

3 Comuni Photo

Here is a photo of the 3 Comuni battle. The Black Knight is the 1307 and Sir Giorgio the 1308.
We are waiting for other epic images.
http://www.fotosports.it/images/20060129B/02-km2-5/pages/image185.htm