The departure

The heat rules in the Black Knight's kingdom and he cannot follow a quality schedule of training. At the moment the workouts are 4/5 a week for a weekly total of about 50 km (31 miles). It is important here to choose always routes with fountains to low the body temperature and to drink when necessary.

Moreover in this period many races around the city were cancelled because of economical problems. Here the runners, before entering the events, check the prizes and for this reason it is very expensive to organize a race.

Here are some pictures of the beach where the Black Knight and his lovely Queen spend lazy the summertime:

(the wife is in the center of the photo)

Now some answers for the questions to my last post:

To Lady Anne: I got the USCG hat from 2 officers who visited the port of Civitavecchia some years ago. It was a present when they knew that I spent 20 years in the italian Coast Guard. This port is big and they asked to visit it by running; they didn't know I was a runner and it was funny to see their faces at the end of "the visit".

To Lady IHateToast: you are right, my wife is off because in summer there is no school.

To Lady jeanne: yes the Enervitene is an integrator of vitamins and carbohydrates. In the past I had problems because my "sugars" dropped in a fast way and it was a good solutions for this kind of problems. However Enervitene is not part of my diet, it is only an "emergency stuff".

To Lady Hilda: I would like to race all the time but I decided to enter 12/15 events every year, I don't want to stress my body. Yes in Italy the big cities are empty in august. About my vacation, please scroll down and......you will see.

To Sir Thomas: to get one month off from work I had to find an agreement with a collegue of mine. I take the place of him during his month off and he takes my place during my one. Easy.....

To Sir RunDave: the Romans understood that it was easier to defend the Empire by a powerful fleet, so they said: navigare est necesse, vivere non est necesse (to sail is necessary, to live is not necessary). In the paraphrase I wrote "to run" instead of to "sail"

(a landscape from the beach)

The Cruise

On monday the Black Knight and his gracious Queen will leave for a mediterranean cruise on the Voyager of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). They will be back on the morning of the 7th of August.The port of calls are Civitavecchia, Palermo, Malta, Palma de Majorca, Barcelona, Nice and Civitavecchia. I hope that when the Black Knight is on the sea the Black Legions will defend the borders of the Kingdom.

Ciao a tutti (bye to all), see you soon.

Lady Tammy's present

At last my wife succeeded in fixing the pc and now I can show the generous gift I receveid from Lady Tammy: the glorious armour of her 1st triathlon!Last week I wrote a list of my favourite songs to run but I think that I must find a place for Mary J. Blige and U2 with their One; to watch the video click on: One Mary J. Blige e U2 (video).

Italy is under a cape of heat and humidity. To run is always more difficult but the Black Knight has his strategy: a technical singlet, ray-ban glasses, USA Coast Guard's hat (yes the Black Knight spent 20 years of his life in the italian Coast Guard, my heart is always there!), ultra protection cream for the skin, one stop at the fountain and an energetic integrator in his hand (only in case).

The usual summer route is km. 11 (ml. 6.8) from home to the beach. The first half, beautiful landscape near the sea, is the road to the hell: no shadow and long uphills; it ends at a magic fountain (indeed it is broken so the Black Knight leaves there a couple of bottles of water before the workout). The second half runs across the country under many trees; it is relaxing and, obviously, faster.

Arrived to the beach a sport-drink and after a lazy rest on the little-bed under the beach-umbrella reading the newspapers. At 01.00 p.m. 40/45 minutes of slow swimming to stretch the muscles.

Yes, the Black Knight has one month off, he will come back to the office on august 16th!

Happy running

After the victory

I apologize because I could not write any comment on your blogs but my computer is totally out and my wife (the expert) doesn't succeed in fixing it again. Now I am posting this one in a rare moment of reason of the evil machine.

After the victory: Lady IHateToast said: "so, have your feet touched the ground"?. Yes, I did and now, after many celebrations, we have to think new soccer adventures (even if I am a rugby fan). The French were defeated and at present the Black Knight Army is planning the annexation of that Country to its kingdom. In this picture you can see the Black Knight during the inspection of Marseille in the south of the France.

Thanks to Lady Tammy: What a wonderful surprise, in the black mail box of his black castle the Black Knight found the glorious shining armour that Lady Tammy won after the victorious battle of Issaquah Sprint Tri. I left on that t-shirt the blood of the defeated Lady Tammy's enemies. I will show the trophy as soon as possible; now I cannot because I have pc problems.

The Roxy Music's reunion tour: the time is coming. On July 19th the Roxy Music will make a concert in Rome to celebrate the many victories of the Black Knight Army.

Running: This is a hot July so it is not easy to follow a quality schedule. We try to keep our shape waiting for better times to increase the speed and the mileage. At the moment the Black Knight runs 4 times a week, mainly from home to the beach where he spends the morning with his Queen Daniela. However one weekly workout is always not less of 9 miles. Besides he rides his bike and swims in open sea.

A good week end to all the blog family!

The magic night

Music to run

When the Black Knight runs alone, uses to listen his favourite music. In this way the training is easier and the legs work better.

Of course in my i-pod I only put songs with a fast rhythm to get a good help during the workout.

Here is my top 20 list. The order depends by the mood and this is the top at the moment:

1) Moonlight shadow (Mike Oldfield - Maggie Reilly)

2) Stargazer (Rainbow)

3) Whiskey in the jar (Seven Nations)
4) Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
5) Go your own way (Fleetwood Mac)
6) Born to run (Bruce Springsteen)
7) Rewind (Vasco Rossi)
8) Ice Queen (Within Temptation)
9) Headless cross (Black Sabbath)

10) Because the night (Patty Smith)

11) Confusion (Electric Light Orchestra)

12) Dreams (Cranberries)

13) Learning to fly (Pink Floyd)

14) When tomorrow comes (Eurithmics)

15) Black (k) night (Deep Purple)

16) D'yer maker (Led Zeppelin)

17) Nobody loves me (Bryan Ferry)

18) Sacrament of wilderness (Nightwish)

19) Don't bother (Shakira)

20) I've got a life (Eurythmics).

By the way on July 19th, the Black Knight will be in Rome for the big event: the Roxy Music's reunion tour!!!!!

Italia

ITALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Egidio

Sunday morning during the usual run to patrol the land from his castle to the beach, the Black Knight arrived to a beautiful long street with many trees and, in the central part of the road, he was witness of an epic battle.

A kidnapped goldfinch, escaped from his sinister prison warder, a wicked sorcerer, was fighting against many cars. Immediately the Black Knight, with his black shining armour, jumped on the road and, by his scream of battle, stopped the scared drivers to rescue the young unfledged hero.

They rode together until the beach (indeed the Black Knight ran to the beach with him in his hand, but this is only a stupid not important detail) for almost 3 miles and there they were received by a cheerful crowd. Many children with their parents came to celebrate the young hero and to listen his glorious story. He drank water and spent with pride the morning on the beach, resting lazy in his box. Sometimes he left his barrack to check the situation and when he was sure that the peace ruled, came back to enjoy the summertime. After a split decision we gave him the important name of Egidio (the same of the seaside resort's owner) and, despite the size, the Black Knight appointed him Royal Black Hawk. As you know the Black Knight Army needs a bird of prey for the actions of commando.

After the glorious morning the Black Knight came back to the Black Castle to feed Egidio, tired of the battles and the celebrations. After a light lunch he felt asleep and, I am really sad, he is sleeping again. He will sleep forever, now he is in heaven and the Black Knight is very sad because he did not succeed in winning the most important battle: to help Egidio to survive without his mom. Ciao Egidio.