Black Knight Army Virtual Race: the winner is....

The Warriors. Thanks to the 19 runners who entered the 10k. Black Knight Army Virtual Race:
01. Lady Karen: No finishing time, she ran without a watch. In black pants during the 10 k Glenelg Classic Road Race. Knowing how powerful she is, the race marshalls made some pointless tricks to deceive the invincible Lady. See her smile while showing the certificate.
02. Johann: 1.14'00" in black shorts and pack during a 18 km. trail with climb. See him running with the personal photographer, future long distance runner, Rohann.
03. Lady Molly: 60'01" all in black fighting against the terrible Hammy. Very funny the self-shot before the race.

04. Lady Katie: 46'47" all in black except shoes and socks (forgiven!!!!). 5 beautiful pictures to show the black shining armor and the finishing time.

05. Patrick Mahoney: 52'13"all in black, part of a 12,5 km. windy and muddy trail run. Great pics "full of mud".

06. Allison: all in black. During her run she met a dreadful extraterrestrial who was walking (she took a picture).

07. Angie Bee: 60'00" all in black, part of the Living History Farms Race where she "ran trough the woods like a barbarian". See the crazy costumes of many runners.

08. Amy: 59'24" on the treadmill because outside the temperature was -23C (-9 F). During the long and bloody battle she destroyed other 2 competitors.

09. Lady Caratunk Girl. No details or did I miss anything? However she did it!

10. Lady Kate: 58'00" all in black, part of the River Road 10 Mile Run. See what her brother wore to run and her supporter along the path.

11. Pretend this is real: not totally black because windy and cold (forgiven!!!) See the nice pictures with exhaustive justifications. For this occasion she invented a new kind of cross training (running + gardening).

12. Lady Christina: 60'00" all in black. See the nice pre-race puzzle (including Sundae the cat) got with the self timer. That was a terrible battle into the desert.

13. Jason: all in black. Part of the YMCA Dallas Turkey Troat. See the picture with his friends.

14. Lady Anne RunDmz: because of an enemy's dirty trick she ran 200 meters less but the Black Knight High Court accepted her entry.

15. Lady RunKathyRun: 49'23" all in black. She defended the honour of the Black Knight Army running 2 different races. In the Winter Wonderland she got the 3rd place in the women's masters ctg.

16. Lady Natalia: 1.13'00" all in black. This was her first event after the Philadelphia Marathon.

17. Jarrett @ "PaddlePedalPlod: 56'41" all in black (also the accessories). An adventure under the snow on a hilly battlefield.

18. Lady Anne: 1.08'17" in black tights, gloves and headband but with ... a white dog (Mr. Flocon). See them before the battle.

19. Lady Julie : 57'00" all in black. The battlefield was full of snow and ice (see the beautiful pictures) but the fearless Amazon won her battle. In the meantime she also defended her friend Joe (all in black too).

20. The Black Knight: 54'19" all in black (did you have any doubt?), part of the Fiumicino Half Marathon.

The war was epic and was fought all over the world: USA, Canada, Italy, Australia and South Africa. As you can see the battles were different: part of longer distances, trail runs, races or part of races, on the "dreadmill", hilly, under the snow ecc. This means that the Black Knight Army never surrenders!

The Winners. The random number generator said: 18 and 13, so the winners are Lady Anne and Jason. Johann wins the less fast award with his 1.14'00". Of course he is not the slowest of the pack and this virtual race is only a way "to stay together", to have fun and not to push. Please e-mail me to more_than_this2@yahoo.com to let me know the address where I have to mail the shirts.

New Entries. The new Ladies are: Lady runningwithababyonboard, Lady Natalia, Lady RunKathyRun, Lady Christina and Lady Kate. Further new entries (Ladies and Sirs) are welcome and appreciated.

The Next Battle. On dec. 8th the Black Knight Army will move to Tuscany to conquer the beautiful Orbetello lagoon. It will be a 10k cross country.

The Premier

The Premier. The War Council of the Black Knight Army planned the december campaign and decided to conquer another part of the beautiful Tuscany: the Orbetello lagoon. This event will take place on dec. 8 (10 km. country-cross) and dec. 19 (10 km.). Many runners has already announced their participation but an unbelievable fact happened, our Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, knowing how dangerous to challenge the Black Knight can be, said to his colleagues and the press: "Those runners are crazy, nobody can challenge with impunity the glorious Black Knight"! (see the picture).Training. This is a rainy season and it is difficult to follow the schedule. The rain is heavy and I hate the "dreadmill" so I run when I can and sometimes I swim instead of running. However this week I swam and ran twice: 1400 meters + 1400 meters swimming and 17,2 km + 10,2 km running. I made the last workout on friday with the group usually led by Sir Giorgio (8 runners), it was a loop in the dark under a light rain through the suburbs and along the local marina: this is always a good chance to improve the speed. This morning I would like to run but today is a rainy sunday...I am waiting for a hour of better weather to go out.

New Entry. Examined the application and valued the curriculum, the Black Knight appointed Lady the kind runner Fran from The Netherlands. Congrats to Lady Fran. Further new entries (Ladies and Sirs) are appreciated, let me know and I will convene the War Council to discuss about the application.

Black Knight Army Virtual Race. So far Lady Karen, Johann, Lady Molly, Lady Katie, Patrick Mahoney, Allison, Angie Bee, Amy, Lady Caratunk Girl, Kate, Pretend this is real, Christina and Jason have already run the virtual race. Thank you, all the details and the winners in the dedicated post on Dec. 3rd. The Black Knight, of course, is perfect and never makes a mistake, but please let me know if I forgot someone.

Christmas Time. It's Christmas time and I will spend the holidays at home with my family. The next week I will go with my wife to Rome (1 hour driving far from here) for a little of shopping in the streets around Piazza Navona and Spanish Steps: Via del Corso, Via Condotti, Via Margutta, Via Frattina ecc. Here are 2 pictures which I took in early october.

Last but not least. Come on Italia!!!! Italia - Fiji= 24 -16

Have a wonderful week-end!!!!

New Entries

Black Knight Army Virtual Race. So far Lady Karen (Australia), Johann (South Africa), Lady Molly (USA) and Lady Katie (USA) have already run the virtual race: thank you, all the details in the dedicated post.

New Entries. Examined the applications and valued the impressive curricula, the Black Knight appointed Ladies the kind runners Jill and Katie ! Congrats Lady Jill and Lady Katie. Further new entries (Sirs and Ladies) are appreciated.

After the Fiumicino Half Marathon. The race left some problems, the operated leg hurts along all the external part but the physio said that this is not a big problem and I can run without pushing. For this reason I took it easy; this week I swam twice (1400 and 1500 meters) and I made 3 slow workouts: 10.3 km, 11.5 km and 12.4 km. I have all the time to prepare the 2 or 3 races in december. Here are other photos of the race.

Weather. Here the weather is rainy, this is the second week with all this rain but nothing can stop the Black Knight Army! Even if I have to admit that the good temperature (never too cold) permits to avoid the "dreadmill". How is the weather there? Do you succeed in making good workouts outside?

Half Marathon Again!

The Secret. The Black Knight had a plan: to enter an half marathon again after 4 years. He was not sure to finish because he didn’t try the distance before and he didn’t know if the twice operated leg could support the effort. However, as Julius Caesar said while passing the Rubicone river, “alea iacta est” (the dice is cast) and the Black Knight, escorted by the faithful esquire Massimo, yesterday entered the Fiumicino Half Marathon with the modest goal to finish under the 2 hours. Personal Worse but Happy. During his "career", the Black Knight ran 27 half marathons between 1.31.58 and 1.51.18 (this last was totally uphill) and he didn’t hope to run again at that pace: too many doubts, too many years and too many troubles. That distance, at the moment, was “a jump in the dark”. The report: finishing time 1.56.16 (5’31” km. – 8’53” ml) – 1194 of 1604 overall and 161 of 214 in the age group. I held a regular pace for all the race with a stop at the km. 18 to drink water and warm tea; the last 3 km were painful because my body was not well trained and forgot what a long distance race means. The split: 5.15 – 5.11 – 5.18 – 5.27 – 5.27 – 5.33 – 5.29 – 5.32 – 5.31 – 5.26 – 5.29 – 5.32 – 5.32 – 5.28 – 5.31 – 5.31 - 5.27 – 5.33 – 6.14 (the stop to drink) – 5.32 – 5.35 and 0.31 the last 97 metres. This half marathon, for me, includes the Black Knight Army virtual race ran in 54’19” (the first 10 km.). Lady Karen (Australia) and Johann (South Africa) have already ran the virtual race: thank you!!! All the details in the dedicated post
The Esquire. He was very kind and faithful, he came even if he suffered for a bad lumbago. He tried to escort the Black Knight but after 2 km he had to stop the run for the deep pain. So this time in Fiumicino there was only the Black Knight to defend the honour of the glorious Army.
The Legend. The enemy this time was not put to flight because a single knight cannot fight against an army of 1194 soldiers, the struggle was violent and even if alone the Black Knight didn’t yield but didn’t win, either. After 2 hours of battle the enemy decided to ask for an armistice and the Black Knight came back home receiving the military honours.

Have a good running, biking and swimming week.

Virtual Race and Thank You Lady Karen

Thank you Lady Karen. The kind Lady Karen from “Down Under” sent to me this wonderful t-shirt which I will wear with pride. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Virtual race. The Black Knight Army, italian legion, would like to organize a virtual race in this month.
Rules:
1. Wear something black (shoes, socks, pants, shirt or whetever you want);
2. Run 10 km in the period Nov. 8 – Nov. 28 (the 10 km can be part of a longer distance);
3. Let me know within Nov. 29th if you ran and if you wore something of black or if you mentioned it on your blog;
I will announce the winners in my Friday post (December 3rd) and will mail the gifts as soon as possible. The awards are 2 black long sleeves shirts random and 1 shirt for the less fast time.

Training. This week 1300 metres swimming and 3 runs: 10.8 km, 20,6 km. and 10 km today for the World Run Day (see the Natalia’s blog); my donation went to a dog shelter
The Black Knight needs you, find your role and join the glorious Army!

November

(before the last race: too sunny!!!)

(stormy weather on sunday)

Virtual race? November is a month without interesting races around our city, so the Black Knight Army's members planned a "think tank" to decide the possible organization of a virtual race among all the bloggers friends. The distance could be 10k and we have already 3 prizes: black running shirts long sleeves. What do you think? Any idea? Rules?

Workouts. I spent the last week (after the race) making physiotherapy and having thermal baths but the back hurts again. Luckily, despite that pain, I was able to run 4 workouts: 2 easy (10.3 and 10.1 km), 1 "long" (17 km) and 1 negative split - on sunday - under the rain (11 km). Tomorrow I hope to come back to the swimming pool for the cross training.

Have a good week and a wonderful november.