30 Oct – Ciao Italia

 

Saturday Run – Done and Written Up

Sunday – 25 people for lunch – utter carnage – wonderful!

Monday – clear up the carnage – not so wonderful… 😦

Tuesday – Must Run, as we are leaving Italy tomorrow and travelling to Holland.

It’s warmish and I have timeish to go running, so I do. Okay, planning is all when going for a run. Perhaps it would be helpful to have noted down when your lady cleaner is coming to help you clean up the house before leaving.

I finish my warm-up, run towards Mill Land and a car is coming towards me, the driver waves. So do I, the driver stops and shouts ‘Jan, have you forgotten I am coming at 9am?’ – ah yes I have indeed forgotten.

A run back to the house to get that organised and then a slight panic sets in, I have agreed to meet Mr JCR later on at a specified time and place after my run is finished. Frantic, if confused exchange of messages, leave the lady cleaner behind and restart the run. Onto Mill Lane and Villa Bali, after the confusion at Villa JCR, all is quiet and tranquil. I appear to have my slow legs on today, and in truth it’s a bit of a plod. I do find if I take a couple of days rest, then my pace suffers as a consequence. At the 3km mark, I am wondering if my legs have enough stuffing to do 10km.

I have a 60s inspired soundtrack to help me – although some of the tracks are as slow as I am, which is not good for speeding up. I aim towards the Bendy, Scary Road and it’s still quiet, I see the happy, smiley lady and she nods. This is the sum total of excitement on the run today. My route takes me through Royston Vasey, and no-one is around – it’s difficult to say your goodbyes when everyone has disappeared from view.

At just over 7km, I turn off into War Of The World’s Lane and at last I see a real live human being. Two of them in fact, but one is a young guy helping a much older guy to do a gentle walk. We exchange ‘Salves’ and I move on. I am back in the wilderness again, running on my own, listening to 60s music and the gentle thud of my feet. I’d really hoped to be able to say good bye to a few of the usual folk I see, but I guess I will have to settle for saying ‘hello’ next year. I do hope Anouska and Albino, Babbo Natale and Dame Duvet have a lovely winter. this is my last Italian run for 2018, if I am lucky I will do two(possibly three) runs in Holland before returning home to London, to finish the challenge.

I wanted to reach 1750km by the end of October if I could, and I just about snuck over the line. More work to be done, but the finish line is getting that much closer…

Playlist

Ode To Billie Joe – Bobbie Gentry

White Room – Cream

Runaway – Del Shannon

Poetry In Motion – Johnny Tillotson

My Girl – The Temptations

Oh! Carol – Neil Sedaka

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling – The Righteous Brothers

Let’s Spend The Nigh Together – the Rolling Stones

The House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals

What Do You Want – Adam Faith

Take Good Care Of My Baby – Bobby Vee

Dream Lover – Bobby Darin

The Locomotion – Little Eva

Walkin’ Back To Happiness – Helen Shapiro

Blue Velvet – Bobby Vinton

Happy Together – The Turtles

Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie – The Everly Brothers

No Regrets, The Sun Ain’t Going To Shine Anymore – The Walker Brothers

That’s Life – Frank Sinatra

Chain Gang – Sam Cooke

Why Do Fools Fall In Love  – Frankie Lymon

Sherry – Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

Be Bop A Lula – Gene Vincent

He’s So Fine – the Chiffons

Reet Petite – Jackie Wilson

Shout – Lulu

Tell Him – The Exciters

Sweet Little Sixteen – Chuck Berry

Leader Of The Pack – The Shangri Las

You Were Made For Me – Freddie and The Dreamers

Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison

Stats

Distance 10.77km

Time 1:23:42

Average Pace 7:46

Elevation Gain – 14 metres

Alzheimer’s Challenge

Kms Run 1753.17

Kms To Go 264.83