Gil Can Run!A blog on Running and all the crap that runs through my head while doing it

Apr 8th A focus on work, relaxing, and nutrition

Sorry, it’s been a couple days. I haven’t been running. trying to relax, recuperate.
Wanted to check in and say hi though. Tomorrow I will post more when I get into Rome I’m sure. My first Frecciarossa ride! woohoo! But we’ll see. For now I’ll just leave you with more Llamas, it’s not Lorenzo Llamas, it’s Llamas with Hats!

Two more sleeps until my first marathon of 2016!
Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Apr 5th Change of plans

So I went for my regular Tuesday run, which ended up irregular. So I’m shutting it down until Sunday. One of the guys didn’t show, so another guy did show and we ran his usual route, which is 12km (7.5 miles). When we started the downhill I got a twinge in my left knee, like the one I got last year, oddly enough at the end of March. So I decided that I would shut it down and let my legs recover from the distance challenge I started the year with. Better safe than sorry, and at this point, I really need a rest. Next week, no running at all until at least Sunday.
So I have a long day today. Parent-Teacher conference this morning in San Giuseppe, then I need to do some shopping, special lesson at 4, regular lessons at 6 and 7 and then a conversation class 8:15-9:15. So I’m not even getting home until 9:30, then I have to make dinner! Lucky for me I don’t work on Wednesday until 2pm. Meanwhile, I just went through and recharged my internet and phone so I have it, this is important for the end of my week. Have to get up to Rome and all.
I can’t wait to get this race done with and start looking forward to what’s next. Taking so much time between marathons suddenly has filled me with tons of anxiety over the whole thing. How will my body take to the time off? Did I overdo it on the mileage challenge? Will I stay strong through the race? Have I conditioned myself enough for it? It’s all crazy, I’ve done this 20 times before and yet this time feels completely different. It’s not part of my monthly routine anymore, it’s been since December since I’ve run a marathon!
And that brings us to today’s installment of Llamas with Hats. I’m using it to try and make myself laugh and relax, and I hope you’re enjoying it too! Happy Birthday!

Raw face is just gross.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Apr 4th Just another #MeatlessMonday

No recipe today, sorry. Well, maybe sort of. So, I’m sitting there in my first class today, and we’re talking comparatives and superlatives. And I say to the kids, “I’ll never be the fastest, the strongest, the best. I can never be the smartest, the richest, or the most famous. All I can do is work every day to be better than the day I was before, and do my best to be the best I can be at whatever I put my effort into.”

They seemed to get it, I don’t know if they did. But I do know that I got it. It really dawned on me, I’ve said it before, but the weight of the idea really hit me. We can only be the best we can be at something. That is all. I can only be the best teacher I can be, the best runner I can be, the best blogger I can be. Asking for anything more is a surefire way to disappointment and misery.

So in being the best I can be, in honor of all the craziness this week will bring me, more llamas with hats. “He was a traitor and a scoundrel!”

Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you.

Apr 3rd Challenge completed!

That was it, enough miles to top 40 for the week, and I’m finished. I really have nothing today. I finished the challenge and all I feel is relief, and a sense of never wanting to do it again. Between March and the first 3 days of April, that’s over 200 miles. There are plenty of people who can do that, they are used to it, they make it happen. I am not used to it at all, I feel exhausted, I’m sure I could get used to it if I tried, but it seems like too much, particularly with a job.
Right now there’s a guy in the street playing an alto saxophone, it’s pretty interesting, he’s good. That’s the one nice thing about around here, on Sundays there’s no shortage of entertainment, relatively. It’s nice weather, a little overcast but not terrible. Almost time to start looking at Rome weather reports for next weekend. Less than a week left before we go! Continent 3 to be checked off the list. I was talking to my roommate about plans for the others, and he said a good idea would be to take a job in Dubai for a couple years, you can save lots of money doing that. I have to say I’ve been considering it. All things I have to think about, meditate on if you will.
The fireworks have persisted, and everything’s closed here on a Sunday, which is not terrible, but not great either. So today is just a day to rest and relax, and with that in mind, I give you Llamas with Hats part 2!

Yeah, I don’t have much today. So enjoy the homicidal llama, Carl, and his poor friend.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Apr 2nd …and then there was 7.16

Finished an easy run with the guys today. I’ll do a little extra tomorrow, but all I need to finish up this challenge is 7.16 miles. As good as motivator as this experience has been, and as much as I like participating in these challenges with my friends, I won’t do another one of these. I have felt forced to run, and I’ve been running when I should have been resting. At this point my legs are very tired, more than they’ve ever felt before. The last three days have been hell, and the only reason I’ve kept running is because I’ve come all this way and to quit in the last week would be a waste of everything I’ve done to this point. If I had picked a lower mileage tier it probably would have been a more enjoyable experience. If I didn’t have a full-time job, more miles probably would have been the way to go.
Today was a nice day, punctuated by a couple hours at work. Got up, ran, did laundry, ate, ate again, went to work, came home, folded laundry, did some shopping (yummy bread from the bakery around the corner from my house!), really a nice day. But it’s like a festival day here, something about the day to be outdoors, and people have been setting off fireworks all day. Someone had really loud explosives, up near the top of the mountain. Now, when you hear a very loud explosion at the top of an active volcano, what do you think? Seriously, what would you think? First few times, until I realized what was happening scared the ever-loving piss out of me. And it started at 7am! Who blows shit up at 7am?
So that’s what it is, but no biggie, was another nice day and a beautiful morning for a run. I’m in a good mood because I get to finish this challenge tomorrow and then have a nice, mostly, off week before the Rome Marathon next weekend. I’m excited, Continent #3! Leaving Asia, Oceania, Africa, and Antarctica in no particular order. Two of those are really easy from where I am now, the other two are always difficult, unless you live in Australia, New Zealand, or the Pacific Islands. So we shall see, and Antarctica is staying for last, as that will be the most expensive. going to have to work hard for that one.
Meanwhile, I will leave you with some levity for tonight, I haven’t watched this in a while and it always makes me laugh:

CAAAAAARRRRRRRRRL!
Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Apr 1st 3 months down

The start of April, and I got a few miles in. So let’s go over it shall we:
466 miles (750 km) through the end of March
132 miles (213 km) for January
152 miles (244 km) for February
and 182 miles (293 km) for March.
I rounded so the numbers probably don’t all add up. I’m never doing that many miles in a month again, unless I do a special event or series of events (marathons). Some people are ok with miles like that and more. I feel beat up, tired, distressed. If all I did was run, I think I’d be alright. But working full time, plus running, and with all the walking living around here requires, it’s just way too much.
So between the discussions about wild life and animals in classes, Jeremy Rifkin yesterday, people around here marveling at the fact I don’t eat meat, and the massive amount of miles I did last month (although that has NOTHING to do with this song) here’s a little Earth Crisis to get your April started right.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Mar 31st What a nice day, but it’s hot!

So I woke up early and ran with the guys. I managed to get everything done before 9:30, so then I sat out on my balcony and took in the sun. If every day were like this, I could die happy. But alas, I had to work, it wasn’t too bad actually. Two more classes tonight and then I’m out to dinner with the staff. Lots of pizza gets eaten here.
My meditation has been going well, and I’m staying on top of all my other duties. I find out later if I am in the hunt for a new roommate or not. Apparently, my boss and my roommate had a discussion this afternoon and my roommate may stay on after all. One good thing about this experience has been that I’ve gotten better at not worrying about the things I have no control over.
Now I just need to get the yoga routine going again and I will be firing on all cylinders. Definitely good to relax and get the muscles loose. But it’s more than that, it changes your mindset, changes your consciousness, like I was saying Jeremy Rifkin says we need to do. Seriously, check it out.

Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Mar 30th A really tough Wednesday

I wasn’t the only one it seems. I see a lot of facebook posts talking about having a tough run today. I definitely had trouble, my stomach was a mess, had to stop at the apartment half-way through. So we end up with one run of 5 miles, and another of almost 4.
It’s a beautiful, mostly dry, very sunny day here today. The weather was perfect, my body was not having any of it. I am worn down, but I’m almost half-way through my running week already. So we will see what happens. Tomorrow I plan on waking up early and doing an easy 5 with my running friends. The rest of the week, I just have to power through and then next weekend is the Rome Marathon. Which my USATF card finally arrived.
So everything is coming together, that mess is all set and settled, and hopefully I get my 40 miles in this week. Right now I am in class, my plucky little Child 3 class (I’d say 7-8 year olds) are diligently writing sentences about what they like and don’t like. They are a riot, they try and boss me around, which is fine, they all know the answers when asked and they all scored perfectly on their progress tests. Love these kids, if all kids were like this life would be a breeze. It’s like having a class of four little comedians. They’ve even finished their books for the class, so I have to just review. So today I’m letting them decide which pages to go over. At the break, they will ask me for water and then hide my stuff around the room. It’s pretty funny. It reminds me not to grow up, and always keep that joy in messing with people! haha
Alright, I have to run and check their work.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Mar 29th Final week of the distance challenge!

So I’m back to life, and reality here in Somma. Yesterday, before leaving Trani I managed to trip and twist my ankle bad enough that it made me fall. It’s still sore, it was very sore last night. But not much swelling to speak of and no bruising to speak of, so I went out and ran this morning. I figured if it started hurting worse I could spin it around and head back to the apartment. I know plenty of ways back from different points in my usual route. If you recall this is not the first time I’ve twisted an ankle and then continued running on it, the New Jersey Marathon last year, right before the start, and then I finished that marathon. This is over a week out, so I think I should have plenty of time to rest up, even putting another 32 miles on it this week.
So I definitely process pain differently than other people. That much is for sure.
I haven’t had a chance to download pictures from the weekend off my camera yet, but I will share as soon as I can. This morning was busy between the run, and going to the store, and personal grooming issues. I will have to revisit my legs tomorrow, as I have a feeling I will need some KT Tape come next weekend. Either my thigh, or my ankle, or both! I think I also need to order some tiger balm. But I do get the opportunity to rest a little next week. And I have taken to meditation again, I realized I have not been taking any real time for myself, so I will spend 30 minutes (minimum) every day gathering myself, my energy (my chi if you will). I started yesterday morning in Trani. After busting my ass in that pothole, I went to the end of the breakwater, as far out to sea as you can go walking, and sat on the rocks, silently, still, and just let the world happen around me.
It was funny how it all came together, and it worked out nicely. Most of my mind was directed at a song that was playing the day before while I was running. Out of all the songs I listen to it probably speaks the most to me about my youth, but the more I think about it I realize it also speaks to me right now. It always will. One of my friends the other day, posted about how she came across old epistles she had penned, and how she didn’t miss the angst and anguish she felt as a youth. I thought about that as the song played, and I thought about it again yesterday. I thought about how this song made me feel, and how I always felt out of place, out of step. I still do to this day. I love life, but I have an unease about it. I feel like something is very wrong, we’re getting something very wrong, and it gets worse, and it needs to be corrected. And people complain about the youth, and the other, and they seem to always miss the point. I’ve never had a problem trying to articulate that, but I feel most really miss the boat.
All the best coaches in any sport I’ve played have always said the same thing, “When things go wrong on the field, don’t blame someone else on the team, ask what YOU could have done better.” They had their own way of saying it, and they didn’t just say it as a thing. When we lost in the Northeast Regionals for Rugby Junior Year, the coach said to us, “That’s my fault, I taught you guys how to play and win, but I never taught you how to play and keep your heads when you were behind.” He blamed himself for the loss, right in front of all of us. We sat there and we all mentioned something we could have done to perform better and maybe win, we only lost by less than a try, so it’s not like it was a blowout, we really had the team to win it, but we didn’t keep our heads and got impatient trying to get that go ahead try.
So I feel that is lacking in this world, introspection, as to what we can do to improve things. Not just for ourselves, but for our fellow humans. I’ve always felt a responsibility to others, and I’ve always understood any change needs to come from within myself. I’ve also always been abrasive about it, because when I was younger I was less patient with others. These things were inherent, they were obvious to me, and it pissed me off it wasn’t obvious to others. It still does, I’m just a little more patient now. Not much more. But that’s all that’s changed with me. I know still we need to do better. I’m not satisfied with the way things are, I’m not complacent. If I do have kids, I don’t want them growing up in a world like this. The system needs to change, and it requires a change within each of us, as Jeremy Rifkin says, “We need to have a shift in consciousness.” It’s 100% true, in order for things to change, we must change within ourselves, our mindset, our language must change. Language is as much a way of thinking as it is a way of communicating. It all needs to shift, into something more sustainable.
So I will maintain, I will stay the course, and I will always be that kid staring in the mirror, I’ll always be a “Streetkid named desire.”

Have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!

Mar 27th Happy Easter, One week left

Yep, it’s non-orthodox Easter, so Happy Easter to all. Got my 8 miles in today. As I paused for my afternoon nap (yeah, we nap in Trani) I realized how much pain my leg was actually in. It’s a substantial amount of pain. I will get through this week, and then definitely take it easy until this mess heals (after the marathon of course). I also made up my mind, no run tomorrow, need the day off.
So after my run this morning, I went around to look for a decent meal. A lot of places have special menus today or aren’t opened. Ended up running into my friend at the market in the square. He was passing out leaflets for the April 17th referendum here. Vote Yes to all my Italian friends. It’s time for Italy to stop using fossil fuels and prohibit drilling offshore. There is no oil worth drilling for in the Adriatic, and the Med, you will only ruin some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. So get out there on the 17th and vote yes. It’s amazing how there is almost no talk of this in Napoli.
I ended up getting an overpriced, not-as-good meal at one of the tourist places on the port. Meh, it is what it is. No idea what I’ll eat tonight. Maybe more french fries and beer: healthy! Hey I get to relax sometimes. It’s a holiday weekend! Speaking of which, best Easter movie ever!
So have fun, keep running, and remember; If Gil can run then so can you!