Things change

Yesterday I struggled a little on my run I thought maybe it was because I was running in the morning and I have been running in the afternoons mostly. It was also a little more humid and little warmer than previous days. This morning I went out with the idea of maybe running for 30 minutes, but when I got out there it felt good and I decided to run from my place to Brankov bridge, which is the bridge I cross to get to the city each day. On the way back I could feel that my form was quite good and it was nice to run. I saw a really nice Buddha on one of the floating structures on the river, which was cool.

Change of weather.

It has been quite hot here in Belgrade, we even had a few days where it was 40C or more. Last weekend I went to Slovenia for a couple of days, actually staying 1 night in the Olympic sports center in Planica and managing to get an early morning run in up there, where it was nice and cool. I have been running in the early evenings here in Belgrade because it is usually a little more pleasant. 2 days ago it rained here and now the high temp's are in the 24C range so that makes a huge difference, especially when I read about high temp's and high humidity in New York . Where I would have been doing my running just a few summer's ago.

Tired legs

This past weekend I was in Ohrid, Macedonia. I ran a 2 mile race on Saturday morning, which turned out to be 3000m actually. Then in the afternoon I hiked with some friends up the highest mountian in Macedonia called Galicica, so my legs were very tired afterwards. The next morning I ran in a 1 mile race which was upa hilll and back down again once again tough on the legs. So for the first few dyas of this week my running has been a bit laboured, but I have managed to maintain my runningand I think I will be stronger by the weekend. Ultimately hills make you stronger.

A switch

When I first came to Belgrade I was running in the early morning and on some occasions it was quite cool. Well after about a week I strained something in my back after a morning run. I continued to run in the morning for a couple of days, but then had the idea to run in the afternoons after work. Well this seems to have done the trick and things are much better now. Sometimes you just have to switch the time of day that you run and use the conditions to help you recover from injury.

150 days

I went out at around 5:30 this morning to run by the Sava river in New Belgrade. It was a cool morning, it was also my 150th day without missing a run, so another milestone in my current running streak. However a little while after I finished I strained a muscle in the lower right side of my back just above the kidney area. It got better as the day went on but it is stil there. I was supposed to go running with some of the guys in the early evening, but that was a no for now and we will see how things feel in the morning.

The last Month

During the last month I have been travelling, but I did manage to keep my running streak going and as of today it is 139 days or just over 4 1/2 months. I also ran a 2 mile race in Munich in a rain storm in a time of 17: 11, then a 2 mile race in Berlin in much better conditions, but slower time of 17:21. Then at the end of the month I ran a 2 mile race in warm conditions on a flat course in 16:10. with a friend running with me and keeping my pace good. I will be going to Belgrade, Serbia next week for 3 months and hope to run some races there.

100 days

In America the president of the United States makes a speech after 100 days of his term. Well on Sunday I completed 100 days of running without missing a day. As I have stated before I never plan to start a running streak they just happen, something inspires me to go out for several days in a row and the next thing I know I have done 30 or 40. The day before I completed my 80th straight day a friend told me that she planned to run 80 straight days to honour what would have been Sri Chinmoy's 80th year. So the next day I dedicated the run to him. One thing that I have found is that when I am consistent with my running I feel so much better and my body gets used to the rhythm of running everyday, kind of like when I run multiday races. I don't have to force myself to go out and run it just kind of happens. Today I met a woman who is 85 years old and she said " Time goes by so fast you don't have time to worry about it". So there it is ;)