Five in Five: With the wind in her air...

I wouldn't have used that title, but someone did think it up for an all women's race in northern Italy. This group called me in november and asked if I would offer one of my 8 week training courses to prepare the women of Belluno for a 5km race that they were organizing. I went to the first workout in February and gave my spiel on how they had to plan their workouts, take time for themselves and all the good stuff that becomes a habit to anybody that takes care of their body with physical activity. I think this is the one and only time that the group of women grew over time (from 40 to 60 participants) rather than decreasing. They invited me to come and be guest of honor at the race yesterday, how could I refuse?

We left the house at 6.30 am and arrived in Belluno at around 9.30. The whole main piazza was full of balloons. Evan woke up from sleeping the whole trip in the back seat and the first thing he said was...

"I want a blue balloon."

I've been having trouble with my left knee for about three days now, but only when I walk. For some reason it doesn't hurt when I run but it's like I don't trust it yet. Anyway, I was afraid I was going to look like an idiot, getting injured while running (great promo for the sport!) but thankfully all was well and I felt no pain the entire run. It was and up and down and up again route all through the small town. It was really nice to just run in a new atmosphere, mountains instead of flatland. I had started out in the back so I just kept passing women that didn't know anything about pacing themselves yet, right up until the end. About a quarter of a mile to the finish I passed a group of women at a good clip and then as I was coming down the straight I could hear them coming up from behind...No way I'll let anybody pass me at the finish line! (me in black...)

I have no idea how far I ran or how fast it was but I am really happy that I had a painless run, even with the gimpy left leg. Afterwards I talked with another group of women that are from a town near Belluno that would like to organize the eight week clinic for women in their area. While I was talking to them all I could think about was being able to come to the first meeting and bringing my bike so I could get in a really great training session in the Dolomites! Can't wait!Piero was able to capture a lot of positive, powerful images for me during the morning, like this one...