Firenze: The Rest

Sunday morning, still sick, I got up. Why? I wanted to see enough of the city to get a taste of it so if by some chance I never make it back I'd be okay with it. Besides, right out of the shower, medicated, and caffeinated I had a good 2 hours in me before the second crash. Two hours is plenty of time to go exploring.

The destination? The Uffizi.

Bonus points if we got there before the lines. And we did. Yay for not making a reservation so we could walk right in! Of course when you're there you need to behave yourself even if there are floating cherub heads, creepy looking guys, and you run into one of your coworkers. But in all seriousness, Botticelli's The Birth of Venus was absoluetly beautiful and even if I wasn't needing a rest, I still would have sat in the room to watch it.

After making our way through the galleries, we met the rest of our group for some retail therapy and lunch. Then? Oh you better believe it was nap time! But this time? I managed to get up for dinner at a delightful little place with the most fabulous sage ravilolis. They really were fabulous, despite me only eating a few of them. I had to save room for "adult milk and cookies" and let me tell you, I'm sure glad I did! Hands down the best biscotti I've had here in Italy. 

Monday, our last day, kicked off with trek back out to the Duomo. And then up 463 steps. I started off counting them, but Lori pointed out that they had already been counted so why count them? Just one of the many reasons I keep her around...even when I'm sick! Those stairs were sure steep! And spirally. And heart pumping...but all totally worth the early morning workout.

By the time we reached the base of the cupola, we were just below where the paintings started and the morning prayers and chants echoed upwards to our ears. It was truely an amazing experience and it took some time for us to peel ourselves away and press onward higher up. Within the next hundred steps, we could tell we were within the dome, as the steps became even steeper and now curved. All I know is, I'm thankful for those steep stairs in my house that keep me in continual training for these tower adventures I seem to always find for myself.

The view from the top was fabulous: the morning sun reflecting off the city, vendors slowing setting up shop, the sound that a city (no matter how large) has early in the morning. Although we weren't the only crazies waking up to get a head start on the touristy places, there were few others which made it even more enjoyable. The rails were clear to just lean over and take in the city.

All in all? Not a bad way to finish the trip! True the trip wasn't exactly was I though it would be, and  I'm sure some of my memories are slightly skewed on account of my cold and cold meds but if I could enjoy the company and the location in um, less than ideal situation? I guess I'll just have to head back north one of these weekends and take in the rest of the city.

Firenze at Sunrise

Saturday morning arrived too quickly after Friday night. Guess that's what happens when you're knocked out with cold meds. As promised, Lori got up with me to trek out to watch the sun come up over the city. We headed out in the direction of the Duomo, passing through Piazza della Signoria which was now empty of the performers, artists, and crowds from the night before. Piazza del Duomo wasn't much different and the empty piazza made the majestic building even more impressive while the sunlight started to illuminate the green and white building blocks.

With the sun still rising, we booked it on over to the Arno River to watch the sun from Ponte Vecchio. Although it had been rather impressive the night before with the lights reflecting off the water and the moon in the sky, I'm a sunrise sort of girl and the bridge reflecting back in the water made for an incredible photoshoot while birds flew low along the water. It also made us regret that our running gear had been left at home.

Tummies begging for food, we hoped that some of the coffee bars we had passed on our early walk had finally opened. 8am really isn't that early, especially in a town that was closed up by 11pm. You think that would be an easy task...ha. We finally found a place and booked it back to the apartment, in hopes that water was turned back on. It was! Chalk one up to computer based controls.

The rest of the morning was spent walking around the city, checking out shops, and then setteling into a breeze way for a light lunch and wine. Best part? There were blankets on the chairs which I wrapped myself up in because the heaters just weren't enough. Our waiter, ever so talkative, introduced himself and we introduced ourselves. Well, we tried. By this point of my day, the voice was nearly gone, my head nearly exploding with pressure, and the meds weren't helping. Either he didn't hear me or he didn't care because from that point on I was called Jennifer. By two sips into my wine I didn't even care. I didn't care that the extremely good looking guy changing the propane tank was right there either. The rest of the table sure did though- snapping pictures of "the table" or "Juan the Gnome" when really focusing on him.

Jennifer at this point was done. With a little food in my belly, an apartment key in hand, and the promise to the others I knew where the apartment was (I was the one who found it the night before!) I headed back to crash. And crash I did. 5 hours later I woke up only to decide that the fabulous dinner out was going to take place without me. So, so sad. Luckily they had tracked down star cookies for me that afternoon and I woke up to find them in the kitchen! No. Not quite the same dinner that the others had with their fabulous wine and scrumptious food...but what was the point if I couldn't taste anything?

Destination: Firenze

That's right. Firenze is what's on the map, but you're probably more familiar with the name- Florence. Why the rest of the world calls it something so completely different than what the Italians do? Well, that's a question I still haven't quite figured out but that wasn't going to stop my girl's weekend get-a-way for a little shopping and wine. Lots of wine.

The wine began flowing as soon as we boarded the train downtown Naples and shuffled ourselves around to be near each other. In the process the older gentleman who had already told a few of us that we're beautiful was soon surrounded by the 4 of us and sharing our wine. Before we even hit Rome, he had given us his phone number and address and asked for our numbers. Did I mention he spoke very little English? This was all very entertaining not only to me, already medicated with those lovely orange capsules for major sinus issues and an achy body, but also to the other passengers in our car.

What wasn't entertaining, well according to the ticket guy, was the fact that our new friend "although very nice, no ticket is a problem." The fine for not having a ticket? 250Euro. Our friend didn't seem too concerned though as he had no intention to pay it.

Within the first steps out of the train station, I could tell that the city in front of me would quickly become one of "my favorites:" the brick buildings, clean narrow streets, the unique shops, people walking along the streets, traffic looking semi organized all greeted me. And our apartment for the weekend? So stinking cute tucked away off one of the main squares, complete with terrace and intricate architecture revealing the building's past life as a convent.

After a quick power outage and water outage, we headed on out to track down food and to introduce me to the city as I was the only one in the group who hadn't been there. Exhausted but fearful my cold would take more of a hold over night, I pressed on to start exploring the town. And let me tell you- Florence at night is beautiful! Cold, but beautiful.

Remind Me?

Week #9 of training has been delayed- why? Well, it was no fun. In fact, it was downright painful and even a few days into Week #10, it has me questioning my sanity and also my will to carry on with training.

[X] Endurance Phase

en·dur·ance noun [en-doo r-uh ns]

1: permanence, duration <the endurance of the play's importance>

2: the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially : the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity <a marathon runner's endurance>

3: the act or an instance of enduring or suffering <endurance of many hardships>

No wonder I'm so happy to see that today was our last day in the endurance phase of our training program! Leave it to me to actually look up the formal definition of the word once our 10 mile run was complete. And yes, I completely understand definition 2.

Endurance is definitely a good way to sum up this week of training. First of all, I'd like to brag that it's probably the first week since week 1 (7 weeks ago) that I actually did all the trainings on the scheduled day and in the time allotted.  Second, with the reinstatement of the civilian wellness program at the office I've been using my 3 hours a week to sneak in a double workout if possible with the training schedule. As a result? My body is beginning to feel the impact of training, both the good (no carb needs to be left behind just yet) and the bad (ice packs are my best friend).  

Over all training is still on track. It's amazing to see the progress over the short 8 weeks we've been training. 

Last week our 16 x 400m sprints sounded like TORTURE, but this week? I actually tried to convince Lori we were 2 short because it just seemed too easy, but some simple math proved otherwise..although we were both ready to do 2 more just because we could. 

Today's 10 miler? Well, after last week's 17 (shudder) we felt like we were dragging, especially running into insane wind, but yet we were still running way faster than our pace should have been. 

Oops. Hey, I earned my SB name and didn't just dub her Speed Racer for anything. 

Of course these nicknames are going to be majorly tested this next week as we move into the Stamina Phase and we leave our my favorite sprint night for runs at an 8:40/mile pace. Uh hu. Let's just say my new mantra of PR or ER  is going to be alternated with Oprah did this so I can too. Oh and the fact that next Saturday I get to spend 4 hours running? *Sigh* Piano, piano. I've done this before and I can do it again. 

And yes, you did see that I registered for 2 half marathons over the summer this week.