I have finished my stint on the World Harmony run and can finally start to settle in Slovenia. I am actually working a few hours a day for my friend's shop and have found some new contacts for the coffee business. It looks like I will probably go to Croatia for a few days next week to take care of a few things with the farm there. It has been really hot and I even heard of some heat related deaths in Croatia. We had some rain here and this cooled things down a little, for now. I just realized that I am repeating myself a little. Still getting used to a slower pace.

So my little stint on the World Harmony Run is over. I spent the weekend at Lago di Garda(Lake Garda ) and it was awesome. I got a train from there to Venice, where I got another train to ljubljana, which arrived at just before 2 this morning. I shared the carriage with 2 Californians and 3 Canadians, so I got to talk some. I have been relaxing most of the day, but will now walk into the city and tomorrow I will work a half day I

This morning it was already hot when we started out on our run. I ran about 5k to a school on the outskirts of Milan and the temperature was 27 C. Afterwards I ran another 5k as we continued our run, visiting 3 more schools during the day. The temperature climbed to 33 C. We are having a lot of fun on the run in Italy as we did in Slovenia. We closed the day with a swim in a river out in a small village, then drove back to Milan for the night. We have been lucky to stay in Milan for 2 nights at a friend's appartment.

I have moved on from Slovenia to Italy on the World Harmony Run. We are currently in the north, Milan to be more specific. It is really hot here, the temperature is mostly 30 or 32 C during the day. We have been visiting lots of schools. Last night we stayed in a monestery which was pretty cool. I will be heading back to Slovenia on Sunday I think.

As I have mentioned before I am in Slovenia in the World Harmony Run and today was a very special day. We met with the President of of the Slovenian Parliament and also the President of the country itself. I actually got to shake the President's hand.. We ended the day in a place called postojna, where there are caves and we went on a tour. I was here in 1996 and it was great to visit the caves again. We also got rooms at the Postojna caves hotel.

So I arrived in Slovenia yesterday and immediatly joined the World Harmony Run, which is running through Slovenia for the next week. We finished the day in Ptuj and stayed at the Grand Hotel Primus, which is a spa hotel. Today we visited 4 schools and had a lot of fun with the children. Tonight we are staying at a friends house, we have a team of around 12. Check out the World Harmony Run website.

Basically there are 12 hours to go for my departure from New York. There were thunderstorms early this morning, but hopefully they are now gone and I can get in a run with Utpal. I have to take my modem to the cable company this morning. Today will be spent tying up any loose ends and any that are still loose when it is time to leave will just have to stay that way. Sometimes you just have to let go.

Ran again this morning with Utpal, my penultimate run in New York for a while was quite pleasant. I am just about packed, just a few last minute things to put in my bags tomorrw. The rest of the day was spent sorting out the rest of the things in my room that have to be put in the charity box or thrown out. I also needed to arrange for my cable internet and digital phone to be terminated before I leave. in about 24 hours time I will be at the airport waiting to board my plane and begin a new adventure, stay tuned.

Happily my lower back and hips are feeling a lot better today. I ran early with Utpal. today and tomorrow will be the last times we will run together for a while. It is quite warm, but there has been rain on and off all day. I am very close to the off, so it is getting a little more intense with the packing and sorting of my stuff. Actually I have pretty much packed the stuff I am taking and need to finish packing the few things I will leave here to pick up later. A lot of stuff is going to the charity bins and some to friends. Still a lot to do, but it will get done one way or the other.

My lower back soreness bothered me on and off all night. I did go out for a run and it flet a little better. I also noticed that it got a little better as the day went on. A lot of things going on including talking with my cousin in Europe and organizing some things that need to be done after I get there, with regard to the farm.
I have been finding many things that have sentimental value to me and there is a tinge of sadness when I decide that I cannot take them with me.. Some I will find new homes for others will be gone forever.
I did find time to watch the second Champions League semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona, which ended dramatically as a 1-1 draw, with Barcelona going through.

It is just 4 days now to my departure and once again it is a rainy day. Tuesday it garbage pick up and recycling to there was a lot of stuf to put out. Since it has been decided that the house will be sold to developers, it is not so important to clear the house completely, but I still have a lot to do in the next few days.
This afternoon I had lunch with some friends to whome I said my goodbyes. and this evening there is a dinner planned with a big group of friends. That is the sad part about leaving New York.
My lower back his a little sore today, not sure if it is a reaction to the race.

Well it's my last week in the house and my last week in New York for a while. This week I have to get all my stuff together, so it might get a little crazy. It's been raining on and off all day and seems it will be like that all week. Maybe NYC is sad to see me go I appear to be recovering well from the 6 day race, though I must say I am enjoying my sleep.

Usually I do not sleep so well after running a multiday race. For the length of the race I am training the body to use only short sleep breaks and at regular times. These usually carry over for a few days after the race. However this seems to have changed this time and I am sleeping well. This morning I went out for a run with Utpal and we did about 4 miles, it felt quite good and I am optimistic that my recovery will go well and quite quickly. I will write a report on the race on my running blog iliketorun.blogspot.com .So if you want you can check it out there.

Well I finished the 6 day race, we had some interesting weather. My total miles was about average for me, 270, but I did finish second in the over 50 age group. I will write more about it tomorrow.

I am a little more than 3 1/2 hours away from starting my 6 day race. It is already quite warm out there and will be around 88 F ( 31 C ) this afternoon. I try to stay at home relaxed for as long as I can and will arrive at the race site an hour or so before the start.
I feel pretty good so we will see what the week brings.
I will write up some kind of report when I get back. Wish me luck !

At this time tomorrow I will probably be out at the race trying to relax before the start. This is my 26th multiday race I think ( you kind lose count after a while ). After all these years I still get a little nervous, but I know that will all go away once the race starts. The trick is to not use up too much nervous energy. As a veteran of these things people tend to ask me for advice and the best thing I can say is; just relax and enjoy the experience, whatever it brings.

Two weeks from today after a week of recovery I will be heading out to Slovenia and a new adventure. I like to think that my race experiences have given me some ability to deal with new situations as they crop up and that this will help me to adjust to my new life in Europe.

The weather has turned quite warm and it almost feels like summer here in New York. Today is not so warm 65 F ( 19 C), but for the next few days it will be in the 80's and the evening temps will be like the daytime temps from a week ago.
I will take some more of my things out to the race site this afternoon, only 2 more days to go.

Today is St George's Day in England, the national day. It would also have been my father's 83 rd Birthday had he still been alive.
It was also my last day at work, it was pretty uneventful and as the day came to a close my boss said that it was the end of an era. There are just 3 more days before I start my 6 day race and 16 more days before I start my new journey, so things are getting interesting.
I went out to the race this evening for a couple of hours, unlike yesterday when it was rainy, today was dry but windy. I got a chance to talk with a few of my friends out there that are running in the 10 day race and get a feel for the new course changes.

It was on this day in 1978 that my Meditation teacher gave me a new name. It was this new name that gave me a spiritual purpose. So today on the way to work I bought donuts for all the guys, it's like celebrating a birthday.

Last night I went out to the race site to help a friend put up her tent, it also gave me a chance to see how things were out there. Today I took out my sleeping cot to reserve a space in one of the dorms. It is already getting crowded, the 10 day race started today and there are 45 runners. I will probably go out every day for a couple of hours, until I start my race.

As I walked to work this morning with a light rain falling, I realized that these are my last days of work before I run in the 6 day race. Also before I leave for Slovenia.
By the afternoon the rain had stopped and it was just overcast, it feels strange to think that in just a few days I will no longer be working at Victory Factory and my life in New York will be drawing to a close.