Run, Koper, run

I just finished my first week at work, so let me tell you a bit about how it was. On Monday I had to be there at 8am; it's a 25 minute drive according to Google Maps, so, adjusting for traffic, I left around 7am. I was 10 minutes late. The traffic was just horrid. Big part of the way I was just standing still on the highway. No fun, believe me. The next day I decided to leave at 6am, hoping that there are not too many nutters going at that hour. It was better, but let me tell you, there were still plenty of them. The following day I took a shuttle and it was much better. As shuttles can use the carpooling lane it's somewhat faster and besides sitting on the shuttle I can still do stuff (that's how I'm getting this and most of the other posts done). The only problem is that from the place I live there are only 3 shuttles per day, so I have to be careful to be there on time, as missing one can be a problem. Ok, I guess that just about covers transportation. The first ...

After first day at work on Monday, on Tuesday I got up at 6am (those who know me and my sleeping habits should be able to appreciate the extent of this achievement) in order to do some running before starting work. But because of the heavy traffic I only had time for a short 8K run, which I did around the Google campus, discovering that there are some quite promising trails (much better than the Guadalupe River trail in San Jose). The following day I again got up early, this time took the 6:30 shuttle and was able to do a decent 14K training, confirming that the trails are very pleasant indeed and probably good for runs up to 25K.. However, the following day my shins started acting up (I had problems with them at the beginning of the year). I like walking real fast and few times I was stopped in my tracks with sudden pain. So Wednesday running was off. I thought I'd have to take a longer break from running, but on Friday evening the pain was gone and I decided to give it a try...

For a while I was thinking about starting a blog about living & working in California (for those who don't know I landed, and recently started, a job at Google). The reasons why I haven't done so yet are two-fold: one, things were pretty intense the last few weeks and two, I could not come up with a proper name for the blog. If you think the latter is just a crappy excuse then head on to blogger.com and try to find an available and , reasonable blog name for this purpose. I failed. In the end I decided to use friend's suggestions and just use my existing running blog for this purpose. The two topics are bound to overlap anyway, as a large part of my stay here will be about running. And I'll try to mark all non-running related posts with the california-living label, so those of you who absolutely cannot stand the idea of coming across running-related posts can try out this as a filter. Ok, let's get started. One day I hope to write about the hiring process ...

Joseph D Grant County Park run. After a crazy last week, due to moving, on Monday I flew to New York. I met Strzelu there and, among other cool things we did, on Wednesday we went for a run in Central Park. For him it was just 3 days after the Chicago marathon and yet I had a hard time to keep up -- now I understand how he made it below 3:10 in Chicago. Respect man. On Thursday I continued my journey, flew to San Francisco and then went by train to San Jose, where my temporary housing was waiting for me. On Friday I decided to see my running options around here. I didn't have my hopes high as San Jose seemed to be anything but a runner-friendly city, but after little research I realized there's a river and a trail along it. So this is where I went. And it's not too bad! Sure, it's in the middle of the city, noisy from all the cars around and there are no spectacular views at all, but on the positive side one can run uninterrupted by traffic lights (once one figures o...

Marathon and post-marathon weeks. First some taper before the marathon, with easy runs with some strides. Then an easy jog on Saturday and the big day on Sunday. I wasn't happy with my result from the marathon, but I was happy with the fact that I got away without any problems whatsoever: no blisters, no chaffing, no injuries. I also recovered fairly quickly and the only reason that I waited until Wednesday with running, was because I was busy with moving. But both Wednesday and Thursday runs I did in Nijmegen, discovering the forest that is mere 1km away from where we moved to. And a great forest it is. I'll be missing a lot of things from Amsterdam but running-routes-wise this is certainly a change for the better. The forest reminds me of the one in Eindhoven, where I spent countless happy hours running around :). Also the constant up and down through the hills was a very refreshing change after the pancake flat Amsterdam. I guess I'll need to start planning my train...

Before Berlin marathon. Famous. Fast. Big hopes. I know that before every single marathon I moan about how the week leading to it was not perfect and how everything in the world was conspiring against me. I won't do it this time, but take my word for it -- this time, for a change, the moaning would be well justified. This was probably one of the most stressful weeks ever. And, funny as it may sound, I could feel it in my legs. I was super tense. And I did not manage to go for a massage, or at least to a sauna, as planned. Oh well, again with the excuses. What was different about this marathon is that we went with a 5-strong group of people and still met up with few more in Berlin. Until now, except for Paris that I did with Michal, I was always flying solo (well, that is, of course, not counting my most devoted & beloved supporter :). That was a nice change and lots of fun, I have to say. The weather was almost perfect. Not too windy, not too hot, not too cold either. Pret...