watercraft

Wachau Marathon

Published September 29, 2019

Hillside vineyards, alpine meadows & die river Danube. Race DAY!

10k, Half & 42k distance. Sis & I would wait an hour to board a marathon bus to Emmersdorf. Rest of the trip family, an 8am start. WhatsApp pics started flooding our phones by mile 12. Family showered & beautiful by the Wonder Twins’ afternoon finish.

High sun, skies warming. Edelweiss AND fish-on-a-stick. Pre-race FISH? PipiBox – check. Kleider bus ‘bag drop’ – check, check. Last to-do’s to-done. Run ready.

Fünf, vier, drei, zwei, eins. Go, go, go!

Keep the heart rate down. Gonna get warm today. Steady even pace.

5k bike-path loop ’round Emmersdorf before darting on Austria’s B 3 river-road (Donau Bundesstraße). Easy flat course – not a Boston qualifier, but a PR for many. Road-run exposed/open to traffic. Comfortable temps early, didn’t overheat ‘til 2 hours in.

Mile 10. PipiBox queue. Managed a legit washroom for Sis at the Fire House (3 semesters of college German/I can talk toilet). Sie ist mein Schwester. LOL> Short, quick stop — oompah oompah accordion music — & on our way. Danke, viel danke.

Where are you from? Colorado, always. Folks know the Rockies. Generally takes politics outta the conversation. One officer wanted to Trump-jabber. No sprechen sie. Danke 😊

Town tour of Spitz. Waved to boats on the Donau. Whatta experience!

Mile 20. Head demons, got quiet, went dark. Notta warm weather runner. Sis tried but even Pollyanna couldn’t quell the Kraken. Was throwing water cups by 23. Took a walk break. Helped turn the frown upside down. Easy walk/jog pace last 2k into Krems.

Could hear German now, half-mile to Finish. push, PUSH, push. SEVEN on holiday, SEVEN wore medals. Well done, us! Check & done. AUSTRIA! Two kids from Possum Holler – look at us now, Ma! ❤️

Train transfer back, my Amazing Race ended. Airport hotel, flight home 5am early.

First Stop: Ukraine. Fingers crossed. Europe on a Budget.

22. Int. WACHAUmarathon 2019

Ergebnisliste Marathon – 42.195m

2019-09-29

8835 Haga Keenan USA Colorado 2:21:53 4:53:57

: marathon START

: FISH on a STICK

: Aggstein Castle

: Danube cruise

: Wehrkirche St. Michael

: Weißenkirchen

: Fire House relief

: Pipi Box 💩

: Wachau Valley wine

: die Wonder Twins

: last 2k into Krems

: push, PUSH, push

: alpine FINISH

: SEVEN medals 🥇

: thanks Sis ❤️

Wachau Marathon

Posted in Europe, Marathons/Ultras | Tagged kyrkan, watercraft | Leave a comment

il Giardino Botanico

Published April 5, 2019

Second day belly-filling mid morning on Turkish kebabs & rice. Not very Italian but certainly more substantial than the native expresso & cigarette start. (People still smoke, seriously?)

Train Thursday, boat queue Friday. I heart European travel.

Purchased a hop-on hop-off day pass but arrived, settled on a single-stop destination: Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo. Y’all know I dig history. No tour of the 17^th century villa itself (found myself indoor ‘done’ after 2 days of rain). Today’s OUTDOOR plan: the Villa’s extensive botanical garden.

Rhododendron & azalea. Roses, hydrangea & camellias. Trail-walked thru non-native bamboo, palm. A citrus grove of lemons & oranges. Personal fave? Rustico Pra di Oc, ‘the Rural House’.

Quiet. Peaceful. Located on the trail’s far perimeter, abandoned by old & youth ticket-holders alike. Slow-walked a mile thru the Villa’s olive gardens. Found beauty in the garden’s simple ingredients. The Villa’s tall native grasses, its Mediterranean roots. Bellissima ❤️

Completed the afternoon with another outdoor cappuccino. Two weeks before Easter (official tourist season start), happily secured a table overlooking scenic Lake Como. Perfecto. Check, done.

Concierge coordinated a private rustico dinner in Old Town (off-season perk). Raw fish appetizer, quail, risotto alla Milanese (saffron rice, nutmeg, marrow). Go BIG or go HOME, last nite in Como.

Local train, new hotel. Tomorrow’s memory: Milano.

: ferry to Tremezzo

: il Giardino Botanico

: Museo degli Attrezzi Agricoli

: Rustico Pra di Oc

: uliveto (olive tree grove)

: camellia

: Lake Como ❤️

: Oratorio Sommariva

: Citrusis Tunnel

: last day in Como

: risotto alla Milanese

Posted in Europe | Tagged museo, rivers-lakes, watercraft | Leave a comment

Isla Rey Jorge

Published January 16, 2019

Happy SUNSHINY day, our last on Antarctica.

Day START? a LOVE of LIFE Antarctic dip. Just the feet – but yikes! Let’s ya know you’re ALIVE! Gotta/hafta/MUST DO. Icy, FRIGID, C-O-L-D!

Plenty o’ time for a grounds walk of both Chilean & Russian Research Stations.

Chilean Station: Chapel visit (Santa María Reina de la Paz), asked/learned ‘bout Brown Skuas (dirty-brown sea gull cousin/feed on penguin chicks/bunch during my run).

Russian Station: Eyed the Island’s beautiful Orthodox Church from afar. Some got an inside tour, some not – hurry, hurry up, wait. My circle stayed trapped at a makeshift Russian gift store (room inside a modular container). Handful of maps & bobbles, cash only – I bought a $20 lid. On vacation/no regret. Antarctica purchase.

Day Highlight: walkabout at a nearby penguin colony. Russian air boat, Russian driver. Life jacket readied. Greeted by a resident chinstrap when boarding. Bird swam up, waddled inland amongst us (as if on queue), value add/all part of the show. HA!

So much LIFE, too little TIME. Day ago I ran 30+ miles.

Legs remembered 🙂 Gracefully fell in & later back outta our rubber raft. No skillz, no moves. Up, over, THUD, REPEAT. LOL> Balance nada. Good laughs.

Boat ride – AWESOME. Penguin walkabout – AMAZING.

Gentoo Penguins: Beaks brightly colored, bigger than either Magellanic or chinstrap varieties. LOVE LOVED. Luckily, arrived day after the BIG MASSACRE. Leopard SEAL NatGeo style kill. Penguin flippers still littered the beach. Surviving adults collectively tended a nest of 7 adolescents (assume, most newly orphaned). Circle of life.

Boat return, another graceless plop on shore, hurry up & wait.

Da plane, da plane.

62 runners now FAMILY. Jokes, stories – GREAT ENERGY. ANTARCTICA LOVE PARADE continued Chilean late nite. Dinner, more laughs. Nearby bar. Some really poor life choices, whole lotta memories.

Goodbye White Continent. 2019, I was there.