Ah the smell of Country Air

This past week, my class ventured into the Tuscan countryside to visit a few hilltowns. We were based out of Siena, taking day trips to a few towns around there. While I was packing for the trip in Rome, I thought to myself "how nice would it be to run through the countryside where the air is clean". Lo an behold, I packed my running shoes and shorts in my backpack hoping I would be able to make it for a run. Before I left I looked up a 5ish mile route, depening on where my hotel was, which of course our proffessors didn't tell us before we left. Since I had never been to Siena, and this run had good reviews, I decided, why the heck not run it if I have time!

I learned quickly in the trip that not everyone is meant to travel by bus for an hour or two to a town, wander aroudn all day, then head back to the base town. At the end of the first day, I was exhausted from traveling to Orvieto, and it was dark and raining pretty hard in Siena, an unfamiliar town. So much for running that day. Maybe tomorrow morning.

That night we were gathered by our professors for the scheudle for the next day. We were to be ready to leave for the bus at 8:20. Its still pretty dark at 7:15 in the morning. And I had 3 roommates to share shower times with. Was I daring enough to run early/dark out in an unfamiliar town? Not so much. I had to postpone again.

That day we spent a long time on the bus and by the time we got back to Siena I was very restless. I took a quick look at my watch, it was only 4 pm. Just enough time for a solid 5ish mile run before dinner and darkness. The only problem was the route. How was I going to ensure that I didn't get lost? Then, genious struck. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner....I have an ipod touch. I could simply e-mail myself the route and leave it open to refer to on my ipod. Ah. an adventure run with a map conveniently located in my music. A perfect recipe to not get lost. In theory that is. Besides, the map made the route look easy enough.

I quickly put on my running shoes, said goodbye to my roomies and hit the road. Since I had wondered around Siena the previous 2 nights, I was pretty familiar with the town, but this route was goign to take me out of town, I wasn't to sure where exactly out of town, but I knew it was out. I should have known it was going to be a hilly run when the first thing I did was run down hill out of Siena. I thought, oh well, I could use some hill training anyways. I was loving the downhill running. Leaning in and flying down the hill. Ah how I almost miss the hills in Seattle, going down that is...

When I hit the bottom it got iffy. It looked like I was on a pretty big road with on/off sidewalk and shoulder to run on. Great. I obviously fell for some route that some random poseted on an even more random website as a run that they happened to do. not a particularily pretty one, just a normal city run. Just as I was getting redy to modify my route, my turn off the main road appeared, and it was a smaller side road. Not bad I thought. maybe this will lead somewhere nice.

I turned the corner and of course, a hill lay ahead of me. begging me to sprint up it, not saving anything for the way back down. That day I was no slowing my pace for anything not even a lowsy hill. Just when I thought I was at the top, the road turned and the rest of the hill appeared. Ah what a nice trick. The endless hill. I kept pushing until I was at the top, then when I looked to the right, I realized I was on the hill next to Siena with an amazing view of the town. (note the striped building with the crane is the Duomo, apparently striped churches are very common in this nexk of the woods)

I paused momentarily, taking in the view. It was one of those moments where all of a sudden you're at the top looking over what you've run and you can't believe that this is your life. Running to amazing places with views few people get to see except those who liv on that road. I turned to keep running and saw an odd site...two women running the oppose direction. In Seattle this would not be so odd, but here in Italy, I barely ever see anyone else running. I haven't even seen more then 10 peope my whole stay in Rome running, most of which I saw at odd times while I was walking around, not running. i thought to myself, this must be a nice place if people actually go running here.

As my run continued with a few small rolling hills, the view stayed the same. Sunset over Siena. Watching darkness set in on this hilltown. This is the life. Soon it was time to decend into the valley to go back up the hill to Siena. As I headed down the hill I saw 3 more runners! Apparently this is a popular route. It was 3 older men. they started talking/yelling towards men italian but not only do i not really speak italian, I was also wearing headphones. Needless to say all I said to them was Ciao and kept running. As I came upon the stop light to head up hill into town, I saw yet another runner. She looked about my age and was wearing heaphones. We exchanged a wave and both kept running. Wow. I saw in this small run in Siena more runners then I've seen while runnin gover the last month and a bit in Rome. I guess Rome really isn't a running town. to much pollution anyways.

I finished out my last half mile at a sprint up the hill back to my hotle, seeing a few of my meandering classmates and professors who looked at me like I was a little bit crazy. But when I got back to the hotel, I felt truely refreshed. Its amazing what a small run through a small town can do for my mind and body. I didn't feel restless anymore and I got to take in all that fabulous country air!

Go out and breathe some of that nice washington air!
Soph