Heading into this week was difficult for me, as I knew I would be missing a team run the last weekend of February, as I ended up having to travel for work. I've come to depend on these longer training runs, which really set up the following weekday runs and I now hate to miss them. I also miss the chance to interact and get advice from DFMC teammates and Jack Fultz who is very approachable (as a former Boston Marathon Winner and our coach).
In any case this week, I had to go to Bucharest, Romania for business and would have to stay through the weekend. I was regretting the trip due to the above and beyond the terrorist warnings, a bad weather pattern and prospect of a pilot's strike in Paris, I knew the 7 hour time difference would be murder and it would be hard for me to find time to do my running.
Nevertheless on Tuesday night, I took off from Newark (had to front end the trip in NJ for another customer) and made my way through Paris (CDG) with a 4 hour layover and on to Otopeni Airport north of Bucharest, where I landed at 14:15 local time (7:15AM EST). My first good surprise was the wait in passport/customs was unbelievably short. Compared to going to London or Paris where hour long lines and painful inquisitions are endured, getting into Romania was relatively easy. A couple bored questions from the government agent, and I was handed my passport and waved into the country in less than a minute. (My host Bogdan later told me "that is because more people are trying to get out of Romania than IN").
As I headed off in the airport cab to the Howard Johnson's Grand Plaza (go figure, I fly halfway around the world to stay in a Ho Jo's what a flashback!!), I was amazed at what a unique place Bucharest is - with a mix of medieval, Western modern and then the massive concrete government structures from the Communist regime as you come into the city center. The other good surprise was that the Romanians spoke very good English, which kept me from embarrassing myself having to try to speak the Romanian language.
I made sure to ask the cab driver where I might be able to go run, and was directed to two city parks - Cismigiu and the second around Lake Herestrau about 6 km north. With the time difference and a heavy meeting schedule, I knew I would have to be lucky to get these in.
As fate would have it, the weather would not cooperate during the week and the roads being a bit treacherous - mysterious sinkholes in sidewalks, stray dogs, and heavy city traffic, I was forced to get my workouts in on the treadmill at the Ho Jo's fitness center. Finally, as the weekend approached, and the weather cleared a bit, I made the trek via subway up to Lake Herestrau and it was worth the wait. Had a nice run there with a few stray dogs trailing along, about 9 miles for 2 laps around a very picturesque lake. It felt good to be outside. Sunday AM came quick and with the time difference, I just stayed up all night, I left Bucharest and began my trip home. Even though it took 16 hours, with some delays due to weather, it was good to be home though I did enjoy Romania a lot.
On the fundraising front this week, SPECIAL THANKS go out to my niece Brianna Fitzpatrick (in memory of Grandma), Stacy Clark from GIPS (in memory of her grandfather Charlie Rolla), and good friends Kim and Gary Brown, Paul Trask, and Debbie O'Connor for their support of DFMC and my run.
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