A racey report from the Conclave

Well, all good plans need to have a fall back...Last week Lufthansa worked hard to get me to Rome in time for the voting of our next leader of the Catholic world. As much as 500 miles an hour can accomplish I was a shy bit late for the white smoke. It will be quite interesting to see what Frank can do to change the world which he inherited. The fact that the world leader of the Orthodox Christians, the Russian Patriarchate and a leader of the Jewish Congress all met in harmony does give hope that perhaps our greatest cause of war - religion - might indeed be a thing of the past.

While I was unable to make Conclave I did indeed make it to the start line of the Rome Marathon. Twenty-three friends of Arthritis joined in attempting a trot from the start to finish. Twenty-three friends of Arthritis were successful in completing their goal. What a wonderful day of sweat, swears, and sweet victory for all. Congrats to the team for showing that months and years of training paid off in a successful day.

We were told in Italy that dress code was in effect!

Every time I head out on a trail with new and old friends I am constantly wowed by the power of their intentions. We think of great goals that seem so far in reach but then become part of our fabric, our soul, our being. We try to not try but to succeed, and we do. Congrats to you all for what you have accomplished. And if you haven't done what you set out to do, what is stopping you???

For those that enjoy a good trot, why not join me for a good one at McDonald's of Glenmore Landing at 9 am ish. Perhaps we can find a good group to train with from there and then earn a wonderful shirt...

Do we get fries with that?

So the race report. Nothing like flying around the world to spend four days on the ground of Rome. They say all roads lead there, but I didn't know flying led through Toronto and Frankfurt! Three days of flying and four on the ground made for an interesting trip. Three meetings, a couple of team dinners, a day long race, and some power tour-on (tourist-moron) trips made the trip seem almost as fast as the last one in Rome in 2001. Then was a total of 30 hours, this was a total of 96. Now just what can you do in 96 hours?

- eat

- drink

- hop-on/off bus

- meet the Pope (sort of)

- participated in an Opera (Joy doesn't know this part yet!)

- trotted a 6:45 marathon

- Went to a rugby match that was a world first

- did I mention St. Patrick's Day?

For those of you that know me, you know that I can pack a weeks worth of excitement into about 16 hours. So really I had a wonderful six weeks in Rome. I guess when the 'lady of the evening' suggested that I not be afraid of her, really I should have said the same to her!

Training trot day one. A PR. with 30 minutes taking 51 minutes overall!

The race day competition resting before the big day

How we all model ourselves as athletes. At the 1964  Olympic athletes village.

I guess this means we are in!

Is this performance enhancing?

I can't tell you how hard it was to find this parking spot

I was that far behind the winners that they had already left the award ceremony

In every race a little entertainment must fall

How my feet felt after 45 km. of cobblestone

Italy beat Ireland for the first time in history.
Perhaps this is why there was so much to drink  after the marathon?

And what will I do next???

Well, that is the race report. The weather was race perfect. Overcast, a slight breeze, some drizzle, and one Westie to lick the salt of my wounds...

If there was a Westie in every race you would never break a sweat!

Cheers!

.

John