Bosphorus Birthday

The program never recognizes the key dates in a person's life and so it was no surprise to me that I had a 32km run to do today - my birthday.

With the 11km loop mapped out, I was looking at three laps. The program called for 16k in the morning and then 16km in the afternoon. That wasn't really feasible, so I opted for two laps in the morning, and then a break and some real food before completing the session.

After all .. we had some celebrating to do in the evening .. in particular dinner on the Bosphorus, which is the body of water that divides Istanbul in half from Europe to Asia.

I ran the first lap with Margreet and it took us 1:15. That sounds slow for 11km though it reflects the terrain - mostly uphill. And the heat. It was hot enough for the first lap. After a refill, I headed out for a faster second lap - in theory a time trial effort.

I ran the second lap in 1:02 and was pretty happy with my effort. I ws a bit shy of water half way through the second lap and struggled a bit because of it. But I got through it.

After some breakfast and a break, I headed out for round three. It actually went fairly smooth and I cruised home in 1:14. All in all, a very solid session.

And so I had no trouble having a second piece of chocolate cake for dessert!!