Frozen

Let's open the dances for the new year with some pictures from my excursions on top of the hills, west of Graz, next to my apartment. Yes, I'm running. Even if not that bad, these days' cold doesn't allow me to go around by bike. I'll be on holiday till January 6, but kids are both preparing their school tests, which prevents me to go anywhere, as many others are doing already. Hence, I must exploit this unexpected spare time to make some sport and detox from the Xmas binge. Today, I made the tour of the Plabutsch hill, running around the ThalerSee and going back to Graz along the valley road. A good deal of time for testing y body and thinking about the things to be done in the coming days.

And ... yes, the lake was frozen but not that much. The ice is not so thick to let a human walking on it. Still, the sound of the resonance waves created by some people launching stones is amazing, never heard before.

Flat Lands

The characteristics of the places, where I do that little physical training that I manage to do today, are very different from those of the Po Valley, where I used to go running during my free time, when I was living in Saronno. Now my gaze can not go far, unless I climb the top of a hill. On the other hand, I am surrounded by the green of the ubiquitous woods and by an almost untouched nature.

By watching again these images, I still remember with pleasure the attraction that the vastness of the plain can sometimes exert on the soul. Thinking over, it's like being in front of the sea, a sea whose color changes with every season: low tide in winter, high waves of wheat in summer. I have only one regret: the places I captured with my cell phone during my outings in 2015 have recently been devastated, to make room for new and useless roads and highways. I will not be able to see them as I have known them. On the other hand, the idea of ​​not being able to see the havoc made by the bulldozers ... comforts me.

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning. The weather is not promising anything good. Dark clouds are all around. It's been raining the whole night and streets are soaked with mud.
Instead of taking the risk to go out for my usual MTB ride, I opt to make a run in the open fields. Wheat is already yellow as gold, the air is fresh and running is a pleasure ... if it wasn't for the approaching storm.
Passing by an "island" of poplars among corn and wheat fields, I feel the first heavy drops falling down. Within a minute my interval trainer will blow the whistle again. So I stop for few seconds, knee down on my legs and take a snapshot at ant's eye level before running for shelter.