I'm back home form France, so I'm going to make just one entry and fill in the mileage for other days.
The vacation was fantastic, first taste of summer after dismal weather in London. We traveled all over French Riviera (by train) and spent some time in Monte Carlo, Cannes, Cap Ferrat and of course, Nice where we stayed. It meant spending at least 5 hours hiking very steep and hilly terrain that is over there! Lots of climbing and descending stairs leading to different street levels and sights. My legs were toast every day, and I got a nasty blister even in my most comfortable walking sneakers.
I was indeed able to run on Promenade des Anglais along the beach. It was crowded, but it is also very wide, so there is enough room for bikers, rollerbladers, runners and people just strolling along. One thing I did not consider, is that the promenade had absolutely no shade, all running happens directly under the sun. Ugh, that was tough. Not being acclimated to anything over 65F after London, I suffered badly in the heat. Of course, it would help if I ran earlier in the day, but I wanted to sleep in after going to bed at 2AM every night. So I didn't run nearly as much as I needed to, but just enough to maintain some basic fitness. I did only 3 runs, no longer than 6.5 mi. each, and I was absolutely drenched in sweat and feeling terrible on each one. Interestingly, I saw many runners at the same hot time of the day that I ran (around 11AM), but they all were going pretty slow. Only one guy was running at a good clip, but he also had a Camelback, which I'm sure was helping him. Lots of bikers too (there is a special biking lane on the promenade), including one in the team uniform of Astana, the Kazakh team that withdrew from Tour de France following positive doping test by Winokurov. I don't know any riders, so I didn't recognize who it was, just the team colors.
Total time: 45:02 | 