Neapol Day 3: Hiking Castello di Arienzo

Previous day was for Wojtek, this day was for me 馃檪 Before we arrived to Neapol, I checked thoroughly the best hiking routes for families and this was one of them. And it was a real blast! Pretty close to our stay, just enough demanding, completely stranded… The weather was amazing, I didn’t expect such heat in April even in Italy. And the views were magnificent. See yourself.

I’m not going to lie – I know nothing about the castle we visited 馃檪 There was a table somewhere down the path but it was all in Italian so no help for me. But it really didn’t matter. I was truly exhilirated by the surroundings and by the charm of the moment. Even the kids were way more better behaving than the previous day.

On our way back we made a stop in the shadow of a tree since Kamila decided to take a nap 馃檪

But the day wasn’t over. As always, after coming back to the house we needed to go check out the running routes around. I thought it might be difficult to find a better circle than the last year (see here). But I was wrong. It was equally charming if not even better! I guess you’ll see more of the running photos in the next post, here is a teaser.

Neapol Day 2: Vesuvio and Herculanum

So how did it happen that we landed in Neapol? The story is simple, our 4-year-old son was fascinated with volcanos. He wanted to know everything about them, every day we had to read a book about volcanos, we would watch documentaries about volcanos etc. And when we sat down and thought where to go for holidays, we came up with a „volcano” idea pretty fast. There are two big ones in our vicinity – Etna and Vesuvio. There are no flight connections to Etna in May, so we didn’t have to think too long 馃檪 And so, the day after our arrival, we set on a path for volcano adventure 馃檪

Although it was not the best idea to start our stay with such a demanding day, we had no choice – Wojtek wouldn’t want to hear about any other options. In general, the road to Vesuvio crater is a hiking route. It can be longer or shorter (we chose the latter) but one needs to hike. On the way up we saw the remains of lava and recent fires that burst on the slopes – a truly interesting landscape. The day was very hot and children not so much cooperating but in the end we reached our destination – the heart of a volcano.

Wojtek was in heaven but for us it was also pretty cool. Only Kamila somehow decided not to cherish this longly awaited moment. Let’s forgive her, she’s not even two y.o. yet. From the top except for the great view inside the crater we had a nice sight on Neapol itself. Although… the smog over the city was impossible. I thought Poland was polluted but what I saw in Neapol was so far the greatest smog mist in my life 馃檨

When we finished our geology trip we headed to Herculanum which in the past was flooded by mud when Vesuvio erupted. Now it’s a renowned archeological sight definately worth visiting.

After a pretty action-packed day we were happy to return to our countryside to breathe in fresh air, delight in sunset over fields and oranges and to indulge ourselves in peace and quiet!

Neapol Day 1 Sant’Agata de Goti

We’re on the move again! Destination: Neapol and surroundings. We rented a lovely house on the suburbs of Sant’Agata de Goti – just like we like, in the countryside, with views on hills. We hope to breathe in some nature 馃檪

There is something very charming about Italy that keeps pulling us. Those narrow streets, cafes with espresso, stylish people, history in walls, sun, nature… Within just first 15 minutes on place we started feeling relaxed and joyful. And Sant’Agata de Goti greeted us so warmly that we stayed till late hours strolling around on its paved streets. It’s going to be fun vacation!

 

W艂贸czykij Trip Extreme 2018

W艂贸czykij is somehow special to us. I (Ania) have been wanting to do it for ages but always something came across my plans. Radek did it already twice (2016 and 2017) and this year it was high time for me to have a go too. I have to say, the fate didn’t spare me as the conditions this year were… fierce.

This is our group on the starting point. I don’t know if you can tell that from this photo but I was already freezing at that moment and the worse was yet to come. The week before the event was the coldest week in the year, the temperatures  going as low as -20 dg. C at night. Do I need to say that W艂贸czykij takes place at night? 馃檪 Anyway, the day of the event was slightly better and only because of that I decided to go. The temperature at night was -13 dg. C. I’m a chilly person, I’m always cold so you can imagine what such temperatures mean to me. Of course, I layered myself that day. But somehow, I put all layers and was already cold on the start. That didn’t give good predictions for the night.

My photo collection from the event is very scarce. I was literally freezing. Our snot would freeze, our sweat would freeze, our water would freeze. Booze didn’t freeze fortunately 馃檪 It’s an orienteering trip so the idea is to find the hidden points. We found them all 馃檪 50 km (for us it was 54 because we didn’t optimize the route at times) of a walk. We started in a group but somewhere near the end Radek and I parted and continued in a faster pace. I had remorse because of that, I was feeling like we should stick in the group but I was trembling all the time, I was feeling a physical pain from the cold and needed to find a way to elevate my body temperature. And so we detached from our friends and moved on in a very very fast march. It helped.
I was pretty surprised because to be honest, physically the whole trip was not that exhausting to me. But the cold was unbearable and I felt it long after the finish. But I’m sure I’ll repeat this the next year. I suppose the odds of having the same weather the next year are low. Let’s hope 馃檪

That’s us on the finish! Our official result was:
Place: 50/144
Time: 11h 09 min

RAZ love

Do you know that we’re celebrating 10th wedding anniversary this July? Let the celebrations begin. Although it’s only February, we’re feeling like this is a special year for us. We typically don’t celebrate the Valentine’s Day but we found this race to be just perfect to spend some time together. The idea is that it’s a couple race and the couple is tighed together with a string and the string cannot be torn during the race. It’s only 5 km, so nothing too long. And lots of people put on costumes. We did too 馃檪

Photo Credit: Dulny Photo and Borek

Getaway weekend in 艢winouj艣cie

This was my birthday present from Radek – a getaway weekend, without kids, with my sister, romantic seaside, a spa etc. I was super excited. I imagined myself night walks and beach running. Oh, well – it could have been so great. Instead I got sick like 5h after our arrival. So sick I actually didn’t leave the hotel room until the last day when we squeezed a walk on the beach and a movie on our way back home. Well, after all it wasn’t so bad.

That was arrival day and below the final hours 馃檪 I really like the seaside in autumn/winter time. Of season sea rocks!

18. Pozna艅 Marathon

When I’m writing the memory of this race, it’s already 1.5 half year later but the emotions are still vivid. By no means this was the most extreme thing we both did in our life. But let me write the whole story.
When we came back to Poland in 2015 we were pretty fit after weekly excursions to the mountains. And we also made a plan to climb Mont Blanc the next summer. We had never run before but we both decided it would be the best way to keep our fitness level and prepare to the climb which would be very dificult in terms of needed stamina. And so we started running. I kind of immediately knew I needed the aim and kind of immediately knew this aim would be the marathon. And we both kind of immediately started to like running. But the story ended very quickly as I got pregnant with Kamila. I guess Radek didn’t have the motivation to train on his own and we both stopped our preparation. 3 months after giving birth to Kamila I did my first 4 km. My legs felt like concrete but I felt exhilirated like never. I was very happy to be able to train again. And so the training began. I think it was around march that we decided we would like to enroll for Szczecin Marathon which would take place 4 months later. I reached out to Ewa Hury艅 who is an acknowledged runner and writes running plans and I was very serious about the preparation. Of course, from the time perspective I know I wanted it too much and pushed it too hard but sometimes heart takes over the reason. Anyway, we didn’t start in Szczecin Marathon. I got an injury after the halfmarathon I did in May and had to take a break from running. So we set up the new goal – Pozna艅 Marathon.

That’s us before the start.


My preparation to this race was very poor. Radek’s not perfect either but still better. It was a difficult venture for us as Kamila was still too young to leave her in Szczecin, so we took her, my mum and my sister with us. I am very grateful for the support I got from both of them along the preparation and the run itself. 
An so, we found ourselves on the starting line. Very insecure but also pretty excited. Radek was aiming for 4:00 and me for 4:30. And oh boy, how we missed those estimations 馃檪  Together with us was our friend Marcin, who is a very experienced runner and did countless marathons already.




Long story short – we both started way too fast for our possibilities and for both of us it was not a good day for running. I’ll tell the story from my perspective but I know Radek’s is very similar. I guess after 7 km I already knew this wouldn’t be a walk in the park and that something was not OK with me. On 10th km I had my first crisis… Halfway through, after running for 2h 15 min and having 21 km behind I simply couldn’t imagine continue running… I remember that moment very clearly. I stepped over the halfway point line and I was totally devastated and wanted to end my misery. Somewhere around ~30th km I encountered my friend Karot. This was the joliest moment of the whole run! Afterwards he told me I looked like in very bad shape… Somewhere around ~33rd km I started crying. The whole time I was thinking: I can’t do it anymore and it’s still so bloody far to the finish line. Yet again, I got a stomach upset which only made things worse. Radek told me he was thinking to withdraw during the course… The feelings and the misery was very intense. But we both made it finally. And on the finish line our first words were: never again!




Radek’s time was 4h 15min 03s and mine was 4h 45min 31s. I don’t exaggerate when I say I still have thrills when I recall that race. But who cares, I could cross out „marathon” from my life bucket list.

K2 race

The K2 race is a mountain race in Szczecin. Sounds strange? Well, let me explain. It takes place on the hills of Bukowa forest. The finish line is on the top of Guba艂贸wka hill which is also our „ski resort” (see more here). The funny thing about this race is that you need to beat the hill twice, as the starting point is down the hill, and the finish line is on the hill. The name of the race derives from a fact that the distance is ~8611m (like K2 mountain) and that it’s a hill race. Lots of fun. And seriously, I have no idea how it is possible that I’m smiling on those final metres. The uphill is devastating!

Photo credit: Dulny Photo and Radek