I missed feeling warm 😂, even at home. Honestly, I had grown tired of long runs in the cold and bulky clothing. And yesterday was definitely spring.

After a complicated week, where I barely managed to squeeze in two 18 km runs towards the end, on Friday and Saturday, I dreamt of doing my long run in the sun and warmth. I've noticed some of you imagine that I only run and wander around Italy, but the reality is quite different. I work a lot when I'm not "wandering," 10-12 hours a day, sometimes even 14. I work on several projects, some personal, and there are whole days when I don't have time to run, or simply don't have the energy. And for me, going out for a run is often a challenge, but I do my best and find motivation thinking about my plans, the pleasure of running once I'm already out, and the peace running offers me.

I had 45 km to run, and I decided the night before to do them in Delta Dâmboviței, Chiajna. My new playground when it comes to long runs, I hoped to find blooming trees, considering that in IOR they were full of them, and to offer me a dreamy landscape.

I wanted to leave at 10 o'clock, but I woke up at 5 and couldn't fall back asleep. Even though the beginning of the day was expected differently, with clouds, around 6 I saw the sunrise. I had already started preparing my isotonic bottles, food, and spare clothes. I left around 8 hoping to start at 8:30. On the way, the devil of cravings reminded me how I ran last week with croissants and other treats, and put a Lidl on my way, so I stopped to get three croissants with butter and two Bavarian ones 🤭 I don't know how, but by the starting point, I had eaten three of them, they were very good 😂

Arriving at the starting point, a parking lot right next to the delta, I arranged the trunk of the car as if it were a stand in the market with all the goodies, gels, and bottles 🤪

I started running around 8:50. It was cloudy but with good chances of clearing up. It was 10 degrees, but a cold and annoying wind was blowing. And I started my four rounds of 10+ km. Slowly it cleared up and the landscape became dreamy. Most of the trees were blooming. They were so full of white flowers that it looked like they were full of snow. In some places, the bike path passed through blooming trees that looked like a flower tunnel. I can't wait for the reeds to sprout too.

I chatted on the phone for about half an hour with Ica, then around km 13 Carmen showed up and accompanied me for about two hours. The wind slowly disappeared and the temperature kept rising. Around km 32, when I was alone again, I think it was at least 20-21 degrees. I changed my T-shirt and wanted to eat a croissant, just so it wouldn't go to waste. I ate both of them and got hungry 😂 I also had a banana that disappeared. Then I continued with the last lap.

On the lakes of the delta, there were plenty of ducks. I also came across a family of swans that seemed to live their own soap opera. She, nestled in the nest, incubating eggs, super relaxed. He, nervously wandering back and forth on the water, in front of the nest. Apparently, he couldn't watch TV and who knows what game he missed. I would say they lived in a studio nest, and he couldn't disturb her during this time. Studio on the water's edge, with a pontoon, fancy. But all in vain if you can't even watch TV 😂

Alone or accompanied, with my thoughts and rich imagination, I managed to finish the 45 km in just under 5 hours, plus breaks. About what I planned and I can say that it went by very quickly.

The nutrition plan was standard. A gel every 5 km and isotonic as needed, especially since it was very hot in the second part. I'm not complaining! Now I prefer to be warm, enough cold this winter 😂 After all, in the first two hours, I only took one gel per hour. Anyway, I had eaten three croissants before. Then I stuck to the plan. I also used salt tablets about every hour after the first two hours.

It was a good workout, not too demanding, and the fact that about three hours after I finished, fate made me play table tennis for about half an hour. And I was actually able to do it 😂