Day 19 - June 3

Distance - 5.0 miles (8.0 km)

So today was more of a "cross-training day."  I biked over 16 miles and hiked at least 2.  We'll equate that to about 5 miles of running.  I probably should be taking a day off from running every once in a while anyway because my ankle problem hasn't quite gone away.  It's not getting worse, but it's not improving a lot.  Luckily it doesn't hurt much - just a little soreness in my achilles (at least that's where I think it is).  I feel like it's something that I can run through unless it starts getting worse, so we'll see.  In my 10 years of running, I've never had any aches or pains that have lasted more than 48 hours, so this whole taking it easy to prevent injury thing is a totally foreign concept to me.  My experience tells me to just run through it and it'll go away, but of course I won't do that if it gets any worse.  If the title of this blog (800 miles in 80 days or less) isn't fulfilled, it's not the end of the world.

So anyway, this morning, Curtis, Zak (our British roommate we met yesterday), and I slowly made our way up to the top of the fortress overlooking Kotor.  It's an absolutely stunning hike that blends wonderful views with impressive architecture.  For lunch, Curtis made some tasty pasta with chicken and cream sauce.  It's kind of nice traveling with a chef, even if he does snore sometimes.

The "Cathedral" in Kotor

Church on the way up to the fortress

Kotor

Climbing up the fortress

Zak conquering the fortress

Zak left and Curtis and I decided to rent bikes from the hostel.  We just rode along the bay (the opposite direction from what I ran yesterday) and went over 8 miles before turning around and coming back.  The road was pretty narrow so the cars had to squeeze by, but it wasn't a very busy road and was almost totally flat ( a rarity in these parts).

On the bike ride

Little Church we stumbled... er... pedaled upon

For supper, we tried a seafood place that was highly recommended by the guy running the hostel, and I had some grilled squid (tentacly delicious!) for a pretty decent price.

Tantalizing tentacles