Venice duo

Laurence and I ran together this morning again. I managed to wake her slightly earlier this morning but by the time that I'd dealt with 2 phone calls from my boss, it was 9:40 am when we left. It's frightening how much contact I still have with work when I'm supposed to be on holiday. How will they manage in a couple of month's time ?

Another fantastic day weather-wise: blue sky, 30°C, and high humidity. It's easy to tell that the humidity is high since having washed the towels after yesterday's excursion to the Lido beach, they're still damp despite hanging out to dry all evening. So lovely weather for sauntering around, not so ideal for running though.

Laurence set off at a steady pace of about 5:30 per km and I ran with her. We headed out along the route that I'd taken yesterday as this avoids many bridges and allows you to get into a steady stride without having to avoid tourists, and climb tens of bridges. This pace is faster than Laurence's planned marathon pace, and so she kept reminding me of how hard I would find it to train at this comparative speed in full sunshine. We ran steadily until passing the Punta della Dogana after 5 km and then we slowed down slightly. The heat and the narrow alleys and crowds were too much at this point and we dropped the speed to about 10km/h.

7.7 km all up in 43:23 or an average of 5:38 per km. Just another 34.5 km at the same speed and Laurence will achieve her 4 hour marathon objective.

Accademia bridge with the museum just behind.