Insert Catchy Title About Italy Here

The view out my window.  The course is above the buildings.

Course markings near the town square

I'm currently in Passo del Tonale, Italy, where in about 40 hours or so I'll run in the 28th World Mountain Running Championships.  It's Italy, so there are lots of Alps, pasta, small cars and people smoking.  I won't go into details about getting out here (because lines like "then I sat in a bus for four and a half hours" just aren't interesting).  I've been out here long enough to check out the course, and it should be fun.  I don't think anybody reading this is close enough to attend, but the race is on Sunday morning.

For those of you who can't make it, there should be a few options.  The race will be live on Italian TV, so it may be possible to watch at

http://www.teleboario.it/tbonair.asp 

Also, the US Mountain Running Team will be posting Twitter updates:  https://twitter.com/usmrt
Plus, they may be posting live video on YouTube.  Check their website (www.usmrt.com), facebook (facebook.com/usatfmut) or Google+ (google.com/+USMountainRunningTeam) for that.

The local race times on Sunday are as follows

The Italian name for duct tape

09:40: Start of Junior Women race
09:45: Start of Junior Men race
10:30: Start of Senior Women race
11:00: Start of Senior Men Race

Since I'm from the Mountain Time Zone, I'll use that as an example.  There is an 8 hour time change from home to here, so that means my race will start at 3am on Sunday.  Sorry.

Recently, the rain and fog moved in.  It snowed not far above where we're staying at the finish.  Hopefully I have a picture to back up this claim either above or below this paragraph.

The fog and the snow.

Mmm.  Granite toast.  Good for sons and daughters of Dartmouth.

I'll try to get in a post after I race but before I leave.  Otherwise, I'll post when I get home.

Also, on another note, the NewBalance 110s should be excellent for this course.  I brought a spare pair in case something happened to my race pair during travel or something, and I may have a teammate wear them during the race (I won't mention any names just in case that would upset other sponsors).