Yo!

Up above Kotor, Montenegro

Writing this late on Sunday night (Monday morning if you wanna be precise) from the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica.

Haven’t heard of it? Neither had I until a week or so ago.

With Kotor, Budva, and Dormitor getting most of the tourists, Podgorica barely rates a mention. I came for one reason, basketball but more on that later.

Sports travel shit with Jub -> October 2nd – October 8th.

After hitchhiking missions on Monday and Tuesday, the first event of note was on Wednesday. After my first successful run last week, I knew I had to go for a run on this day to have any luck of getting some running momentum.

I tricked myself into it as I was in Trebinje for less than 24 hours, yet wanted to do get into the hills that looked oh so good before leaving.

I then slept in and checkout was fast approaching. After walking up to the monastery, I ran 6 km, up the hill for a couple kms before heading back to base. I had no choice but to keep running, eventually checking out just after midday.

Nothing like a deadline, right?

And how good is that, falling for my own tricks.

Checkout this picture I posted on Instagram of Trebinje!

I then spent the Wednesday night – Sunday morning in Kotor, Montenegro. Also my 50th country. Weee.

I went for two hikes here. On Friday I went to the other side of the bay from where everybody plays tourist and headed up to Vrsac Fort. The hills surrounding Kotor are extremely steep so pretty much the entire ways you are on switchbacks. The hike wasn’t exactly long (~11km round trip), but the views were 10/10 want to see again.

The view from somewhere on the hill enroute to Vrsac Fort

Saturday saw me squeeze in another 6km run along the Kotor waterfront. I was proud of myself on this run. I wasn’t 100% recovered from the Wednesday then combined with an unexpected head win for the first half every bit of me wanted to start walking. Not this time though. Coming back was definitely easier but it was all about putting one foot in front of the other. Nailed it.

I’ve been in a routine with my meditation for a couple weeks. I wonder if the never stopping to walk is related in some way?

That pesky wind!

Then another hike on Sunday. I wanted to do this as a sunrise hike but when I failed to convince a friend to join, it was unlikely to happen. I ended up getting my first 8-hour sleep in a long time instead though!

Ummm, pretty much Kotor? Note: the two cruise ships.

This hike was another short one as I need to get out of Kotor to make it to Podgorica before dark. I headed to the popular lookout over the city. Again, WOW, the views around Montenegro are incredible. I chose to take the ‘back route’, to avoid the 3 euro fee with the Old Town entrance. I already paid my city tax, buddy.

The Other benefits of this trail? Minimal people and several cats chilling along the track 🙂

This was a shorter hike than Thursday. There are more trails further up, but time wasn’t on my side.Again, those views though. Easy to see why Kotor has become as hectic as it is.

Then in Podgorica, I made it to a basketball match. KK Buducnost (Podgorica) have won the Montenegrin League every year since 2007. That’s 11 straight years. I know nothing about the league, but that is straight up domination, and the main reason I wanted to see them play.

In a perfect world, I’d get to know them more, but seeing them play is enough for now.

A bit of basketball in Montenegro!

They were playing Cibona (Zagreb) in the Adriatic League, made up of 12 teams from the Balkans. Cibona and Buducnost are both in the top half of the league. The tickets were only 2 euro, and I would say a bit over half of the 4,300 seats were filled.

Buducnost led the contest from start to finish, with a minor scare early in the third quarter when Cibona cut the deficit from 16 points to 5 pointse

.Buducnost pushed the score back out again and finished winning 71-62. The basketball was reasonable quality too, with Bosnian PG Nemanha Gordic my man of the match.

I’m still reading the same book as last week, Ricky Ponting: At The Close Of Play. Enjoying it, a lot! Will finish it sometime on Wednesday.

Posts On The Blog This Week:

If you’ve got time, listening to this podcast episode from The Forward by Lance Armstrong. This is a chat with Emmanuel Acho, they get into all things College Football and NFL (he is a player). A really interesting discussion that had me thinking several times. And a small tear at the end. Just a small one. It’s just over an hour long.

CHUR