I've been running very inconsistently lately due to my work schedule but as always I can never resist the call of a race in the geographic vicinity ....and when there is a choice among distances I just have to go for the longer one..

 

..so on Monday 15 Feb I went for the Call of the Wild President Day 50K in Bothell, on my very familiar daily training ground. Very small race put together by a Maniac  and with a total attentance of about 70 people among 50K ,marathon and half marathon runners. I took the 7am early start in thick fog that eventually lifted to give us a beautiful sunny day..MM  Mel and Bob were there...I admire them immensely and they always make me feel like a kid...I hope to be still running at their age!!! The highlight of the day was running 26.2 with a friend and chatting the entire time, it made the miles fly, we kept a nice comfortable pace with several breaks and parted after she completed the marathon distance in 4:44. after refueling , I kept going with some spring left in the legs to finish my 50K in about 5:34.

 

Two days later I left for Italy for a family visit with my 2 boys.  Talking to a friend from my hometown I had found out that he was going to run the Romeo and Juliet Half Marathon in Verona...I thought immediately that going to cheer him on and  be a tourist in Verona would be fun...but on second thought I figured the running myself would  be even better......I tried to sign up on line but they  had just closed all registration....my friend and his running group  put in a lot of phone calls and strings pulling and they finally got me in..and there again I figured I would get a better city tour with the longer distance so I opted for the marathon.

 

Verona is a city in Northen Italy that dates back to about 550BC....before becoming a Roman City in 89BC...the Arena, Amphitheater is an incredible landmark that sits in the middle of the city and the start and finish of the races took place around it.. My friend gave me a ride for the 120K distance from my town and we met up with the rest of his group . My sons reluctanctly tagged along..they were very concerned about having to wait around for Mom a loooong time with a bunch of Italians....

 

I took off with some people of the group who were doing the half at a slow pace, I was just out there to take in the experience so  no time goals just to have fun. The scenary for the first 10 miles was quite non descript, Italian style suburbs...gray and dingy, then the marathon course veered along the Adige river to the countryside and it became more picturesque but that's where my belly started to misbehave , lets blame it on the jet lag and pre race and food routine completely upside down...it would not had  been a problem had I been able able to find a Honey Bucket of the sort but absolutely NOTHING was even remotely in sight.....I  started  to take talking breaks ..I hadn't even got to the half point I I was starting to fear a very long unpleasant journey back to the "Arena"...I stopped to ask at an aid station..and the man standing there was almost amused at my question.....not surprising...the female percentage of runners  in Italy is always very small ,and as far as the male runners, well  who needsHBs when there are so many walls around.....!!!

After a few more miles we get to the turn around point, a village with a town center and all, and I decide to just take a stroll off course to look for a coffee shop to use the restrooms. After poking my head in a couple of differest stores and asking a few people they finally point me in the right direction and here goes the crazy sweaty woman in yellow marching through the coffee shop crowed with Sunday morning church goes in their fine Italian attire....well at least they smiled at me and they let me use the bathroom without charging me...yes when touring in Italy be prepared to carry money even for a glass of water....

All of the above cost me quite a bit of time but  made the way back into town on my two feet possible..

I managed to pick up the pace a bit and started passing many runners ...still quite demoralizing though...the marathon staff were already packing up since probably 90 % of the runners had already gone by.. did I mention before that racing in Italy can be quite an humbling experience....???

 

I'm finally having much more fun,  I enjoy chatting with some fellow runners in for the race even from places 600  or more miles away  as we approach the old city center. Wow suddenly we are running on narrow old cobbled streets amongst regular people strolling, women parading in their fur coats or pushing strollers, twisting and turning throughout the center very close to the finish line but with still miles and miles to go..then we head across the river again to come back a while later over a spectacular tiny historic bridge built in the 1300th....absolutely beautiful....

 

My legs are not singing but at least are moving , they get a boost when I get to run by my friend and kids standing by the road 4 miles before the finish and I'm smiling thinking now that indeed this is a wonderful way to spend my Sunday. At last I approach the carpeted final stretch that takes the runners inside the amphytheater were we're greeted by Verdi's music as we cross the finish line...and the announcer...who probably couldn't pronounce my last name shouts "here comes a runner in yellow down the yellow carpet"..ha ha.....!!"

Oh well, 4:35:42 chip time...very happy given the circumstances......could have been much, much worse!!!!

 

A couple of days later checking the results online  I found out with great dismay that they stopped their finishers list with 3:48 finish time.....go figure, apparently we were too slow to be considered real runners...unfortunately that's the attitude over there.

 

Thanks for reading  and please forgive my typos...I'm still jet lagged..!!

 

Francesca

Very interesting cultural differences!  You got to the marathon finish at the Bothell race at 4:44 and I'll bet they weren't packing up yet!   And you even ran Verona faster than that including the major detour to find a bathroom.  So they have no bathrooms of any sort on the Verona marathon course?  Wow.  Congrats, and glad you had a good trip.  How was your mom's 80th birthday party?

All I can say is WOW!    what an experience.  but what a difference from what we are used to.

 

WOW

Franc, I've been waiting for your reports and they are good reads.  Your 50K, mostly with your friend, sounds like a fun race for you.  The Verona marathon, other than the bathroom problem, sounds great, too.  We sure can't match that kind of history here in the "new world".  The scenery sounds fantastic.  Congrats on a couple of fine races and thanks for sharing.

 

TomS

grazie franzie,

was this the marathon you saw over there a long time ago and decided to become a distance runner someday.

 

It's not even been two years since you got around to it but with 10 marathons and a dozen ultras already, you're makin' up for lost time fast.  You did a lot better than my two continent experience (at the Carkeek elevation extravaganza) but I thought you're supposed to have accompanying photos. <<<(hint/hint)>>>fəʊtəgrɑ

 

benvenuto a uchi

 

  ps - any chance of you and enzie at the Mercer Island Half Mary this year?