Run to the Tower, 16 Oct

Can't believe that this is my 4th Run to the Tower! This annual event goes from Camp Darby to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a distance of 12K or 7.2 miles. Lisa, Debi and I drove down from La Spezia at 7:30 AM, on a cold but clear Friday morning. As reflected in the lack of postings here that I have not been doing much running, just a couple of 5Ks on the treadmill, so did not have very high expectations of doing a PB. We got to the starting point with plenty of time to get our race packet and to warm up. There was a limit of 500 runners in this race, and some local running groups were there for the competitive race. The race started on time, at 9:30 AM. As usual, it took me a while to get up to speed as I started way behind the pack. My Garmin was not able to locate a satellite so I had to run without it. Because I was with the slow runners, I got to see the usual drama of irate drivers stuck/held up in traffic, honking and yelling at the carabinieri. After about 4K, I started getting warmed up and picked up speed, and completed the rest of the course at a pretty good clip (relatively speaking of course), surprising myself with a finish time of 1:22, according to the clock at the finish line. Lisa finished earlier at 1:15 while Debi (who had not been running due to tendonitis) came in at 1:32. It was a thrill to be running to the finish right next to the Tower, surrounded by tourists. We had to wait around for the shuttle bus to take us back to the base. Later on, Debi and I treated ourselves to a very nice lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant Pechino before going back to work in La Spezia. ADDENDUM (totally forgot this): Since we were sitting in the shuttle bus instead of attending the closing ceremony, I was not aware that I actually won a trophy (imagine that!). I was told a few days later by the Camp Darby Public Affairs Officer that I came in 3rd in my age category! First time I actually placed in a race, well, there are some advantages to getting older :)