Marcia "Tra i quartieri nel verde", 25 Oct

Had not planned on going to this morning's marcia, but I missed my run in Marinella yesterday evening, and decided to go ahead even though non of my regular running buddies are around. I was told that this is a run in the park, i.e. several times around the Parco Maggiolina in La Spezia. I showed up promptly (for once) at 8:30 but could not see anyone and thought I had the wrong place. I finally spied a group setting up the registration table, the lady in charge looked at me strangely and told me that they will be ready in a few "minuti". I thought it was rather disorganized to be setting up when the sign said registration was at 8:10, also strange that there were no runners there except for myself. I was getting ready to call it off and go running elsewhere by myself when it dawned upon me that daylight savings time ends today. Oops! I was early for the event by a whole hour! So I got back to the car, listened to music and reset the clock. Sure enough by 8:00 runners started showing up. A few people who recognized me greeted me like a old friend (I have not done a marcia since May), I registered and noted that a map was provided. Surprise, surprise, this is no flat run around the park. The 10/14K course took us steeply up to Montepertico towards Forte Montalbano. We left the park behind after crossing over the railroad tracks (no way anyone can run up that overhead pedestrian crossing). Still, it was not too bad, since most of the course was on asphalt and the few off road trails were not wet and slippery as I feared since it had been rainy last week. I of course walked all of the uphill sections. Fortunately what goes up has to come down; after about 5 K, the course went downhill. The way down was a little more complicated as we turned off into trails. At one section a number of people stopped to pet a pair of very friendly donkeys (I think, see photo). I was congratulating myself for being able to follow the green arrows--there were a few turns I would have missed in the old days. On the other hand, I think I may have missed the turnoff to the 14K, since I was back at the train tracks about 11K and the end at 12.5K. Just for the fun of it, I ran around the park so as to finish at 13K, with a time of 1:55. The souvenir was a T-shirt, there was plenty of snacks available but I could not eat anything other than a piece of focaccia. Note: While at the first ristoro (rest stop), I met Rino and Ernesto and found out that they were also planning to do the Midnight Sun (Half) Marathon next June in Norway. Sounds like all of us have the same idea, since Debi and I are almost certain to participate in that event and maybe include the Santa Claus (Half) Marathon as well, depending on how our training goes.

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 :)