“The first time I ran 50 km I realized that those were my races: in the long distances I found myself again.”
There are more than just sprinters and middle distance runners in the Asics FrontRunner group. Virginia Nanni, for example, loves ultramarathons, endurance running, which is first and foremost a way, she says, to be with herself and reflect. A few days ago she also took the satisfaction of a fifth place in her category at the Strasimeno – 58km -, although her next goal is the Nove Colli and her dream in the drawer is to run the Spartathlon.
“What do I think about while running? To all. I reflect on myself, on my life, I think about work, but also about the washing to be done the next day. I made friends with my head. The body sometimes asks you to stop, but it is the mind that ultimately chooses not to give up, not to feel the aches, the fatigue. And this is coming from someone who has plenty of aches and pains. I learned to grit my teeth and not give up, though.
To think that I hated running and my first 3 km was agony. I was coming from the gym, from fitness, a whole different kind of training. I discovered running four years ago, at a time when everything was going wrong: I had lost a loved one, another had fallen ill, I was out of work, and my relationship had ended. It happens that life presents you with the bill all at once. So early in the morning-I have always been an early riser-I would go for a walk along the waterfront, to get away from it all. I saw so many people running and wondered how they did it, so I wanted to try it.
An effort! However, having done the first 3km, I thought to myself, “Why not go to 3.5km?”
And then they became 4, then 6, then 8. I found that running was helping me to take my mind off everything that was going on at that time, that it was slowly restoring my self-confidence and the will to hold on despite the difficulties. After two weeks I got to 18 km, after four months, in Rome, I ran my first marathon: 3h51′ without even preparing for it.
Then the first 50 km: it was love right away. I realized that those were my races, my distances.
I found the one who believed in me: Nico Leonelli, a friend, an athlete of the Italian national ultramarathon team. “You’re going to make it,” he told me, and since then he has given me a big hand from the standpoint of preparation.
I ran the Passatore three times. I am registered again this year but I don’t know if I will run it: a week before I will be at the start of Nove Colli. That’s the way I am: I always have to try to raise the bar a little bit. I have 202 km ahead of me, twice as long as the Passatore.
I am training my best, especially mentally. The head can really make a difference over long distances, and I’m working especially on this aspect: preparing for crisis phases. During the week I run, every day, 25 km. I get up early, at 6 a.m., to train before going to work; on the weekend, however, I put in 60 km, divided, however, into three different times: 20 km at 7 a.m., 20 km at 1 p.m. and 10 km at 6 p.m. In this way I train the mind not to relax after the first outing, to hold on for the next ones.
Strasimeno came this way, as an alternative to the 60-kilometer weekend.
I left without Garmin because I was only interested in finishing it and running by feel. Despite terrible weather, with headwinds, cold, rain, and a largely unpaved course, which I am not used to, with lots of mud, a fifth place in the category and my personal best came out of it: 5h39′. When I had run it the first time I had taken 6h55”. It is a tremendous satisfaction to see so many sacrifices repaid.
Even better was sharing this result with Fabio, my partner, who follows me on the bike during training and was by my side the whole race. He is my strength and my achievements I also owe to him.
Now I have one more month of work ahead of me, then unloading before Nove Colli: another goal to reach and then look even further ahead to the Spartathlon. It’s been my dream ever since I started running, and if there’s one thing running has taught me, it’s that if you want to … you can.”