Last Sundayin Florence, our team of runners, born thanks to the
collaboration between Dorelan
e
the Florence Marathons
e
Bologna
, brought to a conclusion the project started a few months ago, crossing the finish line in the city of the Medici and thus closing the circle of the run.
Katia
,
George
e
Peter
found themselves running on a near-perfect day for a very long distance like the Marathon, despite the fact that the weather forecast was not the best and the race outlook was that of a wet event. This was not the case, until the end of the morning at least, and our runners were able to run in the sunshine that illuminated Florence on a very cold but clear-sky morning. Accompanying them along the way was the fine cheering present at many points in the Tuscan city, along which it was possible to focus on this or that suggestion given by the Coach Fulvio Massini, who oversaw the technical preparation of the three athletes, also supporting them in the aspect of nutrition and rest management along with the Dorelan team who gave advice on how to make the most of the ReActive mattress.
Katia:
I started in front of the four-hour balloons very optimistically, even though I have never in my life finished a marathon or half marathon with an average time of 5:40 per mile. I think there will come that time when in exhaustion and breathlessness I will see them overtake me and reluctantly discover that it will always be too soon. However, according to what I studied with Coach Fulvio this should be the pace to keep, and I decide to try. We set off, chatting with the others in this little group that has already formed after a couple of kilometers, the legs are turning and the first ten kilometers are gone so fast that I don’t even notice that I have closed it with an average of 5:30 per km, definitely faster than expected! The weather is definitely warmer than expected, so I undress my sleeves and keep running; we enter the park and there is some unexpected cheering from the guys from the old Nike Running Club, who set the tone. The Half Marathon passes and the twenty-five also passes, I am always going at the expected pace without any major problems, I feel good and keep going. On the 32nd we get to the hardest part of town, the part that is a bit more bare of people. I arrive at the thirty-fifth refreshment point, stop for a moment, have something to eat and start again, and even though Peter had told me not to look at the clock now I feel the need to. He tells me that I still have three quarters of an hour to get under four hours, my long-dreamed goal, and maybe I can really make it. I still have some energy left. I keep running, 38th, I’m making it by now, I can’t miss this chance, can I? By the fortieth I am really tired, but in the streets of the city center you start to see the striped walls of the sunlit Cathedral, don’t stop Katia, don’t walk, feel the cheer, look at that little girl, give her five come on you can, it’s only five hundred meters I can’t believe you can’t make it, come on you can make it, you can make it! You did it!
Thank you
Florence Marathon
, thank you to all the smiles, thank you to those who were there, thank you to those who cheer, thank you to those who laugh and make you laugh, you are all inside those miles of thoughts that will remain in my heart.
Giorgio:
At the start it still didn’t seem real to me to be there for the first queen, me, who started running consistently a few years ago, to do a Marathon. And what a Marathon then, the Florence Marathon,
In my city!
I was very excited, arrived at the starting line charged and determined to enjoy it to the fullest. From the start until the Half it was a smooth run, with no major difficulties, and everything went well – although I started to feel some fatigue – until the thirtieth, but then fatigue began to make itself felt insistently and I had to slow down, perhaps even too much. I was planning to run it with a better time than I was going to achieve, but at that moment I also thought that my first goal was to finish it, it was my first marathon and all I wanted was to cross the finish line. I thought back to Fulvio’s advice and tried to stay focused until the end, and after the last few city changes of direction here was finally the finish line. I arrive cutting my arms to the sky, there is my family waiting for me, they have supported me and put up with me in these months of training and like me they can’t wait for me to do these last few meters, and there they are, I cross the finish line and yes, I am a Marathoner! I didn’t reach the goal I set for myself perhaps also because I was too ambitious, but I’m sure there will be other opportunities to reach it, because having done the first one I can’t stop now!
Thanks again to Dorelan’s support and advice to rest better, really valuable Reactive mattress thought and designed for athletes, thanks to Coach Fulvio Massini who prepared me to run my first Marathon, and to RunLovers who hosted us to tell the story!
Peter: the Florence one was supposed to be my tenth Marathon (and indeed it was) and for the first time since I’ve been running the forty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-five meters I got there with the goal of doing it under three hours, so for the last few months all my training, diet and many aspects of my life have been focused on this goal. In spite of this, perhaps also because the weather forecast was unpromising and it rained hard all day on Saturday, I arrived at the start very calmly and without great expectations, determined of course to run to the best of my ability, but without risking who knows what. At the grid I meet my friend Angelo, who is normally much faster than me, with whom we chat and start running, side by side and together with a small group of other runners, for the first few kilometers. At the entrance to the Cascine Park we are still side by side, but we are definitely faster than we should (or rather, than I should), so I let Angelo go at his pace and I try to keep mine, as much as possible without looking at the clock and just following the feeling of the effort, as suggested by Fulvio during training. The tactic turns out to be a double-edged sword, because around the halfway point I can see that I went way too hard, but that’s the way it is now. I keep running by feel but every now and then I cast my eyes toward the clock, I pass the thirty kilometer mark after two hours and two minutes, still too strong. We enter the most difficult part of the track, the one that makes a lot of changes of direction in the city, enters the stadium (how nice to run on the tartan, but what a pity there is no cheering, it would have helped so much) and then goes to the overpass between the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth kilometers. I don’t fear it much, I’ve already done it in training and it’s an obstacle that-at least in my mind-is less difficult to deal with than the constant twists and turns, climbs and descents of these two miles to get there. In fact, I pass the overpass quite quietly and then fortunately we enter the city. I start to feel some cramping, slow down until it goes away, and now look at my watch. If I continue at this pace I can still finish within three hours, I’ve been going too fast so far and I’m paying the consequences, I should have been paying attention and instead, despite it being my tenth Marathon, I let the adrenaline get to me. But experience tells me that it is now over, that I am well below my goal, and that I can even afford to get to the finish line by doing something I have longed for until now and had never been able to do:
Taking a leap of triumph as I cross the finish line.
. At the finish line there’s Fulvio, he hugs me and tells me I did well, and I think if it wasn’t fate it’s at least ironic that I got to run
a dream marathon
in an event sponsored by Dorelan!
Thanks to Fulvio Massini for advice on training and nutrition, thanks to the Florence and Bologna Marathons,
Thanks to the efforts of Ruben and the entire Dorelan ReActive team.
for the support over these months, and especially thanks to you for following and supporting us on this adventure!