Just a few morehours and the three Team Florence athletes from the
project supported by Dorelan
and from the
Bologna Marathons
e
Florence
will be on the starting line of the City of Medici Marathon, ready to put together one step after another chasing the dream of the finish line. It has been months of training, waking up at dawn and running alone, and as race day approaches, emotions alternate, shifting from impatience to dread, and then back to the desire to run right away.
Tomorrow’s three protagonists told us a little bit and put expectations and dreams on the table, let’s see them together!
How did the preparation go? It was a very long preparation and very different from what I was used to doing. When I prepared for the 2017 New York City Marathon, which had been in my mind THE Marathon, I arrived at race day full of anxiety and unfortunately it did not go as I had planned, in fact, I would say it went very poorly. Today, however, with one day to go before the race in Florence, I realize that yes, perhaps I could have done much more, but I know that so many, too many things have happened in these months and that my life has had so many shocks, so I have realized that I have to look at tomorrow’s race with a different spirit, that of having fun and arriving smiling at the finish line.
What was and how did you overcome the most critical moment? I thought many times during these months that I did not have adequate preparation and that I would not make it, especially when I ran the long runs set by our super coach (Fulvio Massini, ed.), in which I had many difficulties. But then at the end of the workouts, I always looked at the clock and said , “Well, anyway you were supposed to do thirty-two and you did thirty-two, not bad huh?”
Do you think it has changed the way you rest with the
ReActive
? The new mattress has been a real saving grace! At the beginning of the training, especially after long runs, I used to suffer a lot from back pain and could not rest well, but fortunately since I received the ReActive this problem I did not have to face it anymore, if there is one thing that has markedly improved it was the quality of my rest!
What do you expect from tomorrow’s race? Unfortunately, upon arrival many people I expected will not be there, which is a little scary for me, I admit. Therefore, from tomorrow’s race, I expect to meet the Katia who is able to move forward and do what she wants in life,
Without ever stopping.
What will you take with you to the finish line?
I will take a few people and their music with me.
. I asked people who love me to give me one of their heartfelt songs and made a playlist for the last two hours of the competition. If anything goes wrong I will stick my headphones in my ears and think of all those who have dedicated a thought, an incitement, a wish, and I hope to continue in this way to have the strength to put one foot in front of the other.
Because at the end of the day, it is not the speed or the finish line that determines this experience but it is the people; marathon runners are crazy people who find themselves running in circles around the world, we are a bunch of crazy people that when in the morning going to work or in the summer at the beach we see a guy running we think. “come on I understand you. Don’t give up!”, we are those who have found running to be their outlet. We are the ones who say this is the last Marathon of our lives…but we are the ones who already know…never say never.
How did the preparation go? This is it, tomorrow is the big day, I feel as excited as a child on the first day of school. Since July, I have been training to prepare for my first Marathon, a goal that still doesn’t seem real to me, that I have long dreamed of and that is now about to become a reality. Thanks to Fulvio I was able to perfect myself, train my physique on the long runs and yes, even learn to eat a little better.
What was it and how did you overcome the most critical moment? The hardest moment, or rather I momentI was definitely the very long runs over the past few weeks and in which I had a bit of difficulty that makes me a bit fearful for tomorrow’s forty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-five meters, but since I have always completed them anyway in one way or another (and according to the coach in a more than decent way) I will try to cope with the race as best I can. I know that after the
first thirty kilometers
strange thoughts will begin to arise in my mind, but I am sure I will be able to fight them and defeat them by thinking about the joy of the finish.
Do you think it has changed the way you rest with ReActive? Definitely. I have already been compiling the sleep diary provided to us by our friends at Dorelan since the weeks prior to the arrival of the ReActive, and by comparing the data collected (but I guarantee there would be no need) you can immediately see what a difference there is. Thanks to Dorelan, I have been able to rest better and deeper, and I think this has been critically important in facing the toughest workouts.
What do you expect from tomorrow’s race? This is a good question, I still don’t know for sure, what to expect! Maybe I simply expect and dream of finishing the race, if I then did it in less than four hours, which is the goal we set with the coach, that would be really great. However, I am already sure of one thing: tomorrow’s won’t be the last Marathon of my life, because thanks to this project I got even closer to the fantastic world of running and I already feel like running more Marathons!
What will you take with you to the finish line? I will try to bring with me all the strength the energy spent in these months, and also the thought of those sacrifices (in a manner of speaking, because it is still something that I decided to do and that I enjoy) that allowed me to be here to face this experience. Also with me will be my new good luck charm, the red RunLovers bracelet that the fantastic Elisabetta Molteni gave me, and my motto that I have seen over the past few months applies well not only to everyday things but also to running: Give now, give always!
How did the preparation go? For the first time since I have been running Marathons, I was followed by a live coach instead of my virtual coach Charlene, and the experience was more than positive. Fulvio (I already knew him from attending some of his internships) was very supportive, always available when I had any doubts, and at the in-person meetings he gave me insights and suggestions that led me to greatly improve my approach to training and running technique. I am very happy with how I have been training, and I am confident, regardless of the result tomorrow, that I have done my best.
What was it and how did you overcome the most critical moment? I had a couple of bad days during preparation, due more to weather issues than physical, so I couldn’t exactly define a critical moment. Let’s say I would have liked it to go smoothly, but when you train for twenty weeks, it is almost impossible that there is not something you like less than another. Perhaps also the knowledge that I had done my best to succeed in bringing home the distance (here, I’m pulling an unbelievable guff!), based on the training I had done, helped me to stay calm and not have major doubts.
Do you think it has changed the way you rest with ReActive? When the ReActive came home I was coming from weeks of little sleep, with really too few hours of rest that often forced me to take a break in the afternoon and sleep half an hour to catch up. Fortunately, the arrival of the new mattress coincided with a change in my work schedule, and this allowed me to better enjoy the properties of the ReActive and its support, which resulted in shorter falling asleep times, less frequent awakenings, and a feeling of restfulness upon waking.
What do you expect from tomorrow’s race? When I set foot on the starting line of a Marathon (but even before that actually, as I run prep workouts) I imagine that I am Have the best race of my life, having fun, getting the time I hoped for and having enough energy to think, once I got to the finish line “Which one do I sign up for now?” I hope that will be the case tomorrow, Florence is a beautiful city and I am sure it will be able to give me the charge I need in such cases.
What will you take with you to the finish line? Every time I have been fortunate enough to cross the finish line of a Marathon, I have brought with me the people I love, both existing ones and
Those that my imagination has invented.
to help me during the athletic effort, and I plan to do so again this time. Getting to cross the finish line of a race like the Marathon, which in my mind is now the only possible race, is an experience that exhausts me every time, but every time fills me with happiness. And we all know that .
Happiness is only real if it is shared
.
Only a few hours to go before the start of this last part of the route,
only another forty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-five meters.
and it will already be time to think about the next one.
For now though,
good luck
a
Katia
,
George
e
Peter
and to all the athletes who will be running the Florence Marathon tomorrow, run happy and party!