Running (Lo Sport)

One of the many goals that I had set for myself when we decided upon this family adventure, was to dedicate a portion of my free time to getting into the best shape that I have been in since my late teens. As you know both Anna and I joined a gym immediately upon arrival and we have been religious (Some would say fanatical) about working out on a daily basis.

Ever day begins for me with a weight routine for one hour and is followed by thirty to forty five minutes of cardio. At first, I only rode the life cycle, but in early September began running on the treadmill a couple of times a week. Additionally, I have taken up swimming and log between 2 and 3 miles a week in the pool.

In my youth I was always a pretty strong runner (In High School I ran cross country and even ran a mile one day in 4:52) but never really enjoyed it all that much. “Hate” would not be too strong of a word to describe my feelings about running. Twice in high school as a part of my training for the team, I ran a half marathon (13 miles). Over the past twenty some odd years, I have pretty much avoided any real distance running (Occasionally I will run a couple of miles in my neighborhood). When I arrived in Italy my goal was to run three miles in under 20 minutes (Something that seemed like a long shot in August when my best was 24:22. Finally, after a lot of dedication, in February, I ran three miles on the treadmill in 19:48. For my old bones this was quite an accomplishment. In the process of shooting for this goal, something strange happened as I have become a fan of running again.

Many of you may remember the blog from last fall where we went to the Florence Marathon to watch our friends cross the finish line. On that day I put out a challenge to Trey that we run in a marathon together in ten years when I am 50 and he is 19. A few weeks back, Anna and I had dinner with a couple of our friends and following our meal went back to their house for a drink. Lilly, a 53 year old soon to be grandma had run in this past marathon and showed me a photo of her crossing the finish line with the façade of the Church of Santa Croce in the background. Those that remember the piece of Santa Croce will recall that this is the church where Michaelangelo and Galileo are both buried. It is my favorite church in Florence and the photo mesmerized me. I was unable to take my eyes off the vision of her accomplishment in such a special place. I decided that I would return to Florence in November of 2009 to run in the Florence Marathon!

On the morning of the 17th of August I woke to a wicked hang over (We were out real late the night before with some friends). I looked out the window of the castle as I do every morning to admire the view. On this morning the street was checkered with runners who were taking part in some sort of race. I took this as a sign and put on my clothes to go for a light jog. As I ran down the hill from the castle I passed dozens of runners making the steep trek up our streets. Suddenly I came upon two very familiar faces, our friends Antonio and Giovanni from our favorite local restaurant La Vecchia Betola (Two of the guys we went to watch in the Florence Marathon). They immediately waved to me to join them and suddenly I was running in a 12k race (Although I joined them 4 kilometers into it). I crossed the finish line some five miles later and was even given a shirt for finishing!

Now here’s the catch. Giovanni immediately entered me into the next race which was a half marathon on the 6th of April (21 kilometers/13 miles). At first I was fired up, but then realized that I was in no shape to be taking on such a run. It’s a whole different story to run five miles at a leisurely pace and something very different to run in a competitive race for nearly three times the distance! I had only three weeks to train and the second thoughts raced through my head.

On the 6th of April, I woke to very little sleep (Because of the death of Lilly). I rode the motorino down to the race. This thing was big time, with runners from all over the World competing. The starting line and finish line were outside the church of Santa Croce and there were about one thousand runners in the race. The course itself was terrific for me as it meandered through the streets of Florence passing numerous historical monuments along the way, including crossing the Ponte Vecchio twice.

I was warned to not start too fast (Something that’s pretty tough to do anyway with that many people running down tight cobblestone streets). At the half way point, I was greatly ahead of my goal to run the race in one hour forty minutes. In fact, I was tracking on just under one hour thirty minutes at the fifteen kilometer mark (9.5 miles). Then I started to fade! By the end I labored my way across the finish line, with the spirit of Livy, Trey and Anna helping lift me for the last few hundred yards as they yelled “Bravo Papa, Bravo”!

I crossed the finish line in one hour, thirty three minutes and twelve seconds, good enough to place me at 253rd out of just under 3000 runners (Not too bad). This was five minutes better than the race I ran some 24 years ago and seven minutes better than my goal. Best off, I never stopped running.

Now back to being a retired runner. Five miles on the treadmill is so much easier!