Sunday, November 25, 2007

25 November 2007 RACE DAY!


Check this out!

Ciao DONALD,
Firenze Marathon, Fastum gel and Groupama will thank you for your participation in XXIV Firenze Marathon.Here following your result.
Largo Gennarelli (1/2 mar.)
2.19.12
Piazza Santa Croce
4.36.13

Yes, that's right folks, NEGATIVE SPLITS.

So, this week it's 4:57, 4:42, 4:36 for the first three of seven!

9:20 a.m. race time. My calculations were that I could walk to the end of my street, follow the river and walk to the race venue. And, sure enough, at the end of the street I saw all kinds of marathon runners walking exactly the direction I planned on! Cool.

After depositing my bag at the appropriate truck, I walked a bit farther and there were busses to shuttle us to the start about 1K away. Nice. Got there and met a few Americans--there were bunches of people with the AIDS training team. Nice to hear some English.

The whole day was like being in a painting. The beautiful architecture and pastel shades were amazing. I started behind the 4:45 pace team--red balloons flying high. Managed to stay about the same distance back for a long time. Ran back and forth with a bunch of the same people, including a couple name Graziano and Nicoleta (their names were on their backs) until about 20K. Aid stations only ever 5K, so I made sure to really tank-up on liquids when I found an aid station. "Salts", "The" and "Acqua" at each one. The salts were some kind of sports drink. The is tea--sweetened and hot. Nice. Figure out acqua for yourself. After 15K there was some food as well--bananas, little chocolate pies, even some little ham sandwiches. It's the first time I've had a ham sandwich during a marathon. I don't know what happened, but around 19K the baloney levels in my blood increased, and I started running faster. Finished the first half in 2:19:12, and kicked it into another gear. I felt GOOD! Just kept rolling. At 31K I passed the red balloons and never saw them again. Long loop around a beautiful park along the river, turning toward the finish at around 34K. Still rolling! I was passing people the whole second half, and feeling amazing! 39K and we ran past the baggage claim area. I picked up some more. 41K was my fastest split of the day--until I hit the 42K split! Wow! 195 meters to go and I picked it up some more. My third marathon in a week, my fastest, and a NEGATIVE SPLIT!!!!!

I'm having fun in Italy. Hung out near the baggage claim at the Aids training tent, cheering on runners until past the 6 hour mark. I had already picked up my bag and was hanging out for a while when Graziano and Nicoleta came through. Headed back for a shower and some rest, then went to a ristorante and had some pizza and a whole bottle of wine. Surprisingly, I can still type!

Three continents down. Four to go!

and the adventure continues....

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