Wednesday, November 24, 2010

(Half) Marathon man (2)

The first and last half-marathon I run was the Stramilano in Milan, about 23/24 years ago. I can thus rightly consider the Delhi Half Marathon I run on Sunday as my baptism to a long-distance race in all respects.

And the immediate feedback could not be more enthusiastic. I enjoyed running. I enjoyed exploring my limits. I enjoyed this disciplines that merges muscles and brain, lungs and will, endurance and focus. And I like to think this will be the first of many others…

In completing my first 21.097 Km, I would like to send a special thanks to Riccardo and Toshi, friends and training mates in this adventure.

Riccardo was the one who, with his enthusiasm and his passion for this discipline, motivated me to enroll to this race. He was the one who taught me how to train, and the one who pulled me for the first 10 km on Sunday, setting the pace and lavishing advices during the race (when to drink, when to suck a candy, how to deal with the slopes, when to accelerate and when to hold myself, etc.) - allowing me to achieve my objective.

Toshi is a mystery of the nature, a case-study for the anti-doping commission: he is the one who trained the least among the three of us and nonetheless the fastest among us. The only explanation we could find is in the Japanese delicacies that his wife Saki prepares him every day for lunch. Not sure what the algae in his lunch box contain and whether they would be allowed by the IAAF… The Sunday run at 4.30 pm in Lodi Garden with Toshi had become a nice ritual. And it is indeed a pity that we could not meet at the departure on Sunday - too many people - but it was nice to meet and hug each other, exhausted but happy, at the arrival…

A special thanks to Massi and Muna as well. Their dinner on Saturday night was not exactly what the ‘marathon runner manuals’ prescribe (and in fact I finished digesting it at the eighteenth kilometer the following morning), but it will be hard to find such a good friends wherever we’ll go. We will miss you.

But completed a challenge, we started immediately thinking to the next. Perhaps the Romaratona in March 2011?...

(Ah, I almost forgot, the timing: 1.39.18 J)

12 comments:

  1. What a lovely piece you have written -- I must say you do have a career in India Media!

    I hope we meet you in Rome or Fiji or Johannesburg.... cause we are still not sure about your final destination!!

    See you soon.

    Hugs,
    Muna

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  2. the orginal menu was PASTA AMATRICIANA but we nicely skip that for you...congrats, MAX

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  3. pasta amatriciana would have been digested at km 20!!!

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  4. ero sicura che avresti concluso la tua impresa... hai fatto amicizia con l'acido lattico nei giorni successivi o tutto sommato l'età toglie potenza ma mette resistenza?

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  5. bhe, un po' di gambe rigide le ho avute, ma tutto sommato molto ma molto meglio della settimana prima quando avevo fatto una prova generale (li ero proprio morto, e ho avuto acido lattico per tutta la settimana...)

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  6. Ciao Matteo,
    Io mi sono messo nel ballot per la NY marathon, novembre 2011. Fallo anche tu, che se ci pescano entrambi e' una figata. Altrimenti, settembre 2011 Citta' del Capo.
    Ciao e congratulazioni.
    emanuele

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  7. Congratulations Amigo! Very proud of you!!!

    Alejandro

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  8. Emanuele aveva previsto il tempo di 1.40! O conosce benissimo le tue qualità atletiche, o hai corso col cronometroin mano per accontentarlo.(1.39.18!!)Bravo Mattrunner.

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  9. Il mio cronometro e' stato Riccardo - un metronomo...

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  10. NY Marathon Nov. 2011... tempting...

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