Omnia vincit Amor
Omnia vincit Amor
Love conquers all
Veronica ran her first Passatore in May 2013, together with her friends Tamara, Massimiliano and Gabriele.
Being at the start of the “world’s most beautiful race” was already a great victory for Veronica on its own who, in order to be able to race the Passatore she had already won a challenge with herself by changing the relationship with her body and food and learning how to work her mind to reach her objectives by achieving the proper weight necessary to front up to the a very challenging race that was and which over time thanks to a race which undertaken in a healthy manner and with the support of medical professionals would free her forever from the medication for her anxiety and swings of mood.
Veronica had begun to run a couple of years before as an after work diversion to unload her anxiety and anger, to keep fit and to spend quality time with her father since they ran together. Step by step the metre became kilometres and so was born her true passion and the race became the driving force for her life.
Without any thought of record times or speed Veronica concentrated on the kilometers that gave her joy and began non competitive racing followed by competitive races until she started her first marathon in Florence in 2012.
In May of that same year from the heart of “her” Florence began the 100km del Passatore. Until then Veronica had heard about it as a superhuman undertaking, the greatest challenge for every marathon runner and, that Saturday as she walked around Via dei Calzaiuoli in the city centre to feel the atmosphere of the start she saw in the front row the smiling Giorgio Calcaterra. Her gaze crossed that of Giorgio for an instant and the feeling of serenity of the moment passed on to her was so strong that she felt tears of joy streaming from her eyes, for no apparent reason.
Veronica decided to run the Passatore. In that instant of the decision every cell of her body knew that it was ready to conquer her fears and she knew that she was finally free of the assistance of medication. She put on the weight needed for such a tough trial and, always with the help of a specialist doctor and all the support necessary she slowly began to reduce the medication for anxiety and mood swings until she was finally able to cope without them.
It snowed in the last week of May 2013 on the Passo della Colla. Veronica started with her friend Tamara and their two friends, Massimiliano and Gabriele. The long course was an excellent opportunity to get to know each other better, to talk of their passions in common, such as that for the singer Vasco Rossi, of their opposing football trams and to tell the stories of their lives and the reasons behind an important sporting commitment such as that of the ultra marathon. In fact, Massimiliano ran the Passatore in memory of his beloved father who had gone beyond in 2010, Veronica ran to regain her health, and was unhappy that her boyfriend had not gone to encourage her at the start nor to wait for her at the Colla where she decided to stop in any case because she was still not completely recovered physically.
Veronica and Tamara reached the Passo della Colla and stopped there. Massimiliano and Gabriele at his third Passatore went on to the finish. Before leaving Veronica and Tamara the two young men raised the arms of the ladies and declared them ultra marathon runners since they had completed a large part of the race! A gesture that left its mark.
On the way home Veronica made another very important decision for her rebirth, to run the Pistoia-Abetone race on her own strength and totally free of medication. And so she did exactly a month later with the help of her doctor.
Veronica saw Massimiliano again at the Mugello Marathon and the Florence Marathon. On his part, Massimiliano waited patiently for matters to move in his favour because he liked Veronica a lot. When Veronica was free once more at the end of 2013 Massimiliano lost no time and began to court her until they became a couple in March.
In May 2014 Veronica and Massimiliano raced their first Passatore “together” and at the finish line at 4.00am an act of magic occurred. After 14 hours 17 minutes and 51 seconds of racing and only two months as a couple Massimiliano asked Veronica to marry him. Amongst the surprise, emotion and the confusion of the finishing line at the end of the race Veronica said yes. With them were also Tamara and Gabriele who had finished her first Passatore. The joy was uncontrollable.
IN 2015 only Massimiliano ran the Passatore because Veronica was injured, This year both Veronica and Massimiliano will be at the Passatore shortly before their marriage on July 16, 2016, the anniversary of Massimiliano father’s birthday who, we would like to believe, had given a huge contribution in this meeting of soul mates.
Veronica and Massimiliano want the wedding rings to be identical and yes, they will have engraved on them the symbol of the Passatore that gave them joy and transformed their lives for the best.
“The Passatore gives you something that cannot be explained in words,” says Veronica, “And the emotions from the stars when you run at night, alone with yourself and at the same time running with many other people, each with his or her own story”.
Thank you Veronica for having allowed us to tell your extraordinary story and that of Massimiliano!
We will be waiting for you at the finish line to celebrate with you.
One Hundred Kilometres of the Passatore
