I HAVE A 100 IN THE HEART

I have a 100 in my heart, it arrived a few years ago, settled in there and then started from there and entered the whole body.

Unofficially the flea falls in the ear in September 2009 after half of Bergamo, another falls in Reggio 2011 when I meet Paolo (we meet at 35 ° km when we both decide to walk and chatter comes out of the Passatore).

Officially it all starts in November 2012, officially the head breaks out in November 2012. It is a moment and tac I am enrolled in the 100km of the Passatore, from then on it will be called the Unmentionable (as defined by my friend Paolo, the first to know) because I registered in secret, because I don’t know if I will even be able to prepare myself and if once I start I will never manage to arrive … and because it is a race that deserves respect. I wanted it because as I was told, “once in a lifetime a 100 is to be done” and “to know what it feels like you just have to try” … very true.

From November onwards, in every run made there will be a pinch of Passatore, the preparation is demanding in particular the last few months, also because there is daily life that you cannot always leave at home when you go out running. I do not follow specific tables, because my spirit in this sense is a little naive, obviously I am informed because naif does not mean to want to hurt and do things without meaning … my idea for each corset is to have fun and get on my legs, and the next day walk like the day before. So I can enjoy every cm course, so I love running.

Finally comes the much dreamed day of departure.

With my backpack I leave by train for Florence … YEAAAAA finally. Arrival and the weather is confirmed, thunderstorms thunderstorms … well it does nothing so much I can swim J Pectoral retreat (agitation, tension and happiness … calm calm) and then I meet with my friend Paolo and his group. Off to eat a nice plate of pasta and then get ready. Preparation of the bags with attached agitation that causes the bags to open and close 100 times (no more because we are at 100 J), in the end I don’t understand anything anymore and I hope to remember where I put things and to have distributed them in the right way … luckily I only have two bags !! We deliver the bags zizzagando between pools, competitors and tourists. Well there we are and in a moment we are ready to leave, already almost soaked.

Off we go (you know you leave but you don’t know if you arrive) … “We go there !!!”. Show start in the center of Florence, and almost without realizing it, the climb to Fiesole begins. I imagined it to be less steep, but okay, calmly without exaggerating you go up between a chat and another, between one panorama and another. Paolo is always close to me and will be until the end, his great spirit because without me he would surely have arrived earlier, and instead I would have surely arrived later without him.

Arrived at the first summit and off we descend slowly towards San Lorenzo between water and glimpses of a beautiful sun, the same that will be inside us along the long night (J).

Well here is San Lorenzo, go up the Passo della Colla, slowly run a little while walking, because even if there is still a long way to go. My goal is to get to the top and then see how I will be and decide … even if I may have already decided … go ahead.

We get to the top of the pass, fog, cold and dark, running away to change, I lose a lot of time (at least 30 minutes and Paolo patient waits for me), I’m slow to change but I have to change … too much water, Faenza is far away and the night is long. Frozen hands and I also struggle to get my shoes back on, luckily there is hot broth at the refreshment point (MYTHICAL).

It starts again and down, we reach the 55th km and I remain silent for the next 5km … I am approaching my maximum mileage, that is 60km …. I have never gone. After this, the head returns calm. The legs go despite sleep and fatigue, strange fatigue never felt like this … fatigue that you know you are there but you don’t feel anymore, because you are too tired to feel J. But the legs keep going … blessed them. At half past two in the morning I say to Paolo “… I promise you I will run but now I close my eyes I sleep a little”, that laughing luck that I wake up thanks to the coffee that we find in the refreshment points and above all thanks to the laughter we still do and to the cantatine (see “there are two crocodiles”). During the night then I try to keep my friends who are at home awake, I call them one by one and I say “wake up you are running also youiiii” … thinking about them supports me in this long night. On the other hand they have always supported and endured me in these months of preparation, as in all these years J I think that without them I would never have gotten there.

Well, meanwhile the water continues to fall. The sensation of running for hours under water immersed in pesto oxen is indescribable. But we go on. A bit of ups and downs and Faenza is never seen. A couple of mental crisette overcome thanks to Paolo and viaaaa … the last one to be at 10km from the finish … it is possible that after 90km you say “but 10km is a lot of cabbage !!!!” hahaha thinking it now makes me laugh … but the last 10 are really long. From 95 onwards I also looked at the meters, I repeated the following km, and finally you can see Faenza 2km from the arrival and in the middle of the roundabout here is Mr. Pasatore looking at us, “hello hello Passatore” my words were not exactly these but the thought yes. The last km seems to fly and fly, my heart flies high and light, happy because I did it because we did it. End … or rather start and go on.

Too bad it’s over, because in “my world” and in the jog I’m happy and I’m fine … that’s why I like long runs, because the more time I spend running, the more time I live in “my world” J

Many other thoughts, emotions and pains have passed in this 100km, many indescribable, for this reason it is said that to know what it feels like you have to try … and then, for everyone it will surely be completely different.

Thanks to Paolo for accompanying me, thanks to my friends for being there, thanks to Paolo’s companions for hosting me for the change on top of the Colla, thanks to the Passatore, thanks to the other competitors, thanks to the very good organizers, thanks to all the volunteers in particular thanks to the volunteers of the refreshment points that pampered us SPECTACULAR

INFINITE THANKS FOR THIS ADVENTURE.

Nella Mazzoleni