Sunday morning, the alarm sounds merciless despite the public holiday but the mood is not to pre-employment, the blind date ... in all directions is not competitive with the (pious desire of the organizer), which gives the title to the post, which was discovered accidentally by his friend Stephen. The weather conditions are not too exciting, right from the night before the snow continued to fall but not abundant but constant the flyer reads: "the race will take place with any weather condition." O ach fear a Pisan-style epilogue is averted.
bag of coffee and prepare to weather a look via the PC confirms that even in Fornovo Berceto and points of departure and arrival Siberia is at home, while a glance at the bed just left his wife confirms that pretends deep coma to escape the fateful question ... " that you come from?"
Roads initially to the limits of practicality, then the situation improves, and in about half an hour Fornovo where I find myself in a completely white landscape and still the only forms of life are a handful of colorful masochistic (in theme with the name of the event) that trample all eager to prove to people that the Act 180 continues to bear fruit, in the Town Hall gathering place of the inscriptions on the Environment is the classic pre-race, the usual suspects in abstinence from running events, time passes in between fun memories of last season and plans for the future as the city policeman assigned to public phones with expression stunned disbelief as his colleagues, warning that the race start.
And here we are at the start, the snow still falling and will accompany us throughout the race, you start in a tight group, the risk of falls is high but the air is just that a trip, change pitch just to get people to say goodbye, it slows down to join someone else and so on, the sound of footsteps is covered by happiness and shouting with laughter, the laughter slowly and inexorably fall and even the chatter , not a collective attack of melancholy ... the cause is clearly visible in the picture above.
This was to be the day long, but I think I found a good alternative, about thirty miles without rest, the deadly attack, the first goal that I ask myself is: not even one meter step! The group quickly and shelling as usual, you find yourself eye contact with "trunks" known, the silence is broken only by the our breath, the sound of footsteps is completely muffled by the snow except at times when stamp their feet firmly on the ground trying to regain traction, it adds to the difficulty of the climb is the loss of effectiveness of the thrust due to the bottom very slippery, the expenditure energy increases, often proceed in a zigzag look of the fund which will provide a better grip, following the footsteps of the group's head. Fatigue is brutal but the landscape is fabulous, every time I leave the visor of the cap from the snow, the first light brow approffitta to catch my breath, though the climb was tiring hours the risk of falling at every step, but it is already time scale, a new climb up to now are failed to meet the goal, now that we are at a higher altitude, the presence of ice is more common and more difficult then finally push the second long descent, I dare a little, bend almost any skid but a fun one, breath the icy air of his lungs trying to lift his legs, a fantastic time, I can not help but throw in a scream "style Beppe" (I'll explain another day), energy storage for the final climb, five miles of hard real with legs already tested, it seems never end also because the location is perfectly unknown to me, then finally a small label with black lettering indicates the finish line, a distance of bob down and finally under the inflatable, very satisfied, not so much of the time (just under 2:45 seventh overall), but the response to fatigue, especially on the part of the knee for no apparent reason lately I have created several problems. Beautiful pictures of group travel with its neighbors, (I hope to have them), highlight my hat with ice stalactites which came down from the visor and beard completely frozen mythical Abdellah, while the rest involved the kindest shivered from us!
hot shower and after the third time in front of a nice plate of pasta and a Parmesan bell'assaggio, the group is back together with your legs under the table, now the effort is already a distant memory, si commenta l'impresa appena compiuta in attesa del pullman che ci riporterà a Fornovo, qualche inconveniente durante questa fase ma senza alcuna vena polemica, anzi ha aggiunto divertimento a divertimento!
Chiudo con i ringraziamenti strameritati ai volontari ai ristori lungo il percorso, anche a quelli che mi hanno offerto un thè a 130° ed i complimenti agli organizzatori che con un costo di iscrizione di soli 7 euro ci hanno fatto trascorrere una giornata spettacolare, garantendo lo svolgimento della manifestazione nonostante le oggettive difficoltà, con servizi degni di manifestazioni ben più titolate, vedi trasporto borse, docce calde e pasta party con...possibilità di bis ed infine pullman per il ritorno!
Nella foto in basso, il paesaggio visto dagli spogliatoi.
Ah dimenticavo: questa è stata la mia prima gara corsa co... anzi no! Questo merita un post a parte che arriverà presto!
Buone corse!
