Half Marathon at Lago di Chiusi

Most of you probably know that I am training for the Florence Marathon in November. Today, as part of that training, and also just because it was a fun thing to do, three of us ran a half marathon (21 km) at Lago di Chiusi (the lake at Chiusi, in Tuscany)

It was a gorgeous day, sunny, warm but not hot, breezy.

My running day started at 7:30 when I met Luca and Emmanuele at the middle school parking lot. We all arrived at exactly 7:30, prompting comments that we were like the Swiss.

Luca and Emmanuele immediately started arguing (good naturedly) over the best way to get there. Emmanuele had already checked both his car's GPS and the one on his phone. Luca was pulling from his knowledge of back roads he uses for cycling. All roads may lead to Rome, but getting anywhere at all from Todi, even Rome, requires going out of your way first. In the end we took all sorts of back roads and farm lanes, but we did get to the race on time.

The race was very well organized. They had plenty of volunteers directing traffic, check-in was quick and smooth, and the race started right on time.

This was the start and finish area. If anyone looks tired, that is because I took these pictures after the race.



















Yes, that is the lake in the background. Here is the panoramic view from the pier.


















Doesn't that look like something impressive to run around? What you need to realize is that we didn't just run a footpath at the lake's edge. The entire area inside our circumnavigation was about three times the area of the lake itself.

Let me point out a spot across the lake. Do you see this white road winding up the distant hill?




I got to see it up close. That climb starts at the 8 km mark and is continuously uphill for 2 km to that town in the hilltop. We gained 400 feet in altitude on a gravel road with the wind in our face (that pleasant breeze was rather unpleasant at that point). It felt like one of those dreams where you are running in waist-deep mud and don't actually go anywhere. For those of you who have run the Peachtree, Heart Attack Hill is not as steep, is on a nicely-paved road, and is only 150 feet high. I am not ashamed to admit that I walked parts of it so I would not be wiped out for the rest of the race.

It almost turned out to be a great race for me, but this really was just a training run on top of my heaviest training week yet: 7 km Monday, 14 km Wednesday, 12 km Thursday, and a tough 18 km workout on the track Friday. One day was really not enough recovery time for a race, and it showed when my legs started twinging around 15 km into the race. From that point I had to moderate my pace--no finish time is worth an overtraining injury--and in the last two km my left leg was cramping badly enough that I had to only jog with walking breaks to keep things stretched out. It was a pity because from a cardiovascular standpoint I was in great shape and ready to keep attacking the course.

Final time: 1:39:15, which puts me well ahead of pace for my 3:30 marathon goal. Doubly so since the course was much more challenging than the Florence marathon will be, and triply since I will actually be rested for the marathon.

Now back to the pictures. Here is Emmanuele checking the results board:




And here is Luca examining his prize bag for his second-place age group finish:




And the two of them walking away from the refreshment table:




Back in Todi the family examined the contents of the race bag with our usual delight. Two half-bottles of wine, a Gatorade knock-off, a bag of pasta, a can of tomatoes, a can of olives, a tin of tuna, a tin of sardines, and a tourist map of Chiusi and nearby towns. And yes, that is Ashley with her strawberry blond curls in the background.




Michael