Late 9am start. Showered/dressed, bib pinned, bags packed. Train to Malpensa post-marathon, hotel change – last night sleeps ‘cross from Milan’s Terminal 1.
Quiet walk thru Montanelli Public Gardens (city’s oldest Park), déjà vu mirror-moment. April last year: Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo. Birds spring-nesting/making their presence known, muddled sound of runner conversation. Did a dry run yesterday (walking off evening PASTA). No surprises – knew where to go/when to be there.
Bib shown, entry granted: Sector 7. Lot goes into marathoning international. Aside from registration/foreign language emails – medical certificates, applying for an Italian Federation ‘RunCard’, Visas (Brazil/Russia). They’re not all that way but Brazil, Italy, Russia, South Africa – jumped thru some Hula-sized loops. Learned to pace myself.
Little by little, bit by bit…one day, TODAY all comes together. Race day in MILAN, ITALY. Surrounded by centuries of architecture. All worth the effort 😊
Short heavy burst of water five minutes to Start. Short-sleeved natives noticeably shivered, muttered in Italian. Been a RAIN MAGNET this year. Cap, jacket, new gloves. Merino wool. Lesson learned from last Sunday’s COLD Indiana deluge. Il Duomo, Teatro alla Scala – first Half tour highlights.
Mentally plugged in. For me, that’s the battle. Easily noise distracted. Race horse requiring blinders. Inclement weather helps. Shifts focus. Day’s physical challenge? Cobblestone, SLICK & uneven. No slips, no falls welcome. Focus, take my time. Bloodied & bruised first mile in New Zealand, I can be taught.
Picked UP speed, mile 12. Third 10k my fastest (sub-9 min/pace, 30k timing mat). push, PUSH, push. Derailed the last 10k of course, hour-26 minutes. Yeah well, I’ll be ‘African’ next year. LOL>
Jonas. Runner tag-along Mile 23. Even young super heroes hit the wall, first marathon.
Shoulder tap. Walk, slow jog. Walk again, easy run. Quicker.
40k, two kilometers to go. Lost my run partner briefly (dude paced up too early). I’d see him again in 5 minutes. Bit rattled, outta breath. Gave him the universal ‘thumbs up’. Jog, canter, steady again – STRONG under the Banner. PRIMO! PRIMO! I shook my head AFFIRMATIVE. First marathon FINISH.
The look, the excitement. Any language, completely understood. CONGRATS man.
Metro to Centrale, train to Malpensa. Early start tomorrow. Goin’ HOME, Colorado HOME ❤️
Generali Milan Marathon | 07/04/2019
USA 676 – HAGA KEENAN
Arrival 42.195 4:24:32
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- Giardini Montanelli
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- COBBLESTONE slick
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- il Duomo 🕍
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- mile 23 tag
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- super hero FINISH
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- new European PR 🇮🇹
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- day/month/year
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- U-S-A ❤️
Milano Marathon
Tick, tick, tick. Last tourist stop. Marathon bib pick-up @ MiCo (Milano Convention Centre) via Metro. Easy navigation. Modern, well-marked/labelled (used both red & yellow lines).
HUGE marathon, nice-sized Expo. NYC & San Francisco bigger, but this one – soooo international, many countries represented. Like walking a row at the UN (United Nations). Runs represented from France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, UK, Poland – and host country Italy, of course.
FREE is for ME. Entered a drawing (& WON entry) to a far far-away December location but… still gotta get there. Fingers crossed I receive a lottery ‘thumbs-up’ from JAPAN, where ideally I’d tag Continent #7 over Thanksgiving break. So it’s Osaka or Abu Dhabi (no joke). Either way, all signs pointing to SEVEN CONTINENT completion in December 2019 (life goal, half-year early).
(Strangely, geographically, much the Middle East is technically Asia.)
Just 26.2 miles of cobblestone to go AND a big plate of PASTA. Pre-race carb-loading in ITALY — HIGHLY recommended. Tomorrow we run, tonite we EAT. Gracie mille, Milano. Molto bene!
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- MiCo bib pick-up
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- International Expo
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- tomorrow we RUN 🏃
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- tonite we EAT 🍴
Milan Running Festival
45 minutes standing-room only, Como to Milan. Not the ‘Eat Pray Love’ commuter experience to Switzerland days ago. Weekend train to the Region’s big City. Steady, reliable & clean – just less Euro-glamour ‘packed in’ standing with your luggage. Ticket on the Express train.
Como San Giovanni ➩ Seregno ➩ Monza ➩ Milano Centrale
Arrived Track 2. Station abuzz, reminiscent of New York’s Grand Central. Old electric lines & diesel still in the States, but day’s trek super déjà vu of my 9 year-work commute, New Haven to NYC.
Pulse, pulse, pulse. Shop sounds, travelers racing, speaker-barked announcements. So much ENERGY. Transportation hub of Northern Italy’s Lombardy region. Metro transfer/travel ‘round Milan or other dream train connections: Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples. Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Taxi’d to my hotel digs, beautiful Italian-owned building steps from Sunday’s Marathon Start. Bag drop, mental regroup. Milan Day. Just a few gotta/haftas on the list but ALL happening today.
Teatro alla Scala. da Vinci. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Milano’s il Duomo.
Mini-break before attempting [marathon] bib pick-up. Nutella crepe & an outdoor cappuccino (new day, new city, same Italian diet). Metro ticket in-hand. No stopping. Go, go, go!
Absolutely anything is possible…with Nutella ❤️
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- Como to Milan
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- Stazione Centrale
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- Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples
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- the great Leonardo
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- Opera House (1778)
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- Duomo di Milano
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- fifth largest Christian church (in the world) & the most statues
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- 6 million visitors per year
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- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
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- Prada, Versace, Vuitton
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- Viva Italia 🇮🇹
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- crepe & cappuccino
Stazione Centrale & Milan’s il Duomo
