It’s marathon day in Porto San Giorgio!! I had no idea!

By the time I arrived at the finish line (unlike the NYC Marathon, there was easy access to pretty much wherever you wanted!) the time clock read 2:32 and the first 3 male runners had already come in. I hung around the sidelines, which were only about 1 or 2 people deep and eventually was up at the railing since people came and went.

For the first 10 minutes, all I heard was “Glory Days” on a loop. It was as if Bruce was the only thing they had to play! Not that I minded, but I would imagine the runners needed a bit more diversity to make those last few hundred feet really count! Eventually the songs changed but all of them were in English. Maybe it’s more motivational, who knows.

Keep in mind I know no one in this town especially anyone running today. Yet I found myself getting a bit emotional. I don’t know what it is about marathons! Or maybe it’s just the overall idea of people working hard toward a goal and seeing it come to fruition.  Gets me every time! 

But I clapped for every runner that passed me. (And I think I secretly was waiting for someone with USA written on his/her shirt to go by. ) More than I can say for some other people on the sidelines.

And there were even the really stellar citizens enjoying a cigarette and blowing the smoke toward the running path. Just what a runner wants as he’s finishing 26.2 long miles! To give the girl credit, she did realize and when a runner went by, she turned her head the other direction. I still shook my head.

I’m not sure if this is town planning or Italian planning, but someone had the brilliant idea of having the podium just before the finish line off to the side. So when there were photo ops, it got a bit crowded. This is added to the layout of the actual finish. They put down a red carpet (which was cute) but then had advertisements lining it forcing runners to stay on the narrow path. So when the podium got crowded, so did the last 6 feet of the run. At one point if physically waved my hand (as if people noticed) to get people to move over – a runner was just feet away!! 

I’m not sure how many runners were in the race. But it was small enough that single runners were filing in up until hour 4. And the announcer was able to read every bib number and find the corresponding name on the list so he can cheer them on as they crossed the finish line. Can’t say I’m surprised by that though. I imagine the course goes into other towns because I don’t think you can possibly find 26.2 miles even looping Porto San Giorgio 5 times!!  (I’ll have to do some research)

One of the highlights was watching an older runner sprint to the finish. And it turns out he got an award for being in every marathon the town has hosted. Which from what I understood, was 30! Pretty impressive.

I stayed as long as I could before having to go back to the house for lunch because no one should cross any marathon finish line without some sort of recognition. And I wasn’t exactly leaving the runners in the enthusiastic hands of the citizens of Porto San Giorgio. However, after hearing “Eye of the Tiger” I felt better about it.  And I walked away as the theme song of Rocky IV played. It put a little bounce in my step.

Overall, I had a nice weekend in Porto San Giorgio. I think that’s the first time I can say that about a full weekend here! Saturday I relaxed on the beach and read, got to “go out” on Saturday night and enjoyed more of the town’s festival Sunday evening after the marathon and some teaching. To define “go out”, I mean found a place that had a table I can read at while having a couple of glasses of wine and dessert. That’s pretty much the extent of my night. But it ended with some pretty spectacular fireworks – I’ll take it!

The band that capped off the evening, That’s Amore Swing Band, was very entertaining! I struck up conversation with the bandleader’s mother and turns how he and his wife lived in Manhattan for 8 years. I had to know if he spoke English because his diction when he sang was too perfect. I exchanged contact information with his wife and we’re hopeful we can meet up either before I leave or when they visit the city this summer.  And as if the band knew I was there, ended with “New York, New York”. I headed home with a pretty big smile on my face!