Pisa Mezza Maritona!

"Pisa is not worth a day trip"

This was the advice I'd gotten from many people about the city known for this tower which, if you grew up in the 80's, reminds you of a V-8 commercial. There has to be some excuse to go here for a little bit... just to see the tower... think... think...

Aha!

I'll con a bunch of my friends into getting up at 5:30 am to run a half marathon through the tiny city! That'll be easy! Actually, after telling people about my fabulous time at the Bologna mezza martitona, it was easy to build enthusiasm.

And, I'll get a friend with a car to sweeten the pot! Enter Henrik, the German who came here from Austria (look at a map) so he was able to bring his VW station wagon and transport 4 ladies (this took an incredible amount of persuasion on my part, let me tell you...) .

Now, as a side note- Italy has rules for everything. To participate in a sport or join a gym, you need a note from a doctor saying you probably won't drop dead. If you want to compete in a sport, you need an exam from an official medical office, along with a urine test and an cardiovascular exam to say that you REALLY probably won't drop dead. Is a half marathon really competitive? According to the people we called a few weeks ago, it's not. According the the man in charge of the event, indeed it is. So some of us had the insufficient certifications and did not know if we'd have the chance to run legitimately. Luckily, when we got there, the staffers there didn't care if we had our proper certificates and gave us our numbers! Success! Our friend who had come the day before wasn't so lucky as he had to face the race official... but two blondes pleading our cases couldnt' have hurt our cause.

Pop! After incomprehensible italian announcements from a fuzzy loudspeaker, the gun sounded and just under 1,000 people set off down a straight tree lined road away from the park and towards the city.

An old stone wall surrounded the city and as we ran in under one of the gates, we were greeted by a baptismal, a church, and one tower most leaning! The rest of the city passed by in a few more kilometers. I ran with two lovely ladies, Kristen and Helena, and enjoyed my role as unofficial cheerleader. It was my first experience of running with an Ipod and I have to say I rather enjoyed it... not sure the girlies enjoyed being serenaded by my Bon Jovi rendition... but we really WERE both halfway there and livin' on a prayer!

After we had no more city to run through, the course took us across the river and through some lovely countryside. We passed some roadside stands, people on horseback, and magnificent views of forests, vineyards, and country homes. The end of the course brought us back to the straight road, which seemed much longer after 10 miles had passed. We crossed the finish line together in 2 hours, 1 minute and ten seconds. Some of our friends were already there waiting for us!

Afterwards, we enjoyed the free cookies, cakes, pasta (!), and fruit and collected our reward: a running outfit with shorts and a tank top with the name of the event. Our medals bear an impression of the leaning tower on the reverse side.

The weather this day was so lovely that we spent the next few hours lounging in front of the tower on the grass. Without a doubt, the best part of this was watching everyone setting up their pictures- trying to use perspective to look as thought they're holding up or pushing down the tower!

Of course, we were above such behavior...