Enrico Maso, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 5 – Strange advice
The next day Piero is still depressed. He tries to run but it’s useless; his legs and his head refuse to function. He sits down on a bench and stares at the ground. What now?
“……it is him. Hey there, lad!”
Piero looks up.
“What’s up? Are you still tired from yesterday?” A group of runners is standing in front of the bench. A man of about 70 is speaking to him. “You were in the mini marathon yesterday, weren’t you? Come on, up you get, lets do a short run to get our legs going.”
It’s the last thing Piero feels like doing but he can’t refuse, his pride won’t let him. So he gets up and joins the group. During the run the man introduces himself. He’s called Marco. He’s retired and has already run three marathons. He certainly appears to be the most experienced runner in the group and all the others seem to turn to him for help to improve.
In the days that follow, Piero makes a point of running with his new friend. Marco helps him with his programme and gives him a lot of advice, some of it rather strange.
“And remember,” he always says, “the most important thing is to run in the moment.”*
Piero isn’t sure what this means. “What do you mean? So many steps a minute? Is there a specific rule?”
At this Marco shakes his head and laughs loudly. “Running is not just rules and calculations. It’s not an exact science. Running in the moment is a philosophy. It’s something that can’t be explained with words and numbers. One day you’ll get it, just like that.”
“Sounds mad to me!” laughs Piero as they continue running together.