All the races for the foreseeable future cancelled? No problem - just race around your back yard!
Malonno is the home of mountain running. There's been a mountain race here ever since 1964. But this is the March 2020 edition of the classic mountain race, Malonno FlettaTRAIL - like you've never seen it before!
Scroll down to the bottom of this blog post to watch. I hope you enjoy!
The sun
is rising up over the mountain tops. Ever so slowly, and then all at
once - the golden rays hit the earth. Birds sing overhead –
melodies full of joy at the awakening of this new day. Flowers
carpeting the forest floor stretch out their petals to feel the
warmth. The sky above is an endless rolling blue. Snow twinkles in
the sunlight on the mountain summits and there is a trickle of water
all around as winter melts and spring advances forward. This is a
paradise.
Except it's really not.
Instead we're stuck in one of those dystopian future films full of
doom. Just the setting isn't quite right. How can a place so
beautiful be enduring such grave times?
This is life in Italy.
This is life with the threat of the coronavirus lurking behind every
handshake, every hug, every kiss, every touch. This is life at least
one metre away from another human being. This is life inside lockdown.
It's March 12th
and it's over three weeks since the Coronavirus first arrived in
Italy. When we first got the news it was the week of the carnival
celebrations and it seems so ironic that a time that was supposed to
be full of joy and happiness was over shadowed with so much confusion
and anxiety. The virus first put eleven towns and villages in
Lombardy, the region around Milan, and Veneto in the red zone meaning
that a total of 55,000 people were in quarantine and told not to
leave their homes or towns for two weeks as the Italian authorities
tried to contain the spread of the virus. At the start here in
Malonno - schools, gyms, swimming pools and other public places were
shut and the bars were only allowed to open from 6:00 – 18:00 in a
bid to limit the crowding of people in public places.
Now over three weeks
on, things have drastically changed. In the beginning there were just
400 cases isolated to the northern region of the country. Now Italy
has over 12,000 cases and the whole country has been put inside the
red zone. The authorities have ordered us to all stay at home.
Everything is shut beside food shops and pharmacies and only one
person per family is permitted to enter these places. Any travel
throughout the country is strictly prohibited – the only exceptions
are on special request and have to be movements motivated by proven
work needs, situations of necessity or health. If you don't follow
these rules and your movements are deemed unlawful - you could face
up to 3 months of arrest, a fine of up to 260 euros and even between
1 and 12 years in prison. These are serious times and Italy is doing
all it can to halt this spread of this virus. But is it too late?
I remember a few months
ago here in Italy, I was teaching a class and a few children made a
joke about the coronavirus in China. I suppose back then we didn't
really think anything of it. It wasn't really anything to worry about
as we went about our daily lives as normal. Going to school, going to
work, going out to a restaurant with friends, going to a bar for your
breakfast, being able to shake hands, hug or kiss someone else. Maybe
we didn't see it coming but here we are - in lockdown just like
China.
It's true the virus is
only really fatal for old people and people with very weak immune
systems. But we all have to make these sacrifices to preserve life
and limit the spread and enormity of this problem. The hospitals are
overflowing. It's a crisis for the health system. There are numerous
campaigns here in Italy seeking donations from the public to provide
the hospitals with the materials they need such as masks to keep the
staff from contracting the virus.
There's a post on
Instagram that is trending. A young nurse facing this health
emergency writes that she's scared not of going grocery shopping –
she's scared to go to work. She's scared because the mask might not
fit her face well or she may have accidentally touched herself with
dirty gloves. Her message is that “We young people are not immune
to coronavirus, we can get sick too, or worse we can make you sick. I
have to go to work and do my part. You do yours. I ask you please.
Stay at home.” The hashtag #stiamoacasa (#weareathome) is trending
as people recognise that staying at home is the only way we can
combat the growing spread of this virus.
But it is not all doom
and gloom. Despite the distances we have to maintain between other
people, there is a unity as the nation and communities come together
to battle these times of crisis. In the last few days all over
Malonno, handmade banners with rainbows have appeared outside houses
with the words "andrà tutto bene" (it will all be okay) - a reminder to
people to maintain their hope in these times. We are still allowed to
go out for a walk or a run as long as we maintain the distances from
other people and it is heart warming to walk down the street and
receive something so simple as a smile or to exchange a few words
with a friend or stranger. The sun is shining and you can kind of
pretend that this crisis isn't happening... until you turn a corner
and see someone walking their dog with a mask covering their face and
gloves on their hands. This is the reality we are living in now but
it helps to try to remain positive.
For me I'm just so glad
I'm in lockdown in such a beautiful place here in the mountains in
Malonno. At least here I can still go into the woods and follow the
paths up into the mountains where I know I won't meet anyone and I
can still gain the headspace and moments of movement I crave in the
open air. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for
people in cities all across the country and for those who have
contracted the virus and have to self isolate for 40 days. I know I
am very lucky to live here – now more than ever.
And to think about the
impact that this virus has had on the up and coming mountain running
season.... who knows what will happen? We have to just take it as it
comes. The guys over at adidasTERREX made the difficult but wise
decision to cancel the #oneteam training camp scheduled for next week
in Fuerteventura and with all sporting events here in Italy prohibited
until the end of this lockdown on April 3rd – who knows
what will happen after that? Will we still be in lockdown or will
life go back to normal? Who knows?
I had planned to go
back to Wales for a few days in April to visit my family and then my
grandmother was going to come and stay with me in Malonno to get a
taste of the life I live here. Obviously none of this will be
happening now. The flights are all cancelled and I don't know when I
will see my family again. This makes me sad, of course it does. But I
am also so glad that the internet exists and we can keep in touch. It
helps to remain positive, so I'm using these strange times as a
chance to concentrate on my training. It's a bit like a training camp
but alone and with a strange eerie silence outside. I'm also using
the time to try to sharpen up my Italian skills - maybe becoming
properly fluent by April 3rd is a bit of a challenge but
who knows maybe my next blog post will be in Italian!?
When this crisis is
finally over and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, can
you imagine how amazing it will be to be able to once again go about
life as normal. To go shopping with the whole family, go to a bar
with some friends, go to school, go to work, get in the car and drive
to a nearby town for an ice cream just because you feel like it and
all the other things. If nothing else these hard times are teaching
us to appreciate the life we live. To appreciate what we had and what
we will have again. To appreciate the little moments where the light
shines in.
We are all making
sacrifices. We are all living these crazy disturbing times. But we are
all alive. What a wonderful gift that is. And so this morning I was inspired by a dandelion. It made me think... "what is my wish?" My
wish is that we all stay happy and healthy. If you feel alone in
these times just look up at the sky - look up to the stars. Someone
else, somewhere on this wonderful planet is looking at them too. We
are all connected and everything is going to be okay. "andrà tutto bene"
