Mombaruzzo, Italy

As the girls ventured out for their daily exercise, Hugh and I took advantage of another sleep in. I’m saving my legs for the run on Sunday, whilst Kate is tapering off. A quick brekky with the girls in the garden then off to Turin to register for our 10km run on Sunday. An hour and half later we arrived at a retail foodie place called Eataly, which houses a market type atmosphere ranging all manner of typical Italian fare and a wine/beer cellar over 2 floors. We were all in heaven. A couple of hours later we had eaten lunch, bought a couple of snacks and headed to the Games Centre. Upon arrival it seemed pretty straight forward, the crowd was minimal so Registration was bound be done in 5 minutes……how wrong we were. First of all we were in the wrong queue so after 5 minutes we found the correct desk and begun the Registration process. First things first, we were asked if we had a medical certificate, ummmm No. First mistake, we hadn’t even started and we were whisked away to another desk to sign up for a time to be taken to a medical centre to get so called medical certificate, a trip that we were told would be a 2 hour return drive. The bus was leaving in 20 minutes so all good, until we got bumped from that bus and had to wait another 30 minutes which turned into an hour before the next bus was ready. This is commonly known as Italian time. At this point Hugh, Sal and Maddy left Kate and I to get on with Registration whilst they explored Turin. Our plan was to meet back at Registration at 5.30pm. Rachael and Kate’s Afternoon? Finally our bus arrived at 4.45pm, only 1.5 hours after our scheduled time. 6 of us were whisked away to an unknown destination, our lives now in the hands of the bus driver. 20 minutes into our trip it became very evident that our driver had no idea where he was or how to get to where we were going. The numerous stops to ask strangers for directions, even in Italian, was a dead giveaway. 35 minutes later we finally arrived at the medical centre, filled in some paperwork, paid €50, gave a urine sample, then waited as each of us went through the check up process. Kate was first and proceeded with ease, Medical certificate in hand. I was to follow and became aware that my time on the exercise bike in the ECG room was taking longer than Kate’s. A few more people came in to look at the graph and suddenly I’m not so sure I’ll be running. A few questions later, they explained I had an extra systolic in my graph which is usually the result of stress, something I definitely have not felt for the past 6 weeks. I was eventually given the go ahead to run, provided I had an ECG upon my return home, and put the stress down to lifting my 25kg luggage up and down the stairs of Europe. Everyone was bundled back into the bus and taken back to Registration, which in the end did take only 5 minutes. Back pack in hand, official lanyard with photo around neck, T-Shirt collected and after 5 hours we were officially done. After endless text messages to Maddy we finally met up again at 7pm and headed back home for a dinner that was booked for 8pm but was not devoured until 9pm!! Hugh, Sal and Maddy,s Afternoon. We left Rachael & Kate at 2.30 and headed into the centro storica to check it out. Me, I just wander around, avoiding shops and beggars…Sal & Maddy go into every shop and food store, checking out everything while I loiter out the front. I should have put my hat on the ground…might have earned a Euro or two?! Up the main Piazza, thru a few streets and into Mole Antonelliana. The Mole Antonelliana is a major landmark building in Turin, and is named for the architect who built it, Alessandro Antonelli. A ‘mole’ is a building of monumental proportions, and this structure is certainly big. We took the lift to the top for some great views of Turin, all the while wondering how the girls were going. At about 5pm we decided to head back to get them when we get the txt message ” bus driver lost, haven’t got to clinic yet”. Over 2 hours and they hadn’t even gone to the medic…..bloody hell! Many txt and a glass of wine later, we finally meet up back at registration, but not before Maddy had run into her sister-in-law (as you do!) who tells her that simply by signing a medical certificate waiver, her friend avoided all the hassles, and was registered in 5 minutes. Deep breaths all round. Why do the Italians not share this information?? It dawned upon us at dinner that we did not have any bib numbers or timing chips for the race, oh dear, Registration is still not complete. To be continued tomorrow……