This is Catherine Bertone’s story about her first, wonderful marathon at age 44. It’s the Rio 2016 Olympic marathon.
Catherine Bertone is a 44 year-old runner from Italy. Amongst all the runners who have run the Olympic marathon at Rio 2016, she stands out because running is not her full-time job. In fact, Catherine is a pediatrician by day, and a long-distance runner by night. She runs because she just enjoys doing it, nothing else.
The fun fact about her is that the Olympic marathon at Rio 2016 has been her very first race as a ‘pro’ runner.
Her story is such an inspiring one. She earned the qualification at the Olympic games last April, when she’d run the Rotterdam marathon in 2 hours and 30 minutes, and arriving 4th. What an achievement for a casual runner, arriving before pro runners who do this as a full-time job!
The Italian athletics long-distance team didn’t lose a minute and asked her to join the team and go to Rio with them to run the Olympic marathon and represent Italy. She of course accepted the invitation, and there she was, at age 44, running in Brazil the marathon every long distance runner dreams of running!
“Running in a race remains essentially a fun thing to do for me. When I come home exhausted after a working day, I just need to put on my shoes and I feel like my legs get light again. Running is the only moment of my day that’s all mine. During that 90 minutes of running I keep the whole world out of my world. I also avoid to bring my mobile with me, unless I need to be available. When I have to train at 6am, because otherwise I wouldn’t have time for running during the day, I often wake up one hour before the alarm clock rings, because I’m afraid of not getting up on time for my training! A part from the relationships with the people I love, running it is what makes me feel better and excites me the most.”
There’s anything better that Catherine’s words to describe her dedication and passion. Catherine has completed the Olympic marathon and arrived 25th. When she crossed the finish line, she leaped and danced as if she won a medal!