RUNNING IN MILAN

Every time I start to write some posts to sum up things I cannot believe how fast time goes… and now happens the same.

September is finishing, Summer officially ended, and we are already in Fall. Yes, today is the first day of Fall! For me it is hard to realize that it has been almost 5 months I have spent in Milan, in Italy.

I remember my very first day when I arrived here in May, my travel to apartment, my visit at agency. Everything seemed to be new and fresh I was excited and thrilled what the city will bring me following weeks (months!). I asked myself who am I going to meet, how is it going to be with jobs.

Even though I had been in Milan earlier, 4 years ago, the city has changed a lot. It seemed to be a difference place for me – buzzing and with lots of noticeable changes. I was shocked with its recent progress!

In terms of running, I needed to take easy and first week of May was not training as I suffered for peroneal tendonitis (tendinitis) [inflammation of the peroneal tendons located on the outside of ankle] so I needed to slow down with workouts. Not only my injury but also the memory from past of running in Milan put me off a bit, I was skeptic if I would manage to have good days for running. I had the picture of crowded city, with not many parks and areas to run…

But, luckily soon I got recovered and second week I was able to start first training in Milan. Pain and injury was gone, so I decided to begin new chapter and find my own way to like it here. Now I can say,
I succeeded, you can run and enjoy it in Milan, definitely!

I found new places, new routes also participated in 2 races here! One for 10 km and another half-marathon (in Monza – located 30km Northeast of Milan)

Below you can see some of the places and areas I discovered that I can recommend for running:

• Porta Genova and Parco Sempione 
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Porta Genova has changed a lot since I was here last time 4 years ago! Now it is important landmark on the map of Milan, new and modern, looks great during the day, but for me even better during the night or early mornings when it is still dark, but it is lighten up with lights 😉

Parco Sempione is obviously a must to visit not only for runners but also for everyone who visits Milan. I think It is the most famous spot in the city for outdoors activities, many runner, cyclists love this place. (Just be careful with bloody mosquitoes which can ruin pleasure during summer nights 😉

• Porta Genova – Duomo – Parco Sempione 
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I discovered this route myself and I think it is one of the best way to sightsee the city, cruising through the city center, almost without any traffic (especially in the mornings!). Simply, run to Porta Genova, take an overpass to Porto Nuova and continue underneath little bridge, you will be able to run through beautiful street San Marco that brings you to legendary Brera district, La Scala and Duomo. From there you should pass by PIAZZA MERCATO and head towards Castello Sempione (and make another loop around the Park)!

Simply great route to begin your day, with lots of history included! 😊

• Parco Nord 
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Are you looking for another long run destination? I needed to find some ‘BIG, GREEN, SPOT’ on the map – that was my thought when I was searching on map new area for long weekend runs. And I got it!

Parco Nord – as name suggests is located in North Milan. There is lots of space to discover and get lost between numerous paths. There are also little hills, and streams, so you should not get bored. On top of this I spotted quite enough water fountains in park, so you do not need to worry about carrying extra bottles of water.

• Naviglio Martesana 
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I found it accidentally looking at Google Maps and I would really recommend it for speed trainings. This is the area I made most of my interval workouts. This is a pedestrian path running for almost 24 miles along the Naviglio Maresana (river), connecting Milan with the Adda river. One can certainly do any portion of the 24 miles, especially since the path starts in central Milan. It Is also very popular among the runners training for Marathons in Milan. Note that the Naviglio Martesana runs parallel to the M2 line, which makes it easy to run one way and hop the train back.

On top of this I managed to run not only in Milan but also in other cities, thanks to my job and travels.

• ROMA – Always pretty and stunning (city 😉 )  
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• CARPI – little town in mid Italy
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  (typo with bike/run 😉 )
• MARCHE – beautiful landscapes and valleys
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• UMBRIA – hills and tiny streets make it lovely and hard! 😉 
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• TOSKANY – not the longest run but at least I marked it with my running shoe! 
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• VENICE – morning jog around canals, and watching sunrise over the bridge will stay in my memory 😉
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• CALABRIA – one of the best experience for me, I think it was time I really needed this calm, Italian villages surrounded with hills and nothing else, literally NOTHING endomondowp type=’workout’ workout_id=’1190564705′ ]

Whoops! Seems like I can write and write about running all the time…
In the next post you will get know about my races I participated while I was here – 10km and half-marathon… Both successful with PB’s! 😉

#happy weekend