In his office in New York, Marco Lastrico retains all 19 medals of racing marathons. Among these, nine have a special meaning: they are those conquered in the last nine editions of the New York Marathon. On Sunday, November 1st, it aims to add a tenth, reaching the finish of its twentieth marathon.
“It is a milestone that makes me particularly proud, especially because it represents a path made of passion, discipline and continuity. Ten years are so many, and being able to maintain the same enthusiasm is perhaps the greatest satisfaction”.
Lastrico is CEO and Partner of Barabino & Partners USA, part of Excellera Advisory Group, where he leads the American activities of the strategic consultancy and communication company, alongside Italian and international companies in their reputation and positioning challenges. He has lived in New York for twelve years, the city in which he has built an important part of his career and family life and where he discovered a passion that today is part of his daily life.
Everything began with his first work trip to New York, where his company was considering opening his own office. After a past in competitive football, Lastrico was struck by the number of people running through the streets and parks of the city. He decided to try him too, initially to explore it. The first race was ten kilometers in Central Park. Then came the final transfer and, in 2016, the first marathon in New York. Since then he has raced them all, with the only pause of 2020, when the race was canceled due to the pandemic.
“I arrived in the United States 12 years ago and New York became the city where I built a fundamental part of my life, both professional and personal. It is the city where my children were born.”.
This year the marathon celebrates the fifty years of the journey through the five boroughs, introduced in 1976. From Staten Island, you pass through Brooklyn and Queens, cross Manhattan and the Bronx and head back to Manhattan, to the finish line in Central Park. For Lastrico are “five different souls of the city”, with an audience that considers unique in the world. Every participation is also an opportunity to find places, people and memories of his American life.
«New York is a city that continually tests you. It offers you incredible opportunities, but it also asks you a lot. At the bottom is a bit like a marathon: you have to learn how to manage energies and not to give up in difficult times”.
The most challenging part, however, arrives long before the race. Preparing a marathon means training five or six days a week, with lengths from 27 to 32 kilometers, about three hours running, and finding time between work and family. It is even harder when preparing a spring marathon: training falls in winter, comes out of the house at five or six in the morning, in the dark, with cold and sometimes snow.
“The first thing I learned is that there are no shortcuts. A marathon does not improvise: the result is the consequence of months of preparation, training and sacrifices”.
The same Lastric discipline applies it to work. For almost twenty years he has been involved in strategic communication and supports Italian and international companies in the construction of reputation and growth paths. As in the race, they serve preparation, a clear strategy and the ability to adapt to the unexpected without losing sight of the goal.
“In our sector we often talk about immediate results, but the reputation of a company is not built with a sprint. It takes time, consistency and credibility. Exactly how to prepare a marathon».
“Another thing that the race taught me is the value of people. The marathon is an apparently individual sport, but behind every goal there are so many people. In work this is even more evident: the most important results are always built together with a team. »
Running is also his way of regaining balance. It trains without phone and without music, leaving room for thoughts and ideas. Such a challenging passion also requires the support of the closest people.
“When you prepare a marathon, especially in the most intense months, you are not the only one making sacrifices. The support of the family is indispensable, for this reason every goal is also them”.
Sunday the day will begin before sunrise: ferry to Staten Island, transfer to departure, a long wait before reaching the Verrazzano bridge. Then the anthem, the gunshot and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” will accompany the first steps of tens of thousands of runners.
It is also the time when it is easier to make mistakes. Enthusiasm can drive too fast and consume energies that will serve for bridges, for First Avenue and for the last kilometers in Central Park. To those who run New York for the first time, Lastrico recommends to enjoy the experience.
“And then, sometimes, look up from the chronometer and look around: the public, the neighborhoods, the atmosphere. These are the things that make New York special and that remain within you even after finishing the finish line.”.
Three weeks ago he also ran the Chicago marathon, but Sunday Lastrico wants to have fun. The chronometer, this time, counts less than the meaning of a milestone built in ten years.
As for the future, he has already made a promise to the family. “I have a numerical goal, that my family knows, to which I promised I would stop. I’m not even halfway.”.
He knows well what happens in the last kilometers of a marathon: he ends up curse the day in which he enrolled. Then you cut the finish line, the satisfaction cancels the tiredness and immediately you want to start again.
“Every marathon is a story to itself. Even after so many races, when you are on the starting line, you know that 42 kilometers await you in which everything can happen. And this is exactly what keeps fascinated me».
On Sunday, when the gunshot will kick off the New York Marathon, Marco Lastrico will once again be among thousands of runners ready to test themselves. Nineteen marathons behind him, 42 kilometers ahead and a tenth New York medal to win.
L’articolo 20 marathons , 10 New York: Marco Lastrico tra corsa, leadership e l’America proviene da IlNewyorkese.
