Maurizio Dallocchio, the Italian Who Has Run the Most Marathons in New York
Finishing a 4:13' marathon at 61 is already a feat - if it's the 23rd New York Marathon in a row, it's a record. Maurizio Dallocchio, Full Professor at Bocconi's Department of Finance, is the Italian with the most consecutive participations in New York and after the first 15 he earned the title of streaker and the privileges associated with it: the certainty of the bib, the start with the first wave (from the upper deck of the Verrazzano Bridge and not from the lower one, darker and without a view of the city), and the use of a gym for pre-race warm-up.
We talked about his passion for running in his office on the second floor of the Roentgen building, where the shelves full of blue-bound volumes speak of his other record («hard to match in the coming years, if not decades») as the Bocconi professor who has supervised the most theses, about 4,000. His adventures as a teacher and as a runner began at the same time, in 1981, immediately after graduating from Bocconi. «I had already agreed to start working for Pirelli in Brazil, when my thesis supervisor, Giorgio Pivato, suggested that I stay at the university to collaborate with the still small SDA Bocconi. Instead of leaving for South America, I left for military service and ended up at Grottaglie. Officially it was an airport, in practice it was a long runway that would not have seen any aircraft for almost twenty years, with a few sheds and a barracks without windows», he says. «For lack of anything else to do, I started running up and down the runway, and it must have been addictive». He continued to run regularly, fortunately even in more pleasant landscapes, such as the parks of London and New York, where he worked for some time in the '80s with Ed Altman, at New York University.
«I've never stopped», says Prof. Dallocchio, «because running is an exercise that cleanses the mind - from worries as well as from positive obsessions, from anything - and leaves an extreme clarity. Some of my best ideas came to me after the first hour and a half of running».
For his first marathon, in Cesano Boscone (the most prestigious in Lombardy before the establishment of the Milano Marathon) he trained at the XXV Aprile Sporting Center, at the foot of the Montagnetta di S. Siro, endlessly repeating the 400 meters of the track. «It's an exercise that strengthens your mind», he says, «because if you can keep your motivation in those conditions, without the help of a differring landscape, you can face any course».
He was convinced by a group of five MBA students, including Armando Borghi, who would later teach at SDA Bocconi, to run the first New York Marathon in 1997. «Francesco Perrini, Michele Calcaterra and I joined in». When the then Rector, Roberto Ruozi, heard about it, he wanted them to run with a Bocconi t-shirt. «It was not yet the time for technical clothing», recalls Prof. Dallocchio, «and the cotton jersey, on a day of pouring rain, ended up making me bleed because of the rubbing problems that afflict so many runners. But I still keep that shirt with affection».
The reasons that have convinced Prof. Dallocchio to visit New York every November, from then on, for the Marathon are various. «First, I have lived in New York and I have good friends there, thus I take advantage of the marathon to see them and to admire a fantastic city without traffic, an impossible experience at any other time; second, November is the perfect date for me, because it allows me to carry out most of the training in summer, limiting my effort during the period of classes; finally, a regular appointment like this is a goal that justifies the effort and sacrifices of the preparation and motivates me to train consistently».
With such a long experience, Prof. Dallocchio does not need training plans. «I've learned to know myself and I understand at all times at what speed I'm going. Furthermore, I follow the advice of my running maestro, Salvo Catania, a senologist and ultramarathon runner, as well as a great supporter of running for fun.