«I was born to run, it’s man’s instinct, the perfect medicine»- Corriere.it

If Napoleon was the Grande Corso, he, with a shift of accent, is the Perpetual Corso. This is his job Daniel Vecchioni: runs. Bonaparte’s gallop touched Egypt, Palestine, Syria and stopped in Belarus, on the banks of the Beresina. At 37, the young man who grew up in Civitanova Marche and now lives for love in Caldogno, Roberto Baggio’s town in Vicenza, has already conquered the five continents and shows no signs of stopping. So much so that he forces me to stand up during the first interview (always better than on my knees), in the sense that he released it, remaining from start to finish in his usual position. Vecchioni, three degrees, was a manager in Prysmian’s corporate managementthe former Pirelli cables, with an excellent salary. Previously he had worked in the multinational Procter & Gamble. “But I was unhappy and demoralized.” So in 2011 he resigned and with his wife Paola Dalla Vecchiadegree in management engineering and masters in business administration, he decided to focus on the passion he had cultivated since the age of 7. You founded Correre naturale, a limited liability company that today employs 11 people and offers aspiring marathon runners running school and online training. The verb of her exposes it in Race. The perfect medicine (Gribaudo), manual in which he celebrates «the most ancient, powerful and natural practice to improve physical fitness, eliminate stress, become the best version of you», that is, in the case of the author (1.87 in height and 78 kilos of weight), the testimonial of himself: sculptural body, gladiator’s biceps, turtle carapace abdomen.

The “Corriere” is his ideal newspaper.
«Running is my life partner. I remember the first one I had as a child in the Castrocaro spa park, together with my father Giancarlo, who at 84 still trains every day».

In Castrocaro people became singers.
“It’s my wife who sings and plays the piano. And it is she who sends me out to run. My daughter Iris, 4 years old, promises well. We will see Deva, in Sanskrit it means “celestial”, born a month ago».

It gets me into trouble. For me the armchair is a garment.
«It is a problem that is common to those who think they are running well. In reality, the majority can neither run nor walk. You need a movement pattern. Ours is an alien lifestyle. We’ve been sitting 10-12 hours a day since elementary school. Zero joint mobility of the ankles».

Instead she, since childhood, sweating.
«Every Sunday non-competitive marches with my father. I also played soccer in Vigor Sma. Midfielder”.

How does he get a salary?
«When I resigned from Prysmian, in-laws, colleagues and friends called me crazy. But I sensed that there was an immense space. And do you know why? Running I hurt myself all the time: Achilles tendinitis, fasciitis, patellar syndromes. We needed a school. I created it.”

I asked Claudio Zorzi, head of orthopedics at the Sacro Cuore Don Calabria hospital in Negrar, who operated on the champion Sofia Goggia, if sport is good for you. Answer: «Yes, to orthopedic surgeons».
“I totally agree.”

“It will be good for the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, but certainly not for the musculoskeletal system,” he added.
“Eighty percent of runners are injured each year, according to research done at Harvard. One hour of running equals 10,200 steps, about 170 per minute. With each step we manage three times our body weight. Therefore, a person weighing 70 kilos bears 210 with each step. At the end of the stroke, each leg will have had to support a load equivalent to 1,071,000 kilos. Without the right technique, you cannot cushion this impact».

Why does man run and the chimpanzee, his close relative, doesn’t?
«Because it supports the strategy with which nature has made us come down from the trees. The big toe, four times bigger and stronger than the other toes, is the anchor that allows us to stand. Without it, we could neither run nor walk. In my method it is fundamental. In ancient times, dethroned kings and slaves had their big toes cut off. Chinese baby girls were bound tightly to their feet so that they grew downwards. This condemned them, as women, to the impossibility of moving».

We started from his company.
«I tested it with a free study seminar in the Civitanova Marche stadium: 25 showed up. After four months, the first requests for workshops arrived. In the pre-Covid era, I gathered up to 100 people in the hall, ready to pay 147 euros. Now I do it remotely ».

Competitors will be ticked, though.
“Some impersonators. But he ended badly ».

What does it mean Running natural? I didn’t know that unnatural running existed.
“Great question. In theory it would be natural, but in practice it is not. So you need to learn it, re-educate yourself».

Where did he run?
“Everywhere. In Australia, where I stayed for two years for study purposes. Then in my gap year backpacking I traveled the world: New Zealand, Cambodia, Thailand, Egypt, Iceland, Canada, USA, Mexico. I lived among the San bushmen of Namibia, who have been there for 22,000 years: our ancestors. I wanted to understand how they run, eat, sleep, feed themselves».

And what did he discover?
“They go to bed just after sunset, in their sleep they keep their mouths closed and breathe only through their noses. They hunt springbok without weapons.’

So how do they catch him?
«They are very skilled at tracing its footprints, for them the savannah is a palette. They run after him, divided into groups. Because this species of antelope doesn’t sweat, it eventually collapses on the ground.”

Scramble everywhere. In Italian?
«For three years I crossed it from sea to sea: from Riccione to Livorno, from Civitanova Marche to Civitavecchia, from Camaiore to Cervia. Four days of racing, stages of 70-80 kilometres, only 1 euro in your pocket. Format “No excuses”, I called him».

Do you know the Caminos de Santiago, La Plata, Sant’Olav, St. Cuthbert?
«Yes, and I intend to do them. It’s just that I’ve been living in run-up mode for 10 years. I have to take some time to reflect.”

What is his record?
“I don’t know, I’ve never looked for it. I can run for more than five hours.”

At what maximum speed?
(staggers)

. “In kilometers per hour? And who knows? Let’s say 178 steps per minute. Each step considers 1.40 meters».

Wait a minute, use the calculator. That’s 15 kilometers per hour.
“I’ll check”.
(Check the chronograph on your wrist)
. «In today’s run, 1 kilometer in 3 minutes and 50. I covered 10 kilometres. But it wasn’t my top speed.”

Where did he go to train?
«Here in Caldogno, on the hike of the resurgences and along the lamination basin, 5 kilometers of flat dirt road. It seems to be in Kenya ».

Don’t you notice body idolatry around?
«Yes. The body is a space suit, but there are too many who do not take care of it. I am not my physique and yet it helps me be a stronger dad. It needs maintenance. Aesthetic obsession has nothing to do with it. Having six pack abs doesn’t mean being fit. Indeed, those who flaunt them usually do not feel well ».

Gianluca Vacchi, influencer, is he sick?
“I don’t watch him or his balls with the servants. I have another philosophy of life.’

Are there biotypes unsuitable for running?
“No. It’s our form of locomotion, so it’s part of human DNA. Doesn’t the horse trot to keep itself healthy?’

What skills do you need to run?
«Patience, humility, constancy. The same ones that occur in life. In fact, running is a great metaphor for existence».

What happens to the body when running?
«A magic, on a physiological and mechanical level, in muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints. Did you know that the Achilles tendon, the strongest and thickest, could support the weight of a Ford Fiesta?’

You compare the rush to drugs.
“Yes, it’s addictive, but positive. It produces endorphins and endocannabinoids.

It’s like smoking cannabis.
“In 1974, psychiatrist William Glasser had about 700 runners fill out a questionnaire and deduced from it that 75 percent of them, who had been used to running six times a week for at least an hour for a year, were in all respects addicted to sport activity. In jargon it is called
the runner is tall
runner’s high. It’s the same chemical reaction that occurs in animals like wolves and horses, but not in felines, which snap and don’t run. An instinctive request, comparable to the pleasure of coitus which nature uses for the continuation of the species».

But running is tiring.
“It shouldn’t be. It’s a false myth. I run for hours without getting tired».

Are those desperate people reduced to wet rags that we see on the street all wrong?
“They’re getting damaged. Running brings a curse to them, not a benefit. They don’t lose a gram.”

How long has it been since you went to the doctor?
(Thinks about it)

. «Six years ago I had myself checked for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, however without symptoms. On August 15th 2021 I was on my bike in the Marche region, a car hit me. A flight of 7 meters. I got away with the fracture of the nasal septum and some grazes».

His relationship with drugs?
“Inexistent. I recovered three times from Covid without taking anything ».

Do you ever identify yourself with the condition of someone who can’t walk?
“Often. That’s why I consider it disrespectful to give up the gift of running.”

What if it were her turn to end up in a wheelchair?
“I haven’t budgeted it. I don’t even want to think about it. Already a pain in my knee sends me into depression».