FRANCESCA BILLI AND HER SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH TRAIL RUNNING
Francesca Billi, TRM athlete and CimAlp Tester, lives in Liguria in Genoa but her heart beats for the Aosta Valley. She has covered all the trails in the valley, first with hes family and later for her endurance trail runner training sessions. Wife, mother and worker, she manages to fit everything artfully with a lot of passion and dedication
We leave it to her to tell her story and how she discovered the trail running descipline.
Trail Running races are an inner and mystical journey
I am not an athlete fighting for podium, I find in the dimension of the journey that characterizes long distance races the possibility of reconnecting with creation, my soul and where my spirit finds an anticipation of eternity. I dream big because dreaming is free
and we might as well do it as best we can.
I have a deep belief that what I can vividly imagine and build in my mind I can also accomplish. I would like to be able to transfer this thought to others, to all those who have been taught to fly low in such a way that when they fall they will hurt less.
The discovery of the Ultra Trails that dig inside you, leaving indelible memories
I experienced the most disparate distances in the most different places, from the races around the Mont Blanc, CCC, Gran Trail Courmayeur, at the LUT and then I began to savor new territories, different cultures and terrains.
I ran the Transvulcania, the 150Km Boavista Ultra Trail, running overlooking the Ocean, in the desert through the sand dunes and facing daytime temperatures of 45°, the Atlas Toubkal with its 100 km and 8000mt d+ in a particularly hostile year, with snow and temperatures close to -10.
Last but not least, in 2019 I fulfilled my dream, the one I had always cultivated, the Marathon Des Sables. The essence of my life was concentrated there in a 10 kg backpack that I had baptized with the name of Willy. It was my travel companion, my galley, my wardrobe, my bed for a week. That experience marked me for many reasons, every day I woke up with sand in my teeth, my tent companions have become my family and the starry sky my roof … if I close my eyes I still relive those emotions.
There are many adventures in my near future waiting for me
I am eager to embark on many more challenges to meet through running new worlds, people, cultures and to discover a new Francesca always open to new experiences
Athlete, CimAlp Tester, Trail Running Products Tips
