Thierry, from Togo to Como, for Wizz Air Milano Marathon and his mother

When he crossed the finish line of the Wizz Air Milano Marathon – 3 hours, 12 minutes and 5 seconds after leaving – he raised his right forearm to his lips and kissed it. He had long imagined what that moment would be like and only one thing was certain of him, that name printed in indelible ink on his skin deserved special thanks. While he recounts, still overwhelmed by emotion and tiredness, the beauty of his first marathon, Thierry Adjetey shows the tattoo on his arm. It’s written there Edith, the name of the mother who passed away just over three years ago. “I dedicate this marathon to her, I thought of her as I crossed the finish line and I am sure that she would have been proud of me”.

from pain to rebirth

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Also because such great pain was the driving force that allowed him to discover running and of finding himself in the most difficult moment of his life: “At that time I was living in Ferrara and running was my outlet. She helped me not to think and was fundamental in grieving.” Thierry arrived in Italy in 2013 when he was 17 years old. He was born and raised in Togo, but he wanted to join his sister and study abroad “in a faculty that didn’t exist in my country”. He graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology and now lives in Como and works as a chemist in a pharmaceutical laboratory in Saronno.

with the asics frontrunner

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“Since I discovered running – he explains – I haven’t given up on it and since I joined the Asics Frontrunner in 2023 I started to experience it in a more profound way”. Why, if at first it was just a way to chase bad thoughts out of your head and keep fit, then it became a philosophy of life: “This team changed my life, not just in sports. It allowed me to experience running in a different way, to enjoy the moment. Even if I go slowly, even if I run with those who are less strong, I have learned to live every moment intensely. This is why I care little about the time with which I finished this first marathon of mine.”

the crisis of the 39th km

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A time, among other things, very respectable for a first-time amateur. “I’m used to running half marathons or 10kms and, when I decided to take part in the Wizz Air Milan Marathon, I had to fit this commitment into the calendar of races I had already signed up for.” The training was not specific for the race and the satisfaction of reaching the end was even more double. “The heat and the not very easy route didn’t help me. The last 3 kilometers were an ordeal, it seemed like they would never end. I had no more energy and my luck was Riccardo Redaelli And Antonio Sinisi (Asics Frontrunner too, ed), two friends with whom I shared the entire 42.195 km. We started together, we supported each other and we crossed the finish line together.” Now a bit of a break, before returning to the half and 10 km, even if the marathon virus has now been inoculated in his mind: “This is the first of many, but from 2025 onwards”.

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dreaming of Togo

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The dream in the drawer, however, goes even further and has its roots. “I feel great in Italy, I’m really happy to be here, but I feel like a citizen of the world”. Every year he returns to Togo and this year too, in August, he will go for a little holiday a few steps from the equator. “I have many dreams, but one day I hope to be able to return to my country and bring everything I have learned here, both at a professional and sporting level. And maybe try to convey something to those who haven’t had the opportunity to experience what I’m experiencing.” Because life, like the marathon, is about sharing.